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2:00 AM ET, August 11, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Bret Taylor / FriendFeed Blog:
FriendFeed accepts Facebook friend request  —  We are happy to announce that Facebook has acquired FriendFeed.  As my mom explained to me, when two companies love each other very much, they form a structured investment vehicle...  The FriendFeed team is extremely excited to become a part of the talented Facebook team.
RELATED:
Facebook:
Facebook Agrees to Acquire Sharing Service FriendFeed  —  Facebook today announced that it has agreed to acquire FriendFeed, the innovative service for sharing online.  As part of the agreement, all FriendFeed employees will join Facebook and FriendFeed's four founders will hold senior roles on Facebook's engineering and product teams.
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
The Cost Of FriendFeed: Roughly $50 Million In Cash And Stock  —  Everyone is obviously talking about the Facebook/FriendFeed deal, but everyone wants to know one key detail: How much did Facebook pay?  Now we know: Facebook paid nearly $50 million when you add the $15 million it paid in cash …
Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:
Oh, FriendFeed is now Facebook's “official” R&D department!  —  When I heard the news I was walking through San Antonio's Hard Rock Cafe looking at Kurt Cobain's high school photograph.  Wow.  FriendFeed was purchased by Facebook.  —  I quickly wrote a DM to Paul Buchheit and Bret Taylor, co-founders and said “call me.”
Caroline McCarthy / CNET News:
Facebook buys FriendFeed: Is this a big deal?  —  Surprise!  Facebook has acquired FriendFeed, a Bay Area-based social-network feed aggregation start-up.  —  “Facebook and FriendFeed share a common vision of giving people tools to share and connect with their friends,” FriendFeed co-founder Bret Taylor said in a release.
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Now That There's FaceFeed, Does That Make Twoogle More Inevitable?  —  MicroHoo.  Check!  FaceFeed.  Check!  —  And Twoogle?  Let's check!  —  Yahoo (YHOO) and Microsoft (MSFT) have finally partnered.  Microsoft is already a big investor in Facebook.
Discussion: Business Week
Louis Gray:
Hi Facebook, It's Me, FriendFeed.  This Relationship?  It's Complicated.
Discussion: Technologizer and Download Squad
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Facebook Acquires FriendFeed
Akhil Wable / Facebook Blog:
Facebook Search Improved for Everyone  —  Last month, we began testing new versions of Search with a small group of people on Facebook.  Based on the success of those tests, we're rolling out a new version of Search to everyone on the site beginning today.  —  You now will be able to search …
RELATED:
Justin Smith / Inside Facebook:
Facebook Launches Real-Time Search for Everyone
Discussion: Mashable!
Vanessa Fox / Search Engine Land:
Caffeine: Google's New Search Index  —  Google has just unveiled a “secret project” of “next-generation architecture for Google's web search”.  This new architecture appears to include crawling, indexing, and ranking changes.  For the first time, Google isn't simply incorporating these changes …
RELATED:
Matt Cutts / Gadgets, Google, and SEO:
More info on the Caffeine Update  —  Google recently opened up a preview of our new Caffeine update, and I wanted to give a little more background on this change.  At the Real-Time CrunchUp a few weeks ago, I joked that the half-life of code at Google is about six months.
Erica Ogg / Crave: The gadget blog:
MLB beefs up Roku's rotation  —  In its bid to put together a roster of compelling content, Roku has just acquired an ace.  —  Starting Tuesday, the set-top box—known to many as “the Netflix box”—will begin streaming Major League Baseball games.  As with the current Netflix arrangement …
Ross Miller / Engadget:
Zune HD hits FCC in prolific photo shoot, 16GB and 32GB capacities  —  Well, would you look at that.  Microsoft's Zune HD's overexposed — both in quantity of pics and in quality of photography — camera shoot with the FCC has been made public, showing off quite a bit of the device, its internals, and its dock.
RELATED:
Matt Buchanan / Gizmodo:
Zune HD Prices Leaked: 16GB for $220, 32GB for $290
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
VMware goes shopping: Buys SpringSource for $420 million; Can it keep the open source mojo?  —  VMware said Monday that it will pay $420 million for privately held SpringSource in a bid to become a bigger player in cloud computing application management and the open source community.
RELATED:
Ashlee Vance / Bits:
An Elephant Leaves the Room at Yahoo  —  Doug Cutting, one of Yahoo's top search and infrastructure software experts, will leave the company later this month and join the Silicon Valley start-up Cloudera.  —  Mr. Cutting's exit from Yahoo follows on the heels of the company's recent search tie-up with Microsoft.
RELATED:
Emil Protalinski / Ars Technica:
Microsoft: “dropping support for IE6 is not an option”  —  In a blog post on the IEBlog, Microsoft has outlined its reasoning for not forcing users to upgrade away from IE6.  —  Microsoft wants to see IE6 gone as much as anyone else, but the company isn't going to make the decision for its users anytime soon.
Discussion: IEBlog and Mashable!
Jim Dalrymple / CNET News:
Apple working on software fix for MacBook Pro hard drives  —  Owners of Apple MacBook Pro notebooks with 7200rpm 500GB hard drives have been complaining for months of clicking sounds followed by temporary stalling.  According to Apple, a fix is in the works.
Sean Michaels / Guardian:
Major labels preparing new digital album format  —  The four big record companies are to compete with Apple's forthcoming Cocktail project by developing their own format called CMX  —  Forget WAV, MP3 and M4A - major labels have something new in mind, and it's called CMX.
Discussion: CrunchGear and TheAppleBlog
Ross Miller / Engadget:
SlingPlayer 1.1 for iPhone promises DISH integration for US, 3G streaming elsewhere (maybe)  —  As history tells us time and time again, iPhone apps / updates submitted to Apple aren't a sure deal for approval.  Still, we can't help but like where SlingPlayer Mobile is going with the recently-submitted version 1.1.
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Nambu Wants $80K-$100K For Tr.im, Considers Shutting Down Its Twitter Client  —  Earlier today, we reported on Bit.ly offering Tr.im parent Nambu Network, a couple of ways to ensure all its links don't die when the service stop supporting them at the end of the year.  Nambu rejected those, as it is instead looking to sell.
Discussion: the Econsultancy blog
Kim-Mai Cutler / VentureBeat:
Twitter co-founder's wife tweets about labor, birth of first child  —  Sara Morishige, Twitter co-founder Ev Williams' wife, is certainly making use of the company product — for the birth of their first child.  —  She went old-school, using text messages rather than a fancy application to post the news.
Discussion: Gawker
Nielsen Wire:
When Choosing a Carrier, Does the iPhone Really Matter?  —  Roger Entner, Senior Vice President, Research and Insights, Telecom Practice  —  While public awareness of Apple's iPhone has been significant since its summer 2006 launch, its influence on consumer purchasing decisions remains up for debate.
Discussion: Bits, Gearlog and New York Times
Andrew Allemann / Domain Name Wire:
Yahoo Buys OMG.com Domain Name for $80,000  —  Yahoo buys popular texting term.  —  Yahoo (YHOO) has purchased the domain name OMG.com for $80,000.  —  Domain Name Wire reported the sale last week on its weekly Sedo sales wrap, but we didn't know the buyer at the time.
Discussion: TechCrunch, paidContent and Pulse2
Matt Buchanan / Gizmodo:
Don't Pre-Order Windows 7 Now  —  Microsoft's half-price deal for Windows 7 ran out a few weeks ago, bumping prices back to painful levels.  If you're thinking about pre-ordering anyway, wait.  There's a decent chance there'll be some new deals as we get closer to launch.
Discussion: Macworld and Windows 7 Center
Neil Hughes / AppleInsider:
New products, possible Verizon deal expected to boost Apple stock  —  MacBook Pro and iPod refreshes, iPhone 3GS expansion, and a possible data-centric Verizon Wireless device are expected to increase Apple's stock in the short-term, according to a new analysis.
Discussion: eWeek, PMP Today and I4U News
Dan Goodin / The Register:
US civil liberties gang questions Obama cookie plan  —  Fed website ‘sea change’  —  Free whitepaper - Guidelines for specification of data center power density  —  A proposal to loosen restrictions on the use of tracking cookies by federal government websites should be carefully scrutinized …
Discussion: Epicenter, ACLU and Computerworld
 
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 More Items: 
Jenn K. Lee / Pocketables:
Tainell T500 MID powered by Intel Atom
Timothy Prickett Morgan / The Register:
Sun's Rock is barefoot on Abbey Road
Steve Johnson / Mercury News:
‘Printed chips’ could be boon for consumers
Thanks:ollirums
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
US Government Reviewing OpenID For Login on .Gov Sites
Discussion: OpenID, Thanks:chrismessina
BBC:
Hacked blogger seeks Russia probe
Discussion: Los Angeles Times
 Earlier Items: 
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
Microsoft delivers test versions of SQL Server 2008 R2
Discussion: Ars Technica and The Register
Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
An Old-Fashioned Web Site
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Bloglines On Life Support. This Story Needs An Ending
G. Pascal Zachary / Technology Review:
An Operating System for the Cloud
Discussion: OSNews
Ashlee Vance / Bits:
Microsoft's SharePoint Thrives in the Recession
Discussion: Global Nerdy and Techgeist, Thanks:mrinaldesai
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Ofcom rules that five GB News programs presented by Conservative politicians have broken its due impartiality rules and puts the channel “on notice”

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Authentic Brands licenses Sports Illustrated's publishing rights to The Players' Tribune owner Minute Media for 10 years, with plans to keep the print edition

Todd Spangler / Variety:
YouTuber MrBeast announces a deal with Prime Video for Beast Games, a reality-competition show with 1,000 contestants, promising the winner a $5M cash prize

 
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