Techmeme: Microsoft pays University of Nebraska $250,000 to use Office365 (Ed Oswald/BetaNews)

3:53 AM ET, July 6, 2011

Top Items:

Ben Parr / Mashable!:

EXCLUSIVE: Google to Retire Blogger & Picasa Brands in Google+ Push — Say goodbye to the Picasa and Blogger names: Google intends to retire several non-Google name brands and rename them as Google products, Mashable has learned. — The move is part of a larger effort to unify its brand …

Tom Cheredar / VentureBeat:
Google retiring Blogger and Picasa brands for public launch of Google+

Discussion: Neowin.net and Google Operating System

FierceWireless:

Verizon confirms it will ditch unlimited smartphone data plans starting July 7 — Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) will switch to a new, usage-based pricing model for smartphone data starting July 7, a company spokeswoman confirmed. — Verizon spokeswoman Brenda Raney told FierceWireless …

Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:

Steve Jobs' bio gets a new title — “iSteve: The Book of Jobs” was the publisher's idea. The author had second thoughts. — Amazon still doesn't have the title quite right — The first biography of Apple's (AAPL) CEO to get Steve Jobs' blessing — and cooperation — hasn't yet been published.

Discussion: CNET News, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, TUAW, MacRumors, MacNN, The Next Web, Shiny Objects and parislemon

MG Siegler / TechCrunch:

On The Eve Of One Facebook Event, The Spartans Prepare For Another — Tomorrow morning at their headquarters in Palo Alto, Facebook is holding an event to show off an “awesome” new product. Our sources tell us that product with be the long-rumored Skype integration within Facebook for full …

Discussion: 9to5Mac, ReadWriteWeb, Computerworld, CNET News, Electronista and Gadgetsteria

Wall Street Journal:

New Financing Values Twitter as High as $7 Billion — Even as Internet companies such as Zynga Inc. and Groupon Inc. file to go public, Twitter Inc. is taking a different route: It is continuing to tap private investors. — The fast-growing Internet messaging service is currently …

Discussion: Mashable!, TechCrunch, GigaOM, VentureBeat, VatorNews, Deal Journal, The Business Insider, The Tech Trade, Gawker and mocoNews

Jenna Wortham / Gadgetwise:

Is Google's Hangouts Its Killer App? — Last night a chatroom changed my life. — But it wasn't just any chatroom. It was a virtual “hangout,” the group video chat service that is a prominent feature of Google+, Google's new social-networking service that aims to challenge Facebook..

Discussion: PC World and FierceVoIP

Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:
Google plans to open Hangouts for interoperability

Discussion: VentureBeat, juberjabber and Softpedia News

MG Siegler / TechCrunch:

If Google Buzz Is A Black Hole For Sharing Traffic, Google+ Is The Big Bang — Back in March of last year, we noted that Google Buzz, Google's shiny new social network at the time, was getting smoked in terms of referral traffic sent our way, by a dead man, FriendFeed.

Discussion: ZDNet and Technology Questions

Lauren Indvik / Mashable!:

Twitter Testing Facebook-Like Message Wall [PIC] — Twitter is testing a Facebook-like message wall on profile pages, prompting users to send public tweets (a.k.a @ replies, or mentions) to specific users directly from their profile pages. — Twitter is testing the feature with a small percentage of users.

Discussion: Redmond Pie and @dannysullivan

Jim Finkle / Reuters:

South Korean web attacks might have been war drill — (Reuters) - Attacks that crippled South Korean government websites in July 2009 and again in March 2011 might have been cyber war drills conducted on behalf of North Korea, according to security software maker McAfee Inc.

Discussion: The Next Web

BackType:

BackType Has Been Acquired by Twitter — We're thrilled to announce that BackType has been acquired by Twitter! We'll be bringing our team and technology to Twitter's platform team, where our focus will be developing tools for Twitter's publisher partners.

Discussion: PC Magazine, Adweek, louisgray.com, PE Hub News, VentureBeat, CNET News, Digitizor, StartupNorth, Mashable!, Digital Media Wire, @twitterglobalpr, @swhitley, ReadWriteWeb, TechCrunch, GigaOM, AllThingsD, AllTwitter, Techie Buzz, The Next Web, hypebot, Fast Company and silicontap.com, Thanks:davemcclure

Lauren Etter / Vanity Fair:

Groupon Therapy — Starting with a two-for-one pizza deal just three years ago, Groupon has snowballed, becoming a multi-national business with an I.P.O. on the horizon that could value the company at an estimated $20 billion. But is the Web site's idiosyncratic C.E.O., Andrew Mason …

Discussion: AllThingsD and Mixed Media

Todd Haselton / BGR:

Android market share jumps as BlackBerry slides; smartphones now owned by 1 in 3 Americans — According to a new report from comScore, 1 in 3 Americans now own a smartphone. Google's Android OS is ahead of the pack with a 38.1% share of the market during the 3-month period ending in May — up 5.1% from the last report in February.

Discussion: comScore, Inc., AllThingsD, 9to5Mac, Examiner, TechCrunch, TechFlash, 9to5Google, WMPU, PhoneArena, The Business Insider, Tech Trader Daily and CNET News

Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:

As of July 31st, all Google profiles will be public — Google will no longer allow users to have private Google profiles after July 31st, reports Search Engine Land. The company had previously allowed users to create and maintain profiles on its service without publicly disclosing their existence.

Discussion: Digitizor, VentureBeat, The Business Insider, Search Engine Land and Gizmodo

Jon Brodkin / Network World:

Microsoft patent division taking cash from at least 5 Android vendors — Microsoft has revealed four Android patent deals since last week — One of Microsoft's hottest new profit centers is a smartphone platform you've definitely heard of: Android. — Google's Linux-based mobile operating system …

Discussion: GeekWire, Seattle Times, Geek.com, The Next Web, Engadget, Neowin.net, CNET News, TechEye, paidContent and ZDNet

Ed Oswald / BetaNews:

Microsoft pays University of Nebraska $250,000 to use Office365 — If you really are in need of some high profile clients, you can always pay them. That's exactly what Microsoft has done with the University of Nebraska. Microsoft has paid the university $250,000 to migrate its e-mail …

Discussion: The Next Web, The Business Insider and parislemon

Electronista:

Another iPad leak source pleads guilty — Shimoon pleads guilty to slipping iPad info — One-time Flextronics development head Walter Shimoon on Tuesday pled guilty to leaking iPad trade secrets and others. In return for a lighter penalty, the former executive admitted to passing along information …

Discussion: DealBook and AppleInsider, Thanks:getwired

Zack Whittaker / ZDNet:

EU demands answers over Microsoft's Patriot Act admission — Members of European parliamentary states have demanded changes to the way data is sent to the United States from Europe, amid conflicts between the European data laws and the USA PATRIOT Act. — Last week in London …

Discussion: Computerworld

Colleen Taylor / GigaOM:

UK startup defends Huddle name against Google — again — Huddle co-founders Alastair Mitchell and Andy McLoughlin — One of the many features Google debuted in its highly anticipated Google+ social product last week was a group chat application named “Huddle.”

Discussion: Huddle.net's Collaboration … and TechCrunch Europe

Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:

Lodsys sues The New York Times Company and five other companies who previously sued Lodsys — Lodsys filed a patent infringement lawsuit today in East Texas against the very six companies who previously filed declaratory judgment actions against Lodsys in other jurisdictions.

Discussion: CNET News, Macworld, Gadgetsteria and MacRumors

Susan Decker / Bloomberg:

Google Searching for Patents After Nortel Loss — Google Inc. (GOOG)'s loss in bidding for the $4.5 billion portfolio of Nortel Networks Corp. patents last week means the Internet-search company will be looking to buy other inventions to build a bulwark against lawsuits targeting its Android system, patent brokers said.

Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:

Apparently Undeterred by Apple Crackdown, Tapjoy Investors Pour In $30M More — Tapjoy, which has seen its app marketing business significantly affected by Apple's changed stance on in-app promotions, is still charging ahead. The company last week raised $30 million in a round led …

Discussion: mocoNews, GigaOM, Inside Mobile Apps and VentureBeat

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

Google Rumored To Launch ITA-Powered Travel Search Product Soon — We're hearing that Google is planning to launch an ITA integrated-flight search product as soon as a few weeks from now, according to a well-placed industry source. In April, the DOJ finally approved Google's $700 million acquisition …

Discussion: Digital Trends, The Business Insider, VentureBeat, SlashGear and PC World

Matt Brian / The Next Web:

Microsoft begins moving Xbox 360 profiles and saved games to the Cloud — Microsoft has begun issuing updates to Xbox 360 consoles that will start moving saved games and profiles away from local storage and moving them into the cloud, Eurogamer reports. — The new update will make it possible …

Discussion: WinRumors, Eurogamer, Redmond Pie, Geek.com, iThinkDifferent, VG247, Pocket-lint and Kotaku

Brian Womack / Bloomberg:

Facebook Ad Rates Hold as Inventory Rises, Easing Price Concerns — Facebook Inc., the biggest social network, said advertising rates have held up even after it added new ways for marketers to promote products, allaying concern that prices would decline as inventory surged.

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