Top Items:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Google To Acquire DocVerse; Office War Heats Up — Google, which is currently on one heck of a spending spree, is closing an acquisition of San Francisco based DocVerse, a service that lets users collaborate around Microsoft Office documents, we've heard from a source with knowledge of the deal.
Associated Press:
Stock windfall for Google employees — NEW YORK — Google's employees couldn't have timed the stock market's turn any better. — A day before stocks bottomed in March, Google let almost 16,000 of its workers exchange their stock options. It turned out to be the deal of a lifetime.
Discussion:
Silicon Alley Insider
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
David Pogue Weighs In On Ebook DRM: Non-DRM'd Ebook Increased His Sales — Mark Rosedale (an employee of O'Reilly) was the first of a few to send in David Pogue's recent column in which he discusses the question of ebook DRM. Remember, just recently a Sony exec claimed that you couldn't make money on ebooks without DRM.
Discussion:
TeleRead
Andy Ihnatko / Chicago Sun Times:
Need a last-minute gift? Go get yourself an eBook reader — It's the week before Christmas. You were hoping to find a gift that would be so thoughtful and such an emotionally-compelling statement about your relationship that your loved one would never intellectually work out just how little you spent on it.
Discussion:
Daring Fireball
Kevin Kelleher / GigaOM:
For Palm, Yet Another Wrenching Crisis — Palm is the Jack Bauer of the mobile industry. Its story is one of high-tension drama in which it lurches from one crisis to another, saving itself from the jaws of despair only to face some new and more daunting threat, all while the clock ominously ticks away.
The Steve Rubel Lifestream:
Search the Live Web with Two Simple Bookmarklets — I have become addicted to Google's new real-time search feature. It's an incredible window onto the world's psyche. However, it's somewhat lacking in one small way. — By default, Google doesn't serve up real-time results for most searches.
Discussion:
Marshall Kirkpatrick …
Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
Microsoft patent: Sorry, fatso, no more hiding behind that avatar — For many people, half the fun of avatars is aspirational — the ability to make them look like you wish you did in real life. But apparently that's not the case for some Microsoft researchers, who have applied for a patent …
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Etsy Buys Retail Product Ad Platform Adtuitive, Gains Five New Programmers — Handmade item marketplace and community website operator Etsy, which is backed by $31.6 million in venture capital funding, has acquired New York-based advertising startup Adtuitive for an undisclosed sum.
Matt Asay / CNET News:
Hungary votes for open standards — Many governments, particularly those in developing nations, are increasingly legislating preferences for open-source software. A much smarter approach may be that recently adopted by Hungary, however, which has mandated the use of open standards.
Discussion:
Nyílt Szabvány Szövetség
Venture Capital Dispatch:
Indiana University Fights Back Against Start-Up Funding Shortage — The recent financial meltdown has crippled many universities' efforts to spin out early-stage start-ups, which in turn have had difficulty attracting capital from venture firms. Looking to give its own companies a leg up …
Chip Chick:
Re Accessory Transforms your iPhone into a Universal Remote Control — attaches to the base of your iPhone and using its accompanying app, the device transforms your iPhone into a fully functional universal remote control. We're talking about an advanced remote control with an extensive built …
Kdawson / Slashdot:
Yes, Google Does De-List Pages; But When? — from the how-offensive-is-too-offensive dept. — Frequent Slashdot contributor Bennett Haselton writes — “Google finds itself inserting a disclaimer once again above some offensive search results. But the disclaimer still leads many to believe …
