Digital Trends
In a move that comes as no surprise to the industry, computer maker Gateway announced today that it plans to acquire all the shares of Packard Bell controlled by former eMachines founder Lap Shun (John) Hui, although the financial terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed. Hui controls a 75 percent interest in PB Holding, which is the parent company of Packard Bell B.V., a PC maker whose name has all but vanished from the North American market but remains a force in Europe.
Current number three computer maker Lenovo has announced it plans to buy Packard Bell, saying it has entered into a memorandum of understanding with an independent third party to buy the European computer maker. Lenovo has reportedly been competing with Taiwan’s Acer to buy the firm; the two companies have been competing fiercely to increase their share of the global PC marketplace, where they currently tussle for third place behind Hewlett-Packard and Dell.
The former Bell operating company is making CallVantage available to any broadband subscriber, regardless of where they are located. But its only giving out New Jersey and Texas telephone numbers for now, which is expected to limit sales to those two states.
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Bell Labs says it has developed a network software engine that can let cell users be as picky as they choose about disclosing their whereabouts, a step that may help wireless companies introduce “location-based services” in a way customers will find handy rather than intrusive.
In a presentation this week at an industry conference, researchers for the Bell Labs division of Lucent Technologies Inc. plan to describe how their technology copes with the conflicting demands of speed, privacy and personalization on a live telephone network — enabling users to specify what location information is shared, when, with whom, how and under what circumstances.
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