Techmeme: Square Starts 2011 with A New Round At A Big Valuation (Michael Arrington/TechCrunch)

8:40 AM ET, January 3, 2011

Top Items:

Goldman Invests in Facebook at $50 Billion Valuation — Facebook, the popular social networking site, has raised $500 million from Goldman Sachs and a Russian investor in a deal that values the company at $50 billion, according to people involved in the transaction.

Ben Parr / Mashable!:

What Will Facebook Do With All That Money? — We're still reeling from the news that Facebook has raised $500 million in new funding at a $50 billion valuation. While The New York Times report has yet to be confirmed, we've heard rumors for a while now that Facebook was looking to raise …

Discussion: Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

Felix Salmon / Reuters:
Goldman's Facebook coup

Discussion: Irregular Enterprise Blog and SAI

Wall Street Journal:

Google Digital Newsstand Aims to Muscle In on Apple — Google Inc. and Apple Inc. have stepped up their battle to win over publishers, as the two companies vie to become the dominant distributor of newspapers and magazines for tablet computers and other mobile devices.

MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
The “Digital Newsstand” …

Discussion: Marco.org

Joanna Stern / Engadget:

Intel's 2nd Generation Core processor family announced, includes 29 new CPUs and enhanced graphics — They're here! That is, Intel's Sandy Bridge mobile and desktop processors herein known as the 2nd Generation Core processor family or more simply as Intel Core 2011 processors to us.

Discussion: Inquirer, AnandTech, Computerworld, The Tech Report, MacRumors, Softpedia News, Techie Buzz, Gizmodo, CNET News, 9 to 5 Mac and 1001 Noisy Cameras

Yukari Iwatani Kane / Wall Street Journal:

Vizio to Introduce Tablet, Cellphone — Company to Unveil Tablet, Cellphone With Same Strategy as Its Low-Cost TVs — Vizio Inc., which put inexpensive flat-panel TVs in living rooms, now is setting its sights on cellphones and tablet computers. — Vizio, which has vied with Samsung Electronics Co …

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:

Lenovo tries to escape boring designs with new ThinkPad laptops — Lenovo is unveiling its latest computers bit by bit at the Consumer Electronics Show. The first to be unveiled are its new line of ThinkPad laptops, which are aimed at business users. — These machines reflect the attempt …

Discussion: New York Times, FT tech hub, Technologizer, Engadget and V3.co.uk, more at Mediagazer »

Agam Shah / PC World:

Lenovo to Show First Tablets at CES — Lenovo will show its first tablets this week as it moves to make a mark in the fast-growing market led by Apple's iPad and Samsung's Galaxy Tab. — Lenovo executives said two consumer tablet devices will be shown at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) …

Discussion: CNET News, Wall Street Journal, Softpedia News and Electricpig.co.uk

camen design:

RSS Is Dying, and You Should Be Very Worried — RSS saves me from having to load up 100 different sites several times a day just to check what's ‘new’. Because me and you—dear technical readers—don't have to suffer this routine anymore, it's not reason that everybody else should.

Discussion: Kevin Burton's NEW FeedBlog and parislemon

Matt Brian / The Next Web:

Samsung Galaxy S hits target, surpasses 10 million units sold — Samsung has officially confirmed that its Galaxy S smartphone range has eclipsed 10 million units sold, hitting the company's target just 7 months after the device launched. — We previously reported that the handset …

Discussion: Internet2Go, ZDNet, Samsung Hub, Engadget, BlogsDNA, OLED TV Display Lighting …, Softpedia News, Electronista and PalmAddicts

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:

Square Starts 2011 with A New Round At A Big Valuation — While much of Silicon Valley spent the last two weeks skiing or otherwise reveling in all that money made this year from acquisitions, partial liquidations and secondary deals, Square founder Jack Dorsey was apparently hard at work.

Discussion: VatorNews

Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:

Seven Technologies That Will Rock 2011 — So here we are in a new decade, and the technologies that are now available to us continue to engage (and enthrall) in fascinating ways. The rise and collision of several trends—social, mobile, touch computing, geo, cloud—keep spitting out new products …

Fred / A VC:
Predictions and Prognostications — I've read a lot of predictions …

Discussion: SAI and CloudAve

Joanna Stern / Engadget:

Toshiba announces unnamed Tegra 2-powered Android tablet, waits only for Honeycomb — Let the Tegra 2-powered, Android Honeycomb tablet announcements begin! Apparently (and understandably) staying away from a Folio 2 moniker, Toshiba is kicking off CES with its new unnamed 10.1-inch Android tablet …

Discussion: Inquirer, Associated Press, Pocket-lint, CrunchGear, Softpedia News, The Next Web, Android Community, Mashable!, netbooknews.com, SlashGear and PhoneArena

Enigmax / TorrentFreak:

Google Helps Seized BitTorrent Site to Regain Lost Traffic — Back in November when the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement seized more than 80 domain names of sites they claim were infringing copyright, the effect on their traffic was instant and massive.

Nathaniel Whittemore / Assetmap:

Let's End the Myth that Ideas are Worthless — I love Silicon Valley. I love the entrepreneurial energy and the blister and pop of passion being painted into reality every day. But if entrepreneurial density is the Valley's greatest asset, it can also, sometimes, be its greatest weakness.

Don Dodge / Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing:
Ideas matter, great execution of a bad idea = failure

Thanks:kevendones

John Bennett / Against Monopoly:

Against Monopoly: China joins the patent trolls; wake up America — STEVE LOHR claims to examine China's new push on innovation, but it is really about the policy to promote issuing more patents link here. The government is actually providing incentives to increase the annual patent harvest …

Steve Lohr / New York Times: When Innovation, Too, Is Made in China

Reuters:

China shuts over 60,000 porn websites this year — China shut down more than 60,000 pornographic websites this year, netting almost 5,000 suspects in the process, a government spokesman said on Thursday, vowing no let-up in its campaign against material deemed obscene.

Discussion: CNET News and WatchingTV Online

Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry / SAI:
China Actually Brags About How Much It Censors Online

Discussion: The Next Web and beyondbrics, Thanks:teawithcarl

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