Top Items:
Brad Stone / New York Times:
Microsoft to Pay $240 Million for Stake in Facebook — Microsoft has won a high-profile technology industry battle with Google and Yahoo to invest in the social networking upstart Facebook. — The two companies said on Wednesday that Microsoft would invest $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook.
Discussion:
Don Dodge on The Next …, The Mac Observer, Los Angeles Times, Web Strategy, Mark Evans, BloggingStocks, Search Engine Roundtable, Tom Raftery's Social Media, MarketingVOX, Soaring on Ridgelift, Geek Speaker, TechSpot News, Joe Duck, Tech Talk with Dean Takahashi, Todd Watson, Silicon Alley Insider, TechCrunch, The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs, Download Squad, Innovation in Software, Online Dating Insider, HipMojo.com, TechBlog, Bloggers Blog, iMedia Connection, Business Week, paidContent.org, rexblog.com, Clickety Clack, VentureBeat, Wikinomics, Bloomberg, Slashdot, The Last Podcast, 901am, Search Engine Watch Blog, Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog, broadstuff, CNET News.com and Wall Street Journal
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Terrence Russell / Epicenter:
Three Reasons Microsoft Underpaid For Facebook — It's official — the truth is less profitable than fiction. Facebook has secured the cornerstone of its $15 billion valuation with today's Microsoft alliance. But at $240 million, that's only a 1.6% slice of a much larger pie.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Perspective: Facebook Is Now 5th Most Valuable U.S. Internet Company — Yesterday came news that Microsoft invested $240 million into Facebook, valuing the company at $15 billion. — How much is $15 billion? It's hard to understand how much money that really is.
David Pogue / New York Times:
Apple Offers New Goodies in Leopard System — If you're a computer company, what on earth do you add to the sixth annual version of your operating system? — It's not as though there are any glaring holes left. Nobody is still crying out for a better way to organize photos.
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Walter S. Mossberg / Wall Street Journal:
Leopard: Faster, Easier Than Vista — Upgrade of Apple's OS — Isn't Revolutionary, — But It Beats Microsoft's — The Mac is on a roll. Apple Inc.'s perennially praised but slow-selling Macintosh computers have surged in popularity in the past few years, with sales growing …
Discussion:
eWEEK.com, FORTUNE: Apple 2.0, MacDailyNews, Wired News, The Mac Observer, MacUser and Digg
USA Today:
Leopard, Apple's new Mac operating system, hits all the right spots — When Steve Jobs unleashes Mac OS X Leopard on Friday, Mac fans and others considering an Apple computer for the first time will have questions. Is the new Leopard operating system worth the $129 upgrade price?
Ryan Block / Engadget:Leopard reviews coming in, usual suspects agree: it's all gravy
Discussion:
Valleywag
Steve / The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs:
PodTech: RIP — Well, they've had a good run but apparently the Casa de Scoble is heading for the big sleep. Or is it the dirt nap? I can never remember. No announcement yet but we hear it's imminent. Word is that Scoble was planning to bail in January anyway but now he won't have to.
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Duncan Riley / TechCrunch:
PodTech Heading Towards The Deadpool? — Fake Steve Jobs aka Daniel Lyons has written that he's heard that PodTech will be closing up shop with an announcement imminent. — We can't confirm the rumor although I have pinged Robert Scoble asking him to comment. If we get a response we'll publish it.
Steve / The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs:
Oh snap! Faceberg raises another $500 million — Word up. Hot on the heels of the big investment by the Borg only a few hours ago, Facebook has now landed another $500 million from two hedge funds in New York. At the same $15 billion valuation. It is on, people.
Dan Goodin / The Register:
More gnashing of teeth after Microsoft update brings PCs to a standstill — Resource-hogging search app sprung on reluctant admins — Something seems to have gone horribly wrong in an untold number of IT departments on Wednesday after Microsoft installed a resource-hogging search application …
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Megan McCarthy / Valleywag:
Jackpot: Mark Zuckerberg, the $5 billion man — One thing has been overlooked in today's Facebook valuation announcement — how much the major players can now claim to be worth. A source tells us that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg owns about 30 percent of the company …
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BBC:
Virtual worlds threaten 'values' — The growing number of toy-themed virtual worlds aimed at young people risks undermining the basic human values we wish to instill in children. — So said industry veteran Lord Puttnam opening a London conference devoted to discussing virtual worlds.
Mark Hendrickson / TechCrunch:
Friendster Announces Developer Platform; Can You Say "Commodity"? — Good thing we launched the CrunchBase widget, because you may need it to refresh your memory about a certain social networking company called Friendster that's announcing its own developer platform today (okay okay …
Wagner James Au / GigaOM:
Lord Of The Rings Online: MMORPG Meets Web 2.0 — Can web 2.0 principles revive the old school, hack-and-slash MMO? That's the question that occurred to me when Henrik Bennetsen of the Stanford Humanities Lab showed me some YouTube machinima uploaded by players of Lord of the Rings Online, a fantasy MMO released earlier this year.
Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:
Live Search Almost Certainly Coming To Facebook — During this afternoon's Microsoft-Facebook conference call the question was asked whether the new deal would include paid search. Microsoft's Kevin Johnson and Facebook's Owen Van Natta declined to directly answer the question …
