Top Items:
Liz Gannes / NetworkEffect:
Myspace Mulls Significant Layoffs, With Potential Sale Looming — Myspace-the long-troubled social networking site turned social entertainment hub-is in the midst of planning that could soon result in significant layoffs of its staff, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation.
Discussion:
Search Engine Land, The Register, SAI, The Next Web, Erictric, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim and SlashGear
Olga Kharif / Bloomberg:
Clearwire Chair Craig McCaw to Quit Today — Cash-strapped Clearwire says no disagreement prompted McCaw's resignation. The company's survival is now in question as it struggles to build a nationwide high-speed wireless 4G network — (Bloomberg) — Clearwire Corp. …
Discussion:
FierceWireless, Electronista, Wall Street Journal, SlashGear, mocoNews, Mobilized and Sidecut Reports
Evelyn M. Rusli / DealBook:
Groupon Draws New Investors and Works on an I.P.O. — Groupon, the social buying site that spurned a $6 billion takeover bid from Google earlier this month, has attracted several big institutional investors, people briefed on the matter told DealBook on Wednesday.
Discussion:
SAI, TechCrunch, Tech Trader Daily, DailyFinance, PE Hub Blog, Fortune, VatorNews and Tech Musings
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch Europe:
Begun The Talent Wars Have - Why Twitter needs a London HQ: Google Engineers — We've reported before about how the escalating war for talent in Silicon Valley is effectively creating a kind of arms race between tech companies. — For example, Google is offering employees a 10% pay increase for 2011 …
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
How We Shared Content in 2010: Still More Facebook, More Email Than Twitter, MySpace Lives On — The link sharing service AddThis, which said this month that it's now tracking the interests of more than 1 billion people across the web, has published an infographic breaking …
Discussion:
AddThis Blog, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, All Facebook, SocialTimes.com and Web Analytics World
Ty McMahan / Venture Capital Dispatch:
Why Groupon, Twitter & Other Hot Private Companies Are Cashing Out — Early shareholders in the hottest privately-held technology companies are increasingly finding liquidity without an acquisition or a public offering, with Groupon Inc. being the most recent example.
Dana Mattioli / Wall Street Journal:
For Apps, Profit Picture Is Blurry — Firms Seek Business Models as They Release Slew of Photo Software for Phones — Companies in recent months have launched a slew of photography applications for the iPhone and other smartphones, but many of these start-ups are still trying to figure …
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
BotTorrent? Using BitTorrent as a DDoS Tool — A recent talk at the Chaos Communications Congress revealed how BitTorrent swarms can be exploited to take down large websites with relative ease. A vulnerability in the technology behind so called trackerless torrents makes it possible …
Discussion:
SlashGear and WL Central
Miguel Helft / New York Times:
Twins' Facebook Fight Rages On — SAN DIEGO — Some people go to court hoping to win millions of dollars. Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss have already won tens of millions. But six years into a legal feud with Facebook, they want to give it back — for a chance to get more.
Discussion:
SAI, Gawker and New York Magazine
Dylan Winter / Duckworks:
Adsense, no sense at all - what it's like being sacked by a computer... I have worked for the newspapers, magazines, radio stations and TV stations. One of the things you get used to as a freelance is being sacked. After all, that's why they take us on - we are easy to sack.
Discussion:
Techdirt, Guardian, Examiner and Search Engine Roundtable
Donald A. Norman / Gizmodo:
Living with Complexity: How Apple Reinvented Music Distribution — iTune's dominant position atop the digital music market is not happenstance. Donald A. Norman discusses how, through the integration of its products, design and service, Apple became a media distribution juggernaut.
Help Net Security:
The significant decline of spam — In October Commtouch reported an 18% drop in global spam levels (comparing September and October). This was largely attributed to the closure of Spamit around the end of September. Spamit is the organization allegedly behind a fair percentage of the worlds pharmacy spam.
Discussion:
Inquirer and The Mac Security Blog
BBC:
Phone firms back common charger plan — Keeping a smartphone fully powered could soon be easier as manufacturers back common standards for chargers. — Technical specifications for chargers drawn up by the European Commission have won the backing of 14 phone firms.
Discussion:
Lifehacker and PalmAddicts
Bloomberg:
Skype Says China Services Are Working Amid Crackdown — Skype Technologies SA, the world's largest carrier of international phone calls, said its services in China remain operational after the country said it's cracking down on “illegal” Internet phone companies.
RELATED:
Malcolm Moore / Telegraph:
China makes Skype illegal
China makes Skype illegal
Discussion:
Post Tech, People's Daily Online, Mashable!, PC Magazine, IntoMobile, Gizmodo, Fast Company, Xinhua News Agency, Wall Street Journal, Examiner, ReadWriteWeb, PR Newswire, Switched, msnbc.com, Gearlog, Appolicious Advisor, Geekosystem, Macworld, GigaOM, Phones Review, The Next Web, Agence France Presse and Geek.com