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Why the feds smashed Megaupload — The US government dropped a nuclear bomb on “cyberlocker” site Megaupload today, seizing its domain names, grabbing $50 million in assets, and getting New Zealand police to arrest four of the site's key employees, including enigmatic founder Kim Dotcom.
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Anonymous goes nuclear; everybody loses? — #OpMegaUpload: like watching “War Games” play out, but with cyber-bombs. — In the aftermath of the Jan. 18 SOPA/PIPA blackout protests, the Internet community had amassed quite a bit of goodwill, flexed its muscles in a friendly, humorous …
Discussion:
Pastebin, Pocket-lint, eWeek and WatchingTV Online


The Evil New Tactic Behind Anonymous' Massive Megaupload Revenge Attack — The hacktivist collective Anonymous is in the middle of a huge revenge spree after the Feds shut down popular filesharing site Megaupload today. But they're using an evil new tactic that tricks people into helping their attack if they click an innocuous link.
Discussion:
Gizmodo, Forbes and paidContent:UK


Before shutdown, Megaupload ate up more corporate bandwidth than Dropbox — Before being shut down by the feds today, the file-sharing site Megaupload was extraordinarily popular with home Internet users—so much so that the file downloading habit was spilling over into the workplace in a significant way.
Discussion:
Digital Trends, Gizmodo and Consumer Reports News


Justice Department calls MegaUpload an ‘international organized criminal enterprise,’ founder Kim Dotcom arrested in New Zealand — The United States Justice Department filed charges against MegaUpload today, calling the file-sharing service an “international organized criminal enterprise …
Discussion:
TechEye, New Zealand Herald, Threat Level, Softpedia News, TorrentFreak, CNET, BBC, Lifehacker, Social Markets, Techdirt, ITworld.com, Techie Buzz, eWeek, SecurityWeek, The Tech Herald Technology …, Neowin.net, TechSpot, gHacks Technology News, paidContent, BetaNews, The Not-So Private Parts, Betabeat, CircleID and Ars Technica, more at Mediagazer »

Jailed MegaUpload Employees Denied Bail
Discussion:
New York Times, TechCrunch, Stuff.co.nz and Neowin.net

Swizz Beatz Does Not Own Megaupload, Says Court Filing
Discussion:
SlashGear, The Firewall, The Next Web and Rolling Stone

Anonymous claims DOJ and record label site takedowns in response to MegaUpload suit
Discussion:
Inquirer, @youranonnews, ExtremeTech, @anonops, Softpedia News, L.A. Times Tech Blog, memeburn, Ars Technica, CNET, Geek.com, Geekosystem, rt.com, The Next Web, BetaNews, The Tech Herald Technology …, Fast Company, Between the Lines Blog, @tomwarren, @mmasnick, The Next Web and Hillicon Valley

The Mega empire: Details of the MegaUpload indictment
Discussion:
Gizmodo, VentureBeat, Guardian and CNET, more at Mediagazer », Thanks:@loyalelectron


The Unprecedented Audacity of the iBooks Author EULA — Apple just released iBooks Author, a free Mac app for creating digital books for the new version of iBooks. I haven't played with it much, but so far it looks like a very good tool. However, a curious thing happens when you go to export your work in iBooks format:
Discussion:
PandoDaily, Matt Gemmell, The Ed Bott Report Blog, Gizmodo, Learn to Duck, TUAW, Business Insider, 9to5Mac, The Next Web, Hack Education, VentureBeat, SiliconFilter, L.A. Times Tech Blog, CNET, ReadWriteWeb, Techie Buzz, MacStories, The Verge, Mashable!, iDownloadBlog.com, @segphault, PC World, 9to5Mac, MacStories, Rex Hammock's RexBlog.com and GadgeTell, more at Mediagazer »
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Do we want textbooks to live in Apple's walled garden? — Apple's launch of a new suite of textbook-related services for the iPad is being widely celebrated, and with good reason. The ability to have beautiful, interactive and easy to use e-books on the tablet makes a huge amount of sense …
Discussion:
Epicenter, TeleRead and Softpedia News, more at Mediagazer »

Apple Unveils All-New iTunes U App for iPad, iPhone & iPod touch
Discussion:
The Network Garden, Apple, The Apple Core Blog, Mashable!, The Next Web and AppleTell



iBooks Author Is Not Going To Hurt Publishers. It Might Even Help Them
Discussion:
TeleRead and GigaOM, more at Mediagazer »

A Brief History of Textbooks, or, Why Apple's ‘New Textbook Experience’ Is Actually Revolutionary
Discussion:
CNET, AnandTech, Epicenter and Snarkmarket

Apple's New Math. Or: Why A $15 E-Book Equals a $75 Paper Book.
Discussion:
PhoneArena, Softpedia News, MacRumors, PadGadget, Computerworld, Techland, USA Today, TUAW, The Next Web and CNET, more at Mediagazer »

Google Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2011 Results — Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced financial results for the quarter and the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011. — “Google had a really strong quarter ending a great year. Full year revenue was up 29% …
Discussion:
L.A. Times Tech Blog, VentureBeat, Ars Technica, The Next Web, memeburn, Gizmodo, CNET, The Next Web, TechCrunch, Business Insider, Forbes, SplatF, AllThingsD, ReadWriteWeb, eWeek, The Tech Trade, MediaNama, Inside Social Games, John Battelle's Search Blog, GeekWire, Social Markets, Telegraph, WinBeta, Forbes, WebProNews, Mercury News, Between the Lines Blog, Mashable!, ITworld.com, Search Engine Watch, MobileSyrup.com, VentureBeat, Light Reading, Engadget, Mercury News, Business Insider, The Verge, GigaOM, Marketing Land, Pulse2, Tech Trader Daily and Search Engine Land
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SOPA: We Can Fix This — The problem with the fight over SOPA is that no one is playing by the same rules. In fact, there are no rules and frequently people on the same side are fighting for completely different reasons. — In the media world, we have journalistically-minded companies …
Thanks:@niubi
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Dodd Calls for Hollywood and Silicon Valley to Meet
Discussion:
Techdirt, Hollywood Reporter, Digital Trends, MediaPost and @johnolilly

SOPA Protests Sway Congress: 31 Opponents Yesterday, 122 Now
Discussion:
The ProPublica Nerd Blog, Gizmodo, Neowin.net, @paulg and The Daily What, Thanks:@mjburnsy

After Internet blackout, all GOP candidates agree SOPA sucks
Discussion:
CNET, Alexander Howard, Mediaite and Neowin.net

Summify Joins The Flock At Twitter! — You've probably noticed we've been quiet lately. Well, we're extremely excited to announce that Summify has been acquired by Twitter! I know, right? We can hardly believe it ourselves! — Roughly 2 years ago, we moved from Romania to Vancouver …
Discussion:
Inquirer, mikeindustries.com, TechCrunch, PC Magazine, The Next Web, Epicenter, Business Insider, @randfish, @tamar, @johnhcook, Mashable! and VentureBeat, more at Mediagazer »


The Valley Girl Takes On Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg (Video) — Double snaps to Jesse Draper, whose kookified online interview show, “The Valley Girl Show,” managed to get a very decent interview with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. — And by decent, I mean that Draper actually elicits …
Discussion:
TechCrunch


Bing Maps to get Nokia branding on all devices - including rivals' — Nokia CEO, Stephen Elop, has told Pocket-lint that we shall soon be seeing the Nokia brand name within other devices and not just the company's own phones. — “You'll starting seeing the word ‘Nokia’ on a map …
Discussion:
Gizmodo, LiveSide.net, Neowin.net, The Verge, IntoMobile, Spatially Adjusted, Search Engine Land and Nokia Windows Phone


Does Google Have An Interest In Pinterest? — I've spent about a week trying to track down the rumors that Google had expressed interest in a Pinterest acquisition and here's what I know thus far (here's where to email if you know more): So Google never gave an official offer …
Discussion:
Electronista

Mannheim court rejects the first one of Samsung's German lawsuits against Apple — Judge Andreas Voss of the Mannheim Regional Court just pronounced his ruling on the first one of Samsung's seven patent infringement claims against Apple in Germany. Samsung's complaint over a patent declared essential …
Discussion:
Reuters, Fast Company, Engadget, The Verge and PalmAddicts


At $400 billion, Apple is worth more than Greece — NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Apple's value on the stock market briefly rose to $400 billion on Thursday, a record high for what was already the world's most valuable technology company. — The company's market cap slipped below the $400 billion mark …
Discussion:
Techie Buzz, Gizmodo, 9to5Mac, SlashGear, memeburn, CNNMoney.com and AllThingsD


Why Kodak's bankruptcy should scare Nokia — Yesterday, a friend of mine, someone who is quite savvy about technology and the startup landscape stopped by for a chat. Our conversation veered towards the state of the web, media and of course Silicon Valley.
Discussion:
The Economist and Forbes, more at Mediagazer »