Techmeme: As Zynga's stock lockup ends, Game Closure steals a mobile game expert (Dean Takahashi/VentureBeat)

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May 29, 2012, 3:25 PM

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Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Photos: Black and white next-gen metal iPhone backs, mini-dock, taller screen, moved earphone jack present — Earlier today, we posted the first image of the back plate for the next-generation iPhone, and now we have received several more images that are very high-resolution.

Wall Street Journal:

Facebook Falls Below $30 as Option Trading Begins — NEW YORK—Facebook Inc.'s shares tumbled under $30 for the first time, 11 days after the social-media giant launched its initial public offering, as options trading began Tuesday and a negative sentiment continued to weigh on the stock.

More: Guardian, VentureBeat, The New Persuaders, BetaNews, GigaOM, AllThingsD, Pulse2 Technology … and Mashable!

Forbes:

A boo.com Moment? Facebook's IPO Faceplant, Carnage in Social Media Stocks — The Facebook (FB) fiasco has spooked a lot of tech investors, especially those holding shares of recently-launched social media companies with similarly unproven earnings streams.

More: Bloomberg, ZDNet, TechCrunch and Pulse2 Technology …

Amazon.com:

Amazon Instant Video Now Available on Xbox 360, with Access to ‘Your Video Library’ and Prime Instant Video — Customers can now watch the latest movies and TV episodes on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and use Kinect for Xbox 360 to find and play videos with the wave of a hand or sound of their voice

More: TechCrunch, GigaOM, LiveSide.net, GeekWire, VentureBeat, The Verge, The Next Web, Gizmodo, Pulse2 Technology …, Business Insider, TechnoBuffalo, Engadget and Lifehacker

Yusuf Mehdi / TechNet Blogs:

Xbox Beyond the Box — Next week, the Xbox team heads to Los Angeles for E3. Having recently joined the team, I have the benefit of fresh perspective, and one of the things that has struck me is the amount of opportunities we have ahead. — Before joining Xbox, I had the fortune …

More: The Next Web, Seattle Times, SuperSite for Windows, The Verge, Everything Microsoft, wmpoweruser.com and WinBeta

Nick Wingfield / New York Times:

Microsoft at Work on Meshing Its Products With Skype — PALO ALTO, Calif. — By some measures, Tony Bates has accomplished a lot at Skype since Microsoft paid $8.5 billion for the Internet calling service. — The statistics tell the story. In seven months, the number of people using …

More: VoIP & Gadgets Blog, GeekWire, VentureBeat, WebProNews, Pulse2 Technology …, Pocket-lint, VoIP Watch, SlashGear, Hillicon Valley, CNET, Neowin, Betabeat, ZDNet, New York Times and DealBook

Om Malik / GigaOM:

Google launches Chromebook, Chromebox & gets it right — We often joke Google is like the old Microsoft — getting things right, bumbling its way into new markets, and getting things right on the third try. This seems to be quite true of Google's efforts to develop a cloud PC.

More: The Official Google Blog, Engadget, Bits, ReadWriteWeb, Ars Technica, BetaNews, BetaNews, Engadget and Google Enterprise Blog

David Pierce / The Verge:

New Samsung Chromebook & Chromebox review: Chrome OS grows up

More: blog.laptopmag.com, BetaNews and CNET

Mike Butcher / TechCrunch:

Face.com Is Definitely Being Acquired By Facebook Say Sources — The purchase of Face.com by Facebook is happening and is a done deal, say multiple TechCrunch sources. — Those familiar with the matter have confirmed the price will be $100m, as per the media speculation in the last few days.

More: Business Insider, Mashable!, Softpedia News, The Blog Herald, Pulse2 Technology … and I4U News

Bobbie Johnson / GigaOM:

Is Yandex behind Facebook's rumored Face.com deal?

More: digitaltrends.com, Marketing Land, Washington Post, VentureBeat, Los Angeles Times, WebProNews, Business Insider, Pocket-lint, Fast Company, Ubergizmo, TechnoBuffalo, The Next Web and TechCrunch

Hugo Miller / Bloomberg:

RIM Writedown Risked With $1 Billion Inventory: Corporate Canada — Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM)'s stockpiles of BlackBerry smartphones and PlayBook tablets have swollen by two-thirds in the past year because of slumping sales, raising the chances of the company's third writedown since December.

More: Guardian, Tech Trader Daily, asymco, Pulse2 Technology …, Daring Fireball, IntoMobile and PhoneArena

Robin Sloan:

Pictures and vision — Okay, I'm going to argue that the futures of Facebook and Google are pretty much totally embedded in these two images: The first one you know. What you might not know is just how completely central photos are to Facebook's product, and by extension its whole business.

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:

Samsung Galaxy S III launches in 28 countries, to be available in 145 by July — Although some retailers are saying they don't expect to have inventory right away, Samsung is officially claiming that it has launched the Galaxy S III in 28 countries today. That's a massive launch …

Stuart Miles / Pocket-lint:

Samsung Music Hub: Samsung's streaming iTunes service debuts on Galaxy S3, has eyes on your TV and fridge

More: PC World, Telegraph, GigaOM, Reuters, Computerworld, Electronista, 9to5Google, Inquirer, Softpedia News, The Verge and Engadget. Thanks:@stuartmiles

Sean Ludwig / VentureBeat:

MongoDB database creator 10gen grabs a whopping $42M from NEA, Sequoia, others — 10gen, the startup that created the popular MongoDB open-source data application, has raised a new $42 million round of funding to improve its data-harnessing technology and build out its team.

More: The Register, The H Open Source, Betabeat, VatorNews, NEA, TechCrunch, the Econsultancy blog, ServicesANGLE, GigaOM, Venture Capital Dispatch, The Next Web and The Tech Trade

Michael Mace / MobileOpportunity:

Fear and Loathing and Windows 8 — I was very excited when I saw the first demos of Windows 8. After years of settling for mediocre incremental improvements in its core products, Microsoft finally was ready to make bold changes to Windows, something I thought it had to do to stay relevant in computing.

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:

As Zynga's stock lockup ends, Game Closure steals a mobile game expert — Zynga's lockup on the ability for employees to sell stock in the aftermath of its initial public offering expires today. That may explain why a smaller company, Game Closure, has been able to recruit a prominent mobile gaming expert from Zynga.

More: TechCrunch, AllThingsD and Inside Social Games

Ina Fried / AllThingsD:

Sprint Plans to Shut Nextel Network as Early as June 2013 — Sprint said Tuesday that it would shut down its Nextel network as soon as June of next year, as the company aims to free up space for its next-generation LTE network. — The carrier has been working on plans to sunset …

More: The Verge, GigaOM, Featured News, Pocketnow, Gotta Be Mobile, CNET, USA Today, Pulse2 Technology … and TechnoBuffalo

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Bitly Launches New Bookmarking Features, Profiles, Search & iPhone App — Link shortener Bitly today launched a major redesign and number of new features that all add up to what the company itself calls “a new Bitly.” Among these new features are ‘bitmarks,’ Bitly's name for its new bookmarking features …

More: The Verge, BetaKit, Betabeat, bitly blog, AllThingsD, The Next Web and GigaOM

Zack Whittaker / ZDNet:

Sweet irony: EU imposes cookie law, ignores own rules — On all European Union institution websites, you will be lucky to find a single page that asks the visitor for permission to set cookies. But they're using them all the same. — The ‘cookie law’ requires any company …

More: Stewart Room, WebProNews and the Econsultancy blog

Cotton Delo / AdAge:

Big Spenders Push Ad Line, But Facebook Holds Ground — Can Newly Public Company Withstand Demands for Ads That Interrupt User Experience? — GM wanted to brand Facebook. And Facebook wasn't selling. — In a now-notorious meeting between General Motors Global CMO Joel Ewanick …

More: CNET, AllFacebook, Forbes, MediaFile, Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog, Business Insider, SocialTimes and Mashable!

Dan Primack / Fortune:

Exclusive: Sequoia Capital raising new funds — Venture firm seeks at least $1 billion. — FORTUNE — Sequoia Capital is back in the fund-raising market, with a series of venture capital vehicles designed to raise at least $1 billion (in aggregate). My understanding is that one fund …

Ernesto / TorrentFreak:

Pirate Bay Ready For Perpetual IP-Address Whac-A-Mole — The Pirate Bay is arguably the most censored website on the Internet. — Courts all around the world have ordered Internet providers to block subscriber access to the torrent site, and the end is still not in sight.

More: DSLreports, Pulse2 Technology …, WebProNews, Gizmodo UK and Softpedia News

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