Ben Charny

Acquicor Technology, a “blank check” company founded by three former Apple Computer honchos, says it has raised about $150 million this week in a public stock offering. The financing will help Acquicor get started buying Internet convergence companies, which is its stated purpose. While open to any kind of firm, its focusing on companies specializing […]

Microsoft said March 15 that it is suing seven U.S. residents and a New York-based company, for allegedly using Internet auctioneer eBay to sell pirated Microsoft software. Customers suspecting something was wrong with what they bought tipped off Microsoft to all but one of the alleged offenders, the company said. The lawsuits, filed March 10, […]

@Last Software, the makers of 3D rendering software, is Google’s latest acquisition. The six-year-old, privately-held firm sells software to architects, builders and others using heavy-duty computer graphics. Expect Google to make more of these kinds of buys, as it ramps up its offensive against chief nemesis Microsoft Corp.

U.S. District Court Judge James Ware ultimately handed the Bush administration a partial victory over Google. Ware decided Google must turn over to the U.S. Department of Justice a few thousand Web sites it has indexed, which in turn will used as evidence in a separate court case. Ware made his proposed ruling at the […]

Internet search top dog Google has bought @Last, a company that makes tools to add three-dimensional figures into computer-aided designs. Financial details were not disclosed. The deal was a announced on March 14. This and other recent Google acquisitions are part of a broader strategy to fatten up Googles array of features to fare better […]

SAN JOSE, Calif.—A U.S. Federal Judge said on March 14 that he is inclined to allow the government to see snippets of Google users search habits. U.S. District judge James Ware said he will “very quickly” decide the exact nature of what Google has to turn over. Ware made his comments at the end of […]

Google’s now officially out of this world. Google Mars debuted March 13. The feature is very much like Google Earth, but rather than the blue planet, users explore the red one.

Ladies, gentlemen and Google watchers everywhere, I give you Mel Brooks, economic theorist! One of Brooks’ infamous early comedic roles was of a man born before the time of Jesus, Yaweh or Allah. Did he worship anything? “A guy named Phil,” the clan’s biggest, baddest dude, Brooks explains to an interviewer. When Phil is killed […]

Google says it will soon sell full-text versions of books online at the request of its book publishing partners. As to when books can be purchased, Google said, “This is just a preliminary release to allow U.S. and U.K. publishers to set prices and to choose which books they want to include. This feature isnt […]

Google co-founder Sergey Brin on March 7 sold Google stock with an estimated face value of $50 million, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission documents here and here. To consider: The deal represents less than a percentage point of the estimated 31 million shares of Google stock Brin still owns. Google Chief Financial Officer […]