Top Items:
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Facebook Fatigue? Visitors Level Off In the U.S. — The number of people who visit Facebook has been leveling off over the past few months in the U.S., and even dipped by about 800,000 individuals in January. According to the latest stats from comScore, Facebook attracted 33.9 million unique visitors …
Discussion:
ReadWriteWeb, Profy.Com, Screenwerk, Mashable!, Media Bullseye, WebMetricsGuru and Mark Evans
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Caroline McCarthy / Webware.com:
Facebook's traffic may be plateauing. So what? — There's been a lot of buzz this week about Facebook's traffic leveling off or declining, and naturally, it's been accompanied by schadenfreude over the fact that the hottest start-up in Silicon Valley may soon be losing its laurels.
Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:
Is Facebook doomed? — Ahh, the patina is shedding off of Facebook. — Looks like the trend I noticed when I was in London talking with Maryam's niece in December has hit home for Facebook. Is usage down? — My own usage is certainly down. Here's why: — First, Facebook depresses me.
Discussion:
Smart Mobs
Allen Stern / CenterNetworks:How To Take a Seasonal Chart And Get a TechMeme Headline and Digg Traffic
Discussion:
mathewingram.com/work
Microsoft:
Kevin Johnson E-mail to Employees of the Microsoft Platform & Services Division — Text of an e-mail sent by Kevin Johnson, president of the Microsoft Platforms & Services Division to provide employees of the Platforms & Services Division with an update on the Feb. 1 proposal to combine with Yahoo!
Discussion:
TechCrunch, paidContent.org, Tech Beat, All about Microsoft, Bits, Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog, Tech Tracks and Valleywag
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Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:
Microsoft's Johnson: “Once Yahoo And Microsoft Agree On A Transaction” — This afternoon, Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft Platforms & Services Division, issued an email to Microsoft employees (that was released via its PR firm). The letter has a tone of confidence that assumes that a deal with Yahoo will ultimately take place.
Discussion:
Epicenter, BoomTown, IDG News Service, Tech Beat, CNET News.com, Valleywag and Yahoo! Finance
Randall Chase / Associated Press:
Yahoo sued for spurning Microsoft — DOVER, Del. - Two Detroit pension funds have sued Yahoo Inc. and its board of directors, saying they breached their duties to shareholders in trying to thwart a takeover by Microsoft Corp. — The lawsuit was filed in Delaware Chancery Court on Thursday …
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Benjamin Pimentel / MarketWatch:
Yahoo sued again for saying ‘no’ to Microsoft — SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - With Microsoft Corp.'s bold bid to gobble up Yahoo Inc. in limbo, another group of Yahoo shareholders has sued the Internet company for the way it responded to the proposed marriage.
Discussion:
Digital Daily
Scott Gu / ScottGu's Blog:
First Look at Silverlight 2 — Last September we shipped Silverlight 1.0 for Mac and Windows, and announced our plans to deliver Silverlight on Linux. Silverlight 1.0 is focused on enabling rich media scenarios in a browser, and supports a JavaScript/AJAX programming model.
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Ryan Stewart / The Universal Desktop:Scott Guthrie gives us a first look at Silverlight 2
Discussion:
Bink.nu
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Facebook Targets FriendFeed; Opening Up The News Feed — Facebook is planning on allowing users to add activities from third party social networking site directly into their Facebook news feed, we've confirmed. The goal is to centralize all that activity in one place.
Discussion:
mathewingram.com/work
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:
Apple Hits Lowest Level Since June; New iPhone Worries — Apple (AAPL) shares are down sharply to their lowest level since June, as several analyst reports have triggered fresh concerns about the state of demand for iPhones and iPods. — Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst at Bernstein Research …
Discussion:
Paul Kedrosky's …
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Anthony LaFauce / All Facebook:
Facebook Adds Flash... Am I Excited? — With the usual fever that Facebook causes news of its flash application, via Facebook Pages, is all the buzz on the blogs and tech journals the past couple of days. Most of the blogs are preaching the praise of this move and I have to agree, for the most part.
Alma Whitten / Google Public Policy Blog:
Are IP addresses personal? — To protect privacy, you first have to identify what data is personal. That's why there has been a lot of discussion in recent months around the world to try to define “personal data” (as it is referred to in Europe), or “personally identifiable information” (as it's called in the U.S.).
Ryan Block / Engadget:
Optimus Maximus: at long last, we bring one home to test — It's the damndest thing: years after seeing the renders we're actually finally writing this post on our very own Optimus Maximus. We've had ours for a few weeks for testing, but we weren't able to do a whole lot with it until we got some later firmware updates.
Discussion:
DailyTech, TECH.BLORGE.com, The Tech Report, Advertising Lab, TechSpot News, Tech Blog, Slashdot and Digg
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Facebook Headhunter: The Quest for the Golden Geek! — If Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is serious about finding a true No. 2 to replace outgoing exec Owen Van Natta and more, then BoomTown has certainly at least two cents to add. — So here is our list of ideas, which include a number of women execs …
Discussion:
VentureBeat, Valleywag, Fortune, HipMojo.com, CNET News.com, FaceReviews and Silicon Alley Insider
Saul Hansell / Bits:
Buying Movies on Flash Drives: Nice Idea That Doesn't Work — Over the last few months, we've had quite a debate in the comments here about the relative merits of Blu-ray, HD DVD and standard DVD discs. Some argue we don't need discs at all because we'll all be able to download movies.
Discussion:
CrunchGear
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Google Very Exposed to US Recession—Expert — A digital-ad industry insider thinks Google is far more exposed to a US recession than the market realizes. The insider also thinks that the next two quarters will be “rough.” — The insider is not a Google employee, but s/he has real …
Discussion:
Valleywag
