Reuters - Yahoo shares plunge after Microsoft's exit

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Yahoo shares plunge after Microsoft's exit

Monday, May 05, 2008 2:51PM UTC

By Tiffany Wu and Michele Gershberg

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc's <YHOO.O> shares tumbled as much as 20 percent on Monday after Microsoft Corp <MSFT.O> withdrew its $47.5 billion takeover offer, wiping about $7.6 billion off the Internet company's market capitalization and piling pressure on its leadership.

In the aftermath, Internet search leader Google Inc <GOOG.O> seemed poised to reap the gains of the missed deal, which would have been one of the biggest mergers in the technology sector and may have threatened Google's steady expansion on the Web.

Microsoft shares rose 2.6 percent on relief that it was not willing to overpay for Yahoo, while Google rose 2.2 percent.

"The terminated Microsoft/Yahoo negotiations eliminate the risk for now of a stronger online advertising competitor to Google," Stifel Nicolaus analysts George Askew and Scott Devitt wrote in a research note. They raised their price target on Google to $675 from $610.

Yahoo has been testing an advertising partnership that would give arch-rival Google part of its search listings. While some on Wall Street see this is a potential way out for Yahoo, it also represents a new fringe benefit to Google.

The collapse of talks between Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang prompted Wall Street brokerages to cut their ratings and price targets on Yahoo, which held out for a $37 per share value despite a sweetened off from Microsoft for $33 per share.

Shares closed at $19.18 on January 31, the day before Microsoft made its unsolicited offer for Yahoo. Yang, one of Yahoo's founders, owns about 4 percent of the company.

Analysts expect a flurry of shareholder lawsuits against Yahoo management, even as the Web pioneer pursues possible deals with other Internet media and advertising companies, such as Time Warner Inc's <TWX.N> AOL.

Yahoo is also likely to push for the Google partnership, sources familiar with the matter said. That should boost Yahoo's operating performance in the near term, but runs the risk of regulatory scrutiny over an alliance between the Internet's top two players.

"Yahoo's execution remains the problem, as the company has not been able to execute better targeting and measurement on its own site effectively enough over the past 15 years," UBS analyst Heather Bellini wrote in a note to clients.

Bellini said she would not give Yahoo "the benefit of the doubt that they can make meaningful improvement over the next three years," especially as the break up of talks creates an even more competitive backdrop for Yahoo, Microsoft and Google.

Some of Yahoo's shareholders have already started to make their discontent public.

Bill Miller, a portfolio manager for Legg Mason, Yahoo's second-largest shareholder, told the New York Times on Sunday that he would have considered selling to Microsoft for $34 or $35 a share.

While that was more than Microsoft's offer, it was less than the $37 per share Yahoo's board insisted on.

"There is going to be a lot of pressure on Yahoo's management to deliver in the next year or two," Miller said, according to the New York Times.

Yahoo shares fell 15 percent, or $4.43, to $24.24 after initially falling as low as $22.97. Google shares rose $12.99 to $594.28, while Microsoft shares jumped 57 cents to $29.81 on the Nasdaq.

(Editing by Maureen Bavdek and Derek Caney)

CNN - Myanmar death toll 'could reach 10,000'

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Myanmar death toll 'could reach 10,000'

Almost 4,000 people have died and another 3,000 remain missing in Myanmar as a result of this weekend's devastating cyclone, state media reported Monday amid fears that the death toll could continue to soar.

Diplomats summoned to a government briefing on Monday said the foreign minister acknowledged that as many as 10,000 could be dead as the reclusive southeast Asian country's ruling military junta issued a rare appeal for international assistance in the face of an escalating humanitarian crisis.

A state of emergency was declared across much of the country following the 10-hour storm that left swathes of destruction in its wake.

The government of neighboring Thailand said Myanmar's leaders had already requested food, medical supplies and construction equipment, AP reported. The first plane-load of supplies was due to arrive Tuesday, a Thai spokesman said.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement he was "deeply saddened by the loss of life and the destruction suffered by the people of Myanmar" and pledged to mobilize international aid and assistance as needed.

A United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination team is on stand-by to assist the government in responding to humanitarian needs if required, the statement said.

Scenes of the destruction showed extensive flooding, boats on their sides in Yangon harbor, roofs ripped off buildings, uprooted trees and downed power lines after cyclone Nargis battered the Irrawaddy delta with 150 mile (241 km) an hour winds throughout Friday night and Saturday morning, dumping 20 inches of rain.

"After about noon, the sky cleared and everybody came out and were just stunned," said Shari Villarosa, U.S. Charge D' Affaires in Yangon. "People on my compound who had been there for about 15 years say they had not seen anything like this here, ever."

Residents of Yangon trudged through knee-deep swirling brown waters Monday as the delta city remained mostly without electricity and phone connections.

Hakan Tongkul, with the United Nation's World Food Programme, said residents in the capital "need urgent assistance." "This has pushed people to the edge. All that they have has been blown away."

A spokesman for the Red Cross said the emergency aid group was working with its Myanmar agency to provide drinking water, temporary shelters and blankets and warned that urgent action was needed to limit outbreaks of disease.

"I think one of the biggest needs right now is to stave off disease," said spokesman Eric Porterfield. "We will be helping with the distribution of clean drinking water and setting up shelters."

Relief agencies met at the United Nations' Bangkok headquarters Monday to coordinate their response to the disaster. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it had released 200,000 Swiss Francs (about $190,000) to help with the aftermath.

The U.S. aid group World Vision also said it had responded to a government request for assistance.

"The biggest need is getting water for the two million affected people," World Vision spokesman Casey Calamusa told CNN, adding that it was rare for the military government to ask for help.

A state of emergency was declared Sunday across five regions: the city of Yangon, Irrawaddy, Pegu and the states of Karen and Mon. All flights to Yangon, the former capital, were canceled.

"Most Burmese with whom we've been in touch report they lost their roofs, although so far everyone we have been able to contact reports that they and their families are safe," said a Yangon-based diplomat who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Most telephone and cell phone service was down in Yangon, a city of about 6.5 million people, according to a CNN correspondent there

Earlier Monday, an editor for an independent Myanmar newspaper based in Thailand told CNN that people in the Southeast Asian nation were angry over the response to the disaster by the ruling military junta.

"People are very angry with the slow response coming from the military government," said Aung Zaw of Irrawaddy news magazine.

Khin Maung Win, a spokesman for the Democratic Voice of Burma -- a broadcast media group run by opposition expatriates -- said the whole of the delta region had been affected and entire villages had disappeared.

Pictures from inside the country showed a cyclone-ravaged region with tin huts crushed under trees. Bicyclists navigated around large branches that littered the deserted roads.

A man with his pant legs rolled up waded through knee-deep water and strained to clear massive limbs that were blocking the entrance to a house.

"The cleanup is beginning, but this will take a long time," the diplomat said. "The damage around town is intense."

"Fuel is not easily available. International emergency assistance would be needed within seven days. There is no food for eating," Win said.

Food prices -- already rising steeply -- climbed further. Long lines could be seen at gas stations in Yangon. Many of the stations were operating on generators. At one gas station more than 100 buses lined up to refill.

Despite widespread damage, Myanmar's junta plans to proceed with a referendum on the country's constitution on May 10 -- the fourth step of a "seven-step road map to democracy" -- according to state-run media reports.

A critic of Myanmar's government said the referendum most be postponed.

"They would be very stupid to go ahead with it," said Khin Maung Win with Democratic Voice of Burma, a broadcast media group run by opposition expatriates. "Thousands of people are dying or missing. It is very difficult to get around or get food and water. How can people vote?"

Myanmar, formerly called Burma, last held multi-party elections in 1990, when Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy handily won. The military junta ignored the results. Suu Kyi, who is currently under house arrest, has been in detention without trial for more than 12 of the past 18 years.

CNN - Myanmar death toll 'could reach 10,000'

Sent from bombastic4000@gmail.com's mobile device from http://www.cnn.com.

Myanmar death toll 'could reach 10,000'

Almost 4,000 people have died and another 3,000 remain missing in Myanmar as a result of this weekend's devastating cyclone, state media reported Monday amid fears that the death toll could continue to soar.

Diplomats summoned to a government briefing on Monday said the foreign minister had acknowledged that as many as 10,000 could be dead as the reclusive southeast Asian country's ruling military junta issued a rare appeal for international assistance in the face of an escalating humanitarian crisis.

A state of emergency was declared across much of the country following the 10-hour storm that left swathes of destruction in its wake.

The government of neighboring Thailand said Myanmar's leaders had already requested food, medical supplies and construction equipment, AP reported. The first plane-load of supplies was due to arrive Tuesday, a Thai spokesman said.

United Nations Secretary-General ban Ki-moon said in a statement he was "deeply saddened by the loss of life and the destruction suffered by the people of Myanmar" and pledged to mobilize international aid and assistance as needed.

"As a first step, a United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (team) has been organized and is on stand-by to assist the Government in responding to humanitarian needs if required, the statement said.

Scenes of the destruction showed extensive flooding, boats lilting on their sides in Yangon harbor, roofs ripped off buildings, uprooted trees and downed power lines after cyclone Nargis battered the Irrawaddy delta with 150 mile (241 km) an hour winds throughout Friday night and Saturday morning, dumping 20 inches of rain.

"After about noon, the sky cleared and everybody came out and were just stunned," said Shari Villarosa, U.S. Charge D' Affaires in Yangon. "People on my compound who had been there for about 15 years say they had not seen anything like this here, ever."

Residents of Yangon trudged through knee-deep swirling brown waters Monday as the delta city remained mostly without electricity and phone connections.

A spokesman for the Red Cross said the emergency aid group was working with its Myanmar agency to provide drinking water, temporary shelters and blankets and warned that urgent action was needed to limit outbreaks of disease.

"I think one of the biggest needs right now is to stave off disease," said spokesman Eric Porterfield. "We will be helping with the distribution of clean drinking water and setting up shelters."

Relief agencies met at the United Nations' Bangkok headquarters Monday to coordinate their response to the disaster. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it had released 200,000 Swiss Francs (about $190,000) to help with the aftermath.

The U.S. aid group World Vision also said it had responded to a government request for assistance.

"The biggest need is getting water for the two million affected people," World Vision spokesman Casey Calamusa told CNN, adding that it was rare for the government to ask for help. The ruling junta under sharp criticism from many nations for using force to suppress pro-democracy protests last year.

A state of emergency was declared Sunday across five regions: the city of Yangon, Irrawaddy, Pegu and the states of Karen and Mon. All flights to Yangon, the former capital, were canceled.

"Most Burmese with whom we've been in touch report they lost their roofs, although so far everyone we have been able to contact reports that they and their families are safe," said a Yangon-based diplomat who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Earlier Monday, an editor for an independent Myanmar newspaper based in Thailand told CNN that people in the Southeast Asian nation were angry over the response to the disaster by the ruling military junta.

"People are very angry with the slow response coming from the military government," said Aung Zaw of Irrawaddy news magazine.

Zaw said communication was down across large areas of the country. He also said the casualty figures could rise.

"Very few people have access to these areas to estimate damage and how many people have been killed."

Khin Maung Win, a spokesman for the Democratic Voice of Burma -- a broadcast media group run by opposition expatriates -- said the whole of the delta region had been affected and entire villages had disappeared.

Pictures from inside the country showed a cyclone-ravaged region with tin huts crushed under trees. Bicyclists navigated around large branches that littered the deserted roads.

A man with his pant legs rolled up waded through knee-deep water and strained to clear massive limbs that were blocking the entrance to a house.

"The cleanup is beginning, but this will take a long time," the diplomat said. "The damage around town is intense."

"Fuel is not easily available. International emergency assistance would be needed within seven days. There is no food for eating," Win said.

Food prices -- already rising steeply -- climbed further. Long lines could be seen at gas stations in Yangon. Many of the stations were operating on generators. At one gas station more than 100 buses lined up to refill.

"International emergency assistance would be needed within seven days," the diplomat said.

Despite widespread damage, Myanmar's junta plans to proceed with a referendum on the country's constitution on May 10 -- the fourth step of a "seven-step road map to democracy" -- according to state-run media reports.

The government has said elections would be held in 2010 to choose a representative government to replace the military junta.

An official at the Myanmar consulate in Canberra, Australia, said she believed the referendum would go on as scheduled. "We haven't had contrary information," she said.

But the announcement was met with skepticism from pro-democracy opposition leaders.

"It looks as though it would be impossible to have a referendum on Saturday in those areas," Larry Jagan, a freelance journalist who has covered Myanmar affairs for many years, told CNN.

"The question is, will the regime decide to postpone the referendum in those particular areas, and hold it in other parts of the country?. Or will they go ahead and hold it anyway, and do the best they can?"

Myanmar last held multi-party elections in 1990, when Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy handily won. The military junta ignored the results. Suu Kyi, who is currently under house arrest, has been in detention without trial for more than 12 of the past 18 years.

CNN - Hundreds feared dead in Myanmar cyclone

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Hundreds feared dead in Myanmar cyclone

Hundreds of people are feared dead after a tropical cyclone with winds up to 150 miles (241 km) per hour slammed into Myanmar over the weekend.

"We believe hundreds of people are dead," said Khin Maung Win with the Democratic Voice of Burma -- a broadcast media group run by opposition expatriates.

"The entire lower Burma is affected. In some areas, entire villages disappeared."

The ruling military junta put the death toll at about 200, according to media reports.

The activist group opposed the military rule in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

The ruling junta declared a state of emergency in five regions: the city of Yangon, Irrawaddy, Pegu and the states of Karen and Mon. All flights to Yangon, the former capital, were canceled.

Cyclone Nargis tore off roofs, uprooted trees and downed power lines.

The storm ripped through the sprawling river delta city of Yangon for more than 10 hours -- from Friday night until Saturday noon, said Burma Democratic Concern (BDC).

By Sunday, many parts of the city were without electricity. Phone connections were also down in most areas, making it difficult to assess the extent of the damage.

"Most Burmese with whom we've been in touch report they lost their roofs, although so far everyone we have been able to contact reports that they and their families are safe," said a Yangon-based diplomat who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Pictures from inside the country showed a cyclone-ravaged region with tin huts crushed under the weight of trees. Bicyclists navigated around large branches that littered the deserted roads.

A man with his pant legs rolled up waded through knee-deep water and strained to clear massive limbs that were blocking the entrance to a house.

"The cleanup is beginning, but this will take a long time," the diplomat said. "The damage around town is intense."

"Fuel is not easily available. International emergency assistance would be needed within seven days. There is no food for eating," said Win of the Democratic Voice of Burma.

The junta has scheduled a May 10 referendum on a new constitution for the country, which came under sharp criticism from many nations for using force to suppress pro-democracy protests last year.

CNN - Microsoft withdraws bid for Yahoo

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Microsoft withdraws bid for Yahoo

Microsoft Corp.'s pursuit of Yahoo Inc. ended abruptly Saturday when the world's largest software maker withdrew a sweetened $46 billion offer and said it would not make a hostile bid for the Internet company.

Microsoft said the breakdown came despite having raised the bid to $33 a share, or $5 billion above what it said was the current value of the offer and a 70% premium compared to its original offer.

The offer was valued at $31 a share when it was made in January. Yahoo stock closed Friday at $28.67 a share.

"After careful consideration, we believe the economics demanded by Yahoo do not make sense for us," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

In a letter to Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang, Ballmer said that Yahoo wanted at least another $4 a share, or $5 billion in value, added to the deal, bringing it to at least $37 a share.

Read Ballmer's letter to Yang

Ballmer also told Yang that taking the offer directly to shareholders would not be "sensible."

"This approach would necessarily involve a protracted proxy contest and eventually an exchange offer," Ballmer wrote. "Our discussions with you have led us to conclude that, in the interim, you would take steps that would make Yahoo undesirable as an acquisition for Microsoft."

Ballmer said he was concerned that a further collaboration between Yahoo and Google - which he called "the dominant search provider" - would make an acquisition undesirable for several reasons.

Yahoo officials indicated their pleasure with the end of the Microsoft bid.

"Our independent board and our management have been steadfast in our belief that Microsoft's offer undervalued the company and we are pleased that so many of our shareholders in expressing that view," Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock said.

Yang, in the same statement, called the Microsoft bid a "distraction" and said that Yahoo will now focus "on executing the most important transition in our history so that we can maximize our potential."

Microsoft: We'll do it without Yahoo

Microsoft indicated that it will proceed with a Web advertising strategy.

"We have a talented team in place and a compelling plan to grow our business through innovative new services and strategic transactions with other business partners," Ballmer said. "While Yahoo would have accelerated our strategy, I am confident that we can continue to move forward toward our goals."

Both Microsoft and Yahoo have struggled to compete with Google for billions of advertising dollars shifting to the Web.

A marriage between Microsoft and Yahoo had been widely considered by analysts as inevitable. "As we have indicated since 2/1, we think MSFT will eventually acquire YHOO at a price not materially above the value of its initial offer," wrote Scott Kessler, an analyst with Standard & Poor's, in a report earlier this week.

Microsoft fears that Google's acquisition of DoubleClick - the world's biggest online ad server company and big player in the increasingly lucrative market for online display ads - will allow the search giant to seize an even bigger portion of the ad market as Microsoft's MSN falls further behind.

Microsoft made a public offer to buy Yahoo on Jan. 31, two days after the Internet portal reported weak quarterly earnings and a disappointing outlook for 2008.

Yahoo was an impressive target. It is one of the last independent Internet companies with massive scale. In March, it was the top-ranked site in the United States with 139 million unique visitors, according to comScore, which tracks Web audiences. Google was second and Microsoft was third.

What might have been

A Microsoft-Yahoo combo could have offered even greater scale and attracted more advertisers.

None of that persuaded Yahoo, however. Though the value of the company's stock has risen more than 40% since Microsoft made its offer, its board said the proposal "substantially undervalues" the company.

Throughout the past three months, Yahoo had said it was not opposed to a merger if Microsoft offered the right price. But it also sought alternatives. When no white knights came to the rescue, Yahoo in recent months pursued other tieups with Time Warner (parent of CNNMoney.com), News Corp. and Google.

But any involvement with Google could raise antitrust issues.

Yahoo's two-week test running Google's search ads caught the attention of the U.S. Justice Department. Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith said a Yahoo-Google collaboration would "consolidate over 90% of the search advertising market in Google's hand."

Sen. Herbert Kohl, D-Wis., the chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel, said last month that "should there be moves to make this agreement permanent, we will examine it closely ... to ensure that it does not harm competition."

On Saturday, Ballmer struck a generally cordial tone with Yang, even as he criticized Yahoo for rejecting Microsoft's offer.

"I still believe even today that our offer remains the only alternative put forward that provides your stockholders full and fair value for their shares," Ballmer wrote. "By failing to reach an agreement with us, you and your stockholders have left significant value on the table."

"But clearly a deal is not to be," Ballmer added. "Thank you again for the time we have spent together discussing this."

Scott Moritz and Yi-Wyn Yen of Fortune contributed to this article.

Storms in the midwest

Tragedy

USA TODAY - Storms leave death, destruction in central USA

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From staff and wire reports

Severe weather battered the nation's midsection Friday killing at least seven people in Arkansas, injuring dozens others and damaging hundreds of homes and businesses.

In the last 24 hours, tornadoes, hail and hurricane-force winds ripped through Arkansas and seven other states, including Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Illinois, South Dakota and Kansas.

Police said a 15-year-old girl was killed Friday when a tree fell through a bedroom where she was sleeping at her home in Siloam Springs in north Arkansas. Arkansas Department of Emergency Management spokesman Tommy Jackson also confirmed two deaths in Conway County; three in Van Buren County; and one death in Pulaski County.

WEATHER GUYS BLOG: Tornado season peaks in MayLOCAL COVERAGE: KTHV-TV, Little Rock

The agency also reported 13 injuries.The storms damaged property and blew out electric service to nearly 6,000 homes and businesses.

In Damascus, Ark., property damage was extensive.

Randy Payne, 38, hid in a hallway at his aunt and uncle's house.

"It sounded like all hell was breaking loose," Payne said.

Hurricane-force winds, hail and heavy rain moved through Missouri leaving hundreds of homes and businesses damaged.

Fire officials say several people were injured in the storms late Thursday and early Friday.

Authorities in the Kansas City area say the worst damage is in the city's northern and eastern suburbs. The National Weather Service reported that winds reached 80 mph.

Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser said Friday that 100 homes suffered significant damage in the city alone.

In northeast Kansas City, trees were knocked from their roots and laying along the roads and in ditches.

Dozens of homes had chunks of their roofs missing. Some had their fences toppled. Police blocked off roads surrounding damaged neighborhoods Friday.

At least three tornadoes raked across central and northern Oklahoma, including one in Osage County near Tulsa that was an estimated 100 yards wide.

In Owasso, also near Tulsa, straight-line winds destroyed the $4.7 million TownPlace Suites Hotel, authorities said.

In other parts of the country a river that flooded parts of northern Maine dropped much faster than expected, allowing residents who fled their homes to return and assess the damage, officials said Friday.

The St. John River dipped below flood stage Friday, just two days after upward of 1,000 people were evacuated as the river reached the highest levels ever recorded. As many as 140 area homes were flooded.

The river's drop came as Gov. John Baldacci traveled to the region Friday for his second visit to get a firsthand look and talk to local residents.

A team from the Maine Department of Transportation and an inspector from Canada planned to get their first look at the International Bridge between Fort Kent and Clair, New Brunswick, Saturday morning to make sure that the two-lane bridge wasn?t moved from its supports by the fast-moving waters, said Mark Latti, a Maine transportation agency spokesman.

Meanwhile, three Texans were charged Thursday with starting a fire that has charred more than 2,000 acres near Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

The two men and a woman were camping Tuesday in the Kaibab National Forest when they left their campfire unattended after running out of water, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Flagstaff.

A second straight day of fierce wind Thursday hampered firefighters battling a blaze in central New Mexico's Manzano Mountains.

Fire officials estimated the acreage at 13,000, or about 20 square miles, by Thursday night. Peter D'Aquanni, a U.S. Forest Service public information officer, said crews tried to go in several times to get a count of what had been destroyed but were pushed back each time. Wind kept air drops of water and fire retardant grounded Thursday.

"We're pretty much going to have a carbon copy of yesterday again today," D'Aquanni said Thursday. Conditions are expected to be the same Friday, he said.

At least seven wildfires, two of which consumed more than 20,000 acres each, burned across Texas on Thursday, threatening homes, a wind farm and a $10 million vineyard, officials said.

A 21,000-acre blaze in western Texas neared a $280 million wind farm and an 800-acre vineyard, said Jeanne Eastham, a spokeswoman for the Texas Forest Service. The service had a mandatory evacuation for one ranch in the fire's path.

Cities along the Mississippi River valley are expected to get bad storms Friday, according to Tom Moore, lead meteorologist at The Weather Channel.

Moore said some areas along the Black Hills in South Dakota could receive up to 3 feet of snow and Rapid City may get up to a foot.

"It should be an active day from the Great Lakes all the way down," Moore said.

The storm system should ease up by Saturday, but will continue pouring rain from New York to the Southeast. And that, Moore said, could make for a soggy day at the Kentucky Derby.

"It's going to rain there in the morning for sure," Moore said. "But it should break up by midday."

Contributing: Alan Gomez in McLean, Va.; Associated Press

Website address: http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/2008-05-02-storms_N.htm

USA TODAY - Scientists call in the mechanical squirrels for research

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AMHERST, Mass.
By Stephanie Reitz, Associated Press

One gray squirrel, its bushy tail twitching, barked a warning as another scrounged for food nearby.

It was an ordinary spring day at Hampshire College, except that the rodent issuing the warning was powered by amps, not acorns.

Dubbed "Rocky" after the cartoon character, the robo-squirrel is working its way into Hampshire's live-squirrel clique, controlled by researchers several yards away with a laptop computer and binoculars.

Sarah Partan, an assistant professor in animal behavior at Hampshire, hopes that by capturing a close-up view of squirrels in nature, Rocky will help her team decode squirrels' communication techniques, social cues and survival instincts.

Rocky is among many robotic critters worldwide helping researchers observe animals in their natural environments rather than in labs. The research could let scientists better understand how animals work in groups, court, intimidate rivals and warn allies of danger.

In Indiana, for instance, a fake lizard shows off its machismo as researchers assess which actions intimidate and which attract real lizards. Pheromone-soaked cockroach counterfeits in Brussels, meanwhile, exert peer pressure on real roaches to move out of protective darkness. In California, a tiny video camera inside a fake female sage grouse records close-up details as it's wooed and more by the breed's unusually promiscuous males.

The research may even help explain similar instinctive behaviors in humans, researchers say.

"Animals and humans are all affected by behaviors, body postures and signals from each other that we may not be aware of," Partan said.

The use of fake critters to infiltrate real groups of animals is so new that few companies build or sell such tools to researchers.

Many of the scientists using animal doppelgangers have modified toy animals or, like Partan and her students, cobbled together their own with fake fur, small motors, circuits and other material. Partan, who created Rocky a few years ago with students when she taught at the University of South Florida, is constantly refining its actions and updating its technology.

Rocky's movement is controlled by basic computer programs, and it has tiny speakers inside that play recordings Partan purchased from an animal-sounds library at Cornell University.

One recent afternoon, she and students Maya Gounard, 20, and Andrew Fulmer, 19, brought Rocky out for field testing and placed him near real squirrels. Mounted on a board, he was shielded by a camouflage hood and a long cord connected him to the researchers' laptop.

After the computer's program flipped the hood open, Rocky went into a sequence of tail-flagging, barking and other motions squirrels recognize as warnings of danger.

The most successful experiments are when the real squirrels respond by "flagging" their own tail, halting their foraging to check for danger, scamper up a tree or take other actions that show they picked up on the signals, Partan said.

"We watch for a trade-off in their behavior," she said, pointing out a squirrel that jerked to its hind legs and froze, its eyes scanning the area as it heard Rocky's barks. "He gave up foraging to focus on being vigilant, so that's something we'd note as a discernible response."

They focus on whether squirrels react more strongly to Rocky's noises or movements or a combination that researchers call multi-modal signals.

Although animal behavior has been studied for years, much remains unknown about instinctive responses.

A particular sound may be the courting equivalent of, "Come over here, you sexy beast." But a tiny change can alter the message entirely, making it something akin to, "You're about to be torn to shreds if you don't get out of my territory."

"Whether it's a bunch of squirrels in a field or humans in a mall, there are general principles of behavior that seem to hold up across species lines," said Greg Demas, director of Indiana University's Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior and an associate professor of biology.

Robot critters also can help researchers discover how far a species can be pushed beyond its survival instincts.

Researchers at the Free University of Brussels, for instance, found that fake roaches doused in familiar pheromones became so accepted among their cockroach compatriots that the real bugs succumbed to the interlopers' peer pressure to move out of dark areas into the light.

In other experiments, a robotic lizard developed by Indiana University researcher Emilia Martins uses energetic push-ups to trigger similar displays of courtship, power and machismo among real lizards.

Depending on the fake lizard's prompting, the real critters react as if they're being taunted, threatened or titillated all of which gives researchers a chance to study the tiniest movements of their legs, eye flaps and other quirks.

"There's been the old, classic trade-off for years between the ecological relevance you get (researching) in the field, versus those studies in the lab where you can control the environment while knowing they're not going to react as much," Demas said. "Having these models out in the field is taking us to the next steps of the research."

Researchers say the applicability of fake animals in research can depend on the intelligence, size, eyesight and sense of smell in the real species.

"The bigger the animal is and the more complicated it is, the harder it is to have a proper robot that mimics the signals and has the right visual cues," said Cornell ornithology professor Jack Bradbury.

Bradbury's research has ranged from vocal mimicry in wild parrots to the sexual choices of hermaphroditic sea slugs. He hasn't used robots but does use sound cues emanating from speakers hidden in bushes to manipulate animals in the wild by "talking" with them or playing noises they recognize.

"Wild parrots are pretty smart, but I've gone on for hours interacting with them that way," he said. "They come up to the bush and look at it and don't see the birds, but they keep communicating with the belief there's another parrot in there somewhere."

He said mechanical animals aren't used "just to be clever."

"The real issue from a scientist's point of view is, 'Can I come up with a robot that will help me answer a question that I couldn't answer otherwise?'"

Website address: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/robotics/2008-05-02-robot-research_N.htm

Reuters - IBM launches "green energy" tools for data centers

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IBM launches "green energy" tools for data centers

Wednesday, Apr 30, 2008 11:33PM UTC

By Philipp Gollner

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp <IBM.N> on Wednesday launched tools to reduce computer energy consumption as IBM hopes to boost its business of selling power-saving technologies.

The products, announced at an IBM business-partner conference in Los Angeles, are designed to measure power consumption and reduction across energy-hungry computer data centers that run corporate networks and Web sites.

The world's largest technology services company is offering software that tracks and caps data-center energy consumption, including power for air conditioning to cool server computers.

IBM is also extending to 27 more countries a program begun in seven countries last year that lets companies earn and trade certificates awarded for verified energy savings.

"Energy efficiency has become a critical business metric, like product reliability and customer satisfaction," William Zeitler, head of IBM's systems and technology group, said in an interview with Reuters.

IBM is expanding in so-called green data centers as it looks for new growth areas in developed regions such as Western Europe as well as in developing countries that are spending heavily on new technology infrastructure.

"The opportunity for us is to go to clients -- there are an enormous number who are either transforming their data centers or will have to transform them," Zeitler said. "This is a critically important problem in the industry."

IBM's green data center initiative has already begun to pay off a year after it was launched. It generated nearly $200 million of technology-services contract signings in the first quarter and about $300 million in the fourth, Chief Financial Officer Mark Loughridge said in recent earnings presentations.

Many of the countries added to the certificate program are in emerging markets in Asia and the Middle East, where Armonk, New York-based IBM has been generating double-digit percentage revenue growth from building technology infrastructure in telecoms, transportation and energy, among other areas.

Growth is also strong in North America and Western Europe, where banks, for example, are trying to rein in energy costs from running massive volumes of financial transactions on their computers. Banks are among IBM's biggest customers.

"It's really taken off in North America in particular and Western Europe," said Joe Clabby, president and industry research analyst at Clabby Analytics. "Countries that are not energy self-sufficient are jumping on this initiative."

(Editing by Braden Reddall)

Reuters - Lego's latest brick trick: a virtual world

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Lego's latest brick trick: a virtual world

Thursday, May 01, 2008 7:41PM UTC

By Reed Stevenson

BILLUND, Denmark (Reuters) - Millions of children pick up Lego bricks each year to spend hours -- 5 billion, in fact -- creating their own imaginary worlds.

Now the manufacturer of the little plastic playing blocks wants to take them online to "Lego Universe," a virtual world for fans of the ubiquitous toy.

Lego Universe joins an established trend where toys and video games are cross-promoted, such as Nintendo Co Ltd's Pokemon TV show, game card, toys and video game franchise, and Mattel Inc's Barbie online shopping and gaming portal at barbie.com.

To launch next year as a massively multiplayer online game, or MMOG to those in the gaming community, Lego Universe will let players create online versions of themselves and interact with each other.

"We want to make the connection between digital play and physical play," said Mark William Hansen who is in charge of Lego Universe. "The physical experience is our core, the digital experience will never replace the physical experience, but it's a nice add-on."

Hansen, speaking at the headquarters of Europe's largest toymaker, said he had been working on his doctoral thesis with Lego Group on mass customization and ended up joining the family-owned company to create the game.

Lego Universe will blend real-world style environments with characters and buildings made of digital plastic pieces. A forest would have less bricks in the background, while a city would lend itself to being made nearly entirely with bricks.

Each player's avatar, or online persona, will be a customizable digital version of Lego minifigures, the tiny characters included with most Lego kits that also feature in existing Lego video games such as Lego Star Wars.

That's not surprising. Lego employees are just as likely to pull out a Lego figure of themselves, with name, phone number and e-mail address rather than a traditional business card.

Lego Universe will initially launch as a PC game, available in stores or as a download, and may eventually be available on other gaming platforms. It will operate as a pay-as-you-go subscription service at a "competitive price", Hansen said.

Most social online worlds have their own currency or monetary system, and Lego Universe will also require users to spend virtual money to buy virtual bricks. But rather than winning or beating an opponent, players build capital by spending time in the game.

"The more a child plays, they collect more coins and more bricks. The more you play, the more you get to build things," Hansen said.

The other crucial element of Lego Universe, like other MMOGs, is that users will be encouraged to interact with each other, to build and play with virtual Lego bricks as they would on a carpet littered with real Lego pieces.

"We want kids to come and play together," Hansen said.

BRICK-BY-BRICK

Lego Universe is part of a bigger plan by the company to revitalize itself after a near-collapse five years ago, when the company founded in 1932 posted its first loss.

Lego executives say the company lost its way by branching into non-core areas like television shows and toys that required less building and weren't customizable like the core Lego bricks.

"It was a near-death experience," said Henrik Lorensen, vice president of business development at Lego.

Lorensen said Lego was distracted from its main area of expertise of providing toys children could use to build their own worlds and unleash their imagination, or as he says, "the joy of building, of creation, that you have when you play."

Lorensen says the approach of "making good, classic products in the right way" is reflected in Lego Universe.

About two dozen people at Lego are working on the game while an additional group of nearly 70 are working to create the online world in Denver, Colorado, where game developer and Lego partner NetDevil is based.

The digital efforts fit in with Lego's popular video game franchise and also with Lego Factory, a digital design system that allows users to build Lego designs and then order the necessary components in one package from Lego.

Through such efforts, Lego believes it can reach even more people than the 400 million who play with Lego bricks every year. Lego has expanded its line to include kits tailored for girls, featuring princesses and horses and castles.

Lego Universe, the company believes, will encompass all of that and more, as the name suggests. Users will be able to create, destroy, enact battles, or just fiddle with bricks in a world of their own.

It will also give the company the ability to reintroduce bricks that are no longer made in Lego factories and potentially offer all the 6,000 types of bricks made by Lego.

But there will always be a link back to the physical world.

Just like with Lego Factory, users will also be able to order the physical versions of their online creations and have them delivered to their door.

(Editing by Tim Dobbyn)