VST Holdings buys 52.5% stake in ECS Holdings

VST Holdings is buying a 52.5 percent stake in ECS Holdings for S$128 million in cash.  VST is a Hong Kong-based distributor of computer disk drives and motherboards.

The purchase will catapult VST among the top three ICT distributors in the Asia Pacific.  After the deal completion, the next step will be a mandatory general offer by VST to acquire remaining ECS shares.

Another Philippine Managing Director to be Replaced Soon

Reports indicated that another local managing director of a multi-national I.T. company will be replaced soon. The official announcement will be made Thursday August 16, 2007. The new managing director will also be named on the same day.

No details were given as of press time with regards to the changing of the guards.

Nokia Recalls 46 million Phone Batteries

Nokia Corp warned that up to 46 million batteries used in some of its cellphones could be faulty and pose a risk of overheating. The advisory applies to batteries manufactured by Matsushita from December 2005 to November 2006.

Nokia mobile phone users were asked to check the 26-character serial number on the back of their phones to compare it with the identification numbers on the Nokia website http://www.nokia.com/batteryreplacement, or contact a local Nokia call center.

Yahoo overtakes Google in US user satisfaction survey

The American Customer Satisfaction Index report compiled by the University of Michigan revealed that Yahoo had improved 4% in the last year and scored 79 points on the 100-point scale, thanks to this performance it took the lead over Google for portals and search engines.

AOL suffers the largest plunge in customer satisfaction this quarter, down 10% to the lowest score in the industry (67).

Hotmail Increases Storage to 5GB

Microsoft increases its storage limit for Windows Live Hotmail to 5 GB.  The new capacity will be more than double the previous amount of storage offered by Hotmail. When Windows Live Hotmail launched earlier this year, it offered users two gigabytes of e-mail space.

Microsoft also offers connectivity between Hotmail and its other applications like Outlook, and an enhanced e-mail security applet for users to see immediately if any messages post a serious risk to their computer.