Top Items:
Staci D. Kramer / paidContent.org:
Disney Acquires Club Penguin; $350 Million Cash, Possible $350 Million Earnout — On a call with Disney CEO Bob Iger now while he announces the company's acquisition of Club Penguin, which he describes as a perfect fit. It's a cash payment of $350 million and an opportunity to earn out an additional $350 million between now and 2009.
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Merissa Marr / Wall Street Journal:
Disney to Buy Club Penguin — Seeking to bolster its online presence among kids, Walt Disney Co. said it is buying the popular Club Penguin virtual community for $350 million in cash. — Disney said it had agreed to pay up to another $350 million to Club Penguin's founders …
Discussion:
901am, Download Squad, BloggingStocks, mathewingram.com/work, alarm:clock and CenterNetworks
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:Extremely Happy Feet: Disney Acquires Club Penguin For Up To $700 million
John C. Dvorak / PC Magazine:
Bubble 2.0 Coming Soon — Every single person working in the media today who experienced the dot-com bubble in 1999 to 2000 believes that we are going through the exact same process and can expect the exact same results—a bust. It's déjà vu all over again.
Discussion:
Marshall Kirkpatrick, CrunchGear, CostPerNews, MYBLOG by Ouriel, Zoli's Blog, A VC, JD on EP, Slashdot and digg
Eric Bangeman / Ars Technica:
Console mod-chippers busted in nationwide raids — Federal agents have carried out a series of raids against individuals and businesses in 16 states as part of an investigation into the distribution and sale of mod chips. Dubbed "Operation Tangled Web", the 32 search warrants were executed …
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PR Newswire:
American Airlines Selects AirCell to Launch In-Flight Wi-Fi Service Over U.S. — American Airlines Becomes First Airline to Launch AirCell's High-Speed Broadband Internet Service on Aircraft Flying Over U.S.; Conquering the Last Frontier for Internet Access
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Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:Lufthansa to add in-flight broadband by 2008 for long-hauls
Discussion:
InfoWorld, Wall Street Journal, Computerworld, IP Telephony, VoIP, Broadband, dslreports.com, Feld Thoughts and digg
Digital Music News:
GoFish Abandons Bolt Purchase, Licensing Issues Blamed — Video-sharing destination GoFish is now abandoning its purchase of Bolt, according to sources to Digital Music News. The acquisition, first reported in February, involved a stock-for-stock transaction valued at $30 million.
RELATED:
Rafat Ali / paidContent.org:Video Non-Consolidation: GoFish's Acquisiton Of Bolt Dead In Water, For Now
Discussion:
alarm:clock
Crazy Pete / MCV:
Rockstar finally appeals BBFC's Manhunt ban — Publisher applied for hearing yesterday — MCV has learnt that Rockstar has lodged an official plea with the Video Appeals Committee over Manhunt 2's ban - the UK body that has the power to overturn the British Board of Film Classification's decision to keep the title off shelves.
Sir Elton John / The Sun:
Why we must close the net — Web rant ... Sir Elton says the internet is destroying music — POP legend Sir Elton John wants the internet CLOSED DOWN. — Never one to keep his opinions to himself, the Rocket Man has waded into cyberspace with all guns blazing.
Discussion:
mathewingram.com/work, Life On the Wicked Stage, CNET News.com, Zoli's Blog and JD on EP
Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:
Mozilla to give away own security testing tools — JavaScript fuzzer that's found 'dozens' of Firefix bugs is first, others to follow — Mozilla Corp. will release some of its home-grown security tools to the open-source community, the company's head of security said today, starting with a …
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Eli Brandt / Google LatLong:
How long will it take at rush hour? — Let's say you want to leave from Berkeley to catch the sunset from the beach at Half Moon Bay, to relax on the sand and watch the sun sink into the Pacific. We all know Google Maps will tell you how to get there. Now it's better at helping you decide when to leave to catch your sunset on time.
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Have Skype SMS your Voicemail text: By Late 2007 — Thanks to a deal between Skype and SpinVox, Skype customers can [now] soon get their voicemail messages converted to text and sent to their mobile phones via SMS. The service launches soon [today], and will be available in English, Spanish, French and German.
RELATED:
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Sprint Pulls Out Of Cable Spectrum Venture — If a consortium of cable giants bids on spectrum in the upcoming FCC auction, Sprint Nextel will not be part of the bid. The 10Q Time Warner Cable filed this morning reveals that Sprint has exercised its option to exit SpectrumCo …
RELATED:
Staci D. Kramer / mocoNews.net:Sprint Pulls Out Of Wireless Spectrum JV With Cable Operators
Discussion:
Engadget
Elsa Wenzel / CNET News.com:
Microsoft to delay Office for Mac 2008 — Mac users must wait until next year for fresh versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, as Microsoft moves its intended launch of Office for Mac 2008 to January from the second half of this year. — "We had hoped to hit the Christmas selling season …
Anne Broache / CNET News.com:
House panel approves legal shield for bloggers — WASHINGTON—A congressional panel on Wednesday voted, against the Bush administration's wishes, to shield journalists including advertising-supported bloggers from having to reveal their confidential sources in many situations.
Cade Metz / The Register:
Google: Kill all the patent trolls — Google's head of patents believes the U.S. patent system is "in crisis". Discussing patent reform at the annual Stanford Summit in Northern California, associate general counsel Michelle Lee told conference attendees that the American system is "out-of-balance [and] needs to be remedied".
Discussion:
Computerworld
Matt / Burning Questions:
Pubvertise Your Live Content to a Wider Audience — They laughed at us in Geneva when we presented our new word to the scientific community, but it's the surest way to describe our latest enhancement to Headline Animator. Publish + Advertise, all in one place (and let's not kid ourselves, "adverblish" isn't going anywhere).
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Remember Webvan? So Does Amazon — Check out Amazon Fresh - a new invite only service from Amazon that looks eerily similar to the quintessential 90's Internet flameout, Webvan. — The new service promises speedy at-home delivery of groceries, including fresh produce, at "competitive everyday prices."
Discussion:
John Cook's Venture Blog
Nicole Lee / Crave: The gadget blog:
Motorola rolls out six budget handsets — Six new unannounced handsets have shown up on Motorola's image gallery, and they all appear to be budget candybar devices. Not too much information on these phones aside from model numbers (Motorola W206, W213, W156, W160, W175 and W18), and we don't even know where they'll be headed.
