Top Items:
Bret Taylor / FriendFeed Blog:
FriendFeed accepts Facebook friend request — We are happy to announce that Facebook has acquired FriendFeed. As my mom explained to me, when two companies love each other very much, they form a structured investment vehicle... The FriendFeed team is extremely excited to become a part of the talented Facebook team.
Discussion:
louisgray.com, Download Squad, Guardian, TechTicker, Technologizer, BoomTown, internetnews.com, TechCrunch, Mark Evans, SEO and Tech Daily, Between the Lines, Inside Facebook, Forbes, SiliconBeat, Search Engine Land, ReadWriteWeb, Mashable!, Sample the Web, Technosailor.com, Style Council, This is going to be BIG., Regular Geek, Twittercism, TECH.BLORGE.com, TheNextWeb.com, Webmonkey, VentureBeat, CloudAve, Gear Live, bub.blicio.us, AppScout and Obsessable, Thanks:atul
RELATED:
Facebook:
Facebook Agrees to Acquire Sharing Service FriendFeed — Facebook today announced that it has agreed to acquire FriendFeed, the innovative service for sharing online. As part of the agreement, all FriendFeed employees will join Facebook and FriendFeed's four founders will hold senior roles on Facebook's engineering and product teams.
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Facebook Acquires FriendFeed — Facebook has acquired FriendFeed, we've learned. We're gathering details now. — At this point details on the acquisition are still very sparse, but it's clearly a good match. Over the last year or so, Facebook has “borrowed” quite a few of features …
Discussion:
Venture Capital Dispatch, eWeek, GigaOM, Reuters, PE Hub Blog, VentureBeat, The Web Life, Computerworld, Gawker, Inside Facebook, Mashable!, CNET News, BoomTown, The SiliconANGLE, Search Engine Watch, L.A. Times Tech Blog, BetaNews, paidContent, eSarcasm, Silicon Alley Insider, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, JasonKolb.com, Pulse2, Techgeist, One By One Media, All Facebook, Bits, tinyComb and Daring Fireball
Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:
Oh, FriendFeed is now Facebook's “official” R&D department! — When I heard the news I was walking through San Antonio's Hard Rock Cafe looking at Kurt Cobain's high school photograph. Wow. FriendFeed was purchased by Facebook. — I quickly wrote a DM to Paul Buchheit and Bret Taylor, co-founders and said “call me.”
Discussion:
TechCrunch, All Facebook, Download Squad, Thomas Hawk Digital Connection and The SiliconANGLE, Thanks:mrinaldesai
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
The Cost Of FriendFeed: Roughly $50 Million In Cash And Stock — Everyone is obviously talking about the Facebook/FriendFeed deal, but everyone wants to know one key detail: How much did Facebook pay? Now we know: Facebook paid nearly $50 million when you add the $15 million it paid in cash …
Discussion:
Loic Le Meur Blog, Inside Facebook, Wall Street Journal and VentureBeat, Thanks:thinkmantra
Caroline McCarthy / CNET News:
Facebook buys FriendFeed: Is this a big deal? — Surprise! Facebook has acquired FriendFeed, a Bay Area-based social-network feed aggregation start-up. — “Facebook and FriendFeed share a common vision of giving people tools to share and connect with their friends,” FriendFeed co-founder Bret Taylor said in a release.
Akhil Wable / Facebook Blog:
Facebook Search Improved for Everyone — Last month, we began testing new versions of Search with a small group of people on Facebook. Based on the success of those tests, we're rolling out a new version of Search to everyone on the site beginning today. — You now will be able to search …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, CNET News, VentureBeat, ReadWriteWeb, Search Engine Land, Between the Lines and Mashable!, Thanks:rahulkumar
RELATED:
Justin Smith / Inside Facebook:
Facebook Launches Real-Time Search for Everyone — On the same day in which Facebook acquired FriendFeed, the company has just rolled out its new real-time search engine for all users. — With the new Facebook Search, which is still accessed by entering search terms in the box on the top right …
Ashlee Vance / Bits:
An Elephant Leaves the Room at Yahoo — Doug Cutting, one of Yahoo's top search and infrastructure software experts, will leave the company later this month and join the Silicon Valley start-up Cloudera. — Mr. Cutting's exit from Yahoo follows on the heels of the company's recent search tie-up with Microsoft.
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
VMware goes shopping: Buys SpringSource for $420 million; Can it keep the open source mojo? — VMware said Monday that it will pay $420 million for privately held SpringSource in a bid to become a bigger player in cloud computing application management and the open source community.
RELATED:
Rod Johnson / SpringSource Team Blog:SpringSource: Chapter Two — Today I want to share some exciting news.
Discussion:
TechCrunchIT, VMware Cloud Computing …, ReadWriteEnterprise, internetnews.com, BoomTown, People Over Process and EE Times, Thanks:atul
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Tr.im Cuts Off Bit.ly's 301works Idea, Wants to Sell — Yesterday, upon hearing that the URL shortening service Tr.im was shutting down, Bit.ly, the largest URL-shortener, stepped in with a proposal. The offer wasn't to buy the service, but rather to propose that Bit.ly host Tr.im's URL …
Discussion:
bit.ly blog, Christian Science Monitor, Mashable!, MediaMemo, Webmonkey and the Econsultancy blog
Jim Dalrymple / CNET News:
Apple working on software fix for MacBook Pro hard drives — Owners of Apple MacBook Pro notebooks with 7200rpm 500GB hard drives have been complaining for months of clicking sounds followed by temporary stalling. According to Apple, a fix is in the works.
Neil Hughes / AppleInsider:
New products, possible Verizon deal expected to boost Apple stock — MacBook Pro and iPod refreshes, iPhone 3GS expansion, and a possible data-centric Verizon Wireless device are expected to increase Apple's stock in the short-term, according to a new analysis.
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
Sixteen Reasons the Windows Vista Era Never Quite Happened — In a small way, this is a significant post: It's the first one in which I'm going to refer to Windows Vista in the past tense. Which might be premature and/or unreasonable-Windows 7 won't reach consumers until October 22nd …
Susan Stellin / New York Times:
Bank Will Allow Customers to Deposit Checks by iPhone — The Internet has taken a lot of the paperwork out of banking, but there is no avoiding paper when someone gives you a check. Now one bank wants to let customers deposit checks immediately — through their phones.
Ross Miller / Engadget:
Zune HD hits FCC in prolific photo shoot, 16GB and 32GB capacities — Well, would you look at that. Microsoft's Zune HD's overexposed — both in quantity of pics and in quality of photography — camera shoot with the FCC has been made public, showing off quite a bit of the device, its internals, and its dock.
Matt Buchanan / Gizmodo:
Don't Pre-Order Windows 7 Now — Microsoft's half-price deal for Windows 7 ran out a few weeks ago, bumping prices back to painful levels. If you're thinking about pre-ordering anyway, wait. There's a decent chance there'll be some new deals as we get closer to launch.
Discussion:
Macworld
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Bloglines On Life Support. This Story Needs An Ending — If you were a Bloglines user, consider yourself old school. Most people moved on to Google Reader long ago, and then bailed on RSS entirely for the Real Time Gang (Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, etc.).
Darrell Etherington / TheAppleBlog:
Textbooks Now On iPhone, iPod Touch — It appears that rumors of the death of the e-book on the iPhone platform were greatly exaggerated, at least that's what Apple has said in a recent statement. Backing up Apple's official denial of plans to discontinue that side of app store business …
Discussion:
TG Daily, Wall Street Journal, ReadWriteWeb, AppleInsider, MacRumors, AppScout, 9 to 5 Mac, Gizmodo, Contentinople and iLounge
Vanessa Fox / Search Engine Land:
Caffeine: Google's New Search Index — Google has just unveiled a “secret project” of “next-generation architecture for Google's web search”. This new architecture appears to include crawling, indexing, and ranking changes. For the first time, Google isn't simply incorporating these changes …
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
King Of The Apple Geeks — John Gruber's Daring Fireball is the homepage for Mac nerds. Even top Apple (AAPL) brass tune in regularly. And it's a real business, too, now in its fourth year as Gruber's full-time gig. — Daring Fireball's influence was in full display last week …
Michael Sanserino / Wall Street Journal:
Lawsuits Question After-Hours Demands of Email and Cellphones — Two recent lawsuits raise a question that many employees and employers have deliberated: Should hourly workers be paid for time spent responding to work calls or emails while off the clock? — The federal suits highlight …
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Source: Dell Mobile Phone Launching In China Within Days — A source with knowledge of the situation tells us that Dell is launching (or at least announcing) a mobile phone in China in the next day or two. We are trying to verify the information and gather more details on the hardware and operating system now.
BBC:
Hacked blogger seeks Russia probe — A pro-Georgian blogger at the centre of a co-ordinated attack that hit Facebook and Twitter has asked Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to hold an inquiry. — The blogger, known online as Cyxymu, said he was targeted for “telling the truth about the Russian-Georgian war”.
Discussion:
L.A. Times Tech Blog
Daniel Terdiman / CNET News:
Guitar Hero 5 gets ready to rock — In the newest version of the Guitar Hero franchise, Guitar Hero 5, as many as four players can all play guitar at the same time, instead of just two. Further, any combination of instruments is now possible. — SAN FRANCISCO—The first couple of weeks …
Discussion:
Softpedia News
Nielsen Wire:
When Choosing a Carrier, Does the iPhone Really Matter? — Roger Entner, Senior Vice President, Research and Insights, Telecom Practice — While public awareness of Apple's iPhone has been significant since its summer 2006 launch, its influence on consumer purchasing decisions remains up for debate.
Brandon Miniman / pocketnow.com:
Windows Mobile 6.5 Build 23022: What is Microsoft Up To? — The latest build of Windows Mobile 6.5 from XDA (and by this point, the version we'll see on phones this fall has already been completed) adds several mysterious new features that may imply that an interim build of Windows Mobile …
Discussion:
Engadget Mobile, SlashGear, IntoMobile, The iPhone Blog, Phone Arena, WMExperts and WMPoweruser.com
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
Microsoft sheds 2,000-employee ad agency in $530 million deal — The rumors of the past few weeks were true: Microsoft has sold Razorfish — the digital ad agency it purchased when it bought its parent company aQuantive in 2007 — to Publicis Groupe for $530 million.
Discussion:
Search Engine Land, internetnews.com, Ars Technica, The Register, The Microsoft Blog and TechFlash
Steve Johnson / Mercury News:
‘Printed chips’ could be boon for consumers — Until now, creating the microchips that power all of our electronic gadgets has been a laborious, complex and time-consuming process costing billions of dollars. — But if a Milpitas-based startup succeeds, making them could be as easy as printing a piece of paper.
Thanks:ollirums
Timothy Prickett Morgan / The Register:
Sun's Rock is barefoot on Abbey Road — Rumors of its death not greatly exaggerated? — More rumors and some evidence has surfaced suggesting that Sun Microsystems has indeed killed off its “Rock” UltraSparc-RK, sometimes called the UltraSparc-AT10, high-end server processor.
