Top Items:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Confirmed: MySpace To Acquire Photobucket For $250 Million — Apparently an overzealous Photobucket employee is the source of this rumor, but we've confirmed it with more senior people: MySpace is acquiring Photobucket for $250 million in cash. We're hearing that there is also an earn-out for up to an additional $50 million.
RELATED:
Valleywag:
Exclusive: Photobucket goes to Myspace — Like a squabbling couple finally realizing they can't live without eachother — or a parasite fusing with its host — Photobucket has concluded terms of a sale to Myspace, News Corporation's social network. The photo sharing service …
Discussion:
HipMojo.com, Epicenter, franticindustries, Thomas Hawk's Digital …, VentureBeat, ClickZ News Blog, Deep Jive Interests, rexduffdixon.com, The Globe and Mail, Webware.com, Mashable!, alarm:clock, PE HUB, Startup Meme, Scobleizer, MethodShop, WebProNews, The Browser, Digital Media Wire, CenterNetworks, Data Center Knowledge, Silicon Valley Watcher, andrewteman.org and StartupSquad.com
Pete Cashmore / Mashable!:
Breaking: Photobucket Acquired By MySpace (Update: Confirmed) — UPDATE: See also MySpace and Photobucket: Timeline of Events — UPDATE 2: upgrading this from rumor to fact. Price is in the range of the $300 million PB was looking for. — It's the deal you never thought would happen …
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Photobucket Was A Steal v. Google/YouTube — By almost any measure, MySpace got Photobucket for an absolute steal when compared to the Google YouTube deal. The companies are somewhat comparable - both have very large libraries of user-created videos, and both built their business on the back of MySpace.
Discussion:
HipMojo.com
Ken Fisher / Ars Technica:
Record shops: Used CDs? Ihre papieren, bitte! — There are a few things lawmakers have decided really ought to be handled with the "care and oversight" that only the government can provide: e.g., tax collection, radioactive materials, biohazards, guns, and CDs. CDs?
Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:
Pew Research: 'Web 2.0' Crowd A Small Minority — The Pew Internet & American Life Project just released the findings of a new survey of 4,001 U.S. adults that segments Americans into a range of groups based on usage of and attitudes toward the Internet and mobile phones.
Eric Savitz / BARRONS.com:
Yahoo: Forget About Microsoft; Maybe Google Should Make A Bid; or eBay; or Comcast; or... The reports that Microsoft (MSFT) might acquire Yahoo (YHOO) have faded, but the Street is still mulling over the possibilities. J.P. Morgan's Imran Khan, for instance, makes the eye-opening suggestion that …
Business Wire:
Samsung Unveils the Q1 Ultra, the Next Stage in the Evolution of Ultra Mobile Personal Computing — Increased Battery Life and Advanced Features in a Smaller, More Portable Form Factor — NEW YORK—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Samsung Electronics America, Inc., a global leader in digital media …
Discussion:
jkOnTheRun, Gizmodo, GottaBeMobile.com, Ubergizmo, The Mobile Gadgeteer, Mobility Site, Engadget, Joe Duck, The Tech Report and Office Evolution
RELATED:
Mark Sullivan / Today @ PC World:
Could Ads Increase YouTube's Vulnerability to Suits? — The legal climate got a little cooler for Google and YouTube Friday. — When Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion last year, analysts worried that the popular viral video site would eventually become the target of copyright infringement lawsuits filed by big content owners.
RELATED:
Eric Auchard / Reuters:NBC Universal sides against YouTube in piracy suit
Discussion:
Startup Meme, Google Watch, PodTech Network, rexduffdixon.com, Epicenter, Podcasting News and Beet.TV
Philipp Lenssen / Google Blogoscoped:
A Chat with Aaron Swartz — Aaron Swartz, now in his early twenties, rose to internet fame as technology whiz kid a couple of years ago, working on such things as W3C standards or the Creative Commons. He was also blogger behind the very successful Google Weblog.
Ed Felten / Freedom to Tinker:
You Can Own an Integer Too — Get Yours Here — Remember last week's kerfuffle over whether the movie industry could own random 128-bit numbers? (If not, here's some background: 1, 2, 3) — Now, thanks to our newly developed VirtualLandGrab technology, you can own a 128-bit integer of your very own.
Think Secret:
iPod update Tuesday? — An unconfirmed tip points to the possibility of an iPod update as early as tomorrow, with a touch-screen iPod taking center stage. — The information, which comes from an unproven source, suggests that Apple will show off the new iPod tomorrow but will hold off …
DigiTimes:
Production cost of PS3 could be cut by US$100 — As blue-laser pick-up heads (PUHs) for use in the PlayStation 3 (PS3) are expected to increase in supply and decrease in price, the production cost of the game console could be reduced by as much as US$100, according to Taiwan-based makers of game consoles and components.
benedelman.org:
How Spyware-Driven Forced Visits Inflate Web Site Traffic Counts — The usual motive for buying spyware popup traffic is simple: Showing ads. Cover Netflix's site with an ad for Blockbuster, and users may buy from Blockbuster instead. Same for other spyware advertisers.
Discussion:
Valleywag, The Paradigm Shift, Internet Outsider, ClickZ News Blog and Donna's SecurityFlash
Ken Auletta / New Yorker:
CRITICAL MASS — Everyone listens to Walter Mossberg. — On a blustery, overcast day early this year, P.R. representatives from Sprint and Samsung stopped by the Washington bureau of the Wall Street Journal to meet with the columnist Walter S. Mossberg. The agenda was clear …
Discussion:
Brier Dudley's blog, Cloudy Thinking, The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs, nerd-in-residence and Buzzworthy
PC World:
10 Things We Love About Apple — Great design, a polished OS, a way to run Windows, and a faker's blog are just a few of our favorite things. — Narasu Rebbapragada and Alan Stafford, PC World — In a world where generic MP3 players are sold alongside Chia Pets in every Wal-Mart …
