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Blizzard and Activision to merge
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Blizzard and Activision to merge.

Blizzard and Activision to mergeBlizzard the makers of World Of Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® have announced it's merger with Activision the makers of Guitar Hero®, Call of Duty®, and Tony Hawk video games.

This merger will create "ACTIVISION BLIZZARD", which will become the world's largest and most profitable pure play video game publisher.

Activision, one of the world's leading independent publishers of interactive entertainment, is best known for its top- selling franchises, including Guitar Hero®, Call of Duty® and the Tony Hawk series, as well as Spider-Man™, X-Men™, Shrek®, James Bond™ and TRANSFORMERS™. Blizzard Entertainment, a division of Vivendi Games, owns the #1 multi-player online role-playing game franchise, World Of Warcraft, which currently has over 9.3 million subscribers worldwide. Blizzard's World Of Warcraft, Warcraft®, StarCraft® and Diablo® games account for four of the top-five best-selling PC game titles of all time. Vivendi Games also owns popular franchises, including Crash Bandicoot™ and Spyro™.

Jean-Bernard Lévy, Chairman of the Management Board and Chief Executive Officer of Vivendi stated: "This alliance is a major strategic step for Vivendi and is another illustration of our drive to extend our presence in the entertainment sector. By combining Vivendi's games business with Activision, we are creating a worldwide leader in a high-growth industry. We are excited about the opportunities for Activision Blizzard as a broader entertainment software platform. We believe this transaction will create significant value for Activision Blizzard and Vivendi stockholders. In Activision, we have found a partner with a highly complementary business and strong operating team. Bobby Kotick and Brian Kelly are industry pioneers, well known for creating shareholder value. The combined strength of the existing management teams at both companies will set the stage for further profitable growth of Activision Blizzard. We look forward to being an active and supportive majority stockholder in a company that is poised to lead the worldwide interactive entertainment industry in the years ahead."

Mike Morhaime, President and Chief Executive Officer of Blizzard, added: "Blizzard's industry-leading PC games business, with a track record of nine consecutive bestsellers and a global subscriber base of more than 9.3 million World Of Warcraft players, is an exceptional fit for Activision's highly profitable console games business. From our interactions with the Activision team, it is clear we have much in common in terms of our approaches to game development and publishing. Above all, we are looking forward to continue creating great games for Blizzard gamers around the world, and we believe this new partnership will help us to do that even better than before."
 
Google to compete in auction of wireless spectrum in the US
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Google to compete in auction of wireless spectrum in the US.

Google to compete in auction of wireless spectrum in the USGoogle announced today that it will apply to participate in the Federal Communications Commission's upcoming auction of wireless spectrum in the 700 megahertz (MHz) band.

As part of the United States nationally mandated transition to digital television, the 700 MHz spectrum auction, which begins on the 24th of January 2008, will free up spectrum airwaves for more efficient wireless Internet service for consumers. Advocacy by public interest groups and Google earlier this year helped ensure that regardless of which bidders win a key portion of the spectrum up for auction (the so-called "C Block"), they will be required to allow their users to download any software application they want on their mobile device, and to use any mobile devices they would like on that wireless network. The winner must ensure these rights for consumers if the reserve price of $4.6 billion for the C Block is met at auction.

"We believe it's important to put our money where our principles are," said Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO, Google. "Consumers deserve more competition and innovation than they have in today's wireless world. No matter which bidder ultimately prevails, the real winners of this auction are American consumers who likely will see more choices than ever before in how they access the Internet."

Google's formal application to participate in the 700 MHz auction is due to be filed with the FCC on Monday the 3rd of December 2007, the required first step in the auction process. Google's application is reported to not include any partners.
 
New Zealand Hacker being interviewed
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18 year old New Zealand Hacker being interviewed.

An 18 year old New Zealand Hacker interviewed.An 18 year old New Zealander, who goes by the cyber ID 'AKILL', is at the centre of an international cyber crime operation, and is currently being interviewed by police and an expert from the FBI.

He is thought to be the ringleader of an international botnet group called A-Team, and has been named as a co-conspirator in a large-scale cyber attack in the United States.

A botnet is a collection of computers that have been infected with malware and have basically been hijacked by the 'botherders'. The infected computer will appear to be running normally, leaving the owner unaware that their computer has been hijacked while, in the background, the 'botherders' are using their computer's processing power to conduct criminal acts.

Read the full story here.
 
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