We did it.  —  As I write this, join.app.net just met our 500K goal, with 38 hours left.  —  Data Export  —  When you are logged into the App.net alpha, we provide a button which will email you a .zip file of all of your content in a structured format.  If you are an alpha tester, go ahead and try it out.

Motorola to Cut 20% of Work Force, Part of Sweeping Change  —  SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Motorola Mobility, the ailing cellphone maker that Google bought in May, told employees Sunday that it would lay off 20 percent of its work force and close a third of its 94 offices worldwide.

Facebook Is The Ant; Zynga Is The Grasshopper  —  Facebook and Zynga have experienced similar roller coaster-like devaluation from their peak stock valuations, and they've been partners for years, which is why MarkZ and MarkP often get lumped together in the same sentence by fearful investors whose stock …

Groupon Sales Force Cracks Under Pressure  —  Groupon Inc. is facing a new hurdle: strains on its sales force.  —  Such pressures are a boon to people like Mike Silagadze.  The chief executive of education-software firm Top Hat Monocle Inc. said that over the past month …

Struggling GameStop reinventing itself  —  In an effort to avoid the fate of Blockbuster, Circuit City and others in the remainder bin of failed retailers, GameStop has embarked on a daring, if inglorious, strategy: refashioning itself from a console-game purveyor into a repairer and reseller …

Google: Many Popular Sites Will Escape Pirate Penalty, Not Just YouTube  —  Google says that YouTube isn't going to somehow solely escape its new “pirate penalty.”  Any popular site may be OK, as the penalty works off of more than pure copyright infringement reports.

Barnes & Noble cuts prices across its Nook lineup, vies for your budget tablet affection  —  In what could be seen as a response to the positive reaction that Google's $200 Nexus 7 has garnered, Barnes & Noble has just cut down the prices on all three of its Android-based, seven-inch Nook Tablets.

Demonoid Domains Go Up For Sale  —  With an army of passionate fans, Demonoid was spoken about fondly by many in the torrent community.  Just two weeks ago it was one of the world's largest and most thriving torrent sites but a DDoS and hacker attack followed by a police raid brought it to its knees.

Etsy Cracks Down on Drug Paraphernalia, Other Restricted Items  —  Etsy is a haven for homemade goods, but the online shopping site clarified this week that its stores are not the place to be selling drug paraphernalia and other questionable material.  —  The company said it has spent several …

Google chiefs could face MPs over tax avoidance schemes  —  Google chiefs face the prospect of being hauled before MPs to explain themselves over their tax avoidance schemes, the Independent has learned.  A member of the Treasury Select Committee called the company's practices …

Malaria is no excuse for patent trolling, Mr. Myhrvold  —  Nathan Myhrvold, CEO of Intellectual Ventures, took issue with GigaOM this week after we expressed skepticism about his company's plans to hire a “VP of Global Good.”  —  In an interview with tech site Geekwire, Myhrvold said …