Top Items:
Ina Fried / CNET News.com:
Source: Microsoft wins Facebook bid battle — Update: 12:30 p.m. see bottom. — After weeks of speculation, Microsoft appears to have won a battle with Google over who would get a stake in Facebook, according to a source familiar with the situation. — Microsoft and Facebook were close to a deal, according to the source.
Discussion:
Valleywag, Webware.com, Between the Lines, Tech Trader Daily, Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog, Media Biz, Scobleizer, Mashable! and ParisLemon
RELATED:
Peter Lauria / New York Post:
ONLINE FACEOFF — M'SOFT AND GOOGLE DUKE IT OUT OVER HOT SITE — Google is threatening to once again beat rival Microsoft to the deal punch, this time in the white-hot Facebook investment sweepstakes. — Microsoft and Google are each vying to take a stake of between 5 percent and 10 percent …
Discussion:
WebProNews, Good Morning Silicon Valley, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, Valleywag, Epicenter, Inside Facebook, Bits, Read/WriteWeb, Download Squad, The Social Web, Deal Journal, Seeking Alpha Internet stocks, Microsoft News Tracker, HipMojo.com, All Facebook, Search Engine Land, Screenwerk, MediaBytes with Shelly …, Mashable!, paidContent.org, John Battelle's Searchblog, ParisLemon and iMedia Connection
Wall Street Journal:
Facebook Is Close to Choosing Microsoft or Google for Deal — SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook Inc. is close to choosing between Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. to sell ads for the social networking service outside the U.S., according to people familiar with the matter.
Discussion:
Bits, Tech Trader Daily, GigaOM, Between the Lines, Seeking Alpha Internet stocks and Technology Live
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Sorry, Microsoft, Google Has Already Won Facebook War — The Post suggests that our prediction of a month ago is coming true: Either Google will run off with Facebook, leaving a jilted Microsoft (MSFT) fuming at the altar, or Microsoft will have to pay a king's ransom to win the bidding war—just as it did with aQuantive:
Eric Eldon / VentureBeat:
Facebook opens developer platform for mobile — Facebook has announced that third-party developers can integrate features from web-based applications to work on mobile devices. — Most of the world uses mobile devices, and in many countries, people use cell phones more than they do computers.
Duncan Riley / TechCrunch:
Google Declares Jihad On Blog Link Farms — A major Google page rank update has punished large scale blog link farms and similar sites indulging in heavy cross linking by dramatically cutting their Google page rank scores. — There is some suggestion that the changes may be related …
Discussion:
WebMetricsGuru, Practical Blogging, B.L. Ochman's weblog, TechWag, Ryan Stewart and Smalltalk Tidbits …
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Andy Beard / Niche Marketing:
Digg Favorites Slapped By Google — For a company such as Google with a stock price based extensively on anticipated growth and public sentiment, it doesn't take a huge swing in goodwill to have a dramatic effect on valuation. Google has just slapped their biggest fans.
Discussion:
Webware.com, Mashable!, CenterNetworks, Search Engine Guide, Silicon Alley Insider and Jim Kukral
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:
Google's PageRank Update Goes After Paid Links? — Seems like there is a PageRank update taking place now that seems to be impacting sites that sell links. Can't say that we were not warned about this? Danny Sullivan wrote Official: Selling Paid Links Can Hurt Your PageRank Or Rankings …
Darren Rowse / ProBlogger Blog Tips:
ProBlogger - PageRank 4 — Wow - this is an interesting one. — ProBlogger's page rank is currently at a 4 - and so is Digital Photography School. — I'd heard blogs had been penalized in their page rank recently for selling text links - bizarre thing is that neither of these two blogs sell links.
Discussion:
Daily Blog Tips, Technosailor, Dan Blank, SYNTAGMA, the Constant Observer and John Chow dot Com
Robby Stein / Official Gmail Blog:
Sync your inbox across devices with free IMAP — There are two online petitions I've signed in my life. One was for a "Xena: Warrior Princess" movie. The other, which I signed a few months before starting at Google, was for Gmail IMAP. As some of you know, IMAP is the best way to access …
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Brian Stelter / New York Times:
In Foray Into TV, Google Is to Track Ad Audiences — Google, which dominates the market for advertising on the Internet, seems to be hoping to do the same thing on television. — The company is set to announce a partnership today with the Nielsen Company, the voice of authority …
Discussion:
Insider Chatter, Digital Media Wire, TechCrunch, Associated Press, NewTeeVee, Mashable!, p2pnet, WebProNews, Silicon Alley Insider, MarketingVOX and Beet.TV
RELATED:
nielsenmedia.com:The Nielsen Company and Google Establish Strategic Relationship
Discussion:
last100, IP Democracy, Epicenter, Business Week, Podcasting News, Search Engine Land, Screenwerk and Google Blogoscoped
Don Dodge / Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing:
Google, Verizon & Microsoft on 700MHz wireless spectrum auction — The battle for the 700 MHz wireless spectrum has begun. It is both a business and political battle, while the issues are very technical. The US governement is holding an auction in January to sell off …
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Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:
Google Analyst Day: Jonathan Rosenberg On Search, Apps; New Versions Of iGoogle, Gmail And More — The first session at Google (GOOG) analyst day is focus on search and apps. CFO George Reyes is giving the introduction. He'll be followed by Jonathan Rosenberg on search and apps …
Justin Smith / Inside Facebook:
Breaking: Facebook Announces Facebook Platform for Mobile; Facebook for Blackberry — This just in - today at CTIA, Facebook is announcing Facebook Platform for Mobile. With Facebook Platform for Mobile, current Facebook Platform developers will be able to extend their applications to work on mobile phones and devices as well.
Jason / Signal vs. Noise:
Why Enterprise Software Sucks — Khoi, who's consistently one of the best writers on the web, recently took a swipe at enterprise software. Who can blame him? We agree. … Then he opines: … The people who buy enterprise software aren't the people who use enterprise software.
