Top Items:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
eBay Acquiring StumbleUpon — High-flying startup StumbleUpon has been rumored to be in acquisition discussions since at least last November. Recently we've heard that talks have heated up again, with Google, AOL and eBay as potential suitors. A source with knowledge of the deal …
Discussion:
Pronet Advertising, Valleywag, The Gong Show, Search Engine Land, SEO Book.com, InsideGoogle, eBay Strategies, Tech Beat, Mark Evans, Sramana Mitra on Strategy, 10e20, mathewingram.com/work, Download Squad, Bloggers Blog, Matt McAlister, alarm:clock, TechFold, Geeking with Greg, Beet.TV, Webomatica, Search Engine Journal, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, 901am and digg
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Om Malik / GigaOM:
Why eBay wants Stumbleupon — Updated: TechCrunch just reported that StumbleUpon is in talks to being acquired with AOL, Google and eBay as possible suitors. Though we have not been able to chat with folks from StumbleUpon, the social bookmarking discovery service, we have heard that eBay is the likely winner of the derby.
Discussion:
Things That, Startup Meme, Hitchhiker's Guide to 650, Epicenter, Mark Evans and VentureBeat
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Google Rains On StumbleUpon Parade: Launches Direct Competitor — On the same day that the news breaks that eBay is acquiring StumbleUpon for $40ish million, Google announces that they are building strikingly similar functionality into their Toolbar. Google (along with AOL) …
Karen / Official Google Blog:
Searching without a query — You already know that search is at the core of everything we do: we want to deliver useful and relevant information every time you do a search. But what about when you don't have a query in mind, or if you just don't feel like typing in a query?
Karen / Official Google Blog:
Back to basics — Posted by Marissa Mayer, VP, Search & User Experience, and Jeff Bartelma, Product Manager, Google Product Search (the product formerly known as Froogle :) ) — Today, we're making some changes to how we help users find things to buy. You may be familiar with our product Froogle (a pun on "frugal").
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Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Goodbye Froogle, Hello Google Product Search! — Back in December 2002, Google launched its long expected product and shopping search engine. It was called Froogle, a combination of "frugal" and "Google." Just over four years later, Froogle is finally losing its cutesy name for something …
Elinor Mills / CNET News.com:
Google takes the pun out of shopping — Acknowledging that it's better to be clear than clever, Google is rebranding "Froogle" as "Google Product Search" and simplifying the interface to match the main search site, a top executive said on Wednesday. — Froogle was launched in late 2002 …
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:Goodbye Froogle — Froogle has been renamed "Google Product Search" …
Discussion:
John Furrier
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Exclusive: MySpace News Launches Thursday — On Thursday morning MySpace will launch its much rumored news property at news.myspace.com. Expect the site to go live and a press release to be issued around 7 am EST. — The news property is built on Newroo technology, a company they acquired in early 2006 for a rumored $7 million.
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Times of London:
MySpace takes on Google News and Digg — MySpace is going into the news business with a service that will scour the internet for news stories and let users vote on which ones receive the most exposure. — This approach blends elements of Google News and sites such as Digg and Netscape …
Discussion:
Search Engine Watch Blog
Ina Fried / CNET News.com:
Microsoft aims to reach next billion PC users — Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is using a speech in Beijing to unveil a new low-cost bundle of Office and Windows, one of several new initiatives aimed at getting PCs into the hands of more people in emerging markets.
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Read/WriteWeb:
Widgetsphere: New Playground For Marketers — If you're in the online marketing game and are not yet hip to widgets, listen up. Two emerging Web 2.0 technology firms focused in this space have a message for you. Those companies are Widgetbox and ClearSpring, both of which presented …
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Brian Bergstein / Associated Press:
Media mine Web searches for readers — If you Googled "Virginia Tech shooting" or "Virginia shooting" this week, the Internet search engine served up dozens of links to news about the university massacre. Yet some media outlets weren't taking the chance of missing readers' attention by being bumped down the list.
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Mr Blog:
Fring is technically impressive, but I'm still wondering about its utility — I have mentioned Fring a few times before. The most recent post left it that I had not been able to complete the setup because I never received the SMS from Fring on my phone. — I sat down with Boaz Zilberman …
Dave Winer / Scripting News:
Vlogging comes to mass murder — The Virginia Tech shooter sent a package of video and pictures to NBC. — In other words, vlogging comes to mass murder, in ways no one anticipated (or no one I know). — It makes perfect sense, in a perfectly senseless way.
Discussion:
Publishing 2.0, NewTeeVee, BuzzMachine, John Furrier, Boing Boing, Webomatica, New York Times and digg
Adam Ostrow / Mashable!:
Zude May Be A Better Netvibes — Since the dawn of the Web, startups have promised users a quick and easy way to create a presence online. With the advent of "cross-domain drag and drop" technology from a new company called Zude, CEO Jim McNeil believes everyone from MySpace addicts …
