Top Items:
CNET News.com:
Yahoo pink slips arrive — As expected, Yahoo lays off more than 1,000, but details are not disclosed. — Senate shields phone companies from spy lawsuits — update Civil liberties groups bash vote as “get-out-of-jail-free card” for AT&T and others accused of illegally opening their networks to the feds.
Discussion:
Tech Beat
RELATED:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Brickhouse Head Leaves Yahoo — Salim Ismail, who has led Yahoo Brickhouse since since March 2007, left the company today as part of broader layoffs at Yahoo. Layoff packages were being offered, he said, and he left voluntarily. — Brickhouse is based in San Francisco and shares office space …
Discussion:
You've Got Ismail!
Vacuum:
Yahoo Alumni Association — Quite a few people got laid off at Yahoo today; reports are trickling in from Twitter. — CNET reports 1000 (but “no details"). … Some news coverage: — Yahoo Layoffs Happening Now - Search Engine Land roundup. — Some people by name: — Susan Mernit (Personals)
Discussion:
Habitat Chronicles
Om Malik / GigaOM:
How Much Did Microsoft Pay For Danger? — Microsoft is in some of kind of spending mood. First they offered up $45 billion for Yahoo (not enough for some!). And then there was that Danger acquisition. But how much did they spend on the Palo Alto-based company started by Android leader Andy Rubin?
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Matt Marshall / VentureBeat:
Microsoft paid $500 million for Danger, and there's got to be a reason — Software giant Microsoft reportedly spent $500 million to acquire Danger, the company that developed software to power the youngster-popular Sidekick. — The figure, while not officially announced, was dug up in reporting by GigaOm's Om Malik.
Joshua Karp / The Boy Genius Report:
Apple TV Take 2 out now — Does anyone out there actually own an Apple TV? If you do, today is your lucky day. Apple has just released the software update promised as a part of this year's Macworld Keynote. The update sports a number of significant enhancements, including set-top HD …
Discussion:
The Unofficial Apple Weblog, Apple 2.0, Infinite Loop, MacRumors, Podcasting News and Zatz Not Funny!
RELATED:
Ryan Naraine / Ryan Naraine's Security Watch:
Security Features High in Firefox 3 Beta 3 Release — Mozilla is inching closer to delivering the next major refresh of its flagship Firefox Web browser. — Late this evening, the open-source group shipped Firefox 3 Beta 3, an update that features approximately 1300 individual changes …
RELATED:
Bob Sullivan / MSNBC:
A lost laptop, a $54 million lawsuit — How much compensation does a consumer deserve for the loss of a laptop computer loaded with personal information? Raelyn Campbell figures it's $54 million — if you throw in a little extra for lost time and frustration.
Sonia Zjawinski / Wired News:
How Google Got Its Colorful Logo — In just a few short years, Google's logo has become as recognizable as Nike's swoosh and NBC's peacock. Ruth Kedar, the graphic designer who developed the now-famous logo, shows the iterations that led to the instantly recognizable primary colors and Catull typeface that define the Google brand.
Discussion:
Valleywag, Natural Search Blog, Google Operating System, greg hughes and Google Blogoscoped
Skrentablog:
Amazon is the Google of buying stuff — I went into a little corner non-chain convenience store by my house (the “Devonshire Little Store") for some milk and noticed a big plastic tub of Dubble Bubble at the cash register. — Folks I've worked with know that I have a thing for gum.
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Big Yahoo shareholder: There are few alternatives to Microsoft bid — Legg Mason-which owns 80 million shares of Yahoo, or about 6 percent of the company-said in its fourth quarter commentary that Yahoo will be hard-pressed to find alternatives to Microsoft's $44.6 billion bid.
RELATED:
Dawn Kawamoto / CNET News.com:Yahoo's second-largest shareholder says Microsoft will need to up ante
Discussion:
TechSpot News
Ben Worthen / Business Technology:
Bill Gates Quits Facebook — Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has stopped using the Web site Facebook, the most damning indictment in a week full of bad press for social-networking technology. — Social-networking Web sites, which help people share and find information about one another …
Discussion:
Download Squad, Virtual Worlds News, FaceReviews, Web Strategy, A Media Circus, Zoli's Blog, Valleywag, CNET News.com, PDA, All Facebook, VoIP Blog, Redeye VC and Insider Chatter
RELATED:
Donna Bogatin / Insider Chatter:MySpace To Google: Learn How To Sell Advertising, OMMA Report
Discussion:
WebProNews
Nick White / Windows Vista Team Blog:
Windows Vista SP1 Prerequisites & Non-Security Update coming via Windows Update — Today we have a non-security update scheduled for distribution via Windows Update that you may find of some interest. The non-security update KB947172, a Cumulative Update for Media Center for Windows Vista …
RELATED:
Francis Eliott / Times of London:
Internet users could be banned over illegal downloads — People who illegally download films and music will be cut off from the internet under new legislative proposals to be unveiled next week. — Internet service providers (ISPs) will be legally required to take action against users …
Discussion:
TorrentFreak, Financial Times, Slyck, Good Morning Silicon Valley, Digital Daily, GigaOM, Telegraph Blogs, mathewingram.com/work, Teblog, IP Democracy, IP Telephony, VoIP, Broadband, The 463, p2pnet, TECH.BLORGE.com, Virtual Economics, BBC, Geek News Central, Techdirt, TechCrunch, CrunchGear, TechCrunch UK, GoNintendo, The Globe and Mail, VoIP Blog, open, paidContent, All News Feeds, MCV and Alice Hill's Real Tech News
Google Earth Blog:
Twelve New Cities With Google Street View Available — [UPDATE: Ok...according to Google - there are 12 new cities in the collection (they counted the Raleigh area as 3 cities). Originally, I said only six. I've updated the list below.] — Google has not announced it yet …
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Twittershare Brings File Sharing to Twitter — I love Twitter but even when it's not down it's got its limitations. Enter the API and a world of developers eager to engage with the active community of Twitter users. Twittershare is the newest truly useful development on top of Twitter …
Discussion:
Download Squad
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
Once Again, RIM Blames Upgrade For Outage; Time To Do Weekend Upgrades — Last year when RIM's Blackberry service had a major outage, the company blamed a software upgrade, which made many folks question why RIM would be doing a major software upgrade in the middle of the week.
Adam Pash / Lifehacker:
DVD Rip Automates One-Click DVD Ripping — Windows only: Rip and back up any DVD to your hard drive with DVD Rip, a freeware Windows application that automates the entire DVD-to-hard-drive backup process. All you need to do is insert your DVD, run DVD Rip, and let it take care of the rest. Why?
Discussion:
Download Squad
Tina Wood / Channel 10:
Life At Microsoft - The Truth Revealed — People often stop me in the streets to ask “Hey Tina, what's life “really” like at Microsoft? Sometimes I can't even walk outside my house without somebody standing there with a giant neon sign that blinks “What is life “really” like at Microsoft”?
