World’s tallest building just got taller

The world’s tallest building just got taller — the Burj Dubai tower in the booming Gulf emirate of Dubai has now reached a height of 688 metres (2,257 feet) and is still growing, developers Emaar said on Tuesday.

It now boasts 160 storeys, the highest skyscraper in the world, Emaar said in a statement.

The skyscraper, set for completion in September 2009, is one of several mega projects taking shape in Dubai, which is a member of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates (UAE) federation.

Burj Dubai, which was started in 2004, overtook Taiwan’s Taipei 101 tower as the world’s tallest building when it reached 512 metres (1,533 feet) in April 2007.

It became the tallest man-made structure on the planet, when Emaar announced in April that it has surpassed the 629-metre (2,063-foot) KVLY-TV mast in the United States.

Its eventual height remains a closely-guarded secret, though there is speculation it will reach a final height of 900 metres (2,953 feet).

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Crime-fighting robots with access to citizen databases will be patrolling the streets by 2084, according to an academic at the University of Sheffield.

Robotics expert Professor Noel Sharkey predicts that humanoid robots, that are able to arrest people, will have access to integrated databases of information on British citizens, including bank accounts, tax and movements, to enable them to identify who people are.

The “superior knowledge robots” will, according to Sharkey, be able to use their “super strength and inability to feel pain” to arrest criminals.

They will have human features and will be able to detect weapons including guns, knives and explosives, and recognise drunks and aggressive behaviour in large areas.

By 2070, police will also have the aid of autonomous police cars, which will be able to recognise speeding cars, identify license plates and automatically take fines from bank accounts and add points on driving licences.

The project examined the future of the robot in the UK and how it will be developed to aid police. The research was based on recent robotic developments around the world, and on current ideas and trends from robotics experts.

 
RICHIE RICH: Richie Randazzo celebrates yesterday outside the building where he works — and wants to live.

June 12, 2008 — A beloved Park Avenue doorman who won $5 million in the state lottery wants to move on up - and into the elegant, pre-war building where he works.

That way, “I’ll have the doorman open the door for me,” says Richie Randazzo, 44, a bachelor who lives in a two-story home in Brooklyn.

But the lucky winner will have to wait because the only apartment for sale in the building at 1021 Park Ave. at East 85th Street is out of his range.So for now, Randazzo, who plans to continue working, will be a millionaire who opens the door and hails taxis for millionaires.

The only apartment on the market in his building is an 11-room beauty that is going for a cool $9.95 million. And even though $5 million is nothing to sneeze at, it just isn’t enough scratch - even for a scratch-off millionaire.

Still, a fella can dream.

“After I hit the next lottery, I’ll buy that one,” Randazzo said yesterday at a ceremony announcing his good fortune.

The lucky doorman actually won the prize May 2, when he bought a $10 Set for Life instant ticket, which pays $5,000 a week for life and guarantees a minimum of $5 million. Winners get $65,000 every three months, or $41,926 after taxes.

That - minus tips - is more than the $40,000 the doorman earns in a year.

Randazzo’s new riches have given him the freedom to concentrate on one of his passions - women.

“I want a good Italian woman - or Swedish or Irish or Chinese,” he said. “I’m always looking. It’s a hobby of mine.”

Asked if he is the Big Apple’s most eligible bachelor, he replied, “Yes, absolutely. I’ve got a lot of money to prove it.

“If they want to start a reality show called, ‘Who Wants to Marry a Scratch-Off Millionaire,’ let me know,” he added. “They can call it, ‘From Rags to Richie.’ ”

Champing on a cigar, Randazzo got a hero’s welcome when he showed up at the building last night in a silver Porsche Cayenne stretch limo. The super, George Skintej, opened the limo’s door, saying, “Now, he’s my boss.”

Randazzo didn’t scratch off the winning ticket until he got home to the Gravesend house he grew up in. Hans Utsch, a mutual-fund manager who lives at 1021 Park, said the doorman “could barely speak” when he told him about his windfall. “He was halfway between laughing and crying.”

After the big win, Randazzo wondered whether to quit, telling building resident Amy Fine-Collins, “I don’t need to do this anymore.”

But, taking the advice of his parents, Cora and Frank, who live in West Palm Beach, Fla., he decided to keep his job, because “it’s too much too soon.”

Saturday May 3, 9:33 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (NasdaqGS:MSFT - News) withdrew its offer for Yahoo Inc (NasdaqGS:YHOO - News) on Saturday as negotiations fell through on price, even after the software giant raised its bid by about $5 billion to $47.5 billion.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said his company increased its offer to $33 per share, from the $31 per share cash-and-stock bid that it initially made on January 31. But Yahoo was looking for $37 a share, Ballmer said.

“Despite our best efforts, including raising our bid by roughly $5 billion, Yahoo has not moved toward accepting our offer,” Ballmer said in a statement.

“After careful consideration, we believe the economics demanded by Yahoo do not make sense for us, and it is in the best interests of Microsoft stockholders, employees and other stakeholders to withdraw our proposal,” said Ballmer.

Yahoo was not immediately available for comment.

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SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. may go hostile in its bid for Yahoo Inc. as soon as Friday, according to a published report.

Citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported early Friday that the world’s largest software maker may be preparing to go straight to Internet pioneer Yahoo’s shareholders.

An announcement was “likely” to come Friday, according to the report, though the newspaper said its sources cautioned that Microsoft may delay.

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Once upon a time in a village, a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10.

The villagers seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them.

The man bought thousands at $10 and as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort.

He further announced that he would now buy at $20.

This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again.

Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms.

The offer rate increased to $25 and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone catch it!

The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50!

However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now buy on behalf of him.

In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers.

Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected.

I will sell them to you at $35 and when the man returns from the city, you can sell it to him for $50.”

The villagers squeezed up with all their savings and bought all the monkeys.

Then they never saw the man nor his assistant, only monkeys everywhere!!!

Yahoo may consider Google alliance, source says
By Eric Auchard and Megan Davies

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc would consider a business alliance with Google Inc as one way to rebuff a $44.6 billion takeover proposal by Microsoft, a source familiar with Yahoo’s strategy said on Sunday.

Yahoo management is considering revisiting talks it held with Google several months ago on an alliance as an alternative to Microsoft’s bid, that source said. At $31 a share, Yahoo believes the bid undervalues the company, two sources said.

A second source close to Yahoo said it had received a procession of preliminary contacts by media, technology, telephone and financial companies. But the source said they were unaware whether any alternative bid was in the offing.

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SAN FRANCISCO - Google Inc. raised the specter of Microsoft Corp. using its proposed $42 billion acquisition of Yahoo Inc. to gain illegal control over the Internet, underscoring the online search leader’s queasiness about its two biggest rivals teaming up.

The critical remarks, posted online Sunday by Google’s top lawyer, represented the Mountain View-based company’s first public reaction to Microsoft’s unsolicited bid for Yahoo since the offer was announced Friday.

“Microsoft’s hostile bid for Yahoo raises troubling questions,” David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer, wrote. “This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another. It’s about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation.”

Google’s opposition isn’t a surprise, given that Microsoft views Yahoo as a crucial weapon in its battle to gain ground on Google in the Internet’s booming search and advertising markets.

Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft has been trying to depict a Yahoo takeover as a boon for both advertisers and consumers because the two companies together would be able to compete against Google more effectively.

But Google is painting a starkly different picture, asserting that Microsoft will be able to stifle innovation and leverage its dominating Windows operating system to set up personal computers so consumers are automatically steered to online services, such as e-mail and instant messaging, controlled by the world’s largest software maker.

In a move that illustrates just how badly Google wants to torpedo the deal, Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt called Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang Friday to offer his help in repelling Microsoft, according to a report Sunday on The Wall Street Journal’s Web site, which cited anonymous people familiar with the matter.

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Active/Passive RFID ROI versus Bar Codes

 

Majority of RFID applications can yield a positive ROI. But, that is not the question. The questions should be “Can you get the same ROI by using Bar Codes?”. For most applications the answer is YES. This is especially true for Passive RFID. The performance of Passive RFID has been over-hyped and confused with that of Active RFID. There, simply, is not enough difference in performance between Passive RFID, and Bar Codes to justify the additional cost.”

Certainly, it seems Active RFID is where the real action is, as these quotes from IDTechEX’s recent Review of 2007 in RFID explains:

“Active RFID accounted for about 13% of all RFID expenditure in 2007, but this figure was depressed by the huge Chinese national ID card scheme, which involves passive RFID. Look at the IDTechEx Knowledgebase and you see a more meaningful picture for the future, given that the Chinese ID card scheme has now peaked in deliveries of both cards and infrastructure. A remarkable 32% of projects added in 2007 involved active RFID, taking the cumulative figure to 22%. Little wonder that over 20% of both RFID fund raisings and RFID acquisitions in 2007 involved companies somewhere in the active RFID value chain. The IDTechEx conference Active RFID and RTLS, the only one of its type in the world, also grew strongly in attendance and number of exhibitors in 2007. RTLS is mainly driving this burgeoning active RFID activity. For instance, Ubisense, founded as recently as 2003, already has over 200 clients.

“Active RFID will now be powered by two waves. RTLS is the first wave, with 2007 seeing the first major deliveries, including about 100 healthcare facilities adopting RTLS. Ubiquitous Sensor Networks will be the second wave but it has yet to begin in any serious manner. Indeed, some applications will merge both capabilities.

“Politicians like to do exit polls so let us try one too. The last 50 projects entered into the IDTechEx Knowledgebase in 2007 came from a remarkable 25 countries. Active RFID was used in 40% of these projects and passive UHF and HF were responsible for 28% each. Make of that what you will.”

I’d be interested in other views on Chris’s assertion that there isn’t enough difference in performance between Passive RFID, and Bar Codes to justify the additional cost. Do you agree? Is Active RFID the future? And where does Passive RFID go from here?

SAN FRANCISCO - Microsoft Corp. has pounced on slumping Internet icon Yahoo Inc. with an unsolicited takeover offer of $44.6 billion in its boldest bid yet to challenge Google Inc.’s dominance of the lucrative online search and advertising markets.

The surprise offer of $31 per share, made late Thursday and announced Friday, seizes on Yahoo’s weakness while Microsoft tries to muscle up in a high-stakes battle with Google likely to define the technology landscape for years to come.

In a statement Friday, Yahoo said it will “carefully and promptly” study Microsoft’s bid.

With its profits steadily sliding, Yahoo’s stock slipped to a four-year low earlier this week and a new management team has been trying to steer a turnaround but sees more turbulence through 2008.

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