Top Items:
Joseph Galante / Bloomberg:
Skype Fires Executives, Avoiding Payouts After Microsoft Buyout — Skype Technologies SA, the Internet- calling service being bought by Microsoft Corp., is firing senior executives before the deal closes, a move that reduces the value of their payout, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Discussion:
GeekWire, CNET News.com, GigaOM, @stevecheney, @danprimack, Neowin.net, Electronista, Associated Press and paidContent
Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
Bitcoin prices plummet on hacked exchange — The Bitcoin community faced another crisis on Sunday afternoon as the price of the currency on the most popular exchange, Mt.Gox, fell from $17 to pennies in a matter of minutes. Trading was quickly suspended and visitors to the home page …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, The Register, DailyTech, Techie Buzz, VentureBeat, @sandofsky, @sethgoldin, @sanity, @kaepora, @howardlindzon, @kaepora, @i0n1c, @brucewagner, Neowin.net, Mt.Gox and @codebutler
RELATED:
Miguel Helft / New York Times:
Tech Firms' Workers Sell Shares, Fearing a Bubble Will Burst — SAN FRANCISCO — While Silicon Valley and Wall Street debate whether a new technology bubble is in the making, some early Facebook employees are not taking any chances. They're leaving the company to cash out on millions …
CircleID:
New Top-Level Domains Approved by ICANN — The Board of ICANN today gave final approval to the most dramatic change to the Internet in four decades — allowing the expansion of new Top-Level Domains (TLDs). This monumental decision will allow companies and organizations to turn their own brands …
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Revealed: Facebook's music plans involve Spotify, others — For the past few months, I have been hearing about Facebook and Spotify getting a lot closer as companies, with a much tighter integration between the two services. However, Facebook's musical ambitions go beyond Spotify and include other music services and applications.
Evelyn M. Rusli / DealBook:
Crashing the Party in Silicon Valley — When others were questioning whether Facebook was really worth $10 billion in February 2010, two Wall Street investors were quietly buying chunks of its shares at a $15 billion valuation. — The investors, Frank Mazzola and Emilio DiSanluciano …
Discussion:
Howard Lindzon, @howardlindzon, @stevecheney and @speechu
Josh Constine / Inside Facebook:
Facebook Users Want Professional Networking: BranchOut Nears a Million New Users Within a Week — After six months of testing different gamification and viral mechanics, professional social networking Facebook app BranchOut seems to have found the right design.
Mike Rosenberg / Mercury News:
So far only elation, not border war, from neighbors over Apple mega-campus — The humongous Apple (AAPL) mother ship campus will one day call Cupertino home, but it'll sit so close to Sunnyvale and Santa Clara that residents there will be able to look out their windows and catch a glimpse …
Discussion:
AppleInsider and Electronista
Edmund Lee / AdAge:
Display's New Kingpin: Facebook's No. 1 — Social Network's $2.19 Billion Puts It at Top of the Digital Heap, Leaping Google, Yahoo — but It's Still a Bit Player When Compared to TV — Facebook doesn't really have to try to become the biggest player in digital media; it simply is.
Discussion:
SAI
Mark Gurman / 9 to 5 Mac:
All new Mac Pros and upgraded Mac minis with Sandy Bridge and Thunderbolt in early August? — CNET's Brian Tong claims that Apple is gearing up to launch a revamped Mac Pro and an upgraded Mac mini in either late July or early August - more likely in August.
Discussion:
@brian_tong, MacRumors, MacStories, AppleInsider, I4U News, TUAW and Crave, Thanks:markgurman
Steven Musil / CNET News:
Google adds rainbow to search bar for gay pride month — There's a rainbow at the end of some Google searches. — To mark June as Gay and Lesbian Pride month, the search giant is adding a rainbow to the right side of the search bar when users search for “gay,” “lesbian,” “transgender,” or related terms.
Discussion:
On Top Magazine, @fashionoverload and @henderlicious
