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12:50 PM ET, May 10, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Microsoft:
Microsoft to Acquire Skype  —  Combined companies will benefit consumers, businesses and increase market opportunity.  —  Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: “MSFT") and Skype Global S.à r.l today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Microsoft will acquire Skype …
RELATED:
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft Blog:
Microsoft buys Skype for $8.5 billion; creates new business division  —  The rumors were right.  Microsoft announced on May 10 that it bought Skype, an Internet communications maker, for $8.5 billion.  —  Instead of trying to mash Skype into an existing Microsoft business division …
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Irony Alert: Marc Andreessen Talks About Microsoft Forking Over $8.5B for Skype  —  I guess it's finally time to declare that Marc Andreessen's bruising and life-altering battle with Microsoft is officially over.  —  That would be $8.5 billion over.  —  From the software giant anti-trusting …
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Why Microsoft is Buying Skype for $8.5 Billion  —  Updated at 12 midnight: Microsoft has bought Skype for $8.5 billion, in an all cash deal.  The deal closed a few hours ago.  The Wall Street Journal confirmed the news after we had first reported it yesterday.
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
Skype Confirms: We're Coming to Xbox, Outlook, Windows Phone & More  —  In the wake of today's confirmed acquisition of Skype by Microsoft Corp., tech press, analysts and armchair quarterbacks alike have been busy speculating why Microsoft would buy Skype (and why it spent $8.5 billion to do so).
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Skype and Kinect could be Microsoft's new killer combo  —  Microsoft's blockbuster agreement to acquire Skype is all but assured now, with multiple reports citing a purchase price of $8.5 billion, including assumption of debt.  The deal is already raising lots of eyebrows …
Discussion: GigaOM, GMSV, ReadWriteWeb and msnbc.com, Thanks:johnhcook
Ben Horowitz / ben's blog:
Microsoft Buys Skype
Discussion: The Next Web
Matthew Panzarino / TheNextWeb:
Google's Music Beta iTunes competitor just went live  —  We all knew Google is going to announce their new Google Music service today because they leaked the news last night.  The service has now gone live and is available for US users only to request and invitation.
RELATED:
Antony Bruno / Hollywood Reporter:
Google Music to Launch Tuesday — Without Licenses
Ross Miller / This is my next:
Google TV getting Android 3.1 Honeycomb, Android Market  —  Google TV is getting a huge bump, with Android 3.1 and Android Market coming to a TV near you.  Google also hinted at new devices from Samsung and Vizio (which we were getting wind of at CES), but there weren't many details there.
Discussion: Gizmodo, BGR, VentureBeat, SAI and Mashable!
RELATED:
Vlad Savov / Engadget:
Google reaches 100 millionth Android activation, 400,000 Android devices activated daily  —  36 OEMs, 215 carriers, 450,000 Android developers all over the world, Google wants to say “thank you!”  Android has been announced to have recently crossed its 100 millionth activation …
Discussion: BGR, TechCrunch, @cnntech and The Next Web
Chris Dale / YouTube Blog:
Get more into movies on YouTube  —  Here at YouTube, we can't get enough video.  When it comes to movies, we're just as excited: YouTube hosts a great selection of movie trailers and showcases a variety of independent films in our Screening Room; last year we announced the ability to rent movies …
David Kravets / Threat Level:
Biggest BitTorrent Downloading Case in U.S. History Targets 23,000 Defendants  —  At least 23,000 file sharers soon will likely get notified they are being sued for downloading the Expendables in what has become the single largest illegal-BitTorrent-downloading case in U.S. history.
John Markoff / Bits:
The iPad in Your Hand: As Fast as a Supercomputer of Yore  —  It's common wisdom that the computer you can hold in the palm of your hand today is as powerful as a computer from years ago that filled an entire room.  —  But now Jack Dongarra, one of the computer scientists who keeps track …
Discussion: ITProPortal and SlashGear
Matt Burns / MobileCrunch:
Ice Cream Sandwich To Bring New UI, Framework To Android  —  The next major release of Android comes just in time for hot summer days.  Ice Cream Sandwich, as it's called, is well, Google's “most ambitious” release yet.  And look!  A new logo!  —  Google says they wanted to create an OS that runs everywhere.
Tiernan Ray / Tech Trader Daily:
Apple Tells Senate, 'We Don't Track Users' … The Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on privacy, technology and Law is just getting underway with its hearing this morning on mobile privacy, at which representatives of Google (GOOG) and Apple (AAPL) are expected to testify.
RELATED:
Tony Romm / The Politico:   Al Franken: Smart phone and app privacy no joke
Peter Kruse / CSIS Security Group:
CSIS Blog: Complete ZeuS sourcecode has been leaked to the masses  —  On the 23rd of March 2011 we posted a blog about the source code for the infamous crime kit ZeuS (Wsnpoem/Zbot) being sold on at least two dark market forums (see: http://www.csis.dk/en/csis/blog/3176/ ).
Discussion: Inquirer and Dennis Fisher
Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:
YouTube Launches Live Captions at Google I/O  —  YouTube is launching captions for its live video feeds at Google I/O Tuesday.  The new feature will be unveiled with the Google I/O live video stream, but it's also going to be available to any YouTube Live partner, according …
Discussion: SocialTimes.com
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
As A Stable Build Appears And Avatars Align, A Full Chrome OS Launch Seems Imminent  —  We're just a few hours away from the kick off of Google I/O — the search giant's huge annual conference for all things Google.  Well, most things.  The social stuff isn't being talked about.
Discussion: Softpedia News
Killian Bell / Cult of Mac:
Adobe Releases First Three Photoshop Touch Apps for iPad  —  Adobe first announced its first three Photoshop Touch applications at Photoshop World back in March, and they're now available to download from the App Store.  Color Lava, Eazel and Nav are all designed for the iPad and aim to enhance …
Steve Kovach / Business Insider:
HUGE: Streaming Movie Rentals Are Coming To The Android Market Starting Today Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/huge- streaming-movie-rentals-are-coming-to- the-android-market-starting-today-2011- 5#ixzz1Ly73KXBY  —  Google just announced that it's adding a streaming rental service for Android devices.
Discussion: Gizmodo and VentureBeat
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Apple's Massive New Data Center Set To Host Nuance Tech; Partnership Announcement Due At WWDC  —  Last Friday, we posted about the negotiations between Apple and voice recognition company Nuance.  While these talks have been going on for months, sources told us that it wasn't yet entirely clear …
Larry Magid / CNET News:
Survey: 7.5M Facebook users below minimum age  —  A survey published in the June issue of Consumer Reports (available now) found that “of the 20 million minors who actively use Facebook,” 7.5 million were younger than 13 and more than five million were younger than 10.
Brian X. Chen / Gadget Lab:
Anonymous IDs on iPhones, iPads Can Reveal Your Identity  —  Each iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch contains a “unique device identifier” that can potentially be linked to a customer's real-world identity, according to a security researcher.  Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
Discussion: MediaPost and GottaBeMobile
 
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 More Items: 
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
AddThis Indeed: Clearspring Raises $20 Million As It Rides Social Sharing Boom
MacNN:
ASUS makes just 350K Eee PCs due to iPad, ‘killer’ model due
Discussion: LAPTOP Magazine and DigiTimes
Kim-Mai Cutler / Inside Mobile Apps:
Sony Ericsson's Xperia Showcases Another Deep Facebook Integration
Discussion: Softpedia News and Electronista
Zach Epstein / BGR:
Foxconn denies making workers sign no-suicide pact
James Somers / The Atlantic Online:
On the Floor Laughing: Traders Are Having a New Kind of Fun
Todd Haselton / BGR:
AT&T to defend T-Mobile acquisiton in D.C. this week
Discussion: MobileCrunch
Gavin Clarke / The Register:
Microsoft resuscitates 'I'm a PC' ads to fight Apple
Discussion: Fortune, Technically Incorrect and SAI
 Earlier Items: 
Alberto Vildosola / Android and Me:
New Google Goggles app turns your phone into the perfect business card scanner
David Carr / New York Times:
Now to Sell Advertisers on Tablets
Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Can Flattr Plus Twitter Make Micropayments a Reality?
Vangelis Kokkevis / Google Chrome Blog:
Fancier graphics, safer downloads, and more privacy controls
James Nixon / thinq_:
Exclusive: AnonOps splinter group speaks out
Thomas Claburn / InformationWeek:
Google ‘Panda’ Update Kills Content Farming Jobs
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
A New York judge finds Sirius XM liable for a difficult subscription cancellation process; Sirius says it will appeal but abide by a new “click-to-cancel” rule

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Sources: NBCUniversal Vice Chairman Bonnie Hammer plans to leave the company at the end of the year; she has been with the company since 2004

Anja Karadeglija / The Canadian Press:
Meta clashes with Canada's CRTC over the Online News Act by declining to publicly release information about its measures to block news content on its platforms

 
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