Top Items:
Wall Street Journal:
Yahoo Studies Alternatives to Microsoft — Yahoo is holding out hope it can avoid Microsoft's bid by way of a possible rival suitor or a tie-up with Google that might allow it to stay independent. Video
Discussion:
Mark Evans, WebProNews, Alexander van Elsas's Weblog …, CNET News.com, Between the Lines and paidContent.org
RELATED:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Decision Time For Yahoo — The dust is settling on Microsoft's $31 per share offer to acquire Yahoo, and the options left open to the company are fairly well understood at this point. There will almost certainly be no White Knight or other buyout offer coming to the table - the sorry state of the debt markets is assuring that.
Discussion:
Seeking Alpha
Economist:
The Microhoo! hoo-hah — Microsoft's controversial bid for Yahoo! — THE “last day at work” video circulated by Bill Gates is trying to be funny, but for unintentional laugh-till-you-cry comedy, there is no beating the legendary effort by Mr Gates's chief executive, Steve Ballmer.
Elizabeth Woyke / Forbes:
Google Likely Out, And Happy — After dominating the U.S. wireless spectrum auction for months, from influencing the terms of the auction to bidding, it looks like Google is off the hook. — Nine days into the closely watched Federal Communications Commission auction …
RELATED:
Cade Metz / The Register:
Is Verizon gaming Google in US wireless auction? — Analysis In the battle for the so-called 700-MHz band - a lip-smackingly juicy slice of the US wireless spectrum - somebody just pulled a fast one. And you can bet it was Verizon, yanking the rug out from under Google and a crazed Eric Schmidt.
Dean Takahashi / Tech Talk with Dean Takahashi:
Helio launches location-based entertainment with Buzzd — Helio, the U.S. arm of SK Telecom, is offering location-based entertainment on its cell phones in a partnership with Buzzd. The Buzzd service delivers editorially-driven reviews of nearby locations. Here's a link to video and the release is below:
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Google Aims to Crack Chinese Market — Two years after Google Inc. began a big push in China, Baidu.com Inc. continues to dominate the country's Internet search market, thanks in significant part to a controversial and legally risky offering: searches for free, unlicensed music downloads.
Discussion:
Search Engine Land, Google Blogoscoped, Sunny Talks Tech, Seeking Alpha, paidContent.org, The Utube Blog and Mashable!
Enigmax / TorrentFreak:
Pirated by iTunes, Artist Turns to BitTorrent — The Flashbulb, aka Benn Jordan, became so outraged when he discovered that iTunes was effectively pirating his music, that he uploaded copies of his latest album to BitTorrent. TorrentFreak caught up with Benn to learn more about the decision …
Discussion:
Digg
Nick O'Neill / All Facebook:
Facebook Begins Suggesting Friends? — One of my readers just sent me an email about a new feature that he hadn't seen previously. I haven't seen this feature either. Apparently there is now a feature that “Suggests a friend to me.” I'm assuming that if there is a contact …
Cory Bohon / The Unofficial Apple Weblog:
Facebook featured on new iPhone ad — Tonight, Apple released two new iPhone commercials in the standard iPhone-esqe style — Facebook and Cars. In these two commercials, Apple expounds on features that have already been introduced in older commercials. This is the first time that Apple …
Sarah Lai Stirland / Threat Level:
Silicon Valley Donations: Microsoft Loves Hillary; Google, Obama — This just in from my Wired.com colleague Megan McCarthy. — Microsoft employees support New York senator Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president, while Google and Yahoo staffers are for Illinois senator Barack Obama …
Discussion:
Telegraph Blogs
RELATED:
Steve Lohr / New York Times:Microsoft Adversary Rises Instinctively at Yahoo Bid
Discussion:
CrunchGear
Enigmax / TorrentFreak:
How a BitTorrent Tracker Owner Hides from the MPAA/RIAA — Apart from The Pirate Bay guys, most tracker administrators are acutely aware of the risks they expose themselves to, and do everything they can to hide in the shadows. We speak to a tracker owner to find out the kind of measures …
Discussion:
Mashable!
Laura M. Holson / New York Times:
In CBS Test, Mobile Ads Find Users — Pssst, hey you! There's a cheap latte waiting at the coffee shop on the corner! — CBS plans to announce on Wednesday that it is trying one of the first serious experiments with cellphone advertising that is customized for a person's location.
Josh Bernoff / Groundswell:
Why Social Applications Will Thrive In A Recession — Is a recession coming? Don't ask me — I'm not an economist, and even the economists don't really know. But if it's anything like the last recession, advertising will plummet and experimental media will crater.
Robert Andrews / paidContent.org:
Earnings: WMG Ups Digital 41 Percent For Quarter; Records Loss In ‘Challenging’ Year — Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) digital revenue grew nine percent in the last three months of 2007 to $141 million. Digital now makes up 14 percent of total group revenue and is up 41 percent over the corresponding 2006 quarter.
