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Egypt Leaves the Internet — Confirming what a few have reported this evening: in an action unprecedented in Internet history, the Egyptian government appears to have ordered service providers to shut down all international connections to the Internet. Critical European-Asian fiber-optic …
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The Huffington Post, L.A. Times Tech Blog, @chinageeks, @sayrer, Pulse2 and Global Voices in English
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Complete Internet Blackout in Egypt — After blocking Twitter on Tuesday and, intermittently, Facebook and Google on Wednesday, the Egyptian government has upped the ante, throwing a complete Internet access block across the whole of the country. Additionally blocked are Blackberry service and SMS.
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Mashable!, Arabist.net, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, iGeneration Blog, Search Engine Watch, Danger Room, @bencnn, Associated Press, TechCrunch, Agence France Presse, Foreign Policy, @davechappelle, Electronista, The Blog Herald, @bencnn, Mashable!, Slashdot, Gawker, Mashable!, Digital Trends, The Next Web and TechCrunch

Microsoft Reports Record $0.77 Earnings Per Share in Second Quarter — Holiday sales and business demand drive record revenue. — Redmond, Wash. - Jan. 27, 2011 - Microsoft Corp. today announced record second-quarter revenue of $19.95 billion for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2010.
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The Windows Blog, Computerworld, Engadget, GeekSmack, Between the Lines Blog, SAI, New York Times, ITworld.com, Associated Press, IntoMobile, TechCrunch, WinRumors, VentureBeat, Erictric, Hardware 2.0 Blog, BloggingStocks, WinRumors, VG247, All about Microsoft Blog, TechNet Blogs, Neowin.net and MSDN Blogs
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Still Strong: Microsoft Beats Estimates as Quarterly Sales Neared $20 Billion — Microsoft on Thursday reported earnings and revenue that topped expectations and rose significantly from a year ago amid strong sales from its Xbox unit. — For the three months ended Dec. 31 …
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Computerworld, Shiny Objects, The Register, internetnews.com, The Microsoft Blog, CNET News, paidContent and The Next Web


Why Microsoft Desperately Needs To Become More Acquisitive
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Tech Trader Daily

Microsoft's Kinectified game business grows 55 percent …
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Engadget


Amazon's Jeff Bezos: “We Had Our First $10 Billion Quarter” — Amazon just released results for its for its fourth quarter ending December 31, 2010. The company's sales came in at $12.95 billion, which is up 36 percent from $9.52 billion in fourth quarter 2009.
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Between the Lines Blog, The Register, internetnews.com, Engadget, Tech Trader Daily, VentureBeat, The Social, Kindle Review, TechSpot, WebProNews and Electronista
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Amazon.com Announces Fourth Quarter Sales up 36% to $12.95 Billion — Companies: — Related Quotes — SymbolPriceChange — 184.45 — SEATTLE—(BUSINESS WIRE)— Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - News) today announced financial results for its fourth quarter ended December 31, 2010.
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Forbes, TechCrunch, eMoney, The Next Web, paidContent, SAI and Crave


Netflix Performance on Top ISP Networks — Hi there. This is Ken Florance, Director of Content Delivery here at Netflix. — As we continue to stream more and more great movies and TV shows, we find ourselves in the unique position of having insight into the performance of hundreds …
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ReadWriteWeb, PR Newswire, Ars Technica, Waxy.org, SAI, Reddit, VentureBeat, Electronista, Post Tech, Reddit, The Next Web and DSLreports, more at Mediagazer »
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Netflix Grades Broadband Internet Providers
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CNET News and San Francisco Chronicle

LinkedIn files registration statement for Initial Public Offering — Ed. Note: We'd like to share with you the press announcement related to our filing registration statement for a proposed Initial Public Offering. — LinkedIn Corporation announced today that it has filed a registration statement …
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LinkedIn Files For IPO; Revenue $161 Million For The First Nine Months Of 2010 — Professional social network LinkedIn has just submitted its S-1 filing with the SEC, indicating that it will file for a public offering. The maximum proposed total offering price is $175 million but this is just a placeholder amount.
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Forbes, Venture Capital Dispatch, The Blog Herald, Between the Lines Blog, PE Hub Blog, @ataussig, paidContent, The Social, SAI and silicontap.com


Google's Schmidt wants to set the record straight — Eric Schmidt opens up about his company's executive shuffle, whether or not Facebook poses a threat, and where Google is competing with Apple. — Image via Wikipedia — The media speculation about why Eric Schmidt is ceding the Google …
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The Microsoft Blog, Digital Daily, Search Engine Land, Davos Live, Search Engine Watch, MacStories, Engadget, SAI, Business Week and iClarified


Apple, News Corp to hold event to launch The Daily — Apple and News Corp sent out invitations on Thursday to press for the launch of the Daily, a newspaper designed specifically for iPads. — According to the invitation received by The Loop on Thursday, News Corp Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch …
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Mashable!, The Social, Digital Daily, Edible Apple, AppleInsider, ITworld.com, Erictric, SAI, Computerworld, Digits, TiPb, Engadget, TechCrunch, App Advice, Redmond Pie, iLounge, AOL News, The Next Web, Gizmodo, Examiner, 9 to 5 Mac, MacStories, MacRumors, NBC Bay Area and iClarified, more at Mediagazer »


Introducing the new version of Skype for Mac — We've just released a new version of Skype for Mac, removing the beta label and introducing group video calling as part of our Premium package, as well as a number of user interface and other improvements. Download it now, or read on to find out more.
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TUAW, Gadgetell, Gizmodo, Computerworld, NewsGrange, GigaOM, BetaNews, MacGazette.net, ReadWriteWeb, Softpedia News, Engadget, SlashGear, Geek.com, 9 to 5 Mac, The Next Web, MacStories, WebProNews, Download Squad and MacRumors

Say Goodbye to All Those Passwords — The Commerce Dept. is backing a new security system for online identity checks that could be a boon for e-commerce — The convenience promised by the Internet often seems to evaporate when you log in every morning. First comes the user name …


Verizon to Acquire Terremark for $1.4 Billion — The NAP of the Americas, the huge Terremark data center in downtown Miami. Verizon says it will buy Terremark (and the NAP) for $1.4 billion. — Verizon will acquire colocation and cloud hosting provider Terremark for $1.4 billion in a deal …
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VentureBeat, PR Newswire, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Between the Lines Blog, Mashable! and deal architect


FAIL! One Year Later, Here Are 7 Naysayers Who Thought The iPad Would Fail — Exactly a year ago, the iPad — which was a heavily guarded rumor that everyone knew existed — was debuted to gushing masses. People loved it, they hated it, they made fun of its name (remember the sophomoric jabs).


LivingSocial Closing the Gap — Let's face it, $6 billion is a lot of money, especially considering the hyper-innovation we're seeing in the social buying space. — In a previous post less then two months ago we analyzed the difference between Groupon and LivingSocial visitors.
Discussion:
Screenwerk, WebProNews and The Business Insider


Hulu Plots New Script — Just as the digital wave transforms the television industry, Hulu, a pioneer of Internet TV, is in internal discussions to dramatically transform itself. — The free online television service has become one of the most-watched online video properties in the U.S …


Quora Blocks Startup Search Engines — The popular startup question and answer service Quora only allows the largest search engines to index its site. As Gabe Rivera of Techmeme pointed out yesterday, its robots.txt file explicitly grants Google, Bing, Blekko and other big players access, but excludes everyone else.


(Updated: New Pic!) Sidekick 4G In The Wild! — Update: A couple of things have been pointed out, one it absolutely looks like there is a front facing camera present. Secondly, you can clearly see the Samsung etched logo on the back of the device. Most important, it seemingly retains …


Google Testing Display Ads In Gmail — Google appears to be testing display ads in Gmail. I have not spoken to anyone at the company but discovered the following image ad in my own Gmail account this morning: — Image ads have made their way into paid search on Google.com and various other properties on Google.
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Bits, The Atlantic Online, Erictric and The Next Web


Dealing With Assange and the Secrets He Spilled — This past June, Alan Rusbridger, the editor of The Guardian, phoned me and asked, mysteriously, whether I had any idea how to arrange a secure communication. Not really, I confessed. The Times doesn't have encrypted phone lines, or a Cone of Silence.
Discussion:
techPresident and Techdirt


25 Years of Digital Vandalism — IN January 1986, Basit and Amjad Alvi, sibling programmers living near the main train station in Lahore, Pakistan, wrote a piece of code to safeguard the latest version of their heart-monitoring software from piracy. They called it Brain, and it was basically a wheel-clamp for PCs.
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TeleRead


Facebook Shares Dip 7% In Most Recent SecondMarket Auction — A week ago Facebook shares were being traded at $28.26 per share, a $70 billion valuation. In this week's auction at SecondMarket the per share price declined just over 7%, to $26.25, a $65.5 billion valuation with around 2.5 billion shares outstanding.
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All Facebook and L.A. Times Tech Blog


The New York Times, Demand Media Edition — Demand Media — widely described as a “content farm” — went public yesterday and quickly racked up a valuation higher than the New York Times. I figured the news might cause some at the New York Times to wonder if they needed to be more Demand Media-like.
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TechCrunch and Mixed Media, more at Mediagazer »