Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer

"If we have not concluded an agreement within the next three weeks, we will be compelled to take our case directly to your shareholders, including the initiation of a proxy contest to elect an alternative slate of directors,'' Ballmer wrote.

Then, he threatened to reduce Microsoft's offer if Yahoo failed to meet the deadline: "That action will have an undesirable impact on the value of your company from our perspective which will be reflected in the terms of our proposal.''

An average individual can become a successful commodity trader if he is going to adopt a one hundred percent mechanical approach. This is the best solution so that emotional influences are minimized because emotional drawbacks can destroy the decision making of a trader.

If you are encountering problems in commodity trading, the more you should become mechanical in the approach you are going make, so that there is a greater chance of better results. A one hundred percent mechanical approach means that you would find the most important step in finding a perfect system that will help you solve the risks being faced.

However, a perfect system can be a great approach for a particular month but can turn lousy on the next. Perfect systems refer to a perfect mechanical approach that will solve the problems or risks being faced in commodity trading.

A non-trending market for now could be a trend tomorrow. There is only a short period of time span. You can never find an indicator that tells what type of market that will boom in the future or when is the best time to trade your commodity. The best system that you will mechanically apply is the one being tested or have shown a job well done in the history of commodity trading.

The answer is YES!

Customer Support: Opportunity or Hassle?
Customer support is a part of any business whether you like it or not. If you’re in business and have customers, sooner or later they will need support. How do you feel about customer support? Is it a cost of doing business? A hassle? Or an opportunity to build a stronger relationship with customers?

That’s an important question because it might go a long way in determining the level of success your business achieves and how long you’re even in business. Too many businesses make you feel like you’re inconveniencing them with the simplest of requests. I’ve dealt with some of them personally and you probably have to.

Certainly from time to time there are going to be customer support requests that seem unreasonable or even stupid. But are you perfect? I’m not. I’ve spaced off and not signed up for the customer autoresponder that sends the download link to digital products before.

European antitrust regulators open investigation into British government's funding plan to save the bank.

The European Commission on Wednesday opened a full scale investigation into the British government's bailout plan for Northern Rock PLC, the mortgage bank nationalized in February after falling victim to the subprime mortgage crisis.

Neelie Kroes, the European Union's antitrust chief, said a broad look at how the government plans to save Northern Rock was merited given the turmoil in financial markets, the sizable aid mobilized to save the bank "and the risks of distortion of competition" it could create.

"The Commission needs to open a formal investigation into UK measures to restructure Northern Rock to ensure legal certainty," she said in a statement.

Northern Rock was nationalized in February after exposure to short-term money markets forced it to seek emergency funding from the Bank of England, leading to Britain's first bank run in more than a century.

Fed chairman says economy may now shrink in first half of year - the closest he has come to proclaiming a recession. He defends Bear Stearns bailout.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.

In prepared remarks to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, Bernanke said he also expects further rises in unemployment and says the economic outlook has worsened since the Fed's economic outlook was released in January.

"It now appears likely that real gross domestic product will not grow much, if at all, over the first half of 2008 and could even contract slightly," Bernanke said.

One of the short-hand measures of whether a nation is suffering from a recession are two or more consecutive quarters in which GDP, the broad measure of economic activity, is negative. Bernanke's statement seems to suggest that could well occur in the just completed first quarter and the second quarter that started Tuesday.

From haulers to loggers to landscapers, soaring fuel costs hit the bottom line but cutthroat competition keeps price hikes at bay.

NEW YORK -- The kid who delivers your pizza may be charging you an extra buck for gas, but for the guy that trucked the tomatoes, hauled the dough or milked the cows, passing along the fuel increase isn't as easy as pie.
From truckers and farmers to loggers, construction workers and fishermen, skyrocketing diesel prices are pushing what many consider the backbone of the American economy right up to the breaking point.

"I'm in debt," says Jim Gossett, an owner/operator truck driver with a wife and daughter in Chapel Hill, N.C. "Do I turn in all my equipment, potentially lose my home?"

For the last nine years Gossett has driven a truck. For the last few he's been running a specialized carrier, delivering boats to marinas and dealers across the country.

Credit crisis fallout keeps spreading; student loans suspended

Hospitals like this one in Philadelphia are among the many public institutions scrambling to refinance their debt.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - States, cities, hospitals and major public agencies battered by wild interest rate swings in one sector of the municipal bond market are scrambling to refinance the debt as they add up the damages to their budgets and nurse some hard feelings.

The highest-profile fallout so far is the tightening of the student-loan market, including the suspension of new student loans by agencies in Pennsylvania, Iowa and Michigan.

Budgetmakers who had planned on paying around 4 percent on borrowed funds as recently as December are searching for ways to fit rates of 5 percent to 10 percent into their budgets. So far, most affected institutions appear to be withstanding the tens of millions of dollars in additional costs without laying off workers or shutting down crucial services.