Top Items:
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?
Discussion:
Between the Lines, Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog, Tech Trader Daily, Web Worker Daily, CrunchGear, Engadget and Danger, Inc.
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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, Podcasting News, Infinite Loop, MacRumors and Zatz Not Funny!
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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.
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Dawn Kawamoto / CNET News.com:
Yahoo's second-largest shareholder says Microsoft will need to up ante
Yahoo's second-largest shareholder says Microsoft will need to up ante
Discussion:
TechSpot News
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.
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 …
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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, Google Operating System, Natural Search Blog, greg hughes and Google Blogoscoped
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 and VoIP Blog
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Donna Bogatin / Insider Chatter:
MySpace To Google: Learn How To Sell Advertising, OMMA Report
MySpace To Google: Learn How To Sell Advertising, OMMA Report
Discussion:
WebProNews
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.
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 …
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Saul Hansell / Bits:
Yahoo's Purchase of Maven Adds Complexity — Yahoo is buying Maven Networks, a company that helps outfits like CBS and Sony put their video online. Its press release is full of all sorts of ways this will help Yahoo: It gets video technology. Yahoo will be able to use its sales force to sell video ads on partner sites.
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times
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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, TechCrunch, Techdirt, Geek News Central, CrunchGear, TechCrunch UK, GoNintendo, The Globe and Mail and VoIP Blog
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.
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”?
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
Greg Sandoval / CNET News.com:
Viacom's MTV unveils digital strategy — In some tech circles, Viacom is the symbol of botched digital strategies and uninspired, old-media thinking. — There's little doubt that operating under Viacom's umbrella has hurt MTV's hipster bonafides with tech-savvy youth.
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Yahoo's oneConnect: One Mobile App to Rule Them All — Today at the Mobile World Congress in Spain, Yahoo announced a mobile app called oneConnect that will be available in the second quarter as part of the upcoming release of Yahoo Go 3.0. I have not seen a demo of this myself …
Matt Cutts / Gadgets, Google, and SEO:
How 404 pages work in Google Toolbar Beta 5 — I thought I'd play hooky from a meeting and talk about how the newest version of the Toolbar handles 404 pages for users, because I see some people writing about it this morning. — We tried to give a heads-up in a couple places.
Discussion:
Download Squad, Google Operating System, The Last Podcast, Seoker.com, WebProNews, TechCrunch, CyberNet, Codswallop and Bb's RealTech