Top Items:
Wall Street Journal:
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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DealBook:
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.
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
CONFIRMED: Microsoft-Yahoo in Negotiations, Price Up “Several Dollars” — UPDATE: The WSJ has confirmed our earlier assumption: Microsoft has been silent because Microsoft and Yahoo are now negotiating seriously about consummating a friendly deal. Microsoft has raised its bid “by several dollars.”
Nathan / FlowingData:
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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Kara Swisher / BoomTown:Facebook Apps Are Still for Toddlers: The Visual Proof!
Discussion:
All Facebook
Saul Hansell / New York Times:
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 …
Discussion:
Techdirt, TechCrunch, CNET News.com, Andy Beard, Mashable!, Alice Hill's Real Tech News, Digital Trends, Valleywag, TeleRead and VoIP Blog
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Nick / Rough Type:
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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Dan Farber / Outside the Lines:
The IBM-Google connection — LOS ANGELES—Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt gave a speech and chatted with IBM's CEO Sam Palmisano onstage Thursday at IBM's Business Partner Leadership Conference here. The two talked up their relationship, which primarily involves a joint research project.
Discussion:
Between the Lines, LinuxInsider, Zoho Blogs, Data Center Knowledge, InformationWeek, Beyond Search and CIO.com
The Boy Genius Report:
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.
Discussion:
Crave, Mark Evans, TmoNews, CrackBerry.com blogs, CrunchGear, Unwired View, Electronista, Engadget, Gizmodo and BB Geeks
Peter Burrows / Business Week:
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 …
Andy Serwer / Fortune:
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.
Katie Marsal / AppleInsider:
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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Justin Berka / Infinite Loop:Apple expands upon Mac, iTunes sales in SEC filing
Discussion:
MacRumors
Elizabeth Corcoran / Forbes:
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.
Discussion:
Infinite Loop, HipMojo.com, The Mac Observer, Silicon Alley Insider, Insanely Great Mac and Macsimum News
Marc Andreessen / blog.pmarca.com:
Examining Microsoft's and Yahoo's unspoken concerns — In this post, I discuss what I believe are some unspoken concerns that weigh on the decisions both Microsoft and Yahoo are making during this very exciting takeover battle. — Quick status update, largely derived from the excellent Wall Street Journal …
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I, Cringely . The Pulpit | PBS:
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.
Andrew Wallenstein / Hollywood Reporter:
ABC.com mulls adding ads — Research to test tolerance for multiple commercials — ABC.com is about to find out whether one good ad deserves another. — Disney-ABC Television Group will begin conducting research next week on inserting multiple commercials into ad breaks for primetime series on its broadband player.
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Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
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 …
Discussion:
DigiTimes, Joystiq, Opposable Thumbs, Electronista, TG Daily, Silicon Alley Insider, Xbox 360 Fanboy, Gaming Nexus, CrunchGear and Digg
Andrew D. Smith / Dallas Morning News:
Broadband over power lines plan is dead in Dallas — asmith@dallasnews.com — An ambitious plan for using power lines to deliver fast Internet service to 2 million Dallas-area homes collapsed Thursday, when Oncor agreed to buy the system. — Current Communications said it will sell …
Discussion:
Parks Associates
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