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BILL'S HARD DRIVE — MICROSOFT EYES SEARCH GIANT IN PROPOSED TAKEOVER — Stung by the loss of Internet advertising firm DoubleClick to Google last month, Microsoft has intensified its pursuit of a deal with Yahoo!, asking the company to re-enter formal negotiations, The Post has learned.
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Microsoft, Yahoo Reconsider Merger — A year ago, Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. explored the idea of combining to form a greater competitor to Google Inc. — The talks led nowhere leaving Microsoft and Yahoo to forge their own paths in pursuit of Google. How did they do? Well, they're talking again.

Microsoft hot for Yahoo: Is it for real this time? — Will Microsoft pull the trigger on a long-rumored acquisition of Yahoo? — The New York Post thinks so. The Post is reporting that Microsoft is asking Yahoo to formally enter merger negotiations. Talks have been going on informally for years.
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MASSIVE: Microsoft May Acquire Yahoo for $50 Billion — This deal will be huge if it goes ahead: Microsoft has reacted to Google's purchase of DoubleClick by stepping up talks with Yahoo about a possible acquisition/merger. Estimated pricetag for Yahoo? $50 billion.
Discussion:
Peter Van Dijck's Guide …


Breaking: Yahoo To Shut Down Yahoo Photos In Favor Of Flickr — I am at the annual Outcast CEO Dinner event - Brad Garlinghouse (Yahoo SVP Communications & Communities) and Stewart Butterfield (Cofounder Flickr) are sitting at my table and told me that they will announce the closure of Yahoo Photos tomorrow.
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Yahoo Photos going dark as Flickr shines on — LOS ANGELES — At Yahoo, Web 2.0 has won one battle with stodgy old Web 1.0. — Yahoo is shutting down Yahoo Photos — for years, the No. 1 or No. 2 most-visited photo site on the Web. Its users will be directed to move their pictures to Yahoo's hot upstart, Flickr.


Yahoo Photos shutting down. Flickr is the new hotness. — Brad Garlinghouse, SVP of Yahoo and author of the famous "Peanut Butter Manifesto," in which he told people inside Yahoo that the company was spread too thin, told me tonight at a dinner that "I'm eating my own peanut butter."

Yahoo jettisons Photos in favor of Flickr
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YouTube Starts Paying Star Users — YouTube is going to start helping some of its indie video content creators make money, starting tomorrow. The company will launch a program that puts the creators of some of the more popular YouTube channels — including Lonelygirl15, LisaNova, HappySlip …
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YouTube Launches Revenue Sharing Partners Program, but no Pre-Rolls
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Press release: Danish Complaint Case may have Global Consequences for Apple — A ground-breaking decision by the Consumer Complaints Board may have crucial consequences for Apple and for thousands of Apple laptop users all over the world — In a specific complaint case …
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Sun Microsystems joins porting effort for OpenOffice.org for Mac — I'm excited to let you all know that as of now Sun engineering will add its support to the ongoing Mac/Aqua porting effort. — The MacOSX porting history is basically as old as OpenOffice.org itself.
Discussion:
MacUser, Compiler, Apple Gazette, www.gulker.com, Switch To A Mac, The Unofficial Apple Weblog, Macsimum News, Slashdot and digg

EIC Change at PC World — As has been widely reported in the media, Harry McCracken, the EIC of PC World has resigned. I have huge respect for Harry, thank him for all his contributions over the years and wish him well. I am hopeful that Harry will continue to write for PC World on a freelance basis.
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Extreme Personalisation — An unexpected surprise of last week's Istanbul visit was coming across these working Nokia phones hacked/customised by Mehmet Erkök, industrial design lecturer at stanbul Teknik Üniversitesi's Department of Industrial Product Design.

UPDATE 1-Court denies Vonage bid for patent case retrial — WASHINGTON, May 3 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court has denied a request by Internet phone company Vonage Holdings Corp. (VG.N: Quote, Profile , Research) that it order a retrial in the patent infringement case brought …

Why the 09ers Are So Upset — The user revolt at Digg and elsewhere, over attempts to take down the now-famous "09 F9 ..." number, is now all over the press. (Background: 1, 2) Many non-techies, including some reporters, wonder why users care so much about this.


Joost Is Error-Prone — Apologies to all of you who've requested invites to Joost. We'd love to let you into the service, but over the past few days we have had trouble launching the application ourselves. I'd had no problems running earlier versions, but these days can't even get the thing to start.
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