Techmeme
January 15, 2013, 9:10 AM

Top News

Marcia Hofmann / Electronic Frontier Foundation:
Bloomberg:
Dell Said to Be in Buyout Talks With Private-Equity Firms  —  Dell Inc. (DELL), the personal-computer maker that lost almost a third of its value last year, is in buyout talks with private-equity firms, two people with knowledge of the matter said.  The shares surged.
Amar Toor / The Verge:
New MySpace opens to the public alongside new Justin Timberlake single  —  MySpace this week quietly opened up its redesigned site to the public.  The so-called “New MySpace” entered internal beta testing in July, and was previewed in September.  Thus far, however, it has only been accessible …
Apple:
Wi-Fi + Cellular Models of iPad mini & Fourth Generation iPad Available in China This Friday  —  BEIJINGJanuary 15, 2013Apple® today announced the Wi-Fi + Cellular versions of iPad® mini and the new fourth generation iPad with Retina® display will be available in China on Friday …
Lawrence Mower / Las Vegas Review-Journal:
If you lose your cellphone, don't blame Wayne Dobson … Wayne Dobson doesn't have your cellphone.  —  Even if it looks like he might.  —  In the past two years the 59-year-old retiree has been pestered by people showing up at all hours of the day and night at his house, demanding their phones.
Scott Cleland / The Daily Caller:
What if Microsoft exited the search business?  —  Amazingly, most everyone totally ignores a linchpin competitive assumption when they talk about search competition and Google's antitrust liabilities - that Microsoft will always be a competitor in the search advertising business.
Somini Sengupta / New York Times:
Fortunes of Facebook May Hinge on Searches  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Nearly a year after it announced its bid to go public, Facebook is confronting the ultimate burden of the information age: how to help its users find what they are looking for amid the billions of pictures, “likes” and status updates they post every day.
More: AP and Pocket-lint
Lindsey Turrentine / CNET:
The 2013 Best of CES Awards: CNET's story  —  The true story of what happened before last week's Best of CES Awards unveiling  —  Last week, about 40 members of the CNET editorial staff met in the CNET trailer in the parking lot of the Las Vegas Convention Center to vote on our official Best of CES winner.
Joshua Topolsky / The Verge:
Brian X. Chen / New York Times:
Worry Over Sales Spurs Talk of Cheaper iPhones  —  By now, most of the world knows what an iPhone is — and they know it typically doesn't come cheap.  —  That is the problem Apple faces.  Analysts say it must decide whether to keep catering to the high end of the phone market …
Tero Kuittinen / BGR:
Ki Mae Heussner / GigaOM:
An Ivy education without the debt?  Minerva Project creates non-profit to figure out how  —  The Minerva Project, which turned heads last April with its mega $25 million seed round, has grand ambitions for bringing a Harvard-level education to the Web.  But there are two aspects …
Marco Tabini / Macworld:
How Apple sets its prices  —  Comparison-shopping for new electronics can be fun and addictive.  With a bit of patience, some luck, and an eye for good deals, you can find everything from TV sets to hard drives at a significant discount.  In fact, in our economy, discounts …
Dina Bass / Bloomberg:
Microsoft Surface Estimate Cut in Half to 1 Million Units at UBS  —  Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)'s fiscal second- quarter earnings will be less than previously expected due to weak demand for personal-computers and the company's new tablet, Surface, according to Brent Thill, an analyst at UBS AG.
Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:
Windows Phone app revenue and downloads double as Microsoft debuts contest for prime-time ad spot  —  To kick off 2013 in the Windows Phone app world, Microsoft has announced a new contest for developers called Windows Phone Next App Star.  The top prize is a featured placement of the app in a Windows Phone prime-time TV ad in the US.
David Kravets / Wired:
Megaupload's Entrapment Claim is ‘Baseless,’ Feds Say  —  Megaupload's contention that the authorities entrapped the now-shuttered file-sharing service is “baseless,” the government said in a new court filing.  —  The brouhaha concerns part of the government's rationale to seize Megaupload domains …
Devindra Hardawar / VentureBeat:
Watch out, Square: PayPal and NCR team up for mobile payments in a big way  —  Two of Square's biggest competitors are joining forces: PayPal and point-of-sale (POS) company NCR just announced a major deal that could tip the mobile payments market in PayPal's favor.
Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:
Yahoo's Chief Information Security Officer Departs — With More Top Execs Under CEO Scrutiny  —  Yahoo's Chief Information Security Officer Justin Somaini (pictured here) has left the company, according to sources.  —  It's not clear why the top security risk exec has departed the Silicon Valley Internet giant.

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Emil Protalinski / The Next Web: