EVEN though there was no official confirmation that IBM was in talks to acquire Sun last week, I had a hunch that the reports from Wall Street Journal, which first broke the news based on information from an insider source, were true.

And when the news was released on Monday that the deal was called off, I finally knew that my instincts was correct.

How could I have known this?

No, I did not talk to either company's CEOs nor did someone high-up in either company leak the news to me.

It was simple really – Sun Singapore suddenly pulled out all their planned advertisements in Digital Life last week.

That was uncharacteristic of Sun, and I had a hunch it was because the acquisition was about to take place.

Then on Monday, just as quickly as the ads were pulled out, they were re-instated.

That's when I knew IBM wasn't going to buy Sun.

Lesson of the day: Keeping an eye on the advertisements could well be the insiders' way to get ahead of the res of the market!