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Facebook Busted in Clumsy Smear on Google — THE DAILY BEAST ON: — The social network secretly hired a PR firm to plant negative stories about the search giant, The Daily Beast's Dan Lyons reveals—a caper that is blowing up in their face, and escalating their war.
Discussion:
BaltTech, PC Magazine, Guardian, BGR, USA Today, Telegraph, PC World, Inquirer, Gizmodo, Reuters, @dannysullivan, msnbc.com, Internet Evolution, WebProNews, DailyTech, Fast Company, GottaBeMobile, Fast Company, Pocket-lint, Techland, NBC Bay Area, The Tech Report, @ollierickman, @amac, @mattcutts, NetworkEffect, Neowin.net, The Next Web, Marketing Pilgrim, @tim, PC Pro, SlashGear, TechEye, NEWSFACTOR, Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check, Adweek, Electronista and The Not-So Private Parts, more at Mediagazer »
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Facebook Loses Much Face In Secret Smear On Google — Facebook secretly hired a PR firm to plant negative stories about Google, says Dan Lyons in a jaw dropping story at the Daily Beast. — For the past few days, a mystery has been unfolding in Silicon Valley.
Discussion:
Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog, FT Tech Hub and Geekosystem


Smear Story Source Speaks: Facebook Wanted to Stab Google in the Back — Privacy advocate Christopher Soghoian broke open the story of how Facebook tried to use global PR giant Burson-Marsteller to smear Google in the press. He was pitched to ghost-write the op-ed, but posted the email exchange online instead.


Google clarifies Chromebook subscriptions, might have just changed the industry — Following Google's second I/O keynote, we were ushered into a room where a number of the company's executives were on hand to field questions from the press. Or in other terms, dodge bullets and tell us what we're probably not looking to hear.
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Samsung Series 5 Chrome OS laptop hands-on at Google I/O (update: video!) — We never had much doubt about what Samsung would be showcasing at tonight's finale event at Google I/O 2011, but now it's official — the outfit's first-ever Chrome OS ultraportable is making its debut in San Francisco …
Discussion:
This is my next, Delimiter, Chrome Story, MacHackPC, Gadget Lab, LAPTOP Magazine, BetaNews, TechCrunch, CNET News and The Toybox Blog


Is Google's Chromebook The Death Knell For Antivirus? — The antivirus industry likely let out a collective groan when Google first made a familiar-sounding boast Wednesday: that the just-launched laptops it's calling Chromebooks have “security built-in so there is no anti-virus software to buy and maintain.”
Discussion:
eWeek, Softpedia News, ReadWriteWeb and Mark Evans Tech, Thanks:forbestech


Microsoft could lose billions in sales to Google's Chromebook — Google's Chromebook subscription program could seriously pinch Microsoft enterprise licensing revenue. The $28 per month per, user fee is bargain-basement pricing compared to what businesses now pay Microsoft for software and OEMs for supporting hardware.
Discussion:
Fast Company, Inquirer, I4U News, CNET News, Softpedia News and Nicke's shared items …


Why Facebook Needs Sheryl Sandberg — Mark Zuckerberg's No. 2 provides “adult supervision” at the company, trying to keep growth at an optimum level — On a Tuesday afternoon in late April, 30 managers of Facebook's various business units come together to discuss a matter that preoccupies …
Discussion:
SAI, NetworkEffect, USA Today, broadstuff, @katies, paidContent and @dmac1
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Zuckerberg And Sandberg “Fundamentally Disagree” Over Whether Facebook Should Go To China
Discussion:
Voices on All Things Digital


Twitter Updates Mac Client With Multiple Timelines, Cleaner Design, Auto-Complete And More — Twitter for Mac, which launched earlier this year with the rollout of Apple's Mac App Store, is getting its first major update today. — Besides a design update, you can now see multiple timelines …
Discussion:
GigaOM, Twitter Blog, LaptopMemo, Lifehacker and The Next Web
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A better app for your mobile browser
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Mobile Marketing Watch, PC Magazine, PC World, iPhone Buzz, Gadgetell, BGR, iPhone Download Blog, FierceMobileContent, TechCrunch, AllTwitter, DialToSave, Cult of Mac, WebProNews, Digital Trends, TUAW, 9 to 5 Mac, App Advice, Mobile Entertainment, SocialTimes.com, TiPb, NewsGrange, GottaBeMobile, everythingiCafe, iPhone in Canada Blog, Gizmodo, MacStories and RazorianFly

Supply chain may not be able to satisfy demand from Apple — Taiwan-based electronics manufacturing service (EMS) provider Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) is reportedly facing a shortage of both labor and materials at its plants in Chengdu, China, which is likely to affect shipments …
Discussion:
PC Magazine, Digital Daily, App Advice, MacRumors, PhoneArena, BGR, Electronista, AppleInsider, 9 to 5 Mac, Edible Apple, PadGadget, MacHackPC, Yahoo! News, I4U News, SlashGear, RazorianFly and Phones Review
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Shortage of smartphone and tablet PC components emerging
Discussion:
Computerworld, Softpedia News, TechEye and MacStories

Cloud computing pioneer Martin Odersky takes wraps off his new company Typesafe — Eight years ago, German programmer Martin Odersky developed a new computer language he hoped would be an alternative to the venerable Java — one that would let applications scale easily to handle huge workloads.
Discussion:
typesafe's blog
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Typesafe raises $3M for cloud and multi-core software development tools
Discussion:
InfoWorld, CNET News, James Governor's Monkchips, InfoQ, Mass High Tech and At Your Servers


The Surprising Reason Publishers Are Finally Saying Yes to Apple — Earlier this week, I asked what had changed in the standoff between Apple and magazine publishers, who want to sell subscriptions to iPad editions in the iTunes store but, until last week, weren't prepared to accept Apple's rules.
Discussion:
Mobile Marketing Watch, Edible Apple, AppleInsider, TUAW, MacRumors, iLounge, App Advice, RazorianFly, everythingiCafe, MacStories, Gizmodo and Gizmodo Australia, more at Mediagazer »
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Is Comcast blocking the Pirate Bay? (updated: it isn't just Comcast) — We've received numerous reports this morning from users indicating that good 'ol Comcast is at it again. Word on the web is that Comcast ISP subscribers are unable to access torrent site the Pirate Bay, a situation that we've been able to confirm internally.
Discussion:
PC World, BGR, TorrentFreak, Techland, The Next Web, TechCrunch, Geekosystem, Neowin.net, WebProNews and thinq_, more at Mediagazer »


How Amazon Controls Ecommerce (Slides) — When you think about ecommerce, you think about Amazon. But how did a company that started with online books come to dominate an estimated one third of ecommerce in the U.S.? In the 72 slides above, global consulting boutique faberNovel breaks down Amazon's business and strategy.

Long antitrust saga ends for Microsoft — Microsoft has spent 21 years — more than half its lifetime — fighting antitrust battles with the U.S. government. Both sides will finally be at peace Thursday, when an antitrust consent decree expires. — Microsoft has spent 21 years …
Discussion:
BetaNews, TechFlash, Digital Daily, BetaNews, The United States Department …, L.A. Times Tech Blog, FT Tech Hub, WinRumors and IBD Click


New ways to discover great apps on Android Market — We've seen tremendous growth in Android Market lately. With over 200,000 apps supporting over 300 Android devices, we've had 4.5 billion applications installed to date. But with so many apps available, how do you find the ones you really want?


Lenovo's LePad going global with IdeaPad Tablet K1 moniker? — At last, here's a sign of Lenovo's Android tablet making its way out of the fertile land of China. While there's no direct mention in this FCC application, the speakers at the bottom suggest that this slate …
Discussion:
LAPTOP Magazine, GottaBeMobile and Electronista


Software piracy hits record high of $59 billion — Global software piracy reached a record figure of $59 billion last year, a new study from the Business Software Alliance has found. — That figure represents a 14 percent increase compared with 2009 and a doubling since 2003, the trade group said today.
Discussion:
Computerworld, TechEye, Agence France Presse, The Next Web and The Digital Home


Group Commerce Raises More Funding to Ramp Up Daily Deals Platform for Publishers — New York-based Group Commerce, which came out of stealth only two months ago, has raised an additional $10 million in funding to help quickly ramp up a platform that enables publishers and media partners to get into the daily deals market.


CBSNews.com to debut social show 'What's Trending' — Next week, CBSNews.com will debut a new show called “What's Trending” that bridges a live, weekly webcast with social media interaction. “What's Trending fills the gap as a broadcast show for the internet generation,” explains host and executive producer Shira Lazar.
Discussion:
Digital Trends and Off On A Tangent, more at Mediagazer »

Consumer SSDs to Break out in 2012, Gartner Says — Consumer solid-state drives will have a break-out year in 2012 due to falling prices, which will make SSDs a primary storage option for mainstream users, Gartner said this week. — By the second half of 2012, prices of mainstream PC SSDs …
Discussion:
Inquirer, Techland, Softpedia News, The Next Web, TechSpot, Ubergizmo and The Tech Report