Top Items:
Wall Street Journal:
Google's Mobile-Handset Plans Are Slowed — ‘Android’ Launch Is Being Delayed As Carriers Struggle — Google Inc. is learning that changing the cellphone industry isn't easy. — The Internet giant and more than 30 partners announced in November a bold plan for a new breed of handsets based …
RELATED:
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Delayed: Android, aka Google Phone — If you are a start-up targeting the mobile industry, then you are well aware of the slow moving ways of incumbents, equipment makers and of course handset makers. You are made aware of their equally glacial ways when you come from the opposite end of the spectrum, Silicon Valley.
Dana Blankenhorn / Open Source:
Carriers delay Google Android launch — It would be nice if The Wall Street Journal at least got the headline right. — The full quarter delay in the launch of Google's Android phone is entirely the fault, and desire, of the carriers involved. — T-Mobile is sucking all the oxygen …
Discussion:
eWeek
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Breaking: Germany's Plazes Acquired By Nokia — Berlin, Germany based Plazes, a location based social network (and one of the first startups we ever wrote about here on TechCrunch, back in 2005), has been acquired by Finland-based Nokia, the companies are announcing today. The price is not being disclosed.
Discussion:
Silicon Alley Insider, TechCrunch UK, CenterNetworks, The Next Web, GO2WEB20 Blog, 901am, AppScout, Electronista, Mashable! and Loic Le Meur Blog
RELATED:
Felix / blog.plazes.com:
Nokia announces the acquisition of Plazes — A couple of minutes ago, we announced an agreement for Nokia to acquire Plazes. What will change for you, the Plazes user? Nothing just yet. We are not going to shut down registration and we are very soon still going to launch what's now in closed beta.
Discussion:
The Register, The Social Web, Webware.com, The Inquisitr, All About Symbian, Nokia Conversations and Ross Mayfield's Weblog
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Microsoft to Yahoo Shareholders: Fire Jerry And We Might Bid Again* — UPDATE: Microsoft's initial reaction to this story is that it “must be a translation issue” (i.e., that Kevin Johnson didn't say what Bloomberg is saying he said.) Investigation continues...
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Michael Learmonth / Silicon Alley Insider:
ABC's New Video Deal: Why Veoh And Why Now? — ABC (DIS) is adding Veoh as a distributor of shows like “Lost” and “Grey's Anatomy” as well as ESPN programming online, the NYT reports. It's a curious move for ABC, made more intriguing by the fact that the site is backed by former Disney/ABC chief Michael Eisner.
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Abbey Klaassen / AdAge:
Diller Fashions IAC Ad Network — Bands Together Targeted Audience Segments in Bid to Lift $216 Million Ad Revenue — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — A high percentage of ad revenue from Barry Diller's IAC comes from a small percentage of inventory, leaving the bulk of it to be outsourced to aggregator ad networks.
Discussion:
CNET News.com, Silicon Alley Insider, paidContent.org, MarketingVOX and Virtual Worlds News
Rafat Ali / paidContent.org:
Comcast Owned Fandango Buys Movies.com From Disney — So Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) couldn't buy Disney (NYSE: DIS) a few years ago, but it has now succeeded in buying a part of it, sort of: Fandango, the online movie tickets service that Comcast bought a year ago, has bought out movies info site Movies.com …
Discussion:
Hollywood Reporter, The Inquisitr, The Social, CenterNetworks, DSLreports, 901am and AppScout
Richard Pérez-Peña / New York Times:
Papers Facing Worst Year for Ad Revenue — For newspapers, the news has swiftly gone from bad to worse. This year is taking shape as their worst on record, with a double-digit drop in advertising revenue, raising serious questions about the survival of some papers and the solvency of their parent companies.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Modeling The Real Market Value Of Social Networks — Is MySpace worth $3 billion, or $20 billion? It depends on how you value a user. — It's time to start comparing the big global social networks on something other than unique visitors and page views.
Discussion:
Loic Le Meur Blog
Jefferson Graham / USA Today:
Google's Cutts: Good directions drive traffic to your website — You have a website and can't figure out why it's not showing up at the top of Google's search rankings. You go to Google.com for some guidance but get lost trying to find answers. — Certainly, achieving visibility in Google's search rankings can be a mystery.
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Nice Work, TiVo, But Here's The TV Remote We Want: No Remote — Something we missed over the weekend: A neat Gizmodo post about the evolution of the peanut-shaped TiVo (TIVO) remote control and Paul Newby, who developed it. Hat tip to TiVo. That's a nice remote.
Dawn Kawamoto / CNET News.com:
‘Guitar Hero,’ ‘Rock Band’ soon playing Beatles? — Beatles music may soon be strumming a new tune via air guitar video games, according to a report in the Financial Times. — Apple Corps and EMI, which respectively represent The Beatles' business interests and ownership of its master recordings …
Discussion:
Electronista
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Yuri Kageyama / Associated Press:
Softbank to sell iPhone for $215 in Japan — TOKYO - Softbank Corp., the carrier that won the coveted right to sell the iPhone in Japan, said Monday that Apple Inc.'s device will sell for $215 — comparable to the marked-down U.S. price for the hit gadget. — The iPhone is due to debut …
Discussion:
LOOPRumors
