Top Items:
Matt Cutts / The Official Google Blog:
Google search and search engine spam — January brought a spate of stories about Google's search quality. Reading through some of these recent articles, you might ask whether our search quality has gotten worse. The short answer is that according to the evaluation metrics that we've refined …
Discussion:
Deal Journal, Softpedia News, Techdirt, InformationWeek, Digital Trends, Digits, StepForth Web Marketing Inc., Erictric, Trends in the Living Networks, Technologizer, Neowin.net, broadstuff, V3.co.uk, New York Observer, @codinghorror, ITworld.com, Computerworld, Techie Buzz, WebProNews, SAI, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, Lifehacker, The Atlantic Online, The Domains, Network World, SmoothSpan Blog, NewsGrange, 901am, Fortune, FT tech hub, Search Engine Land, PC Magazine, TechCrunch, DomainIncite.com and The Huffington Post, more at Mediagazer »
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Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Did Google Just Declare War on Demand Media? — Over the past few months, there has been a growing chorus of criticism — much of it anecdotal, but coming from a number of respected technology observers — about Google's increasingly useless search results.
Discussion:
Mixed Media, SAI and Search Engine Land, Thanks:defrag
Tom Krazit / CNET News:
Google ready for action against content farms
Discussion:
paidContent, more at Mediagazer »
Phil Nickinson / Android Central:
Minimum advertised prices set for Motorola Xoom ($799) and HTC Thunderbolt ($249) — We just got hit with the news of the minimum advertised price for the Motorola Xoom Android tablet and HTC ThunderBolt LTE smartphone on Verizon. Looks like the Xoom will be going for $799 — we have to assume that's unsubsidized.
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Facebook Raises $1.5 Billion At $50 Billion Valuation — Facebook has officially announced that it has just raised $1.5 billion in funding at a $50 billion valuation, according to a release issued today (we've embedded the release below). — As stated in the release, the investment was broken into two parts.
RELATED:
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
The Clock Is Set For A Facebook IPO By April, 2012 — Today, Facebook announced that it raised a total of $1.5 billion in its latest round, giving the company a valuation of $50 billion. But it also disclosed something else: when it will likely go public.
Discussion:
Mashable and SelectStart
Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:
Facebook confirms $1.5B funding, leaves $500M on the table
Discussion:
L.A. Times Tech Blog and Communications …
Charles Arthur / Guardian:
Google shuffle: why Schmidt had to be pushed from the top — After slipups with search, Street View and Android, it's clear that Google needs tighter control at the top - and Eric Schmidt is not the man for the job — Eric Schmidt's departure after nearly 10 years as chief executive of Google …
RELATED:
Brian Womack / Bloomberg:
Google Said to Grant $100 Million in Equity to CEO Eric Schmidt — Google Inc. is granting an equity award package of $100 million to Eric Schmidt, who will be succeeded as chief executive officer by co-founder Larry Page in April, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Discussion:
L.A. Times Tech Blog
Ken Auletta / New Yorker:
Why Is Eric Schmidt Stepping Down at Google?
Discussion:
WebProNews, MediaFile, VentureBeat, SAI, The Register, Epicenter, PC World, Fortune, The Microsoft Blog, kottke.org, TechCrunch, Thoughts from the Sidelines, Geek.com, Socialnomics, MediaPost, SlashGear, MediaFlect, MacDailyNews, Search Engine Watch, The Tech Report, Felix Salmon, SAI, Mashable, paidContent, The Atlantic Online and Techland
Nilay Patel / Engadget:
Android source code, Java, and copyright infringement: what's going on? — So it's been a fun day of armchair code forensics and legal analysis on the web after Florian Mueller published a piece this morning alleging Google directly copied somewhere between 37 and 44 Java source files in Android.
Discussion:
AppleInsider, parislemon, Ars Technica, Guardian, PC Magazine, Electronista, ZDNet, Network World, Geek.com, WPCentral.com, Digital Trends, SAI and SlashGear
RELATED:
Ed Burnette / Ed Burnette's Dev Connection Blog:
Oops: No copied Java code or weapons of mass destruction found in Android
Discussion:
THINQ.co.uk, GottaBeMobile, IntoMobile, Android Central, SAI, Android Phone Fans, OSNews, PalmAddicts, CNET News, DailyTech, 901am, Hardware 2.0 Blog, Engadget and FOSS Patents
Ina Fried / Mobilized:
Take That, Cupertino! Toshiba Flashes Insults at Apple in Teaser Site for Its Android Tablet. — Toshiba is taking it straight to the iPad in a new Web site that teases the coming arrival of its Android tablet. — On the site, Toshiba touts the features its tablet has that the iPad lacks …
Discussion:
Android Police, Apple Headlines, Examiner, Electronista, Androinica and GottaBeMobile
RELATED:
Marin Perez / IntoMobile:
Toshiba teases Android Honeycomb tablet
Discussion:
Electronista, Android Phone Fans, The Next Web, Engadget and Phones Review
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Congratulations Crunchies Winners! Twitter Takes Best Startup Of 2010 — This year's fourth annual Crunchies Awards have just concluded, and we're happy to say that it was an overwhelming success. For those who weren't at the event or watching our livestream, we've included the list of nominees and winners below.
Discussion:
Neowin.net
Chris Ziegler / Engadget:
AT&T offering free MicroCells to top 7.5 percent of customers ‘likely to experience poor in-building coverage’ — We've known that AT&T has been test-marketing free 3G MicroCells to subscribers with particularly awful reception in certain parts of the country since the product launched last year …
Discussion:
PC World, Examiner, WPCentral.com, Gadgetell, IntoMobile, CrunchGear, Techland, VentureBeat, Phones Review, Thoughts from the Sidelines and Gizmodo
Ian Hickson / The WHATWG Blog:
HTML is the new HTML5 — In 2009 we announced that the HTML5 specification at the WHATWG was progressing to Last Call. The plan at the time was to finish the specification this year and publish a snapshot of “HTML5” in 2012. However, shortly after that we realised that the demand …
Discussion:
Softpedia News, Gizmodo, The Register, Webmonkey, Ars Technica, All about Microsoft Blog, Adactio, TechSpot, Smashing Magazine, Digital Trends, ITProPortal, ZDNet and PC World
Deborah Gage / Venture Capital Dispatch:
Why Andreessen Horowitz Models Itself After A Hollywood Talent Agency — Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz have raised nearly a billion dollars in the 18 months since they founded their Silicon Valley venture firm, Andreessen Horowitz, even though they've never been venture capitalists before.
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Creator Of Million Dollar Homepage Makes Do Nothing For 2 Minutes — PopJam CEO Alex Tew, the guy behind the internet phenomenon Million Dollar Homepage, has now gone the opposite extreme. Along with developer Ben Dowling, he has created Do Nothing For 2 Minutes, a site whose purpose is pretty self-explanatory.
Discussion:
Between the Lines Blog, Gizmodo and GeekSugar
Jon Brodkin / Network World:
Ballmer to Hu: 90% of Microsoft customers in China using pirated software — Microsoft CEO raises concerns to Chinese president about intellectual property protection — While Chinese President Hu Jintao knew he'd face some tough questions when he came to the United States this week …
Robert McMillan / Computerworld:
Got $500? You can buy a hacked U.S. military website — If you're a criminal looking for full control of the Web used by the U.S. Army's Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM), you can get it for just under US$500. — If you're a criminal looking for full control of the Web used …
Discussion:
Imperva Data Security Blog, Krebs on Security, eWeek, Boing Boing and V3.co.uk
