Lobbying fight heats up over alternative broadband delivery method...

Microsoft, Google and Dell have formed the backbone of a six-partner coalition named the Wireless Innovation Alliance. Their goal is to use the so-called unlicensed "white space" spectrum -- partially freed by the migration to digital television -- to offer un-served consumers inexpensive Internet access via the airwaves (with these companies obviously providing the hardware, software and most importantly to Google: ads).

Google co-founder Larry Page has dubbed the technology "Wi-Fi on steroids," and has declared that he's "100 percent confident" that white space broadband is inevitable. Unfortunately, initial FCC tests of the technology's transmission detection and avoidance capability have been hit and miss (though dependent on who you ask). The push also has some very deep pocketed opponents.

Full article: broadbandreports.com 

Labels: airwaves, broadband, Larry Page, white space

Page sees slivers of unused wireless spectrum filling a role similar to Wi-Fi -- free and available widely across the United States.

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) co-founder Larry Page intensified the campaign to make "white spaces" spectrum available for use by mobile phones and other wireless devices in a visit to Washington lawmakers this week.

Page toured the Federal Communications Commission and Congress during the week, meeting with FCC officials and members of Congress, including John Dingell, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Underlying issues are whether the slivers of unused spectrum will cause interference with other spectrum and whether white spaces could be auctioned.

Full article: informationweek.com 

Labels: Larry Page, Washington, White Spaces, wireless

Google executives convened an emergency meeting last night to discuss the implications of a possible revived deal between Yahoo! and Microsoft.

The pair are understood to be negotiating a deal concerning the control of advertisements that are displayed next to internet search results, a market that is dominated by Google. The joint venture could be sealed in the next few days.

Speaking at the Google Zeitgeist conference in Hertfordshire, hosted by the internet company’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Eric Schmidt, the chief executive, said: “After this press conference the three of us will meet and decide what our response is.”

The three companies are fighting over online advertising, which is thought to be worth about $40 billion a year and is expected to double by 2010.

Read more: timesonline.co.uk 

Labels: Eric Schmidt, Larry Page, microsoft, Sergey Brin, Yahoo

The wedding of Larry Page, the co-founder of Google, on Sir Richard Branson's luxury Caribbean island has generated a swirl of excitement despite attempts to keep the nuptials private.

Up to 600 people were expected to witness Page tie the knot with doctoral student Lucy Southworth on Necker Island, Branson's 74-acre British Virgin Islands hideaway.

The Virgin boss's involvement reportedly even stretched to performing the best man's duties for his fellow billionaire.

Page had been labelled one of the world's most eligible bachelors, with a fortune estimated at $18.5bn (£9.1bn). Attempts to keep details of the bash under wraps were not wholly successful, with various US newspapers and blogs reporting details from the exclusive gathering.

Read more: guardian.co.uk 

Labels: Larry Page, Lucy Southworth, wedding

Larry Page, the billionaire co-founder of Google, remains the world’s richest bachelor at least for another 3 weeks.

6 months after the Jewish marriage of his friend and partner Sergey Brin with Anne Wojcicki in the Carribean, Larry Page is planning to marry his girlfriend Lucy Southworth. This time the marriage is not planned under the “Huppa” although Larry Page is also Jewish on his mother’s side.

Read more: israel-times.com 

Labels: Larry Page, Lucy Southworth, wedding

SO JERRY YANG is no longer just the chief Yahoo, whatever that means. Terry Semel has vacated Yahoo's CEO office and Jerry Yang has set up shop there. At the same time, Sue Decker has stepped into the president's role. While Terry Semel's departure didn't come as a great surprise to anyone in the search space, Jerry Yang's appointment as CEO did raise a few eyebrows. In retrospect, the move seems to make a lot of sense but in the numerous conversations I've had on this topic in the last few weeks, no one mentioned Yang's name as Yahoo's possible savior. With this move will come the inevitable speculation about how this will bolster Yahoo's chances of competing against Google. Just last week I was interviewed by Bloomberg TV and was asked about that very topic. At that time I mentioned that the biggest difference between the two was the lack of corporate focus at Yahoo and the fact that focus, at least on the search side, has never been an issue for Google.

Full article: mediapost.com 

Labels: Jerry Yang, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Yahoo