Ballmer threatens hostile takeover

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has lowered the boom on Yahoo. He has told the company that if the two can't come to a decision regarding Microsoft's $31 per share purchase offer within three weeks, it will take its offer directly to Yahoo's shareholders, reports eWeek.

Ballmer offered the ultimatum, which signals the beginning of a proxy fight, in a letter sent to Yahoo's board on Saturday, an unusual move for a dialogue that has been conducted throughout the course of the business week.

The letter comes after Microsoft and Yahoo have held casual, but fruitless, negotiations regarding Microsoft's offer, which was worth $44.6 billion when it was first made on 1 February, but has sunk to about $42 billion due to the decline in both company's shares.

The main three Web sites for the Royal Mail are unavailable, due to unknown technical problems, reports Computing.co.uk.

Royalmail.com, parcelforce.com and postoffice.co.uk are all thought to have been inaccessible since last night. A Royal Mail spokesman would not comment on the precise cause of the problems, but said "infrastructure issues" were thought to be responsible.

It is not known when operations are likely to resume. Parcel tracking services are still available to the public via telephone.

Germans can now get an iPhone for just 99 euros, a big departure for the Apple phone which hasn't been subsidised by operators before. It will also fan the flames of rumours about an imminent new 3G model, says ITWorld.

"This price cut will raise a few eyebrows, and is very interesting indeed," said Ben Wood, analyst at CCS Insight.

"It could mean T-Mobile is clearing the channel for a new model."

The dollar loss reported from Internet crime reached an all-time high in 2007, according to the Internet Crime Complaint Centre's (IC3's) 2007 Internet Crime report, says Information Week.

The IC3 serves to field complaints about online crime on behalf of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National White Collar Crime Centre.

The IC3 received 206 884 complaints in 2007 through its Web site, fewer than the number submitted in 2006 (207 492), 2005 (231 493), or 2004 (207 449). With the addition of other methods of complaint, IC3 received 219 553 complaints last year.