Top Items:
Staci D. Kramer / paidContent.org:
Disney Acquires Club Penguin; $350 Million Cash, Possible $350 Million Earnout — On a call with Disney CEO Bob Iger now while he announces the company's acquisition of Club Penguin, which he describes as a perfect fit. It's a cash payment of $350 million and an opportunity to earn out an additional $350 million between now and 2009.
RELATED:
Merissa Marr / Wall Street Journal:
Disney to Buy Club Penguin — Seeking to bolster its online presence among kids, Walt Disney Co. said it is buying the popular Club Penguin virtual community for $350 million in cash. — Disney said it had agreed to pay up to another $350 million to Club Penguin's founders …
Discussion:
Download Squad, 901am, BloggingStocks, mathewingram.com/work, alarm:clock and CenterNetworks
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Extremely Happy Feet: Disney Acquires Club Penguin For Up To $700 million — Club Penguin, a social network/virtual world that has been on the market for some time, was acquired by The Walt Disney Company and announced today. An earlier deal with Sony fell apart over valuation …
John C. Dvorak / PC Magazine:
Bubble 2.0 Coming Soon — Every single person working in the media today who experienced the dot-com bubble in 1999 to 2000 believes that we are going through the exact same process and can expect the exact same results—a bust. It's déjà vu all over again.
PR Newswire:
American Airlines Selects AirCell to Launch In-Flight Wi-Fi Service Over U.S. — American Airlines Becomes First Airline to Launch AirCell's High-Speed Broadband Internet Service on Aircraft Flying Over U.S.; Conquering the Last Frontier for Internet Access
Discussion:
Christopher Null, Wi-Fi Networking News, TechSpot News, Paul's Down-Home Page and Smalltalk Tidbits …
RELATED:
Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:Lufthansa to add in-flight broadband by 2008 for long-hauls
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Computerworld, IP Telephony, VoIP, Broadband, dslreports.com, Feld Thoughts and digg
Sir Elton John / The Sun:
Why we must close the net — Web rant ... Sir Elton says the internet is destroying music — POP legend Sir Elton John wants the internet CLOSED DOWN. — Never one to keep his opinions to himself, the Rocket Man has waded into cyberspace with all guns blazing.
Discussion:
mathewingram.com/work, Life On the Wicked Stage, CNET News.com, Zoli's Blog and JD on EP
Brian Prince / eWEEK.com:
SecureWorks Offers Free Security Tools — Researchers from SecureWorks have created two new tools to address security issues. They will be presenting the tools at the Black Hat convention, which runs July 28-Aug. 2 in Las Vegas. — The first tool, known as CaffeineMonkey …
RELATED:
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Sprint Pulls Out Of Cable Spectrum Venture — If a consortium of cable giants bids on spectrum in the upcoming FCC auction, Sprint Nextel will not be part of the bid. The 10Q Time Warner Cable filed this morning reveals that Sprint has exercised its option to exit SpectrumCo …
RELATED:
Staci D. Kramer / mocoNews.net:Sprint Pulls Out Of Wireless Spectrum JV With Cable Operators
Discussion:
Engadget
Eli Brandt / Google LatLong:
How long will it take at rush hour? — Let's say you want to leave from Berkeley to catch the sunset from the beach at Half Moon Bay, to relax on the sand and watch the sun sink into the Pacific. We all know Google Maps will tell you how to get there. Now it's better at helping you decide when to leave to catch your sunset on time.
Eric Bangeman / Ars Technica:
Console mod-chippers busted in nationwide raids — Federal agents have carried out a series of raids against individuals and businesses in 16 states as part of an investigation into the distribution and sale of mod chips. Dubbed "Operation Tangled Web", the 32 search warrants were executed …
Nicole Lee / Crave: The gadget blog:
Motorola rolls out six budget handsets — Six new unannounced handsets have shown up on Motorola's image gallery, and they all appear to be budget candybar devices. Not too much information on these phones aside from model numbers (Motorola W206, W213, W156, W160, W175 and W18), and we don't even know where they'll be headed.
Elsa Wenzel / CNET News.com:
Microsoft to delay Office for Mac 2008 — Mac users must wait until next year for fresh versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, as Microsoft moves its intended launch of Office for Mac 2008 to January from the second half of this year. — "We had hoped to hit the Christmas selling season …
Discussion:
Ars Technica
Digital Music News:
GoFish Abandons Bolt Purchase, Licensing Issues Blamed — Video-sharing destination GoFish is now abandoning its purchase of Bolt, according to sources to Digital Music News. The acquisition, first reported in February, involved a stock-for-stock transaction valued at $30 million.
Discussion:
paidContent.org, TechCrunch, Valleywag, NewTeeVee, Contentinople and Technology News Daily
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Ringtones in your home: a review of Ringboxx — Meet the Ringboxx — Consider the Ringboxx. Like the original iPod, it does a single job well—in this case, bringing ringtones to the home phone—and it comes in white. Instant recipe for success? — Home Phone Tunes hopes so.
Roxanne Escobales / Guardian:
US voting machines can be hacked into, report warns — With 15 months to go before the US presidential elections, a new report has revealed that a voting machine has been found vulnerable to hacking. — The report, on optical scan voting systems, shows that the machine …
Discussion:
Engadget
Raoul / Inner Bits:
PS3 Controller News and Rumors — Several fresh items today regarding the PS3 controller: — We can confirm that prototypes of the new rumble-enabled controllers have made their way to various Sony developers. Information on these controllers is still closely held by Sony and their partners …
