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1:55 AM ET, May 11, 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 …
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Confirmed: Qik will become part of Microsoft, too  —  Hey, for $8.5 billion, you'd expect a little extra as part of a deal, and it turns out that Microsoft's Skype acquisition will include a bonus in the form of Qik, the streaming mobile video company acquired by Skype for $121 million this year.
Discussion: iPhone in Canada Blog
Bill Rigby / Reuters:
Analysis: Investors slam Microsoft's Skype deal
Discussion: USA Today and MediaFile
Amy Thomson / Bloomberg:   Microsoft's Skype Deal May Strain Relations With AT&T, Verizon
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft Blog:
Microsoft CEO Ballmer's email about Skype acquisition: ‘Exciting times!’
Discussion: BoomTown and Hardware 2.0 Blog
Ben Horowitz / ben's blog:
Microsoft Buys Skype
Discussion: The Next Web
Hugo Barra / The Official Google Blog:
Android: momentum, mobile and more at Google I/O  —  (Cross-posted on the Google Code Blog)  —  This morning at Google I/O, the Android team shared some updates.  It's hard to believe a little more than two and a half years ago, we were just one device, launching in one country, on one carrier.
RELATED:
Devin Coldewey / CrunchGear:
Android And Chrome: Anywhere And Everywhere  —  Google is approaching a watershed moment in its internal platform wars.  The time is nearly at hand when they will have to decide once and for all what Android is, what Chrome OS is, and where they are both going.
Zach Epstein / BGR:
Google announces Android @ Home
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Android Chief Rubin Hints At A New Nexus Device In Time For The Holidays
Discussion: TmoNews
Quentin Hardy / Forbes:
Google To Announce Chrome Laptops-$20/Month  —  Google tomorrow will announce sales of the new Chrome laptop in a $20 a month “student package” that combines both hardware and online services, according to a senior Google executive.  —  The product is almost certainly a precursor to an enterprise offering.
Matthew Lynley / VentureBeat:
Google's Music Beta first look: it's miserable  —  Google's Music Beta is supposed to provide users with a way to access the music anywhere, anytime as easily as physically possible.  —  But it's just not that easy.  —  I've spent the past few hours trying to navigate my way through Music Beta …
Discussion: New York Times, The Next Web and eWeek
RELATED:
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Google takes surprise $500M charge over DOJ ad investigation  —  Google's Form 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, made public this afternoon, contains an unexpected $500 million charge for the first quarter that wasn't reported in the company's quarterly results.
Declan McCullagh / CNET News:
DOJ wants wireless providers to store user info  —  The U.S. Department of Justice today called for new laws requiring mobile providers to collect and store information about their customers, a proposal that pits it against privacy advocates and even other federal agencies.
RELATED:
Joe Mullin / paidContent:
Apple, Google Privacy Hearing Marked By Confusion, Distractions
Discussion: eWeek and Between the Lines Blog
Nishant Doshi / Symantec Blog:
Facebook Applications Accidentally Leaking Access to Third Parties  —  Third parties, in particular advertisers, have accidentally had access to Facebook users' accounts including profiles, photographs, chat, and also had the ability to post messages and mine personal information.
Neil Hughes / AppleInsider:
Photo shows alleged 7th-gen Apple iPod nano with 1.3MP camera, no clip  —  Yet another piece of evidence shows that the next iPod nano will retain its same small form factor and multi-touch screen, but add a camera to the rear side of the diminutive device and strangely ditch the built-in clip.
Jack Purcher / Patently Apple:
Apple Wins Patents for the iOS Virtual Keyboard, Cover Flow and a Never Released iPad Design and More  —  The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 16 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today.  The notables within this group include patents for iLife's iDVD application …
K. T. Bradford / LAPTOP Magazine:
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Limited Edition Unboxing  —  As announced at the keynote, all of the attendees at this year's Google I/O get to take home a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1-inch tablet, which won't be available to the general public until June 8th.  We just got ours and thought you'd enjoy a preview in the form of a short unboxing.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Y Combinator Accepts Record 60+ New Startups For Summer 2011  —  Y Combinator just gets bigger and bigger.  They invest in batches, twice a year.  The last batch had 44 startups, an all time high.  But that record is about to be shattered - they've accepted 60+ startups for the Summer 2011 batch soon.
Thanks:bhc3
Frederic Lardinois / NewsGrange:
Google and Ford Team Up to Make Your Next Car Smarter  —  At Google's I/O developer conference today, Ford announced a new research project that will use Google's prediction API to help drivers save gas and drive more efficiently.  Ford plans to use Google's service to analyze data …
Cory Doctorow / Boing Boing:
URGENT: Intellectual Property Consortium wants .net domains to be subject to TRADEMARK seizures and to abolish privacy-shielded .NETs  —  The Intellectual Property Constituency has asked that, as a condition of Verisign's ongoing management of the .NET top-level domain, that they should be required …
Discussion: Domain Name Wire and Techdirt
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Exclusive: Groupon Pushed for IPO Filing This Week (With or Without Bankers' Help!)  —  According to sources close to the situation, social buying phenom Groupon was pressing to file for its expected IPO as soon as this week, even before its bankers had a chance to complexify the situation.
Jenna Wortham / Bits:
Visa Advances Toward a Digital Wallet  —  Visa is taking another big step in its continuing efforts to create a universal digital wallet.  —  On Wednesday, the company announced plans to introduce a one-click payment system that will allow Visa customers to sign up for a set of credentials …
 
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 More Items: 
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Revised 'Net censorship bill requires search engines to block sites, too
Discussion: Techdirt
Mike Melanson / ReadWriteWeb:
Google Opens Places API to the Public
Discussion: Between the Lines Blog and Neowin.net, Thanks:rwwmike
Sean Hollister / Engadget:
T-Mobile snaps up ‘SnapPad’ trademark and domains, inadvertently teases tablet?
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
PaaS PHP Fog Launches To The Public
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb
Connie Loizos / PE Hub Blog:
UPDATED: Why a Third Fund for Andreessen Horowitz May Not Be Far Behind
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Google Finally Delivers On Promise Of Admin-Free Chrome Frame Installs For IE
Discussion: InfoWorld and Neowin.net
Royal Pingdom:
WordPress.com about to hit 20 million blogs. Tumblr in hot pursuit.
Discussion: Betabeat, Thanks:pingdom
 Earlier Items: 
Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:
Groupon Now is live! Offers local deals at any time, wherever you are.
Discussion: Mashable! and Google Maps Mania
Jennifer Van Grove / Mashable!:
Airbnb Taps Facebook, Lets You Crash With Friends Of Friends
Discussion: The Airbnb Blog and TechCrunch
Navneet Joneja / Google Enterprise Blog:
Google Storage for Developers open to all, with new features
Discussion: Google Code Blog
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Just Weeks Away, A Preview Of The Google +1 Button For Websites
Discussion: SAI
Stephen Shankland / CNET News:
Adobe issues CSS Web publishing prototype
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
James Harding says the Tortoise-Observer deal could create a profitable media group and there isn't a guaranteed future for the Observer with the Guardian

Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Analyzing Comcast's spinoff of cable networks, purposefully structured with low debt: the move might be a signal to the industry that it's time to consolidate

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Sources: Comcast execs told staff that MSNBC may have to change its identity as part of the spinoff, including losing access to NBC News' newsgathering process
 
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