Top Items:
Jessica E. Vascellaro / Wall Street Journal:
Google to Extend Reach With Venture-Capital Arm — Ex-Entrepreneur Hired To Assist in Setup; Brand-Name Advantage — Google Inc. is working on plans to start a venture-capital arm, according to several people briefed on the discussions. — The group will be lead by David Drummond …
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Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Google To Launch Venture Fund — The WSJ is reporting that Google is set to launch a venture fund to give it the option of investing in startups instead of just flat out buying them. The fund will be led by Google's SVP Corporate Development David Drummond and Bill Maris …
The Smoking Gun:
Google: “Complete Privacy Does Not Exist” — Defending “Street View” lawsuit, firm says trespasses to be expected — Arguing that technology has ensured that “complete privacy does not exist,” Google contends that a Pennsylvania family has no legal grounds to sue the search giant …
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Bobbie Johnson / Guardian:
Watchdog clears Google's street cameras — Google's controversial Street View service - which will offer ground-level pictures of every UK street online -can finally be launched in Britain, after a privacy watchdog said it had no complaints about the service.
BBC:
Google Street View gets go ahead — Google's controversial Street View photo-mapping tool has been given the all clear by the UK's privacy watchdog. — The system takes pictures of streets and adds them to online maps to let people see what locations look like.
Rafat Ali / paidContent.org:
LG's New Blu-Ray Box Includes Netflix Streaming; “Well Under $500” — Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) announced its first direct-to-TV movie partnership with LG Electronics (SEO: 066570) early this year, but was short on details then. Since then, it launched through a low-cost Roku box.
Discussion:
NewTeeVee, Bits, Mashable!, TECH.BLORGE.com, Crave, Electronista, WebProNews, ParisLemon, VentureBeat and Gizmodo
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Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Surprise! Motorola posts profit; Isn't unraveling as handset sales crater — Motorola posted a small profit excluding charges-a small victory, but enough to top Wall Street estimates calling for a loss of 3 cents a share. The company's enterprise and networking business carried the quarter.
Discussion:
Gearlog
RELATED:
Peter Sayer / IDG News Service:Motorola Clings to Third Place in Mobile Market
Discussion:
CNET News.com
Dawn Kawamoto / CNET News.com:
Yahoo shareholders meeting a case of deja vu? — Believe in deja vu? Yahoo shareholders may when they file into the company's annual shareholders meeting on Friday. — Last year, an angry mob of investors took Yahoo's CEO to task at the company's annual shareholders meeting …
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Carl Icahn / The Icahn Report:
Concerning the Annual Yahoo! Meeting — I will not be attending. The proxy fight is over and it will not do shareholders or Yahoo! any good to have the annual meeting turn into a media event for no purpose. Last week, I realized it was impossible to gain enough support from the large institutions …
David Kaplan / paidContent.org:
Forrester Buys JupiterResearch For $23 Million — Forrester Research has bought rival tech and media analyst JupiterResearch along with its parent company, JUPR Holdings, from MCG Capital Corporation for $23 million in cash. The announcement was made by the Jordan, Edmiston Group, which managed the deal.
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DigiTimes:
Asustek preps launch of Ultimate and Pro Fashion Eee PCs; prices to hit US$700 or more — Asustek Computer plans to launch more Eee PCs designed to address different market segments, according to company president Jerry Shen. — Shen said he anticipates the netbook and Mobile Internet Device …
Justin Smith / Inside Facebook:
Facebook Launches News Feed Filters - First Look — It's been nearly two years since Facebook's News Feed launched. Tonight, Facebook is turning on the first major change to the News Feed user experience: News Feed filters. — News Feed filters are tabs at the top of the News Feed that allow you to view stories of only one type.
Caroline McCarthy / The Social:
‘Scrabulous’ gets a nip-tuck, returns as ‘Wordscraper’ — In the high school cafeteria of Facebook apps, Scrabulous is like that girl who gets in trouble for showing too much skin, only to throw on a hoodie and be let back into the principal's good graces. Sort of.
Wall Street Journal:
Newspapers Think Locally for Online Ads — Sales Efforts Increase, But ‘Smaller Dollars’ Prove Hard to Chase — In an effort to make up for their plunging print-ad revenues, newspaper companies have been scrambling to train their sales teams in the intricacies of selling online ads to local marketers.
Discussion:
Search Engine Land, paidContent.org, Screenwerk, Recovering Journalist, Lost Remote and Romenesko
InfoWorld:
Oracle buys Global Knowledge Software — Oracle has bought Global Knowledge Software, a developer of enterprise software training automation tools, the companies said Thursday. — Global Knowledge Software (GKS) develops tools for building self-service training courses …
Andy Space / 9 to 5 Mac:
Firewire speed set to increase four-fold — The group behind development of FireWire, the IEEE, has approved the new IEEE 1394-2008 specification that gives support for better bandwidth of up to 3.2Gbps. — In an attempt to maintain compatibility between different evolutions of FireWire …
