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6:20 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.

Discussion: SlashGear, All Facebook, VentureBeat, paidContent, NetworkEffect, Howard Lindzon, The Next Web, CNET News, Softpedia News, Guardian, MediaNama, ArcticStartup Posts, Reuters, Soshable, TechCrunch, Neowin.net, Shades of Green, Leveraging Ideas, Working Capital, Mashable!, Pocket-lint, SAI, Tech Musings, Bloomberg, Scobleizer and Gawker, Thanks:andrewpbrett

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 …

Felix Salmon / Reuters:

Goldman's Facebook coup — The NYT reports that Goldman Sachs is investing $450 million of its own money into Facebook and that it's bringing along $50 million from Digital Sky Technologies and as much as $1 billion more from its high-net-worth clients — all at a valuation of $50 billion.

Discussion: 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.

Discussion: Fortune, ReadWriteWeb, Android Community, SlashGear, PhoneArena, Neowin.net, Electricpig.co.uk, Gizmodo, MacStories, Electronista, CNET News, SAI, Agence France Presse, Search Engine Watch, Engadget and parislemon, more at Mediagazer », Thanks:richdemuro

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: MacRumors, AnandTech, PC World, Electronista, Softpedia News, The Tech Report, 9 to 5 Mac, Techie Buzz, Gizmodo, CNET News 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 and Engadget

Agam Shah / PC World:
Lenovo to Show First Tablets at CES

Discussion: Softpedia News

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

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

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

David Kaplan / paidContent:

Scott Kurnit's AdKeeper Raises $35 Million Second Round — AdKeeper, the startup launched by About.com founder Scott Kurnit this past fall, has raised a whopping $35 million second round funding. Back in September, AdKeeper, which acts as an interactive ad clipping service for users …

Discussion: SAI, VentureBeat, AdExchanger.com and MediaMemo

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

Joanna Stern / Engadget:

Intel to launch Insider movie service with 1080p content, WiDi 2.0 will let you stream it to your TV — We knew it was Intel's plan to launch its Sandy Bridge or Core 2011 processors at CES, but leave it to Chipzilla to throw in some total surprises ahead of the show.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Softpedia News, TG Daily and Bloomberg

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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