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(Telecompaper) Vodafone Greece, Greek broadband provider Hellas Online (HOL), Intracom and World Equities Investments have entered into exclusive negotiations for the purpose of exploring the possibility of entering into a transaction which shall involve Vodafone becoming a strategic partner of HOL. The transaction would include Vodafone Greece acquiring a minority equity participation in HOL in exchange for contributing its existing fixed line DSL assets. Vodafone and HOL will combine their respective offerings in the Greek market and jointly market Vodafone's mobile products and services and HOL's DSL and telephony services on an exclusive basis. As the exclusive negotiations in respect of the transaction are in an early stage, it is uncertain whether they will lead to the consummation of a transaction. The parties will inform the investors of the outcome of their negotiations in accordance with the applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

INTERNET users worldwide were given a short taste of life without Google overnight. Needless to say, they didn't like it.

Search giant says it has modified its policy on trademarks appearing in keyword ads, allowing brand names to appear in AdWords copy.

(Telecompaper) Telecom Egypt reported a 72 percent rise in first-quarter net profit to EGP 962.4 million compared with a net profit of EGP 558.3 million in the first quarter of 2008. Operating revenues rose to EGP 2.53 billion from EGP 2.39 billion a year earlier. The firm's EBITDA and before provisions was EGP 1.35 billion. The company has an Internet subsidiary TE Data and also has a minority stake in Vodafone Egypt. Total retail revenues for the first quarter of 2009 were EGP 1.468 billion, a modest increase of 2 percent compared with Q1 2008, while the access revenues, comprising connections and subscriptions, grew from EGP 459 million to EGP 536 million, as a result of tariff rebalancing which was only effective in the second half of 2008. Voice revenues declined 4 percent year-on-year to EGP 680 million for the first quarter, reflecting the increased pressure on this segment from the mobile market. However, the largest constituent of Telecom Egypt's voice revenues, derived from l

Microsoft Virtual Earth, which offers 3D aerial imagery drawn from satellites and aerial photos, is pairing with General Motors subsidiary OnStar to enhance the latters GPS location service. With the 3D-boosted imagery in place, emergency responders will theoretically have an easier time accurately locating vehicles in distress. The IT industry has increasingly focused on the automobile as a potential arena for its latest hardware and software, with companies such as Intel and microsoft developing car-specific programs, microprocessors and devices that deliver everything from entertainment to communications. In addition, many IT company executives, such as Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, have invested in experimental vehicles that utilize electric, alternative-fuel or hybrid engines. - ...

An anonymous reader writes 'We've discussed (at length) functional MRI technology as it pertains to marketing and virtual reality, but now Esquire writer A.J. Jacobs has become the first person to go inside the controversial machine to test the science behind his sex drive. As in, he has fMRI experts read his mind as to whether he's actually more turned on by his young wife or Angelina Jolie. The results, unsurprisingly, are both geeky and hilarious. Would you subject yourself to this kind of reality check?' of this story at Slashdot.

Google says a system error resulting in a Web traffic jam in Asia led to the early-morning outage of Google News and Gmail, two essential components of the search engine giant. While the outages of services such as Gmail are usually only temporary, the popularity of these Google services often means that any problem instantly becomes news. - Google experienced slowdowns and outages to its Google News and Gmail services on the morning of May 14. Users of those services reacted in a variety of ways. On Twitter, which has a search function that allows for a near-real-time survey of what people are microblogging on various topics, user...

Google says a system error resulting in a Web traffic jam in Asia led to the early-morning outage of Google News and Gmail, two essential components of the search engine giant. While the outages of services such as Gmail are usually only temporary, the popularity of these Google services often means that any problem instantly becomes news. - Google experienced slowdowns and outages to its Google News and Gmail services on the morning of May 14. Users of those services reacted in a variety of ways. On Twitter, which has a search function that allows for a near-real-time survey of what people are microblogging on various topics, user...

Google said Wednesday it will reshoot all photos in Japan for its Street View service after residents complained the 360-degree panoramic images provided a view over the fences around their homes.

Many people found Google's search site was extremely slow or inaccessible Thursday, and other reports pointed to troubles with other properties including YouTube, Gmail, Google Analytics, Google Maps, Google Docs, AdSense, and Blogger.