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4:10 PM ET, March 13, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Bebo: By the (Not So Big) Numbers  —  What's AOL getting for its $850 million in cash to purchase of social-networking site, Bebo?  —  A very attractive social-networking service and a very experienced exec who has been running it.  —  But, perhaps more importantly for those who focus on pesky numbers …
RELATED:
Business Wire:
AOL to Acquire Global Social Media Network Bebo  —  NEW YORK—(BUSINESS WIRE)—AOL announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Bebo (http://www.bebo.com), a leading global social media network.  Together with its AIM and ICQ personal communications network …
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
AOL Buys Bebo For $850 Million  —  I'm not going to say that we told you so, but we told you so.  —  AOL has acquired social networking site Bebo for $850 million in cash.  AOL CEO Randy Falco (left in picture) sent an email to all AOL employees this morning.  Allen Stern's press call notes are here.
AOL News:
AOL to Acquire Social Media Network Bebo  —  AOL has entered into an agreement to acquire Bebo, a leading global social media network.  Founded in 2005, Bebo now has 40 million members worldwide.  Together with AIM and ICQ, AOL will have a social network of approximately 80 million unique users worldwide …
Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM:
Let's Justify Facebook's $300-Per-User Valuation
Caroline McCarthy / The Social:
AOL buys social network Bebo for $850 million
Saul Hansell / Bits:
Bebo: Randy Falco's $850 Million Rescue Plan for AIM
Discussion: Techdirt, BBC and paidContent.org
Associated Press:
AOL to Pay $850M for Social Network Bebo
Discussion: Searchviews and Search Engine Land
Mark Sweney / Guardian:
AOL to buy Bebo for $850m
Discussion: PDA and BuzzMachine
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Analyzing AOL-Bebo; Impact on Yahoo-Microsoft?
Discussion: HipMojo.com
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Yahoo Embraces The Semantic Web - Expect The Internet To Organize Itself In A Hurry  —  Yahoo's embrace of all things open continues today - expect an announcement in an hour or so that they are expanding their Open Search Platform that we wrote about last month.
RELATED:
Yahoo! Search Blog:
The Yahoo! Search Open Ecosystem  —  A few weeks ago, we began talking about the new Yahoo! Search open platform.  Today, we're releasing more details about two important components of the initiative — the developer platform as well as our support of a number of semantic web standards.
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
And Nerds Became Kings: Yahoo! to Announce Semantic Web Support
Discussion: Search Engine Land
Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:   Yahoo opens up to semantic web and developers
AppleInsider:
Apple TV DVR interface revealed in patent filings  —  A series of Apple patent filings published this week reveal a version of the Apple TV media device capable of browsing and recording live television programming in addition to serving up pre-aired content from the company's iTunes Store.
RELATED:
Slash Lane / AppleInsider:
Apple sued over foundation to iPod + iTunes franchise
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
OpenSocial Beta Apps Go Live on MySpace  —  If you've been wondering how the OpenSocial platform will look in MySpace, its biggest implementation, today's the day you can take a first look.  Right on schedule the first batch of apps go live today, one month after the platform was opened to all developers democratically.
RELATED:
Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM:
MySpace Developer Platform Launches in Beta
Discussion: Mashable!
Dawn Kawamoto / CNET News.com:
Source: Yahoo in informal talks with Microsoft  —  Microsoft and Yahoo are holding informal merger discussions, marking a shift from the “radio silence” that previously existed between the two companies, according to a source familiar with the talks.  —  A lot has changed over the past two weeks …
John Biggs / TechCrunch:
iPhone 2.0 “sneak peek”  —  There has been a lot of talk about the new iPhone firmware and its enterprise capabilities.  Well, the iPhoneDevTeam has cracked the 2.0 (actually 1.2) firmware and created a version of the firmware that works with any GSM SIM card without difficult incantations and installations.
Todd Bishop / Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog:
MSN exec Bradford leaving for ad company  —  Microsoft executive Joanne Bradford, who has been a key player in the company's MSN and online advertising units, is leaving to join Spot Runner Inc., according to a news release issued this morning by the Los Angeles-based advertising technology company: PDF, 2 pages.
Discussion: All about Microsoft and LiveSide
RELATED:
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Senior MSN Exec Joanne Bradford to Spot Runner
Discussion: BoomTown and paidContent.org
Marius Oiaga / Softpedia News:
Microsoft Confirms Windows 7 for 2010 - No Word on Windows 7 M2  —  Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 7 is right on track for release in 2010.  Concomitantly with the leaked details associated with Windows 7 Milestone 1 dropped by the Redmond company to select partners in January 2008 …
Philipp Lenssen / Google Blogoscoped:
The Lost Features of Google  —  Google created tons of products in the past.  And some of them, they removed again after finding that they didn't work, required too many resources, didn't take off, or were overshadowed by legal concerns.  Here are some of the “lost” Google services and features.
Vishesh Kumar / Wall Street Journal:
DirecTV to Start On-Demand  —  In its yearslong battle with cable-TV operators, DirecTV Group Inc.'s Achilles' heel has been its inability to offer any sort of video-on-demand service.  The company intends to change that.  —  The No. 1 satellite-TV provider by subscribers is testing …
Mark Evans:
“A Listers” Are Beta Junkies  —  I know Louis Gray is a huge fan of FriendFeed but with all due respect, his enthusiastic post today on how a bunch of “elite bloggers” (aka A-Listers) have flocked to FriendFeed strikes me as, well, promotional.  —  A more accurate assessment may be that FriendFeed …
Discussion: louisgray.com and The Last Podcast
RELATED:
Susan Mernit / Susan Mernit's Blog:
Friendfeed and the stalkerati
Discussion: The Blog Herald
Rohit Dhawan / Official Google Blog:
Our solutions for ad serving  —  Earlier this week, we completed our acquisition of DoubleClick.  Together, we're now focused on building a full suite of products and tools that help publishers of all sizes improve productivity, manage their inventory, generate additional revenue opportunities …
news.harvard.edu:
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences hacking incident  —  A Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) Web server that contained summaries of GSAS applicant data for entry to the Fall 2007 academic year, summaries of GSAS housing applicant data for the 2007-08 and 2006-07 academic years …
 
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 More Items: 
Staci D. Kramer / paidContent.org:
Liberty Media-IAC: Diller On The Stand
Discussion: Tech Trader Daily
Elizabeth Montalbano / InfoWorld:
Red Hat buys Amentra to bolster JBoss enterprise plan
Discussion: Computerworld
InfoWorld:
Gates: Next decade will bring huge software advances
Chris Soghoian / CNET News.com:
The tech world rejoices: A Congressman who can code
Larry Seltzer / eWeek:
The Secret China-U.S. Hacking War
Discussion: CircleID
Jonathan Skillings / CNET News.com:
Blu-ray players: Mighty pricey
Discussion: Inquirer, Electronista and Reuters
Wilson Rothman / Gizmodo:
Netronix E-Book To Have Touchscreen and Wi-Fi
Discussion: Crave
Alt Search Engines:
10 Reasons Why Librarians Should Use Exalead.
 Earlier Items: 
Jane Wakefield / BBC:
Google by design  —  BBC Technology reporter, BBC News website, in Zurich
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Benchmark and Benioff Put $6.5 Million Into Zuora to Create …
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Partial List: Microsoft's Nominees For The Yahoo Board
Dan Nystedt / IDG News Service:
Windows Eee PC Will Outsell Linux Version, Says Asus
Discussion: Hardware 2.0 and eWeek
Om Malik / GigaOM:
ShareThis Raises $15 Million
Frank Rose / Wired News:
Music Industry Proposes a Piracy Surcharge on ISPs
Tom Simonite / New Scientist:
Nerve-tapping neckband allows ‘telepathic’ chat
Bonnie Cha / Crave: The gadget blog:
RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8120 lands at AT&T
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Lachlan Cartwright / The Ankler:
Sources: MSNBC renewed Rachel Maddow's contract early this fall, but with a pay cut; MSNBC bosses' plan to shake up daytime and weekend programming

Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter:
Internal memo: Hearst Magazines president announces layoffs as part of a decision to “reallocate resources” to “continue our focus on digital innovation”

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced she will leave the agency on January 20; she was the first woman to be confirmed to lead the agency

 
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