Top Items:
Brad Stone / New York Times:
Social Networking's Next Phase — Next week Cisco Systems, a Silicon Valley heavyweight, plans to announce one of its most unusual deals: it is buying the technology assets of Tribe.net, a mostly forgotten social networking site, according to people close to the companies' discussions.
Discussion:
GigaOM, Marc's Voice, Joe Duck, Screenwerk, ZDNet Blogs, A VC, Mark Evans, Message, Susan Mernit's Blog, hubbub, PaidContent, Paul Mooney and InfoWorld Tech Watch
RELATED:
Pete Cashmore / Mashable!:
WTF is Cisco Doing? — I don't get it. The NYTimes reports in Saturday's edition on Cisco's purchase of social networking provider FiveAcross, and adds that they're buying the tattered remains of Tribe.net, the San Francisco-based social network that fell out of favor and was reported …
Discussion:
mathewingram.com/work
Fred / A VC:
All Software Should Be Social — I had lunch with Marc Canter yesterday and told him that one of the most important thoughts that I came across last year was his assertion that "all software must be social". I can't find the specific post where he said that or I'd link to it.
Discussion:
Rex Hammock's weblog
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Tribe Gets Aquired, For Real This Time — Last year was a turbulent one for Silicon Valley based Tribe.net. Founding CEO Mark Pincus was ousted, in April and then returned in August. While Pincus was gone rumors swirled that the company had been acquired by NBC, but the deal was never consummated.
Discussion:
Guardian
Sara Kehaulani Goo / Washington Post:
YouTube Struggles Despite Dominance — Some Big Media Firms Take Videos Elsewhere — In the few months since Google paid $1.65 billion to acquire YouTube, both companies have tried to come up with a formula to turn the hugely popular online video site into a moneymaking venture.
Randall Stross / New York Times:
What Starbucks Can Learn From the Movie Palace — WI-FI service is quickly becoming the air-conditioning of the Internet age, enticing customers into restaurants and other public spaces in the same way that cold "advertising air" deliberately blasted out the open doors of air-conditioned theaters …
Discussion:
Furdlog
Paul McDougall / InformationWeek:
Microsoft Hit By U.S. DOT Ban On Windows Vista, Explorer 7, and Office 2007 — Tens of thousands of federal workers are prohibited from upgrading to the latest versions, according to memos seen by InformationWeek. — Citing concerns over cost and compatibility, the top technology official …
Discussion:
Slashdot
Janko Roettgers / NewTeeVee:
Ten Sites for Free and Legal Torrents — Bittorrent downloads are either illegal or DRM-infected, right? Wrong. There are plenty of websites out there that offer free and legal Torrent downloads to save bandwidth and make file sharers happy at the same time.
Slash Lane / AppleInsider:
Mac install base estimated at 22 million pre-Leopard — Apple Inc.'s install base of Mac OS X users will be approximately 22 million strong come the end of March, ahead of the company's next-generation Leopard operating system release, according to analysts at Bank of America Securities.
Anne Zelenka / Web Worker Daily:
WORKSTREAMING: THE NEW FACE TIME — Face time: "Unproductive time spent at the office meant to project the image that you're a hardworking employee." — My favorite story of a face time trick is the attorney who would come to his office each Saturday, drape his jacket over his chair …
Discussion:
People Over Process
Evan Blass / Engadget:
Disneyland intros roving animatronic Muppets; Mickey and friends fear pink slips — The happiest place on Earth (Disneyland, not Las Vegas during CES) just got a little happier this week, thanks to a new exhibit called the Muppet Mobile Laboratory that roams the park and delights visitors with inane banter and sprays of water.
eMarketer:
Facebook Extends Lead As Fave Young Adult Site — Where did college students spend winter break? — If they're like the rest of 17-to-25-year-olds surveyed by Youth Trends, they likely spent part of that time on Facebook. — The social networking site topped the list of favorite sites …
Pete Cashmore / Mashable!:
New at RockYou: MySpace Countdowns, Corkboards, Musical Slide Shows — Other startups may betting on one great widget for success, but market leaders RockYou and Slide are diversifying rapidly. Today, for instance, RockYou notified users of the launch of three new features …
Valleywag:
The simple stink of Pay Per Post — Whatever our differences with Jason Calacanis, we're foursquare on his side when it comes to the ickiness of Pay Per Post. PPP's Ted Murphy has been on a tear vs. Calacanis lately as part of a continuing campaign to prove the worthiness of PPP as a business.
Discussion:
Traffick
