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Vincent Padois, head tutor at the Pierre and Marie Curie University who teaches robotics and is babysitting the Paris ICub, makes a demonstration with ICub robot, a ?hybrid embodied cognitive system for a humanoid robot" about 1 metre (3.2 feet) high, at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris September 4, 2009. Six versions of ICub exist in laboratories across Europe, where scientists are painstakingly tweaking its electronic brain to make it capable of learning, just like a human child and hoping it will learn how to adapt its behaviour to changing circumstances, offering new insights into the development of human consciousness. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer

Pictures of the year: Technology

A look at the year's best science and technology photos.   Slideshow 

    Icahn urges Yahoo to ditch "severance plan"

    NEW YORK
    Wed Jun 4, 2008 2:32pm EDT

    NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has sent a letter to Yahoo's board asking that the company rescind a severance plan for full-time employees he says is the biggest impediment to a takeover deal with Microsoft Corp.

    Technology  |  Deals

    In the letter, Icahn said: "(Chief Executive Officer) Jerry Yang and a majority of the board went to inordinate lengths to sabotage a Microsoft bid."

    Citing a "complaint", the activist investor said Yang engineered a takeover defense allowing full-time employees to quit with generous benefits. He urged Yahoo's board to rescind the severance plan, saying that removing the plan would free up $2.4 billion and possibly more which could be added to a Microsoft bid.

    The Internet company faces pressure from Icahn and other shareholders over its failed talks for a $47.5 billion buyout from Microsoft.

    Icahn has launched a proxy battle against Yahoo, accusing its board of driving Microsoft away, ahead of an August 1 shareholder meeting.
    Technology
    Deals


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    CHICAGO (Reuters) - A trade group for the lenders that finance half the capital equipment investment in the United States said on Tuesday the sharp pullback in business borrowing that marked the recent downturn moderated markedly in November -- an encouraging sign companies may be growing more confident in the sustainability of the recovery.

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    Malaysians participate in computer attack and defence hacking competition during The 3rd Annual Hack-In-The-Box Security Conference 2004 in Kuala Lumpur on October 6, 2004. REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad
    Commentary:

    Year of the breach

    Data security breaches are nasty business and should be avoided at all costs, writes Kevin Prince, a chief technology officer at Perimeter e-Security. Here's a look at the biggest breaches and blunders of 2009.  Commentary 

    Technology
    Soldiers look on as U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates speaks to soldiers at F.O.B. Warrior in Kirkuk, Iraq December 11, 2009. REUTERS/Justin Sullivan/Pool

    Are you pregnant? Sir! No, Sir!

    There are some 115,000 U.S. troops in Iraq -- and one commander wants to make sure his soldiers don't multiply.  Full Article 

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