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Microsoft
announces $30 billion share buyback
Redmond: Microsoft has said it will use its cash
reserves for a $30 billion share buyback over four years
and to pay out a special dividend amounting to $32 billion.The
world's biggest software firm said the moves were part
of an effort to deliver an estimated $75 billion to its
shareholders. Additionally, Microsoft will double its
current annual dividend of 16 cents per share to a quarterly
dividend of eight cents per share.
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BTG
and Teleshuttle sue Microsoft and Apple for patent infringements
West
Conshohocken, USA: BTG International Inc., Teleshuttle
Corporation and Teleshuttle Technologies, LLC have announced
that they have filed various suits in the Federal Court
in the Northern District of California against Microsoft
for infringement of Teleshuttle Technologies' patents
covering Microsoft's active desktop and offline browsing
technologies as well as Microsoft's and Apple's web-enabled
software update technologies. The suits ask for unspecified
damages for past infringing activity and an injunction
against future use of the technologies. This move follows
Microsoft and Apple's delay in entering into a licensing
agreement with BTG on commercially reasonable terms.
While the suit against Microsoft charges that the patents
6,125,388, 6,611,862 and 6,658,464, granted by the US
Patent and Trademark Office on September 26, 2000, August
26, 2003, and December 2, 2003, respectively, are a result
of the work of the inventor, Richard Reisman, in the early
1990s, well before the Internet became mainstream. While
seeking to create new methods and products to enhance
the usefulness of online computing, Reisman conceived
and created his inventions. He sought out the assistance
of BTG in 1998 to help protect his inventions through
patenting. The patents are owned by Teleshuttle Technologies,
LLC with BTG as the exclusive worldwide licensee. The
suit against Microsoft and Apple is with regard to infringement
of United States patent number 6,557,054. Specifically,
BTG asserts that Microsoft and Apple operating systems,
as well as Microsoft's Office products, incorporate the
patented technologies.
BTG International Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of
BTG plc, a world leader in patent and technology licensing
for over 50 years. BTG has commercialized important innovations,
including Magnetic Resonance Imaging, working closely
with Professor Sir Peter Mansfield, who was jointly awarded
the 2003 Nobel Prize for Medicine, and others who made
contributory inventions to MRI. BTG has also commercialized
Multilevel Cell Memory, Campath(R) (alemtuzumab), the
first monoclonal antibody treatment for chronic lymphocytic
leukemia, and recombinant Factor IX blood clotting protein.
BTG operates through wholly owned subsidiaries BTG International
Ltd. and BTG International Inc. in the UK and USA, respectively.
Richard Reisman is a long-time leader and inventor in
the fields of e-business, interactive media, and information
services, and is also the president and founder of Teleshuttle
Corporation.
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Motorola
and Nextel clarification on A-GPS services
Plantation, USA: Motorola Inc. and Nextel Communications
Inc. have issued a statement announcing they are aware
of a software issue affecting assisted global positioning
satellite location (A-GPS) services for the Motorola i205,
i305, i530, i710, i730, i733, i736 and i830 iDEN(R) phones.
Engineers from Motorola and Nextel are working to determine
the root cause and design a permanent fix to remedy the
situation. For customers using the Motorola i58 and i88
iDEN phones, the A-GPS commercial location services capabilities
are fully functional.
A-GPS utilizes a combination of satellite, network and
software technology to identify the approximate latitude
and longitude of the wireless phone. Nextel's customers
use A-GPS for such purposes as locating fleets of vehicles
as they travel or downloading real time weather updates.
Additionally, Nextel's Motorola iDEN phones continue to
be fully operational with regard to other services —
cellular phone calls, Nextel Direct Connect(R) calls,
wireless data such as text messaging and SMS, voice mail,
Caller ID, etc. Nextel has temporarily disabled the transmission
of the A-GPS enabled location information for E911 Phase
II location services until a permanent solution to the
software issue is available.
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Intelligent
video surveillance deployed at US base in Djibouti
Washington: Pyramid Vision, a leader in intelligent
video surveillance, has announced the successful installation
of its Vision Alert 1.4 system at a key U.S. military
base in Djibouti. The system was installed in May 2004
and successfully completed operational testing and evaluation
this month. The Vision Alert Suite of video content analysis
applications transform video cameras into intelligent
security sensors by detecting perimeter breaches, spotting
abandoned or loitering objects and detecting and tracking
moving targets or suspicious objects - even in low light
or bad weather conditions.
Vision Alert 1.4 can also detect and track moving objects
from a moving platform such as a pan/tilt/zoom (PTZ) camera
in pan mode. This unique 'motion-on-motion' capability
enables cost-efficient solutions that utilize both fixed
and PTZ camera types to address a wide array of video
surveillance situations. Founded in 1997 as a venture
of the Sarnoff Corporation, Pyramid Vision (www.pyramidvision.com)
develops and manufactures applications that enhance the
ability of security operators, public safety authorities
and military forces to understand and respond to physical
security threats. Pyramid Vision products are based on
years of both privately funded and government-sponsored
research and development with agencies such as the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Technical
Support Working Group, the Office of National Drug Control
Policy, and the Department of Defense.
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