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Source: Microsoft wins Facebook bid battle — Update: 12:30 p.m. see bottom. — After weeks of speculation, Microsoft appears to have won a battle with Google over who would get a stake in Facebook, according to a source familiar with the situation. — Microsoft and Facebook were close to a deal, according to the source.
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Facebook Is Close to Choosing Microsoft or Google for Deal — SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook Inc. is close to choosing between Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. to sell ads for the social networking service outside the U.S., according to people familiar with the matter.


ONLINE FACEOFF — M'SOFT AND GOOGLE DUKE IT OUT OVER HOT SITE — Google is threatening to once again beat rival Microsoft to the deal punch, this time in the white-hot Facebook investment sweepstakes. — Microsoft and Google are each vying to take a stake of between 5 percent and 10 percent …
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Facebook and Microsoft Expand Strategic Alliance — Microsoft to take equity stake in Facebook; companies expand advertising deal to cover international markets. — PALO ALTO, Calif. and REDMOND, Wash. /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Facebook® and Microsoft Corp. today announced that Microsoft …
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Microsoft wins Facebook bid? Here's the insider scoop on why... Last night I was hanging around at the Ritz near my house. That's where Jerry Yang, CEO of Yahoo spoke yesterday, and where the Right Media conference is going on right now. — I talked with several people …


Facebook opens developer platform for mobile — Facebook has announced that third-party developers can integrate features from web-based Facebook applications to work on mobile devices. — Most of the world uses mobile devices, and in many countries, people use phones more than they do computers.

Google Analyst Day: Ads and Enterprise Panel
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Silicon Alley Insider

Digg Favorites Slapped By Google — For a company such as Google with a stock price based extensively on anticipated growth and public sentiment, it doesn't take a huge swing in goodwill to have a dramatic effect on valuation. Google has just slapped their biggest fans.
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Webware.com, Mashable!, Scobleizer, Search Engine Watch Blog, Search Engine Guide, Copyblogger and CenterNetworks
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Google Declares Jihad On Blog Link Farms — A major Google page rank update has punished large scale blog link farms and similar sites indulging in heavy cross linking by dramatically cutting their Google page rank scores. — There is some suggestion that the changes may be related …
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Things That, WebProNews, Practical Blogging, B.L. Ochman's weblog, WebMetricsGuru, TechWag, Ryan Stewart and Smalltalk Tidbits …

Google's PageRank Update Goes After Paid Links? — Seems like there is a PageRank update taking place now that seems to be impacting sites that sell links. Can't say that we were not warned about this? Danny Sullivan wrote Official: Selling Paid Links Can Hurt Your PageRank Or Rankings …

ProBlogger - PageRank 4 — Wow - this is an interesting one. — ProBlogger's page rank is currently at a 4 - and so is Digital Photography School. — I'd heard blogs had been penalized in their page rank recently for selling text links - bizarre thing is that neither of these two blogs sell links.

Google uses the PageRank hammer
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Google's PageRank Shuffle: Big Sites Say Bye-bye, Traffic?
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Geek News Central


Sync your inbox across devices with free IMAP — There are two online petitions I've signed in my life. One was for a "Xena: Warrior Princess" movie. The other, which I signed a few months before starting at Google, was for Gmail IMAP. As some of you know, IMAP is the best way to access …
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Gmail gets IMAP
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Breaking: Facebook Announces Facebook Platform for Mobile; Facebook for Blackberry — This just in - today at CTIA, Facebook is announcing Facebook Platform for Mobile. With Facebook Platform for Mobile, current Facebook Platform developers will be able to extend their applications to work on mobile phones and devices as well.
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Computerworld
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Facebook teams with RIM for Web 2.0 on-the-go
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Alec Saunders .LOG

Microsoft to Pay $240 Million for Stake in Facebook — Microsoft has won a high-profile technology industry battle with Google and Yahoo to invest in the social networking upstart Facebook. — The two companies said on Wednesday that Microsoft would invest $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook.
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Wikinomics


Boeing Tests HALE Hydrogen Propulsion System Using Ford-Developed Engine — The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA], using a Ford Motor Company-developed hydrogen engine, has successfully tested the hydrogen propulsion system of its High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) unmanned aircraft.
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DailyTech
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Hi there. I'm the Internet. I like romantic dinners, long walks on the beach and.... It won't make you dinner or rub your feet, but nearly one in four Americans say that the Internet can serve as a substitute for a significant other for some period of time, according to a new poll released today …

In Foray Into TV, Google Is to Track Ad Audiences — Google, which dominates the market for advertising on the Internet, seems to be hoping to do the same thing on television. — The company is set to announce a partnership today with the Nielsen Company, the voice of authority …
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nielsenmedia.com, last100, Insider Chatter, Digital Media Wire, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, VentureBeat, NewTeeVee, Associated Press, Business Week, Mashable!, Computerworld, p2pnet, WebProNews, Valleywag, The Globe and Mail, Silicon Alley Insider, TechCrunch, MarketingVOX and Search Engine Land