Top Items:
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Microsoft's Project Granola-Facebook Tastier Than Yahoo? — Project Granola? — Apparently, that's the jokey nickname that's been given by some in the company to Microsoft's (MSFT) new online strategy, in the wake of its failed efforts to acquire Yahoo (YHOO) that ended in a big heap of mess this past weekend.
Discussion:
VentureBeat, CNET News.com, paidContent.org, Search Engine Watch Blog, Mashable!, WebGuild, All Facebook, Deal Journal, The Inquisitr and Valleywag
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Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Microsoft still shopping; Approached Facebook — Microsoft, just a few days removed from walking away from its Yahoo bid, is reportedly sniffing around Facebook. — According to Kara Swisher, Microsoft's bankers contacted Facebook to see if Mark Zuckerberg and company would be interested in selling the company.
Yuri Kageyama / Associated Press:Bill Gates says Microsoft going ‘independent’ way
Discussion:
Digital Daily, TechSpot, BetaNews, CyberNet, Mashable!, Geek.com, SarahLacy.com and Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog
Larry Alder / Official Google Blog:
Investing in the future of the open Internet — As you may have read, Google, Comcast, Intel Capital, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Trilogy Equity Partners have entered into an agreement to invest $3.2 billion in a new wireless broadband company.
Discussion:
paidContent.org, InformationWeek Weblog, Wall Street Journal, InformationWeek, DSLreports, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, DealBook, eWeek, WebProNews, Search Engine Watch Blog, Digital Daily, Search Engine Land, Reuters, jkOnTheRun, Phone Scoop, New York Times, Between the Lines, IntoMobile, Business Week, Silicon Alley Insider, localmobilesearch.net, Payments News, PhoneNews.com, Google Watch, I4U News, Paul Mooney and dailywireless.org
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Saul Hansell / Bits:
Microsoft May Build a Copyright Cop Into Every Zune — If you like to download the latest episodes of “Heroes” or other NBC shows from BitTorrent, maybe you shouldn't buy a Microsoft Zune to watch them on. — A future update of the software for Microsoft's portable media player may well include …
Discussion:
NewTeeVee, Apple Watch, Techdirt, Electronista, p2pnet, MacDailyNews and VoIP & Gadgets Blog
Alertbox:
How Little Do Users Read? … We've known since our first studies of how users read on the Web that they typically don't read very much. Scanning text is an extremely common behavior for higher-literacy users; our recent eyetracking studies further validate this finding.
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PC World:
OpenOffice 3.0 Beta Released — Carrie-Ann Skinner, PC Advisor — A beta version of OpenOffice.org 3.0 has been released for evaluation by the public. — This version of the popular software suite will support the forthcoming OpenDocument Format (ODF) 1.2 standard as well as being able …
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Jon Healey / Bit Player:
Defunct TorrentSpy kicked while down — U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper has handed BitTorrent index site TorrentSpy a bill it couldn't possibly pay. Having ruled in favor of the major Hollywood studios' lawsuit in December, Cooper awarded the studios damages of $30,000 per movie …
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Allan Leinwand / GigaOM:
Web 2.0, Please Meet Your Host, the Internet — I have a major problem with many of the Web 2.0 companies that I meet in my job as a venture capitalist: They lack even the most basic understanding of Internet operations. — I realize that the Web 2. community generally views Internet operations …
Discussion:
MarketingShift
Arik Hesseldahl / Business Week:
Apple's Board: Still Room for Schmidt? — The Google CEO's spot on Apple's board could go from awkward to untenable as the search giant's mobile push brushes up against the iPhone — Until now, having Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt sit on Apple's (AAPL) board of directors has made a lot of sense.
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Twitter Starts Blacklisting Spammers — You know you've made it as a communications medium when you start attracting spammers. On Twitter, the problem is getting bad enough that the service is starting to blacklist people who spam other members. There is already an unofficial site called …
Business Week:
Google vows to keep fighting Viacom — SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — Google Inc. is not considering settling out of court a US$1 billion copyright-infringement lawsuit filed by Viacom Inc., an executive with the U.S. Internet search engine said Wednesday. — “Nope,” David Eun …
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Karl / DSLreports:
Comcast Considering 250GB Cap, Overage Fees — Insider provides details of new ‘protocol agnostic’ solution — A Comcast insider tells me the company is considering implementing very clear monthly caps, and may begin charging overage fees for customers who cross them.
Joel Hruska / Ars Technica:
AMD talks Shanghai performance, features, roadmap to 2010 — Randy Allen, corporate VP and general manager for AMD's Server/Workstation division presented AMD's server roadmap for the rest of 2008 today, hosted a conference call today on what the company is planning for 2009 and 2010.
Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:
FORA.tv Raises $4 Million Round from Hearst, Adobe, Others — FORA.tv, referred by TechCrunch as the “C-SPAN of the Web,” has closed a Series A round of venture funding with $4 million from William Randolph Hearst III, Adobe Ventures and other investors. Hearst and Adobe were investors in the original $2 million seed round.
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
Test: Does Your ISP Slow Down BitTorrent Traffic? — A while back we posted about the plugin Azureus had developed, which allowed people to check whether their ISP is interfering with their traffic. The results showed that indeed quite a few ISPs were, but the plugin didn't provide the user with direct feedback.
Joel Hruska / Ars Technica:
AMD: Intel's misdeeds killing our long-term sustainability — AMD and Intel have been trading shots through the court docket since AMD first filed its antitrust lawsuit against Intel in 2005, so it's not particularly surprising to see a new 108-page filing from Sunnyvale and a prompt and massive reply from Santa Clara.
