Google mulls "infinite" service for storage

Plans for a Google service offering "infinite" storage capacity leaked out last week when the search-engine leader inadvertently shared some information about several projects, including one named "GDrive," on its Web site.

Google quickly removed the previously confidential notes, but not before some Web surfers had made copies. Excerpts remain available on some Web sites.

In its internal notes, Google discusses an ambitious storage system that would keep its users' word-processing files, e-mails, Web history and photos on its own computers.

Google says the service would be enticing because the information would be unleashed from a single PC in a home or office, allowing users to access their data from any Internet-connected computer.

"The online copy of your data will become your Golden Copy," Google's notes said, while the original information kept on a users' PC would serve as a backup.

Google spokeswoman Lynn Fox declined to discuss the possible storage system.

Unsolicited offer made for Schering

Drug and chemical maker Merck made an unsolicited $17.8 billion cash offer for rival Schering, the world's largest maker of birth-control pills, in a bid to create Germany's second-biggest drug maker.

Merck plans to bid nearly $92 a share, Schering said in a statement Sunday.

Schering Chief Executive Hubertus Erlen said his board won't recommend the offer, which is 15 percent higher than Berlin-based Schering's closing stock price last week. Merck's Phyllis Carter and Steffen Mueller couldn't be reached for comment.

Midsized pharmaceutical companies are looking at options as they struggle to rein in the rising cost of drug development.

Possible data leak to analysts probed

Officials from the American College of Cardiology are investigating whether key data from a study involving Sanofi-Aventis' and Bristol-Myers Squibb's blood-thinning drug Plavix was released early to some analysts.

Several European analysts recently told clients that Plavix plus aspirin wouldn't prevent heart attacks, strokes and deaths more than aspirin alone in a study that wasn't revealed until Sunday.

One analyst accurately predicted the two drugs combined would benefit some patients while posing a risk to others.

The study's results are expected to affect future sales of Plavix and the fortunes of both companies. "The comments of the analyst foresaw the results, and the results were unknown even to us at the time," said Matthew Wolff, said co-chairman of the college's program committee.

Officials determined none of the academic investigators was responsible for any leak, and the presentation took place before thousands of cardiologists Sunday morning.

Car maker to build first plant in U.S.

Kia Motors, South Korea's second-largest automaker, said today it will build its first U.S. vehicle assembly in West Point, Ga., choosing a site near its parent Hyundai Motor to tap growing sales in North America.

The plant, near the Alabama border, is expected to have 2,500 workers and begin production in 2009.

Company to debut archiving system

Isilon Systems is debuting today a new high-capacity storage system designed for the archiving, backup and disaster-recovery markets.

The system, called the EX 6000, is already being used by Kodak and E! Networks.

The Seattle company also is launching its fourth-generation clustered storage system.

Compiled from Seattle Times staff and Bloomberg News