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Microsoft, Yahoo Talks Intensify In Push to Reach a Friendly Deal — Talks between Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. intensified Friday as the two sides explored the possibility of a last-ditch friendly deal, according to people familiar with the matter. — Though the talks have intensified …
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Finally, Microsoft and Yahoo in Merger Talks — After a months-long standoff, Microsoft and Yahoo are in active merger talks, a person involved in the discussions said. — Microsoft, which had threatened to abandon its bid, has increased its offer “by several dollars,” this person said.
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All about Microsoft, Beyond Binary, Epicenter, WebProNews, Gizmodo, GigaOM, Valleywag, Tech Tracks, Bits, MarketingVOX, MacDailyNews and CNET News.com

Microsoft Officially Raises Yahoo Bid “Several Dollars,” Negotiations Continue


Chart of the Day: A Breakdown of Facebook Applications — Of the 23,160 Facebook applications, I use about 5, but I probably wouldn't notice if someone randomly removed all of them from my profile in the middle of the night. Kids these days. I used to play BlockStar …
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Screenwerk, mathewingram.com/work, O'Reilly Radar, Silicon Alley Insider, TechCrunch, The Globe and Mail, BetaNews, The Chronicle and Mashable!
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Facebook Apps Are Still for Toddlers: The Visual Proof!
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All Facebook

Study reveals shocking truth: Most Facebook apps are silly, pointless

Amazon Sues Over State Law on Collection of Sales Tax — Amazon.com has filed a lawsuit challenging New York State's new law forcing online retailers to collect sales tax on shipments to state residents. — On Friday, Amazon filed a complaint in State Supreme Court in Manhattan objecting to the law …
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TechCrunch, Techdirt, ZDNet Government, CNET News.com, Alice Hill's Real Tech News, Andy Beard, Valleywag, Digital Trends, VoIP Blog, TeleRead and Mashable!
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Iron Man — There was a game we used to play in the office, years ago, casting a movie of our own lives. What well-known actor or actress would play you? Who would play your friends? The game eventually faded, as games always do, but at the time it was great fun.


BlackBerry KickStart: T-Mobile launch and a whole bunch of specs! — You didn't think we'd actually leave you hangin', did you? To follow up on on yesterday's post of the BlackBerry KickStart photos, we've got here a couple more images of the phone with T-Mobile branding and some interesting details on the physical design attributes.
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Crave, Mark Evans, TmoNews, CrackBerry.com blogs, CrunchGear, Unwired View, IntoMobile, Electronista, Engadget, Gizmodo and BB Geeks

Want That Post to Go Popular? Here's The Best and Worst Times to Post It — Connecticut software developer Jake Luciani has run 10k items on Del.icio.us, Digg, Reddit and Mixx through the API of popularity ranking engine AideRSS to analyze the connection between popularity and timing.
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WebProNews
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Thurday at Noon is the best time post and be noticed (PST)
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AideRSS Blog


Larry Page on how to change the world — Breakthrough ideas are around the corner, says the Google co-founder. But most of us are failing to take a chance on them. — (Fortune Magazine) — As president of Google, Larry Page has pushed his people to take risks that have led to hot new applications like Gmail and Google Maps.


Apple on MacBook Air, Jobs' plane, leases, R&D, NAND flash, more... Apple in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday discussed in detail some of the catalysts behind its industry-leading PC growth, expenditures for Steve Jobs' private aircraft …
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Electronista
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Apple expands upon Mac, iTunes sales in SEC filing
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MacRumors

Is Office the new Netscape? — As Microsoft and Yahoo continue with their interminable modern-dress staging of Hamlet - it's longer than Branagh's version! - the transformation of the software business goes on. We have new players with new strategies, or at least interesting new takes on old strategies.
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Broadband Over Powerline (BPL) Stumbles - FCC gets a wrist slap, industry's largest deployment sold... While the FCC once called broadband over power lines (BPL) the “great broadband hope,” the technology has been stuck in neutral, thanks largely to its tendency to interfere with local wireless transmissions …
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Broadband over power lines plan is dead in Dallas
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Parks Associates


The Mac in the Gray Flannel Suit — More office workers infatuated with iPods and iPhones are demanding Macs. Is business ready? Is Apple? — Istvan Banyai — Soon after Michele Goins became chief information officer at Juniper Networks (JNPR) in February, she decided to respond …

Old media needs to wake up, or die — Traditional media companies that refuse to invest in the Internet and withdraw into old business models are destined to fade away, opening the door for entrepreneurs to take advantage of the lack of innovation. — That was the message from Merrill Brown …
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Serious about Business


Xbox 360 Blu-ray console shipping by September? — For all of Microsoft's denial, the Xbox 360 Blu-ray console rumors just will not die. In fact, they are getting more and more specific. The Chinese language Economic Daily News is reporting that Pegatron, an OEM subsidiary of ASUS …
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Homotron.net, DigiTimes, Joystiq, Opposable Thumbs, Electronista, TG Daily, Silicon Alley Insider, Xbox 360 Fanboy, Gaming Nexus, CrunchGear, VoIP & Gadgets Blog and Digg

Tech's Top-Paid CEOs — Jerry Yang should take note: The best-paid chief executives among technology companies last year was not Google's Eric Schmidt. — Oracle's (nasdaq: ORCL - news - people ) Larry Ellison tops our ranking of the best-compensated chief executives at technology companies in 2007.
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Infinite Loop, HipMojo.com, The Mac Observer, Silicon Alley Insider, Insanely Great Mac, Macsimum News and Valleywag