Top Items:
Faith Merino / VatorNews:
Google buys Groupon for $2.5 billion? — While neither company has confirmed the story, the acquisition follows a week of buyout rumors — Google has just purchased Groupon for $2.5 billion, according to an unnamed insider who spoke with VatorNews. Neither Google nor Groupon …
Discussion:
Examiner, Tom Foremski, Digital Trends, SAI, John Battelle's Searchblog, CNET News, alarm:clock, Mashable!, Faster Forward, Computerworld, SiliconANGLE, Silicon Valley Watcher, CenterNetworks, SocialTimes.com, The Next Web, San Francisco Chronicle, Telegraph, VentureBeat, USA Today, Network World, Pulse2, Guardian, Softpedia News, Screenwerk, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, Jon Burg's Future Visions, GMSV, Tech Trader Daily, Search Engine Land, Techie Buzz, TechEye, Tech Report, Download Squad, The Atlantic Online, Bruce Clay Blog and The Huffington Post, Thanks:jasonlbaptiste
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Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
If Google Buys Groupon, It'll Be a Windfall for Investors, Bankers...and Regulators? — If Google does manage to close the deal to buy Groupon-acquisition discussions flagged by BoomTown 10 days ago-it will be at a cost that is likely to be much more than the $2.5 billion price tag being floated in the latest batch of rumors.
Discussion:
TechCrunch and SiliconANGLE
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Google M&A Lead Congratulates Groupon CEO On Um, Something
Discussion:
NBC Bay Area and Gawker
Yinka Adegoke / Reuters:
Microsoft in talks for new TV service: sources — (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) has held talks with media companies to license TV networks for a new online pay-television subscription service through devices such as its Xbox video game console, two people familiar with the plans told Reuters.
Discussion:
SAI, AppleInsider, Microsoft Watch, The Seattle Times, Reuters, The Microsoft Blog, Engadget, Reuters, Media Maverick, Technologizer, Business Wire, TechFlash, Digital Trends, Ars Technica, VentureBeat, DailyTech, Fast Company, VG247, Eurogamer, dailywireless.org, Gizmodo, Joystiq, MediaMemo, Mashable!, FierceIPTV, GigaOM, SlashGear, Erictric, The Next Web, paidContent, BlogsDNA, IndustryGamers, eHomeUpgrade, Electronista, DSLreports, WinRumors, DigitalBattle.com and TechSpot, more at Mediagazer »
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Bloomberg:
Apple Lawyers Up for Patent Showdowns With Nokia, Motorola, HTC — Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) — Steve Jobs made Apple Inc.'s iPhone one of the best-selling smartphones on the market with its touch screen, fast Web connection and access to more than 300,000 downloadable applications. Now he's adding lawyers to the mix.
Discussion:
GigaOM, TechEye, KPCB, AppleInsider, IntoMobile, MacRumors, Pulse2, MacNN, PC Magazine, iLounge, msnbc.com, DailyTech, SlashGear, Edible Apple, PhoneArena, 9 to 5 Mac, THINQ.co.uk, FierceWireless, Tech Report, displayblog, Xconomy, iClarified, everythingiCafe and MacDailyNews
Courtney Comstock / SAI:
Morgan Stanley's Legendary Tech Analyst Mary Meeker Moving To Kleiner Perkins — Kleiner Perkins just poached Mary Meeker, Morgan Stanley's star tech analyst, says CNBC, citing WSJ. — Meeker has been a huge name since the .com days, and every year comes out with a hugely influential report/overview of the industry.
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Sarah Lacy / TechCrunch:
John Doerr and Mary Meeker Speak about their New Partnership — Venture capital mega-firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has announced that Mary Meeker is joining the firm as a partner, in another sign that the firm is focusing more on this mobile-meets-social-meets-local-meets- global wave of Web disruption.
Discussion:
Tom Foremski, L.A. Times Tech Blog, SiliconANGLE, Silicon Valley Watcher and ReadWriteWeb
Georgina Prodhan / Reuters:
Few smartphone owners are loyal to their brand: survey — (Reuters) - The booming smartphone market shows no sign of slowing but manufacturers will have to fight hard to keep their customers as smartphone owners show little loyalty to their current brands, a GfK survey shows.
Discussion:
Examiner, Electronista, Internet2Go, The Toybox Blog, IntoMobile, TUAW, pocketnow.com, I4U News, MobileBurn.com, Inquirer, Fortune, PhoneArena, AppleInsider, The Next Web, Phones Review, MacDailyNews and FierceMobileContent
Graham Cluley / Naked Security:
Can you really see who viewed your Facebook profile? Rogue application spreads virally — Once again, a rogue application is spreading virally between Facebook users pretending to offer you a way of seeing who has viewed your profile. — As we've described a couple of times before …
Discussion:
CNET News, Yahoo! News, TechCrunch Europe, MediaFile, All Facebook, THINQ.co.uk, Switched, Pocket-lint, Fast Company, The Huffington Post and Go Rumors
Paul Marks / New Scientist:
Microsoft develops shape-shifting touchscreen — Microsoft this week filed a patent application covering a novel way to construct a “tactile” touchscreen - a display that uses technical tricks to convince users they are actually touching the ridges, bumps and textures of a displayed image.
Discussion:
L.A. Times Tech Blog, SlashGear, MarketingVOX, The Tech Report, Computerworld, Geek.com, GottaBeMobile, Inquirer, Pocket-lint, Engadget, Gizmodo, WinRumors and PhoneArena
Karol Stosiek / Gmail Blog:
Optional attendees in Google Calendar — Time is one of our most precious resources. Despite their necessity, meetings tend to vary in importance for different attendees. John might be really interested in his team's weekly meeting, whereas Jane, who is working on a unrelated project, may want to skip it.
Discussion:
Examiner, Erictric, GottaBeMobile, Ubergizmo, Softpedia News and The Next Web
Avery Morrow / Avery's Diaspora News:
I'm Dropping Diaspora, This Site Is Now Closed — This blog was dormant for a while because I didn't want to give Diaspora bad press. There were security and licensing issues; the team claims that they have been fixed. There were issues with the very model of the code; they weren't game-enders.
AppleInsider:
Apple sees strong iPad, 11-inch MacBook Air sales on Black Friday — Wall Street analysts kept a close watch on sales at Apple stores and authorized retailers on Black Friday, and found a healthy demand for the company's products across the board. — Analyst Gene Munster and his team …
Discussion:
Examiner, Digital Daily, Fortune, TechCrunch, GigaOM, SAI, iPodNN, MacStories, MacRumors, The Huffington Post and parislemon
Donald Melanson / Engadget:
Samsung Nexus S reappears at the FCC with a pair of new antennas — Thinking that the not-yet-announced Samsung GT-i9020T (a.k.a. Nexus S) might be delayed due to a last minute addition of a dual-core processor, as recently seen in the seemingly similar i9100?
Discussion:
eWeek, BlogsDNA, AndroidSPIN, IntoMobile, SlashGear, Android Australia, TmoNews, PhoneArena, Electronista, Android Phone Fans and Android Community
Verne G. Kopytoff / New York Times:
For PayPal, the Future Is Mobile — SAN JOSE, Calif. — When Scott Thompson, the president of PayPal, chats with executives at its parent, eBay, he is diplomatic about the size of his business compared with eBay's marketplace. — “I hope — honestly, genuinely — that we never get bigger than you,” he tells them.
Discussion:
IntoMobile and TechCrunch
Rand Fishkin / Rand's Blog:
The Algorithm + the Crowd are Not Enough — In the last decade, the online world has been ruled by two, twin forces: The Crowd and The Algorithm. The collective “users” of the Internet (The Crowd) create, click, and rate, while mathematical equations add scalability and findability …
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Foursquare Testing Version 2 Of Their API. “It's 1000x Faster” — The geolocation wars are well underway. If you need any proof of that, simply look at this thread in Quora. A startup posted a question wondering which place database they should use for their new check-in app. The responses?
Nick Wingfield / Digits:
Vostu Harvests Funds from Facebook, Zynga Backers — Some well-known investors are placing a bet that Brazil is fertile territory for the spread of social games. — Accel Partners and Tiger Global Management are investing $30 million in Vostu, a startup that has grown quickly in Brazil …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, paidContent, VentureBeat and SiliconANGLE
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
New Google Earth: Better Street View and More — Google is announcing version 6 of Google Earth, its geographical-exploration software for Windows, OS X, and Linux today. The update follows version 5.2, which was released last June, and while the revisions aren't enormous, they look neat.
Claire Cain Miller / New York Times:
Now a Giant, Google Works to Retain Nimble Minds — When a product manager at Google told his bosses this year that he was quitting to take a job at Facebook, they offered him a large raise. When he said it was not about the money, they told him he could have a promotion …
Discussion:
SAI, Tech Report and MSDN Blogs
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
Anti-Piracy Lawyers Sued For Fraud, Abuse and Extortion — The US Copyright Group thought it had found the ideal scheme to turn piracy into profit when it started filing lawsuits against tens of thousands of BitTorrent users this year. But the defendants in the Far Cry lawsuits have now become …
Discussion:
Techdirt, Ars Technica, Forbes, THINQ.co.uk and OSNews
