Category: News

Ok, this might be nearly as big as yesterdays Adobe and Macromedia merger, GameStop Corp. and Electronics Boutique Holdings Corp. have announced a merger agreement. The new company will be known as GameStop Corp. and pretty much holds a monopoly on video game retail. Over 3,200 stores. About $3.8 billion in annual revenue. [Link]

Like Nibaq just posted, Adobe just acquired Macromedia. What does this mean to us? Well first lets see what major software both companies have.

Adobe
Acrobat, Photoshop, Elements, Illustrator, InDesign, GoLive, Premier, After Effects

Macromedia
Flash, Dreamweaver, FreeHand, Director, Fireworks

The biggest and most controversial problem is Illustrator and Freehand. Both softwares are currently being used although in the past few years FreeHand has lost a considerable share of the market, they still have a cult following. But, between Illustrator and Freehand, there is no question, Freehand will die. Its been dying slowly anyway but I am sure the fans will cry murder. Fireworks which conflicts with Photoshop and Elements will also die out, Photoshop has a much larger market share and a much stronger brand. GoLive and Dreamweaver, GoLive is out for sure. Adobe has been trying to play catchup with Dreamweaver for a very long time and this way they can just trash GoLive and pickup the much more popular Dreamweaver. Director will be a very nice addition to the Adobe Suite and I hope they manage to integrate it nicely with the other Adobe software, which I am sure they will. Finally owning both Flash and Acrobat I think is a very strong package, PDF is used a lot in the print world while Flash is used alot in the digital one. Owning both means that they will have a very strong position in both medias. All they need now is to buyout Quark and we will have another Microsoft-like company to deal with.

Finally CNN.com can get back to posting interesting news on their main page. Terri Schiavo died earlier today nearly two weeks after doctors removed her feeding tube. Nat is pissed, she thinks it would have been better if the doctors injected her with a lethal injection or something instead of starving her to death. I think that has to be the most hillarious solution to the issue. But seriously now, can we get back to the real news.

Burger King is reportedly set to unveil a large new breakfast sandwich that bets not everyone is looking to watch their diet.

USA Today reports that the No. 2 fast food chain is set to debut its Enormous Omelet Sandwich Monday. The sandwich will have one sausage patty, two eggs, two American cheese slices and three strips of bacon, according to the paper.

That works out to 730 calories and 47 grams of fat, according to the report. While the sandwich goes against the trend at some competitors to offer healthier fare, some analysts said that the new sandwich is likely to be a sales success. That’s more than the company’s Whopper burger, which the Burger King Web site said has 700 calories and 42 grams of fat.

“The critics will still label it food porn,” says Sherri Daye Scott, editor at QSR, a fast-food industry trade magazine told the paper. “But the average male fast-food customer does not have a problem with this.”

The new offering could also make Burger King more of a player in the breakfast market, where USA Today reports it seriously lags behind McDonald’s (Research).

Burger King has been privately held since it was sold by British food conglomerate Diageo to a group led by Texas Pacific Group in 2002.

A robber posing as a customer took a dozen not-yet available for sale video game systems from a GameStop store near Matthews.

PlayStation Portable – the current rage for gamers – goes on sale nationwide after midnight tonight. Some Charlotte-area stores are opening at that hour to sell the $249 handheld devices, known as PSPs.

The GameStop on Galleria Boulevard had 12 taken Tuesday night, when a man went into the back storage room just after 7 p.m. and helped himself, according to a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police report.

When a clerk confronted him, he tried to knock her glasses off her face. She was not seriously hurt.