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2:10 AM ET, November 30, 2010

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
New York Times:
Google Said to Be Bidding on Groupon  —  Google is prepared to pay $5 billion to $6 billion for Groupon, the daily deals site, people familiar with the deal said Monday.  —  A deal could be struck as soon as this week, these people said, cautioning that the talks still could fall apart.
RELATED:
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
If Google Buys Groupon, It'll Be a Windfall for Investors, Bankers...and Regulators?  —  If Google does manage to close the deal to buy Groupon-acquisition discussions flagged by BoomTown 10 days ago-it will be at a cost that is likely to be much more than the $2.5 billion price tag being floated in the latest batch of rumors.
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:   Google's Groupon Offer: $5.3 Billion, With $700 Million Earnout
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Kinect is Selling 2X as Fast as the iPad  —  The iPad was crowned the fastest-adopted consumer electronic device ever last month, stealing the title from the once-coveted DVD player.  Records are made to be broken, though, and the Microsoft Kinect has already come out of the gate twice as fast.
Discussion: TechFlash and Deep Jive Interests
RELATED:
Tiernan Ray / Tech Trader Daily:
Microsoft: Over 2.5M Kinect Sold
Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM:
Forget Net Neutrality, Comcast Might Break the Web  —  The fight that erupted today between Level 3 and Comcast involves an esoteric agreement between two of the Internet's big players providers colliding with a series of equally arcane policy arguments, but at its core this fight is about money.
RELATED:
Joe Waz / Comcast Voices:
Comcast Comments on Level 3  —  Level 3 has inaccurately portrayed the commercial negotiations between it and Comcast.  These discussions have nothing to do with Level 3's desire to distribute different types of network traffic.  —  Comcast has long established and mutually acceptable …
Level 3 Communications:
Level 3 Communications Issues Statement Concerning Comcast's Actions  —  Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) today issued the following statement, which can be attributed to Thomas Stortz, Chief Legal Officer of Level 3:  —  “On November 19, 2010, Comcast informed Level 3 that …
Ben Parr / Mashable!:
Google's Secret Social Initiative Delayed Until Spring 2011 [EXCLUSIVE]  —  Google's big social initiative, once thought to be a full-fledged social network named “Google Me,” is experiencing delays that have pushed back the launch until spring 2011.  —  Mashable has learned …
Discussion: Pulse2 and SAI
Yinka Adegoke / Reuters:
Microsoft in talks for new TV service: sources  —  (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) has held talks with media companies to license TV networks for a new online pay-television subscription service through devices such as its Xbox video game console, two people familiar with the plans told Reuters.
RELATED:
John Biggs / TechCrunch:
Microsoft TV: A Bold Move That May Blow Up Broadcast
Discussion: broadstuff and Digital Trends
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Facebook Now Worth $50 Billion In Secondary Trading  —  It was just a few weeks ago that Accel Partners sold off around half a billion dollars of Facebook shares at a company valuation of $35 billion.  If you thought that was insane, and a lot of commenters did, then don't read the rest of this post.
Discussion: All Facebook
Ingrid Lunden / mocoNews:
The Biggest iPad Subsidy Of All: Softbank Gives It Away.  What's Behind It?  —  One more operator is offering a reduced price for the iPad if you take it on a two-year contract: Softbank in Japan is preparing to launch a deal that offers users a 16GB iPad for free.
Georgina Prodhan / Reuters:
Few smartphone owners are loyal to their brand: survey  —  (Reuters) - The booming smartphone market shows no sign of slowing but manufacturers will have to fight hard to keep their customers as smartphone owners show little loyalty to their current brands, a GfK survey shows.
Nathan Olivarez-Giles / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Playboy Magazine releases every issue from 1953 to 2010 on a hard drive  —  Playboy Magazine is on magazine racks, on the Web, on iPad, and now it's also on a hard drive.  —  The iconic publication, which has struggled a bit as the world goes increasingly digital, is offering every issue of Playboy …
Discussion: Pulse2, Neowin.net, TeleRead and Boing Boing
Ben Parr / Mashable!:
Flock Social Browser Declares War on RockMelt with Version 3.5  —  Flock, the self-described “social web browser,” is responding to the launch of RockMelt with the release of Flock 3.5, which boasts greater speed and added functionality.  —  The browser touts social integration …
Discussion: GigaOM and The Next Web
Dharmesh Mehta / The Windows Blog:
Over 500,000 Windows Live Spaces blogs migrated to WordPress.com  —  We're very excited to be working with WordPress.com to let customers connect the fantastic blogging capabilities of WordPress.com with the leading communications and sharing services of Windows Live.
Zach Epstein / BGR:
WP7 developers complain of missing payments, broken reporting tools  —  Microsoft is making good progress in its efforts to woo developers to the new Windows Phone 7 platform, but we hope the company is equally devoted to keeping devs on board once they arrive.
Ina Fried / Mobilized:
Acer CEO on Why He's Waiting on Android Tablets  —  Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci thinks there's plenty of room to take on the iPad with an Android tablet.  Just not yet.  —  Although Lanci is talking tough about the opportunity to rival Apple's hit, he's also the one who announced-then delayed …
Wall Street Journal:
Makers of Firefox Browser Explore Do-Not-Track Tool After Scrapping Earlier Effort  —  Makers of Firefox Browser Explore Do-Not-Track Tool After Scrapping Earlier Effort  —  The makers of the popular Firefox Web browser are exploring ways to create a do-not-track mechanism that could offer Internet users …
Discussion: AdExchanger.com
Jessica Guynn / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes officially launches Jumo, social network for social activism  —  Status update from Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook and the social media whiz kid behind Barack Obama's presidential campaign: On Tuesday he officially launched Jumo.
Discussion: New York Times and Mashable!
Karol Stosiek / Gmail Blog:
Optional attendees in Google Calendar  —  Time is one of our most precious resources.  Despite their necessity, meetings tend to vary in importance for different attendees.  John might be really interested in his team's weekly meeting, whereas Jane, who is working on a unrelated project, may want to skip it.
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Zuckerberg Interviews Former President George W. Bush At Facebook HQ [Video]  —  Looks like President Obama isn't the only one resorting to Facebook as a way to reach the American people.  In a first for a U.S. President past or present, former President George W. Bush will hold a discussion …
Courtney Boyd Myers / The Next Web:
Sneak Peak: Richard Branson's iPad Magazine launches tomorrow  —  Billionaire entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson's iPad magazine launches tomorrow.  Project's blog looks pretty cool at first glance, covering topics like design, entertainment, technology and entrepreneurs.
Liz Gannes / NetworkEffect:
Twitter Gets a Hollywood Guy: Omid Ashtari  —  Twitter has hired its first official liaison to the stars: Creative Artists Agency veteran Omid Ashtari.  His first day at the microblogging service was today.  —  Ashtari told me he is “going to be Twitter's L.A. person” and will be dealing with media companies and celebrities.
Discussion: Lost Remote
Avery Morrow / Avery's Diaspora News:
I'm Dropping Diaspora, This Site Is Now Closed  —  This blog was dormant for a while because I didn't want to give Diaspora bad press.  There were security and licensing issues; the team claims that they have been fixed.  There were issues with the very model of the code; they weren't game-enders.
Vitaly Kamluk / Securelist:
GpCode-like Ransomware Is Back  —  We have received several reports from people around the world asking for help with infections very similar to the GpCode trojan that we detected in 2008.  —  GpCode was initially detected in 2004 and it reappeared almost every year until 2008.
Danny Sullivan / Daggle:
How Facebook Connect Freaks Me Out  —  More and more sites I run into these days are offering a way for me to log-in using Facebook.  That's cool, if it means I don't have to fill out yet another registration form.  But the permission pages that come up sometimes are so scary that I decline the offer.
Discussion: eWeek, Pulse2, Under the Radar and CNET News
Tim Hirsch / BBC:
Rio favela tweets create overnight celebrity  —  A 17-year-old Twitter user gave Brazilians a rare insider's view of events in his favela  —  For the past few days, Brazilians watched transfixed as scenes more reminiscent of Iraq or Afghanistan than of their own “marvellous city”, Rio de Janeiro, unfolded live on TV screens.
Discussion: GigaOM
Andy Greenberg / The Firewall:
WikiLeaks' Julian Assange Wants To Spill Your Corporate Secrets  —  In a rare interview, Assange tells Forbes that the release of Pentagon and State Department documents are just the beginning.  His next target: big business.  —  Early next year, Julian Assange says, a major American bank will suddenly find itself turned inside out.
 
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 More Items: 
Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:
Peter Sunde Seconds The Idea Of An Alternative Root DNS
Discussion: Geek.com
Adam L. Penenberg / Fast Company:
How Video Games Are Infiltrating—and Improving—Every Part of Our Lives
Eli Hodapp / Touch Arcade:
Apple Updates Game Center ToS to Include Use of Real Names
Discussion: The Next Web
Chuck Kisselburg / CircleID:
DNS: The Basis for Billions
 Earlier Items: 
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Foursquare Testing Version 2 Of Their API. “It's 1000x Faster”
Discussion: EngageDigital
Rand Fishkin / Rand's Blog:
The Algorithm + the Crowd are Not Enough
Discussion: Stage Two and A VC
Sarah Lacy / TechCrunch:
John Doerr and Mary Meeker Speak about their New Partnership
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
New Google Earth: Better Street View and More