Yahoo to buy e-mail software maker Zimbra

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Yahoo Inc. is buying e-mail service Zimbra Inc. for $350 million in an all-cash deal that may open a new revenue channel for the slumping Internet icon.

The acquisition announced Monday represents Yahoo's second significant expenditure this month as co-founder Jerry Yang spearheads an effort to breathe new life into the Sunnyvale-based company.

Two weeks ago, Yahoo disclosed plans to buy an Internet direct marketing network, BlueLithium, for $300 million. That purchase marks another step in Yahoo's attempt to sell more advertising on other Web sites besides its own, hoping to boost its sagging profits.

With the Zimbra purchase, Yahoo appears poised to branch in a new direction that may intensify the company's already fierce competition with rivals Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc.

San Mateo-based Zimbra specializes in selling e-mail software and hosting services to businesses, universities and Internet service providers.

That's something Microsoft has been doing for years with its Exchange platform. Google entered the market earlier this year when it began offering e-mail accounts to businesses as part of a software bundle that costs $50 per user annually.

"My guess is that this deal is partly a response to Google," said e-mail analyst David Ferris.

Zimbra's customers include one of the nation's largest Internet service providers, Comcast Corp., as well as several well-known companies, including H&R Block Inc. and Raytheon Corp., and prominent schools like UCLA and Georgia Tech. For the most part, though, Ferris said Zimbra has had trouble getting companies to buy its hosted e-mail service.

Privately held Zimbra doesn't disclose its revenue. Ferris estimated Zimbra's annual revenue range between $10 million and $20 million, figures that indicate Yahoo is paying a steep price.

Founded in 2003, Zimbra employs more than 100 workers. Its chief executive and co-founder, Satish Dharmaraj, plans to remain with Yahoo after the deal closes in the fourth quarter. The fate of Zimbra's brand hasn't been determined.

Besides providing Yahoo with a springboard for selling e-mail services to companies and universities, Zimbra also could provide tools to add more bells and whistles to the free, Web-based e-mail service that Yahoo has been peddling to consumers for the past decade.

After buying a startup called Oddpost in 2004, Yahoo drew upon some of the technology that it picked up in the deal to upgrade its free e-mail service.

"Zimbra's tremendous talent and innovative technology will help to extend our core mail offerings, further strengthening our strong leadership position in this space," said Yang, who took over as Yahoo's CEO three months ago after Chairman Terry Semel relinquished the job amid deepening investor discontent.

Yahoo's free e-mail service recently has been losing traffic, according to the research firm comScore Media Metrix. In August, Microsoft's Live Hotmail service attracted 255.3 million visitors worldwide to eclipse Yahoo's e-mail traffic of 254.9 million, which represented a 1 percent decrease from the same time last year, Media Metrix said.

Google's Gmail ranked a distant third at 82.9 million worldwide visitors, up 64 percent from last year. Google opened its e-mail service to all comers seven months ago.

Yahoo shares rose 22 cents to close at $24.95, then dipped by a penny in extended trading after the Zimbra deal was announced. The company's stock price has plunged by 36 percent since the end of 2005.

Iceland phasing out fossil fuels for clean energy

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (CNN) -- Iceland may be best known for world-famous musical export Bjork but there's a new star quickly gaining this island nation worldwide acclaim -- clean energy.

This hydrogen fuel cell car is leading an energy revolution in Iceland.

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For more than 50 years Iceland has been decreasing its dependence on fossil fuels by tapping the natural power all around this rainy, windswept rock of fire.

Waterfalls, volcanoes, geysers and hot springs provide Icelanders with abundant electricity and hot water.

Virtually all of the country's electricity and heating comes from domestic renewable energy sources -- hydroelectric power and geothermal springs.

It's pollution-free and cheap.

Yet these energy pioneers are still dependent on imported oil to operate their vehicles and thriving fishing industry.

Iceland's geographic isolation in the North Atlantic makes it expensive to ship in gasoline -- it costs almost $8 a gallon (around $2 a liter).

Iceland ranks 53rd in the world in greenhouse gas emissions per capita, according to the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center -- the primary climate-change data and information analysis center of the U.S. Department of Energy.

Retired University of Iceland Professor Bragi Arnason has come up with a solution: Use hydrogen to power transportation. Hydrogen is produced with water and electricity, and Iceland has lots of both.

"Iceland is the ideal country to create the world's first hydrogen economy," Arnason explains. His big idea has earned him the nickname "Professor Hydrogen."

Arnason has caught the attention of General Motors, Toyota and DaimlerChrysler, who are using the island-nation as a test market for their hydrogen fuel cell prototypes.

One car getting put through its paces is the Mercedes Benz A-class F-cell -- an electric car powered by a DaimlerChrysler fuel cell. Fuel cells generate electricity by converting hydrogen and oxygen into water. And fuel cell technology is clean -- the only by-product is water. Watch the F-cell navigate through Reykjavik »

"It's just like a normal car," says Asdis Kritinsdottir, project manager for Reykjavik Energy. Except the only pollution coming out of the exhaust pipe is water vapor. It can go about 100 miles on a full tank. When it runs out of fuel the electric battery kicks in, giving the driver another 18 miles -- hopefully enough time to get to a refueling station. Filling the tank is similar to today's cars -- attach a hose to the car's fueling port, hit "start" on the pump and stand back. The process takes about five to six minutes. See some of the F-cell's unique features »

In 2003, Reykjavik opened a hydrogen fueling station to test three hydrogen fuel cell buses. The station was integrated into an existing gasoline and diesel station. The hydrogen gas is produced by electrolysis -- sending a current through water to split it into hydrogen and oxygen. The public buses could run all day before needing refueling.

The bus project lasted three years and cost around $10 million.

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The city will need five refueling stations in addition to the one the city already has to support its busy ring road, according to Arnason. The entire nation could get by on 15 refueling stations -- a minimum requirement.

Within the year, 30-40 hydrogen fuel-cell cars will hit Reykjavik streets. Local energy company employees will do most of the test-driving but three cars will be made available to The Hertz Corp., giving Icelanders a chance to get behind the wheel. Learn more about fuel cells »

"I need a car," says Petra Svenisdottir, an intern at Reykjavik Energy. Svenisdottir, 28, commutes to work from her home in Hafnarfjorour to Reykjavik. The journey takes her about 15 minutes if she can beat traffic. "If I didn't have a car I would have to take two or three buses and wait at each bus stop to arrive at work more than an hour later, cold and wet!"

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Most Icelanders drive cars, says Arnason. Around 300,000 people live in a place about the size of the U.S. state of Kentucky. Transportation is limited to cars, buses and boats. "Everyone has a car here," Arnason says. And it's very typical for an Icelandic family to own two cars. Arnason drives a small SUV.

Fuel cell cars are expected to go on sale to the public in 2010. Carmakers have promised Arnason they will keep costs down and the government has said it will offer citizens tax breaks.

He figures it will take an additional 4 percent of power to produce the hydrogen Iceland would need to meet its transportation requirements.

Once Iceland's vehicles are converted over to hydrogen, the fishing fleet will follow. It won't be easy because of current technological limits and the high cost of storing large amounts of hydrogen, but Arnason feels confident it can happen. He predicts Iceland will be fossil fuel free by 2050.

"We are a very small country but we have all the same infrastructure of big nations,"

Digital TV increases its UK reach

A billboard with a digital countdown has been erected in Whitehaven

Digital television is now installed in 84% of UK homes, according to the latest research.

It marks a 13% increase since 2006 - the biggest year-on-year increase yet.

The figures were released by media watchdog Ofcom in the run-up to digital switchover, which begins in Whitehaven, Cumbria, in October.

Chief executive Ed Richards said the figures were "extremely encouraging" with less than a month before Whitehaven's analogue switch-off.

In the second quarter of this year (April to June), nearly two million Freeview boxes were sold.

Digital terrestrial is now the most commonly used platform on main TV sets, available in more than 9.1 million homes.

Satellite - both pay monthly and free-to-view - follows closely behind, with a presence in 9 million homes.

Sky now has nearly 8.1 million subscribers, with 77,000 new customers in the second quarter of 2007.

The total number of homes with cable television also continued to rise, with more than 3.4 million subscribers at the end of June.

There are about 35 million secondary sets in the UK i.e. outside the main living room. More than 10 million of these have also been converted to digital.

Analogue TV is expected to be redundant across the UK by 2012.

Fight cyberbullies, schools told

Fight cyberbullies, schools told

Bullying has evolved, ministers say

Schools are being given guidance urging them to take firm action against pupils who use mobile phones and the internet to bully other children and teachers.

More than a third of 12 to 15-year-olds have faced some kind of cyberbullying, according to a government study.

Ministers are also launching an awareness campaign on the social networking sites used by many pupils.

Schools have been told they can confiscate mobile phones and how to get hurtful material pulled from websites.

'Happy slapping'

Schools Secretary Ed Balls said cyber bullying was "insidious" and had grown with technology and changes in society.

Schools needed to get to grips with newer forms of bullying, he said.

Examples cited include threats, intimidation, harassment or "cyber-stalking", unauthorised publication of private information or images, impersonation and so-called "happy slapping".

Mr Balls also called for action against anti-gay bullying -calling for schools to promote a "culture of respect" and saying that "homophobic insults should be viewed as seriously as racism".

Ed Balls said: "The vast majority of schools are safe environments to learn in. However, we know that behaviour, particularly bullying, is a key concern for parents and bullying of any kind is unacceptable.

"Cyberbullying is a particularly insidious type of bullying as it can follow young people wherever they go and the anonymity that it seemingly affords to the perpetrator can make it even more stressful for the victim.

"One message that I want to get across to young people is that bystanders can inadvertently become perpetrators - simply by passing on videos or images, they are playing a part in bullying.

TIPS TO AVOID CYBER BULLYING Don't respond to malicious texts or e-mails Save evidence Report cyber bullying Keep passwords safe Don't give out personal details online Send us your comments

"We now have an advanced approach to cyber bullying, thanks in no small part to the co-operation with the industry, teaching unions and charities."

The guide being sent out to schools in England says cyberbullying can be an extension of face-to-face bullying, "with technology providing the bully with another route to harass their target".

But it says it differs in that it invades home and personal space and the perpetrator can use the cloak of anonymity.

Among the new guidance are tips for drawing up anti-bullying policies to cover cyber bullying, how to have offensive or malicious material removed from websites, and advice on confiscating equipment used in bullying, such as mobile phones.

Offensive weapons call

The new measures were developed in consultation with anti-bullying experts, mobile phone companies and websites including Bebo, MySpace and YouTube.

Teaching unions say children are not the only victims of cyberbullying and that school staff are increasingly falling victim to it.

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT teachers' union, said teachers would be pleased that ministers had recognised the problem.

"Mobile phones capture videos and pictures of teachers at work," she said.

Misuse of internet sites can destroy teachers' confidence and professional reputation Chris Keates, NASUWT

"The often distorted images are transferred to the phones of other pupils within the class, across the school or uploaded on to the internet. E-mails are used to abuse, harass and insult.

"Misuse of internet sites can destroy teachers' confidence and professional reputation and provide yet another vehicle for false allegations against staff."

The union is calling for pupils' mobile phones to be classed as potentially offensive weapons and for them to be banned during school sessions.

HAVE YOUR SAY The advent of cyberbullying is a symptom of a wider problem in society Maria, Brighton Send us your comments

Mick Brookes, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), said: "Sadly, bullying is a negative feature of any society and will only be countered by strong action against bullies and a bullying culture.

"We would encourage all partners in the world of education to play a part in stamping out wanton actions that negatively affect the lives of others.

"Many schools harness the student voice, through student councils and other means, to counter bullying in the most effective way, because students are closer to the lives of their peers."

The ATL teachers' union also backed the need for action against homophobic bullying - saying that it remained a "pervasive" problem in schools.

A survey for the union found that 70% of teachers had heard children in their schools using homophobic language.

Iraqi bloggers at home and abroad

Several of the Iraqi bloggers featured in previous roundups have left the country.

Here's a snapshot of some of those still writing from inside Iraq - and some of those who have left.

This page contains links to external websites which are not subject to the usual BBC editorial controls.

neurotic-iraqi-wife.blogspot.com

Neurotic Iraqi Wife's blog image

Neurotic Iraqi Wife is an Iraqi-British woman living and working in the Green Zone. Here's her blog on the most important recent event: Iraq's victory over Saudi Arabia in football's Asian Cup.

Monday, 30 July 2007:

As our team scored its goal, we all started jumping up and down. They all got up from their chairs screaming, shouting, dancing, singing. It was amazing. I cried, I cried for it was extremely emotional. One of the US generals also joined the celebrations.

...It was nice to see everyone enjoying the moment. Everyone, without any exceptions.

In a war-torn country filled with rivers of blood and streets of charred flesh, it was as if God was smiling on us again.

How I wish I was in the Red Zone. How I wish I was amidst all this. The Green Zone came alive, and so did the rest of the country.