MS rebuffed in Google take-over bid

The New York Times and Australian news site SMH report that Internet search leader Google has rejected a takeover bid from Microsoft.

Microsoft`s bid for the privately held company was termed a merger and "underscored the huge value attached to Google", founded five years ago by two Stanford University graduates, Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Both Google and Microsoft executives refused to comment.

Motorola, the world`s second-largest mobile phone maker, has launched a mobile phone featuring Linux and chips from Intel, reports PC World.

The high-end smart phone, the A760, marks the first time the company has used both Java and Linux in a handset, according to a Motorola representative. The phone is also notable for its use of a chip by Intel, the PXA262 processor, which uses stacked flash memory and a smaller design than previous chips.

When Microsoft launches Virtual PC 2004, a Linux version of the software won`t be along for the ride - at least not officially, reports eWeek.

Microsoft confirmed that an upgrade to Virtual PC - software it purchased from Connectix in February that lets users run multiple operating systems simultaneously - is close to being released to manufacturing. However, the new version will no longer offer official support for BSD Unix, Linux, NetWare or Solaris on Intel.

A Chinese court has opened the appeal trial of four Internet dissidents, to decide if they must serve up to 10 years in jail for posting their views on social issues online, reports Yahoo News.

Xu Wei, Yang Zili, Zhang Honghai and Jin Haike are scheduled to appear at a Beijing Higher People`s Court five months after they were sentenced for subverting state power, the Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said.

Following a growing number of reports of problems with using external FireWire 800 hard drives on Mac OS X 10.3, Apple has issued a blanket warning to users of all OS X versions.

eWeek reports the warning had been posted on Apple`s Web site. The "special message" said the company had identified an issue with external FireWire hard drives. It pointed to the Oxford Semiconductor 922 bridge chipset with Version 1.02 firmware as the source of the problem. Apple was unavailable for comment.