Yahoo Blows a Raspberry, but the Buying Goes On

Buy is the word of the day today among the Big Boys of Tech, with just about everybody looking to add someone else to their list of acquisitions. Without further adieu, here's the rundown.

Of course, the biggest brouhaha in the buyout realm is Microsoft's bid for Yahoo, which earned Big Evil a resounding "Sod off" from the Board of Directors — apparently, they felt the $44 billion offer was "undervalued." Meanwhile, they're reportedly scrambling to reignite merger talks with AOL, along with all the other potential deals they're exploring. Getting the virtual bitten-thumb doesn't seem to have cooled the mood in Redmond, as the Empire was busy celebrating the acquisition of Danger, the company best known for building T-Moble's Sidekick. Something tells us we aren't the first outlet to ponder the irony of Microsoft looking for more danger...

Meanwhile, Big G — the third leg in the Microsoft-Yahoo kerfluffle — was busying itself elsewhere, with reports circulating that the search giant wants a piece of CNET. Nobody's willing to talk about it, except the analysts of course, but investors were certainly taking notice, pushing both company's shares up nicely. Google also made waves last week with the introduction of a new edition of Google Apps which will be able to circumvent network security restrictions in corporate offices, allowing workers to adopt the package even if their managers won't give the green light. Google swears it's just about teamwork, but one wonders how long it will take until the seething IT managers grab their torches and head for the castle — err, Googleplex.

While Google waits for the IT mob to arrive, the wait is over for those anxious to see the first deployment of Google's Android mobile platform. A range of companies have announced they will have prototypes of Android phones on display at this week's Mobile World Congress — including Texas Instruments, ARM Holdings, and Qualcomm, among others — and T-Mobile is pledging to have Android phones on sale before the end of the year.

In other mobile Linux news, the LiMo Foundation has gotten a boost this week, as a number of vendors supporting the rival LiPS Forum have announced plans to jump ship and join LiMo. LiMo announced today that it will be unveiling a variety of handsets utilizing its platform during the Mobile World Congress.

That's all for now, back tonight with Spanish socializing, disappearing Polaroids, and the age-old debate "Sex or TV?"