ManU Fans to Glazer: “Go Home!”
The News Review:
- ManU Fans to Glazer: “Go Home!”
- Clash of the Titans
- China tests Microsoft’s ambition
- Look Out Below, Home Buyers
- NSW signs Thorpe for title defence
ManU Fans to Glazer: “Go Home!”
BusinessWeek - May 26, 2005
Groups have staged demonstrations, worn black armbands to the most recent match, and even burned a papier-mâché effigy of Glazer. Fan organizations have called for a boycott of sponsors, such as Vodafone (VOD), Nike (NKE), Budweiser (BUD), and Pepsi (PBG). Their ultimate hope is to bankrupt the team and force Glazer to sell it back at a discounted price to home-grown supporters. While not everyone feels as strongly as the boycotters, conversations with more than a dozen fans around Manchester revealed widespread unease over the direction Glazer might take the legendary team. “He’s going to place all the debt on United, and we’re going to lose all the players. It’s going to go downhill completely,” says Kirsty Gilliatt, 17, a student who has already canceled her Vodafone service in protest.
Clash of the Titans
The Age - May 26, 2005
Phil Harrison, executive vice-president of Sony ComputerEntertainment Europe, says PlayStation 3 is 35 times more powerfulthan its predecessor and has twice Xbox 360’s computing muscle. “We’re putting a super-computer under every television,” hesays. PlayStation 3 users can transfer game data, music and videowirelessly to PlayStation Portable, surf the internet and evenbroadcast video. At a press conference scheduled just hours after Sony’s,Microsoft remained bullish about its determination to become numberone in the game industry and revealed widespread support for itsnew console. Sony has dominated the game industry for a decade but Microsofthas spent more than $A2 billion to get a foothold in the lucrativegaming market, worth more than $US10 billion. But so far Microsofthas sold just 20 million consoles compared to Sony’s 85 millionPlaystation 2 consoles. But Xbox chief Robbie Bach believes its new console is aspowerful as PlayStation 3 and aims to sell 10 million before Sony’snew console hits the shelves…
The game was shown in a closed area resembling a theme park ride,complete with animatronic wolves and two-hour queues. Australia dispatched its biggest contingent yet to E3 with 38companies exhibiting at the Games Australia stand. Home-grown games included Ty the Tasmanian Tiger: Night of theQuinkan, Trainz Railroad Simulator 2006, Payload, Heroes of thePacific and Destroy All Humans. Competition in the hand-held console market at E3 was fierce. Nintendo announced it had sold more than 5 million DS consoles,while Sony has sold 3 million PlayStation Portables, which waslaunched in Japan late last year and will be available here inSeptember. Nintendo unveiled the Game Boy Micro, which plays GBA titles ona device small enough to fit into the tightest jeans. The machineweighs less than an iPod Mini.
China tests Microsoft’s ambition
International Herald Tribune - May 26, 2005
Gates is bolstering investment in the nation, donating to Chinese schools and lobbying the government to curtail software theft. Microsoft has little to show for its effort. While China pushes pirates underground, it is signaling a preference for buying programs from home-grown companies. Microsoft is unprofitable in China - the company will not quantify its losses - and may remain so for years. Today in Marketplace by Bloomberg.
Look Out Below, Home Buyers
Forbes - May 26, 2005
” This coming from the man who preached irrational exuberance in stocks up to the moment that bubble burst five years ago. In a correction, housing prices are likely to revert to the mean, economists say, potentially a big shock to home owners and investors who have grown accustomed to double-digit increases in property values and low interest rates that have allowed them to refinance and unlock more of the equity in their homes. According to minutes of their last meeting, Fed policymakers have agreed that housing price appreciation was expected to “moderate” in the coming months. But it certainly hasn’t happened yet. Sales of existing homes jumped 4. 5% in April from the previous month.
NSW signs Thorpe for title defence
The Age - May 26, 2005
In a departure from the state’s usual reliance on home-growntalent, the 35-year-old Thorpe will become NSW’s first foreignplayer since Pakistan all-rounder Imran Khan helped them to theSheffield Shield title in 1984-85. News of Thorpe’s signing for the second half of the season,including five Pura Cup matches and the final if the Blues progressthat far, comes with NSW officials maintaining a flicker of hopeabout signing Victorian Brad Hodge. NSW has also approached WesternAustralia’s 22-year-old left-arm spinner Beau Casson to becomeback-up to Stuart MacGill, but are not confident of WA releasinghim from the last year of his contract. The signing of the 98-Test veteran Thorpe followed his approachlast month to NSW chief executive Dave Gilbert, Thorpe’s formerboss at English county Surrey, about playing grade cricket inSydney next summer. “I asked if he’d be interested in playing for NSW and he saidhe’d love to be considered,” Gilbert said.