Adobe acquires Macromedia

Adobe Systems has acquired rival software developer Macromedia in a deal originally valued at $3.4 billion, reports Associated Press.

This will put the ubiquitous Adobe Acrobat document-sharing program under the same roof as Macromedia Flash software for creating and viewing interactive content on Web sites independent of operating systems or devices.

Adobe, which also makes the Photoshop image-editing line, also gets the Web site-building application Dreamweaver.

The combined company will keep the Adobe name and San Jose headquarters.

The companies said there would be cost-saving measures, but did not mention layoffs specifically.

Opera Software has introduced improved security against Internet fraud and added new voice technology to its Web browser, reports Reuters.

"Security is very important because that is the thing that makes people switch to a new browser," says Jon von Tetzchner, chief executive of Opera.

The security feature for Opera 8 gives extra information on the identity of suspicious sites.

It also includes technology in which a computer-generated voice can be used to read out highlighted text from Web pages.

Samsung Electronics is planning to enter the miniature hard disk drive market later this year, reports PC World.

Its first product will be a 0.85-inch type and have a storage capacity of 4GB.

This will put Samsung Electronics head-to-head with Toshiba, which is currently the only company that has a 0.85-inch drive on the market.

Competing products are all based on 1-inch drive platters that offer more storage capacity but are physically larger.

The Nokia 9300 smart phone has been released to the local market.

Its features a 180-degree opening angle and a Bluetooth SIM access profile.

"The phone is targeted towards high-end business professionals, seeking corporate business solutions," says Julian Simpkins, country manager of Nokia.