With the acquisition of Macromedia, Adobe can become the new publishing software giant in all electronic channels, online as well as offline. In fact, some users have already shown their heated reaction to what they consider a real monopoly.

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Title: Technology Insights
Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers
Date: 15th March 2005
Abstract: Mergers and acquisitions in the technology sector grew by 23% in 2004. 911 deals totalling 155,000 million euros were recorded. These data, taken from the Technology Insights report, which is published by the Corporate Finance Division of PricewaterhouseCoopers, points to a recovery in M&A that was mainly driven by two factors: the strong growth in mid-market deals and the increase in cross-border activity (22%).
The biggest single operation was the acquisition of the American AT&T by Cingular Wireless for 31,919 million euros. This was followed by the purchase of Regional Chinese fixed line operators by China Telecom (6,782 million euros) and the mobile division of the same company by China Mobile (3,449 million euros). The first transaction in Europe, and fourth largest in the world, was Wanadoo’s acquisition by France Telecom, which came to 3,084 million euros.
North America continues to lead the field in mergers and acquisitions, both in the number of operations (371) and their value (76,900 million euros). Europe in contrast beats Asia in the number of operations (160 against 75) but not in the volume of business (22,973 million euros in Asia and 18,765 millions in Europe). In the rest of the world there were 60 operations totalling 6942 million euros.
Although software and information technology services companies accounted for almost half of the transactions (49%), those involving telecommunications companies (32%) far outweighed them in the amount of the deals, 63% of all transactions or 97,650 million euros. The PwC experts think that this trend, which confirms the recovery started in 2002, will continue throughout 2005 driven by the expansion of broadband and the appearance of new services such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

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Title: High-Tech Job Cuts Doubled From Year Ago
Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
Date: 11th April 2005
Abstract: North American high-tech companies laid off more than 60,000 employees in the first quarter of this year alone, doubling the figure for the same period last year. According to the consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, specialists in outplacement, this is the highest job cut in this sector since the end of 2003.
The company blames the cuts on a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the telecommunications industry, among which were the purchase of AT&T by Cingular and the merger of Sprint with Nextel. In fact, 92% of the more than 35,000 jobs lost in this sector, the most volatile as far as employment goes, were due to mergers. To a lesser degree, job losses were also felt in the same quarter in the computer industry (16,168), in electronics (8,123) and in the electronic sales sector (167). In all, 59,537 jobs were lost in the North American technology sector.
The report goes on to warn that there could be more lay-offs in the coming months. In the last 12 to 24 months, both consumers and companies have progressively increased their spending on new technologies –iPods, laptops, portable DVDs, mobile phones, Blackberries, etc., - so the experts now expect a certain lull in demand that could aggravate the loss of jobs in the technology sector.

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The Interior Ministry has put off a pilot project for the electronic identity card until the beginning of 2006, one year later than planned. Therefore, it does not expect to have the system up and running till late 2007 or early 2008.
The new Identity card, made with polycarbonate, will be the same size as the present one and will include a chip with the data of the holder, as well as his finger print and digitalised photo. It will allow the authorities to obtain an electronic certificate to check the identity of the holder and it will provide the holder with an electronic signature. According to the Ministry, each identity card will cost the Administration about 3 euros.
The great advantage of the digital identity card (eDNI) is that it will give the electronic signature the same legal validity as the traditional written one, so that all the business that requires one’s physical presence to sign papers can be done online. Some examples of these are: asking for subsidies, paying taxes, voting, renewing driving licences or doing other administrative procedures.
Although the main purpose is to make access to Administrative services and applications easier, electronic commerce and commercial relations between companies will also benefit from this measure.
However, the public tender to implement the digital identity card in Spain has still not been decided. If everything goes according to plan, we will know at the beginning of June which of the four candidates involved in the tender has been chosen: the alliance between Telefonica, Indra and Software AG; the consortium made up by Accenture, Informática El Corte Inglés and Atos Origin; the team formed by Bull and Siemens; or the group composed of Page Iberia and Telvent, which have also joined forces to clinch the deal. All the participants have had to keep to a budget of 11.98 million euros.

News in Baquía, Cinco Días, VNunet and Expansión (Payment Service)
Article in Computing

The telecommunications sector is anxiously awaiting the regulation the Ministry for Industry will give to the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). This is not a new question: if VoIP is considered a Public Telephone Service, just like traditional telephony, it will be regulated by the CMT (Commission for the Telecommunications Market). If, on the other hand, it is considered an SCE (Electronic Communications Service), then it will work without any regulation and completely open to competition.
What is new about this is that this time Telefonica wants the service liberalised while the rest of the sector is in favour of a certain type of regulation. The fact is that although VoIP will strongly affect Telefonica’s fixed line and mobile revenues, the group is not afraid of the competition: it has an aggressive commercial strategy, a powerful marketing division and a major critical mass, which it has already demonstrated with its DSL services.
The Government has committed itself to regulating this type of service during 2005, while the CMT recommends a minimum regulation in line with the European Union. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) explains that the VoIP is free of any regulation in the United States and the European Union, while in those countries where telecommunications monopolies still exist VoIP has been totally banned or is highly restricted. A survey by the ITU among 132 countries from around the world reveals that only four out of ten countries fully accept the legality of VoIP. 20% of countries still prohibit the use of IP networks for voice transmission, and in another 30% this activity is restricted to operators that have a specific licence –read from this monopolies or former monopolies.

News in Expansión (Payment Service) and Computing
Article in Hogart & Hartson

The "wearable computing" concept, which is a further step to overtaking portable technology, invents more and more new devices, taking advantage of the progressive miniaturisation of technology to adapt the capabilities of computers to clothing: carpets capable of detecting the footsteps of an intruder or the heat of a fire, snowboarding jackets that play MP3 songs, sportswear that comes with GPS systems, shirts incorporating mobile telephones, etc.
Even animals can use this type of garment: the MIT, which has a research center devoted to “wearable computing”, has just given details of its SNIF Project (Social Networking in Fur). The idea is that pet owners can monitor the behaviour and social networking of their pets through a collar with built-in LED devices and sensors that store information like the climatic conditions, the activity of the pets and the presence of other dogs equipped with SNIF collars.
The limit, however, is not to incorporate technology into garments but that the clothes themselves are technology. Imagine a cloth that helps a weak heart pump blood or a jacket that allows electricity to pass through it to maintain the temperature of the user. Other fabrics are capable of absorbing energy, which could be useful in the design of seat belts that minimise the impact on collision.
This is just a simple example of the close relationship that exists between technology and textiles, an equation in which new materials and processes intervene and in which threads are turned into much more than a raw material to make textiles. Today, extreme or designed textiles for high performance are interrelated with disciplines like biotechnology or chemistry to form part of the processes in aeronautic engineering, architecture, biomedicine, sport or agriculture.

Articles in News.com and Wired
Wearable Computing Center at MIT

By Gemma Tonijuan, e-business Center PwC&IESE assistant
Security problems may slow down the development of this technology. One way to protect conversations is to encrypt calls.

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