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8:05 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:
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.”
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 …
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
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.
RELATED:
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 …
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! and NEWS.com.au
IEBlog:
Engineering POV: IE6  —  The topic of site support for IE6 has had a lot of discussion on the web recently as a result of a post on the Digg blog.  Why would anyone run an eight-year old browser?  Should sites continue to support it?  What more can anyone do to get IE6 users to upgrade?
RELATED:
Emil Protalinski / Ars Technica:
Microsoft: “dropping support for IE6 is not an option”
Discussion: Mashable!
Matt Buchanan / Gizmodo:
Zune HD Prices Leaked: 16GB for $220, 32GB for $290  —  It feels like we know everything about the Zune HD—except the price.  Well, now we know, if Best Buy's inventory system is right: the 16GB model will go for $220, and the 32GB model will be $290.  —  It also backs up the previously rumored launch date, Sept. 8.
RELATED:
Ben Fritz / Los Angeles Times:
Tough times in the porn industry  —  The business, centered in the San Fernando Valley, is being undercut by a growing abundance of free content on the Internet.  —  On a recent Saturday night, Savannah Stern earned $300 to hang out for seven hours at a party in Santa Monica wearing nothing but a feather boa.
Discussion: broadstuff
Kim-Mai Cutler / VentureBeat:
Twitter CEO's wife tweets about labor, ongoing birth of first child  —  Sara Morishige Williams, Twitter CEO 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: The Blog Herald, Mashable! and Gawker
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:
Rod Johnson / SpringSource Team Blog:
SpringSource: Chapter Two  —  Today I want to share some exciting news.
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 …
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Mahalo 2.0 Is Kicking Ass  —  Jason Calacanis continues to do what he does best: Innovate.  —  When the original concept for Mahalo didn't work as well as he thought it would, he did what all great entrepreneurs do: Try something different.  —  The second version of Mahalo …
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Delicious Creator Quietly Launches Threaded Twitter Conversations  —  Joshua Schachter is best known as the creator of Delicious.  But a few years after he sold it to Yahoo in 2005, he left the company and joined Google.  Since then, he's been known to speak his mind about Delicious' overall direction …
David Murphy / PC World:
GeekBargain: Microsoft Doubles Cashback Incentives for Bing Search  —  Microsoft kicked off a large Bing promotion today that's geared to attract the attention of the Internet's best bargain shoppers.  The program itself is called Cashback, a function of the company's Bing search engine that …
Discussion: Softpedia News and Ars Technica, Thanks:mrinaldesai
MacGregor Campbell / New Scientist:
Robots to get their own operating system  —  THE UBot whizzes around a carpeted conference room on its Segway-like wheels, holding aloft a yellow balloon.  It hands the balloon to a three-fingered robotic arm named WAM, which gingerly accepts the gift.  —  Cameras click.
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
Stephanie Clifford / New York Times:
Notice Those Ads on Blogs?  Regulators Do, Too  —  BLOGGERS, be warned.  Advertisers, you too.  —  Two of the National Advertising Review Council's investigative units plan to announce Tuesday their first decisions involving blogs.  Their recommendations call for clear disclosure …
Scott Austin / Venture Capital Dispatch:
Benchmark Capital Keeps The Returns Coming  —  Benchmark Capital, the firm behind hits such as eBay Inc., Juniper Networks Inc. and Red Hat Inc., continues to prove it can generate investment returns even amid a troubled economy. … Today, two more of its portfolio companies were acquired …
Discussion: TechCrunch, MediaMemo and VentureBeat, Thanks:mrinaldesai
Xbox.com:
Dashboard Updates: Xbox LIVE Update  —  One of the amazing things about the Xbox LIVE experience is that it's always getting better.  The latest Xbox LIVE Update truly cranks it up a notch - with features that improve your entertainment experience and give you new ways to express your individuality and connect with friends.
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
 
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 More Items: 
Boy Genius Report:
More iTunes 9 details, Apple developing social networking application?
Discussion: TechCrunch, IntoMobile and SlashGear
Steven E.F. Brown / bizjournals:
Fortinet files for IPO worth up to $100M
Ajit / Open Gardens:
The Streisand effect in action: Twitter hacking …
Discussion: Techdirt
Matthaus Krzykowski / VentureBeat:
Silicon Valley software developers to get WiMAX network soon
Nielsen Wire:
When Choosing a Carrier, Does the iPhone Really Matter?
Discussion: Gearlog and Bits
Neil Hughes / AppleInsider:
New products, possible Verizon deal expected to boost Apple stock
Discussion: eWeek, Phone Arena and I4U News
 Earlier Items: 
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
Andrew Allemann / Domain Name Wire:
Yahoo Buys OMG.com Domain Name for $80,000