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Cellphone Straitjacket Is Inspiring a Rebellion — First come the grumblings, then the torches and pitchforks. — Consumers have never been happy about their cellphone carriers and the services they provide — or refuse to provide. But they also have hardly the means to do anything, except switch from one carrier to the next.


Microsoft Unveils Device Customization via New Zune Originals Store, New Zune Players Available Tomorrow — Microsoft partners with 18 renowned artists to fuse high style with portable entertainment. — Tomorrow, consumers ready for a richer, more connected and more personal entertainment experience …
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Zune Originals: Interview with Chris Stephenson — Zune's next move takes their support of emerging artists and literally puts it on their sleeve. Zune Originals is a collection of 27 original works by 18 international artists designed to be engraved onto the back of the device. (Click images for detail.)
Discussion:
DailyTech, Engadget, Crave, Gadget Lab, Chris Lanier's Blog, Podcasting News and istartedsomething


Zune 80GB Media Player - Black — Specs Pricing User Reviews Add Your Review — Zune 80GB Media Player - Black — Wireless syncing, good sound quality, and a nice touch control make this affordable player a good choice. — Recommend this story? — Though the old 30GB Zune …


Google Options Make Masseuse a Multimillionaire — Bonnie Brown was fresh from a nasty divorce in 1999, living with her sister and uncertain of her future. On a lark, she answered an ad for an in-house masseuse at Google, then a Silicon Valley start-up with 40 employees.

IBM to Acquire Cognos to Accelerate Information on Demand Business Initiative — ARMONK, N.Y. & OTTAWA, Ontario—(BUSINESS WIRE)—IBM (NYSE: IBM - News) and Cognos® (NASDAQ: COGN - News) (TSX: CSN - News) today announced that the two companies have entered into a definitive agreement …
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IBM takes out Cognos for $5 billion — Remember that last independent business intelligence company, Cognos? It's now a part of IBM's software unit. — IBM said Monday in a statement that it has acquired Cognos for $5 billion, or $58 a share. In just a month the two leading business intelligence players have been acquired.

Should Sprint Send Silicon Valley a Super Poke? — Sprint Nextel's (S) rough patch is turning into a highway from hell. The exit of CEO Gary Forsee, questions about its plans for a WiMAX network and its aborted partnership with Clearwire (CLWR) have provided fertile ground for all sorts of rumors.
Discussion:
Search Engine Land, DSLreports, CNET News.com, WebProNews, VoIP & Gadgets Blog, Hightouch, WebMetricsGuru, Engadget, BloggingStocks and Business Logs
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Will Success, or All That Money From Google, Spoil Firefox? — Only a couple of years ago, Firefox was the little browser that could — an open-source program created by thousands of contributors around the world without the benefit of a giant company like Microsoft to finance it.

Google turns to X Factor's Fuller for push into TV — Internet giant Google is in secret talks with Simon Fuller, the British entrepreneur behind the Spice Girls, about a joint venture that could change the way TV is watched over the internet. — News of the collaboration will prompt speculation …
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Intel's Fundamental Advance in Transistor Design Extends Moore's Law, Computing Performance — Sixteen Eco-Friendly, Faster and 'Cooler' Chips Incorporate 45nm Hafnium-Based High-k Metal Gate Transistors — Built using an entirely new transistor formula that alleviates the wasteful electricity leaks …
Discussion:
Between the Lines, Gizmodo, Electronista, Engadget, Hacking Cough, Gadget Lab and Tech Talk with Dean Takahashi
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Microsoft to ship Windows Server 2008, over time, in eight flavors — Microsoft is readying eight SKUs of Windows Server 2008, only some of which will include Hyper-V (the new name for Microsoft's hypervisor that was code-named "Viridian"). — According to ActiveWin.com …
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Why Are Founders and Execs Leaving Second Tier Social Networks? — Employees generally don't leave hot startups. They lose some or all of their stock options, and they also lose the resume value of being associated with a startup brand. And that's doubly true for executive level employees.


Al Gore's next act: Planet-saving VC — The recovering politician is teaming with a legendary venture capitalist and bigtime moneyman to make over the $6 trillion global energy business. A Fortune exclusive — (Fortune Magazine) — It's lunchtime on Sand Hill Road, and Al Gore wants answers.

Hulu checks out WBTV library — "Friends" could soon be buddying up to Hulu. — Warner Bros. Television is in active negotiations with the News Corp.-NBC joint venture to make a slew of WBTV content available on Hulu, executives said. — "It's more likely than not that we're going to make a deal …

AOL acquires question-and-answer service Yedda — Time Warner unit AOL announced early Monday morning that it has acquired Yedda, a question-and-answer start-up that was founded in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 2006. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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AOL Acquires Israeli Social Search Start-Up Yedda; Second Buy In A Week
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Search Engine Land, MYBLOG by Ouriel, 901am, TechCrunch, Israel Digital News, /Message, GigaOM and Mashable!