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12:05 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
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:
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
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 …
RELATED:
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.
RELATED:
Elinor Mills / CNET News:
Facebook plugs third-party access to user accounts
Discussion: PC World
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.
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.
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.
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.
Cory Doctorow / Boing Boing:
URGENT: Intellectual Property Consortium wants .net domains to be subject to copyright 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 to act as private copyright cops.
Discussion: Domain Name Wire and Techdirt
Mike Melanson / ReadWriteWeb:
Google Opens Places API to the Public  —  Today at the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco, Google announced the opening up and general availability of the Google Places API.  —  The API, which has been in a closed beta testing and only available for a select number of companies …
Discussion: Between the Lines Blog and Neowin.net, Thanks:rwwmike
 
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 More Items: 
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Y Combinator Accepts Record 60+ New Startups For Summer 2011
Thanks:bhc3
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
Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:
Groupon Now is live! Offers local deals at any time, wherever you are.
Discussion: Mashable! and Google Maps Mania
 Earlier Items: 
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 and OStatic blogs
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
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Exclusive: Groupon Pushed for IPO Filing This Week (With or Without Bankers' Help!)
Discussion: Digital Trends, PC Magazine and SAI
 

 
From Mediagazer:

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

Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
Tubi launches Scenes, a mobile feature that lets viewers watch 60-to-90-second trailer-style clips from its library to help with content discovery

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
 
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