Top Items:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Yahoo's Semel Says No Layoffs, Sort Of — Yahoo CEO Terry Semel blasts some of the rumors out there about Yahoo, including reports (by us) of layoffs, that he was leaving and that Dan Rosensweig and Susan Decker were taking a joint role to lead the company until a replacement was found.
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StraussBlog:
Amen, Terry! — So, I'm probably breaking a ton of rules by doing this. But, f@$k it! Here is the transcript, verbatim (I rewound the webcast several times just to get it right), of Terry's closing comments at today's re-org all-hands: — "At the next all-hands. Just as a reminder.
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Yahoo Reorg, The Inside Story — The widespread criticism of the Yahoo reorganization announced on Tuesday has been a one sided affair - outsiders looking in. Much of the criticism while warranted, has become to personal. Was getting rid of CEO Terry Semel, the quick fix the erstwhile Internet leader needs?
Joe / Techdirt:
Our Advice To Yahoo: First, Avoid Bad Advice — from the hail-mary dept — Everybody knows that Yahoo is under a lot of pressure right now, and a lot of people in the media are playing the "what should Yahoo do now?" game. A lot talk has focused on management changes, some of which were announced earlier this week.
Discussion:
Alan Meckler
Eli Shimoni / Ynetnews:
Exclusive: Metacafe to be sold for USD 200 million — Owners of Metacafe, from Tel Aviv, in advanced stages of negotiations for selling company. Estimated price tag: USD 200 million. Company runs one of largest video-sharing sites on Web, directly competes with YouTube
Discussion:
VentureBeat, VC Ratings, NewTeeVee, alarm:clock, The Blogging Times and InfoWorld Tech Watch
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Mark Wallace / Wired News:
Firefly Reborn as Online Universe — Like Capt. Mal Reynolds stumbling in after a bar fight, the short-lived but much beloved sci-fi series Firefly will soon make an unexpected return, not as a TV show, but as a massively multiplayer online game. — Now that's shiny.
Reuters:
McCartney cries 'Help!' on song copyrights — Music copyrights in the UK last only 50 years, so early Beatles songs could be up for grabs by 2012. — LONDON (Reuters) — Paul McCartney and Robbie Williams joined thousands of other performers on Thursday in an appeal for an extension to British copyright on their recordings.
Business Wire:
BitTorrent Acquires uTorrent — SAN FRANCISCO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—BitTorrent, Inc., home to the world's leading peer-assisted digital content delivery platform, today announced it has acquired uTorrent, a lightweight and efficient implementation of the BitTorrent protocol.
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Scott Gilbertson / Monkey Bites:
BitTorrent Inc. Acquires µTorrent — BitTorrent, Inc., will announce later today that it has acquired µTorrent, a lightweight and efficient implementation of the BitTorrent protocol. The official announcement will come this afternoon, but there are already some posts from Bram Cohen …
microsoft.com:
Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification — As part of the monthly security bulletin release cycle, Microsoft provides advance notification to our customers on the number of new security updates being released, the products affected, the aggregate maximum severity and information about detection tools relevant to the update.
BBC:
Concern over mobile music-sharing — Children are increasingly swapping music via mobile phones, often without realising they can be breaking the law. — A survey of almost 1,500 eight to 13-year-olds found almost a third shared music via their mobiles. — Children are using the built …
Discussion:
Techdirt
Mike / Techdirt:
Sued By The RIAA? Blame Kazaa! — from the take-that dept — As long as Skype's founders are paying out many millions to the RIAA to settle its claims against Kazaa, perhaps they might want to compensate a few of the folks sued by the RIAA for using Kazaa as well.
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Rafat Ali / PaidContent:
Google Begins Limited Testing Of Radio Ads — Google has begun testing radio ads in the U.S. with a small group of its online keyword-search advertisers, following its acquisition earlier this year of dMarc Broadcasting. The ads can by played on "hundreds" of radio stations across the country, Google said.
Discussion:
CNET News.com
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Amanda Chapel / Strumpette:
Mega PR Firm Releases 'StoryMakerUpper 1.0' — Edelman, the world's largest independent public relations firm, yesterday announced the release of StoryMakerUpper 1.0. The web-based proprietary software tool is designed to help their clients manufacture news stories with pushbutton, fill-in-the-blank ease.
The Smoking Gun:
Tom Brady Blitzes Yahoo! — NFL star sues over use of image in firm's fantasy football promos — Along with a sweeping management reorganization and shrinking stock price, Yahoo! also has to contend with a lawsuit filed against it by the gridiron's golden boy, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady …
BBC:
1200-year-old problem 'easy' — Schoolchildren in Caversham have become the first in the country to learn about a new number - 'nullity' - which solves maths problems neither Newton nor Pythagoras could conquer. — Dr James Anderson, from the University of Reading's computer science department …
Katie Fehrenbacher / GigaOM:
Google to Invest in Chinese P2P Startup Xunlei? — There's a rumor going around that Google is investing a major stake in a Chinese P2P startup called Xunlei (or Thunder). Xunlei is reported to have between 75 million to 100 million downloads of its software, and has raised previous funding from Morningside and IDG Ventures.
Luca Filigheddu / Thoughts on VoIP, technology:
Enhanced SightSpeed 5.0 — As reported yesterday, SightSpeed is going to launch an upgrade of their 5.0 version. — Here's a summary of the changes available with Enhanced SightSpeed 5.0: /> — SightSpeed Pro plan subscribers (i.e., small-business and power users) …
