Top Items:

Yahoo! and the future of the Internet — The openness of the Internet is what made Google — and Yahoo! — possible. A good idea that users find useful spreads quickly. Businesses can be created around the idea. Users benefit from constant innovation. It's what makes the Internet such an exciting place.
Discussion:
Silicon Alley Insider, Los Angeles Times, Search Engine Journal, Today @ PC World, IDG News Service, CNET News.com, Engadget, Techmamas, Profy.Com, Joe Duck, Brandon LeBlanc, ReadWriteWeb, Ars Technica, The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs, Alice Hill's Real Tech News, Trends in the Living Networks, TechBlog, Tech Beat, TECH.BLORGE.com, AccMan Pro, Damien Mulley, HipMojo.com, Google Watch, AppScout, Digital Destiny, O'Flaherty, Tech Talk with Dean Takahashi, Valleywag, Techland, Yahoo! Finance, Clickety Clack, All about Microsoft, VentureBeat, Furrier.org, BBC NEWS, Marc's Voice, Bits, Screenwerk, Paul Kedrosky's …, The Last Podcast, ParisLemon, ResourceShelf, MarketingVOX, Epicenter, FP Posted, Boing Boing, Mac Beach, TechCrunch, ZDNet.com.au, Reflections of a Newsosaur, Mashable!, Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check, michael parekh on IT, SEO and Tech Daily and Digg
RELATED:

Google Reaches Out to Yahoo — Google Inc. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt called Yahoo Inc. CEO Jerry Yang to offer his company's help in any effort to thwart Microsoft Corp.'s unsolicited $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo, say people familiar with the matter. — The approach Friday from Google …

Why Yahoo should say Yes to MicroSoft — One thing about Jerry Yang that I always have admired is that he cares. He cares about his employees. He cares about his products. He cares about his shareholders. Most of all he cares about building a world class company that can be great at what it does.

Statement from Brad Smith, General Counsel, Microsoft — The combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! will create a more competitive marketplace by establishing a compelling number two competitor for Internet search and online advertising. The alternative scenarios only lead to less competition on the Internet.

Yahoo may consider Google alliance, source says — SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc would consider a business alliance with Google Inc as one way to rebuff a $44.6 billion takeover proposal by Microsoft, a source familiar with Yahoo's strategy said on Sunday.


No Super Bowl For Yahoo: Top Brass Weigh Their Limited Options — So apparently the Yahoo brass didn't take Microsoft's public offer to buy them as well as could be expected (hey, at least their shareholders finally got a break - the stock jumped nearly 1/3 on Friday).

Google launches its 'let's annoy Microsoft' plan: Pings Yahoo and works regulators — Google has reportedly reached out to Yahoo to thwart Microsoft's unsolicited $44.6 billion bid. And in case that doesn't work Google has already started working policymakers. — Simply put, the games have begun (Techmeme).


Google Works to Torpedo Microsoft Bid for Yahoo — Standing between a marriage of Microsoft and Yahoo may be the technology behemoth that has continually outsmarted them: Google. — In an unusually aggressive effort to prevent Microsoft from moving forward with its $44.6 billion hostile bid for Yahoo …
Discussion:
WebMetricsGuru

Microsoft is “committed to openness,” snickers its general counsel — Wow. Microsoft is nothing if not brazen. When you think of Microsoft you normally don't think of these words, at least not together, yet these words came from Microsoft's general counsel, Brad Smith …
Discussion:
Mashable!


Amid Yahoo Turmoil, AOL Makes An Acquisition — On Monday AOL will announce the acquisition of San Diego-based Goowy, a startup founded in late 2004 and which launched, incidentally, in my living room in late 2006 (we had a TechCrunch party where Goowy, Meebo, Sphere and other startups launched).


Industry Standard relaunches — as a predictions market — After much suspense, media conglomerate IDG has relaunched its brand Industry Standard. — This time, Industry Standard is a site that lets you predict the outcome of future events. It lets you bet virtual money ("Standard $"), and it awards you prizes for doing well.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, GigaOM, Associated Press, CNET News.com, CenterNetworks, paidContent.org and bub.blicio.us
RELATED:


Microsoft Writes Yahoo: BoomTown Decodes the Letter, So You Don't Have To! — As a continuing public service, BoomTown translates the letter that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer sent to Yahoo's Board of Directors last week, informing them of the software giant's unsolicited offer to buy the troubled Internet portal for $31 a share.
RELATED:

Ships did not cut internet cable — No ships were present when two marine cables carrying much of the Middle East's internet traffic were severed, Egypt's Ministry of Communications has said, contrary to earlier speculation about the causes of the cut. — The ministry had originally stated …
RELATED:

Cable cuts, conspiracies, and lolsubs...
Discussion:
Data Center Knowledge

Yahoo switches music service to Rhapsody — LOS ANGELES — Yahoo Inc. will cease operating its online music subscription service and switch its customers to Rhapsody music service as part of a new deal with Seattle's RealNetworks that calls for Yahoo to promote Rhapsody on its site.
Discussion:
TechCrunch
RELATED:

Yahoo Sells Premium Music Service To RhapsodyAmerica; Buys FoxyTunes
Discussion:
Silicon Alley Insider


MediaSentry role in RIAA lawsuit comes under scrutiny — A key component of all of the RIAA's lawsuits against suspected file-sharers is supplied by MediaSentry, the company that goes hunting for targets on KaZaA and other P2P networks. MediaSentry's role in the RIAA's cases is coming under …