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12:00 PM ET, January 16, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Jonathan Schwartz / Jonathan Schwartz's Blog:
Helping Dolphins Fly  —  We announced big news today - our preliminary results for our fiscal second quarter, and as importantly, that we're acquiring MySQL AB.  —  If you're interested in the financial details for the quarter, tune in to our conference call (see details on sun.com) today …
RELATED:
Tim O'Reilly / O'Reilly Radar:
Sun To Acquire MySQL  —  Sun Microsystems announced this morning that it has agreed to acquire open source database leader MySQL AB for $1 billion in cash and assumed stock options.  (Disclosure: I am on the board of directors of MySQL, and O'Reilly co-produces the MySQL User Conference with MySQL.
Discussion: Profy.Com
Zack Urlocker / InfoWorld:
Sun Shines on LAMP  —  This morning we announced that Sun Microsystems has signed a definitive agreement to acquire MySQL.  Having spent the last four plus years working on making MySQL into a strong independent company, this is a bit of a change of strategy, but from my perspective it's all for the good.
Martin LaMonica / CNET News.com:
Sun to fork out $1 billion for open-source firm MySQL  —  Sun Microsystems will plunk down $1 billion to buy MySQL, the maker of a popular open-source database.  —  Sun said Wednesday that it will pay about $800 million in cash for MySQL's stock and take on about $200 million worth of options.
Kaj Arnö:
Sun acquires MySQL
BBC:
Facebook asked to pull Scrabulous  —  Facebook has been asked to remove the Scrabulous game from its website by the makers of Scrabble.  —  The Facebook add-on has proved hugely popular on the social network site and regularly racks up more than 500,000 daily users.
RELATED:
Reuters:
Facebook asked by Mattel to remove ‘Scrabulous’  —  The makers of Scrabble have asked Facebook to remove a popular online version of the word game, Scrabulous, which they say infringes their copyright.  —  The U.S. and Canada rights to Scrabble are owned by Hasbro, the world's second-largest toy …
Rory Cellan-Jones / BBC NEWS | dot.life:
Facebook, Scrabulous, and the End of Innocence
Discussion: The Register
Mathew / mathewingram.com/work:
Hasbro and Mattel: Dumb, dumb, dumb
Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:
Why we're going to FastCompany.tv  —  Ahh, Andy Plesser broke my career news again (he was the guy who broke my news about leaving Microsoft too).  Louis Gray got the story first, though, I think, although I told dozens of people at the BlogHaus last week at CES.
RELATED:
Don Dodge / Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing:
Scoble's reasons NOT to start a business  —  I spend most of my time talking to entrepreneurs who have started companies.  Reading Robert Scoble's story about why he decided to not start a company, and instead go to work for Fast Company, presents the other side of the story...the more common path.
Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:
Robert Scoble to Launch Online Video Network At Fast Company  —  Robert Scoble, who pioneered tech videoblogging at Microsoft with Channel 9 and produced hundreds of segments during his tenure at PodTech, is launching a new business television network for Fast Company.
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Surprise!  Oracle buys BEA Systems  —  The clumsy courtship between Oracle and BEA Systems is over.  Oracle said Wednesday that it will acquire BEA for $19.375 a share in cash.  —  The offer puts the value of BEA at roughly $8.5 billion.  —  On a conference call-where Oracle …
RELATED:
Aaron Smith / Company news:
Oracle, BEA Systems in $8.5B deal  —  Activist investor Carl Icahn, BEA's largest shareholder, had been advocating a merger.  —  NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Software giant Oracle Corp. reached a deal to buy rival BEA Systems Inc. for $8.5 billion Wednesday, just months after its initial offer was rebuffed.
Discussion: VentureBeat and The Open Road
Wall Street Journal:
Oracle to Pay $8.5 Billion for BEA
Tony Ruscoe / Google Blogoscoped:
iGoogle Themes Directory Launched  —  In October last year, I asked whether we should expect to see an iGoogle Themes Directory Coming Soon.  Today, Peter Dawson noticed that the Themes Directory is now live!  —  Not only does the directory allow you to view and select themes …
Discussion: Lifehacker and Mashable!
RELATED:
Jesse Shieh / Google Code Blog:
iGoogle Themes API
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Stevenote In 60 Seconds  —  Too lazy to watch the entire Stevenote video stream on CrunchGear, or read Duncan's real time notes from the event?  No worries.  Mahalo's Veronica Belmont distills all the important stuff down into just sixty seconds.  —  See all of our coverage from Macworld here and at CrunchGear.
Eric J. Sinrod / CNET News.com:
Is GPS liability next?  —  perspective An automobile driver recently was held responsible for crashing a rental car into a train after following global positioning system instructions that put his rental car onto the train tracks.  —  This raises the specter of automobile drivers pointing …
Discussion: All Points Blog
 
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 More Items: 
Andrew Wallenstein / Hollywood Reporter:
Picture develops for 60Frames
Discussion: NewTeeVee and Reel Pop
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Amazon's free shipping costing €1,000 per day in France
Liz Gannes / NewTeeVee:
New Wallstrip Host Promises Controversy, Dirty Humor
Alex Iskold / ReadWriteWeb:
The Danger of Free  —  Everyone loves to get stuff for free.
John Musser / ProgrammableWeb:
USAspending.gov: You Will be Watched
GigaOM:
10 Things You Need to Know About the Future of Broadband
Lessig Blog:
The Future of Ideas is now Free
alarm:clock euro:
Euro VCs Report Flurry of Online Deals Today
 Earlier Items: 
Times of London:
Microsoft seeks patent for office ‘spy’ software
Discussion: Slashdot
Thomas Mennecke / Slyck:
The Pirate Bay Interview
Discussion: CrunchGear and TorrentFreak
Duncan Riley / TechCrunch:
Will Apple TV Take 2 Take Online Movie Rentals Mainstream?
Nate Westheimer / innonate:
Freebase's $42M! Can the top-down semantic web scale?
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Application Developers: Don't Be Surprised If Facebook Changes …
Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:
In Child Porn Case, a Digital Dilemma
Discussion: Rough Type
Dan Dickinson / The Primary Vivid Weblog:
HOWTO: iPhone Webclip Icons