Techmeme: Exclusive: SurveyMonkey Raises $850 Million in Debt and Equity for Tender Offer … (Kara Swisher/AllThingsD)

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January 17, 2013, 10:00 AM

Top News

Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:

Facebook launches free calling for all iPhone users in the US — In early January, Facebook began testing free calling over Wi-Fi and cellular data for all Messenger for iPhone users in Canada, and said that a US launch could be coming soon. Apparently, the test went well — a new free calling button has appeared in the app.

Matthew Lynley / Digits:

The ‘Facebook Phone’ Might Already Be Here

More: GSMArena Blog, iPhone Hacks and Softpedia News

Steve Cheney / steve's blog:

Graph Search's False Promise and the Con of the Facebook “Like” — We all know that the pressure for Facebook to monetize is massive and growing. Yesterday Zuckerberg fulfilled the promise he dropped at TC Disrupt to release a product that will finally compete with Google.

Tweets: @howardlindzon, @erickschonfeld, @hunterwalk, @chrisamccoy and @gaberivera

Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:

Facebook Search Could Actually Be Great for Google (Why? Antitrust.)

More: Reuters and bizjournals

John Battelle / John Battelle's Search Blog:

Facebook Is No Longer Flat: On Graph Search

More: TPM IdeaLab

Wall Street Journal:

AT&T Stalking Europe for Mergers — AT&T Inc. is once again starting up its deal machine. — The telecommunications giant is considering buying a counterpart in Europe, a bet that it can best escape constraints on growth at home by getting into a new wireless market where it can upgrade technology …

More: CNET, Forbes, TechCrunch, ZDNet, Reuters, MobileBurn.com, The Next Web, Hillicon Valley, App Advice, SlashGear, The Verge, PhoneArena, Mashable! and Light Reading

James Kendrick / ZDNet:

Lenovo announces ThinkPad Chromebook for schools — Summary: Lenovo will offer a Chromebook version of its ThinkPad X131e for the education sector. The Chromebook will be sold only to schools for grades K-12. — James Kendrick — The folks at Lenovo are going into the Chromebook space …

More: Engadget, LAPTOP Magazine, The Next Web, TechCrunch, The Verge, SlashGear, Softpedia News and TheStreet.com

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Exclusive: SurveyMonkey Raises $850 Million in Debt and Equity for Tender Offer — Including New Investment From Google's New Late-Stage Unit — SurveyMonkey has raised a massive $800 million in debt and additional equity funding, which it plans to distribute in a tender offer, said sources with knowledge of the situation.

More: Fortune, ValueWalk and bizjournals. Tweets: @pkedrosky

Galen Moore / Boston Business Journal:

U.S. Attorney breaks silence, defends prosecution of Aaron Swartz … U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz, under fire for the prosecution of Internet entrepreneur and activist Aaron Swartz, on Wednesday issued her first statement responding to the controversy that has followed Swartz's suicide.

More: Law Blog, The Volokh Conspiracy, 0v, Forbes, Inquirer, TechEye, CNET, TechCrunch, The Verge, Fast Company, Boston Herald, memeburn and SlashGear

Tweets: @dweinberger, @binarybits, @kevinmarks and @binarybits

See also Mediagazer

Royal Pingdom:

Internet 2012 in numbers — There is so much happening on the Internet during a year that it's impossible to capture it all in a blog post, but we're going to give it a shot anyway. How many emails were sent during 2012? How many domains are there? What's the most popular web browser?

More: Gizmodo and Business Insider

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:

Microsoft Office 2013: What to expect on the pricing front — Summary: Microsoft's Office 2013/new Office should be launching soon. Here's what we know so far about prices and packages. — As expected, Microsoft is pricing its next-generation Office 2013 line-up in a way to try …

More: Neowin, The Next Web, TechSpot and Softpedia News

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

YouTube Is Ready to Invest in Vevo, but the Deal Isn't Done — YouTube is set to make another big investment in a content partner. This time around it's Vevo, the music video site. — YouTube and its owner Google have agreed to buy a minority stake in Vevo, according to people familiar with the deal, which hasn't been finalized.

More: Softpedia News, The Next Web, CNET and memeburn. See also Mediagazer

Lee Mathews / Geek.com:

Demo shows how easily malicious extensions can infect Firefox — Firefox is widely regarded as a very secure web browser, and that's a reputation that Mozilla has worked tirelessly to build over the past eight years — blacklisting extensions, shutting down insecure plug-ins, revoking certificates …

More: Zscaler Research and gHacks Technology News

Matt Brian / The Next Web:

Amazon looks to reduce Apple's hold on music sales with launch of MP3 web store for iPhone and iPod touch — Amazon has taken another step at reducing Apple's hold over on-device music sales, today announcing the launch of its HTML5 MP3 web store specifically for iPhone and iPod touch …

More: TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Amazon.com and I4U News. Tweets: @reneritchie

Jeffrey Grubb / VentureBeat:

Apple: ‘Want to criticize religion? Write a book’ — don't make a game — Apple doesn't believe video games can tackle important subjects. — At least, that's how the submission guidelines for developers on the App Store make it sound. If you haven't read the document before, it's actually very interesting.

More: PC Pro and PhoneArena. Tweets: @greyham and @terence_hughes

Patrick Temple-West / Reuters:

Amazon fighting $234 million tax deficiency in Tax Court : filing — (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc. is challenging a $234 million U.S. tax bill, contesting Internal Revenue Service tax calculations for cash transfers between the parent company and its European subsidiaries, according to a court filing.

More: ZDNet and The Register

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Nokia Cuts 300 Jobs, Outsources Up To 820 More To HCL And Tata To ‘Align IT With Its Business Focus’ — Here's the cloud to Nokia's silver lining statement the other day of better than expected handset sales: it is cutting IT 300 jobs, and outsourcing 820 more, with Indian outsourcing giants HCL …

More: Nokia, GigaOM, CNET, The Register, Forbes, ZDNet, Phones Review, The Next Web, PhoneArena and SlashGear

Sarah Mitroff / Wired:

Does Facebook Praise Kill Self-Control? — One hateful Facebook comment might reduce you to tears, but a recent study found that the “likes” prompted by your status updates and photo posts might also have a negative impact, especially on your waistline and pocketbook.

More: University of Pittsburgh News and Daily Dot

Colleen Taylor / TechCrunch:

StumbleUpon Lays Off 30% Of Staff As It Restructures Company Into A Profitable State — StumbleUpon today laid off 30 percent of its staff, the company has confirmed to TechCrunch. The move, which brings StumbleUpon's employee count from 110 to 75, is part of a larger restructuring plan …

More: Betabeat, Marketing Land, CNET, App Advice and SocialTimes

Todd Spangler / multichannel.com/rss:

TWC: Netflix Is Withholding Content to Gain ‘Unprecedented’ Access to ISPs — Operator Says It Is in Discussions on Connecting Into Netflix's Private CDN — Time Warner Cable said it is currently in discussions with Netflix on terms for connecting into the video streamer's private content delivery network …

More: Technology Liberation Front, TechCrunch, Light Reading, The Verge, GigaOM and Gizmodo. See also Mediagazer

Cade Metz / Wired:

Facebook Shatters the Computer Server Into Tiny Pieces — MENLO PARK, California — Since you last saw Frank Frankovsky, his beard has grown to epic lengths. And it suits him. — As the man at the center of Facebook's Open Compute Project, Frankovsky spent the last two years rethinking …

More: NYT Bits, Open Compute Project, ReadWrite, GigaOM, Data Center Knowledge, VentureBeat, Data Center Knowledge, TechCrunch, CNET, The Register, The Next Web and ZDNet

Edgar Alvarez / Engadget:

Samsung now pushing out more updates to address Exynos security vulnerability — About two weeks ago, Samsung started rolling out a fix to help Galaxy S III owners in the UK with that previously acknowledged Exynos issue. Fast forward to today, and the Korean electronics giant is now delivering …

More: CNET, Macgasm, PhoneArena, Android Central, IntoMobile, BGR, Gotta Be Mobile and Pocketnow

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Microsoft Launches HelpBridge For iOS, Windows Phone And Android, Lets You Alert Friends And Family When Disasters Strike — When a disaster happens, chances are you want to get in touch with your loved ones as soon as possible, either to tell them that you're fine or to make sure they are.

More: Microsoft, blog.chron.com, iDownloadBlog.com, SlashGear, memeburn, Softpedia News, The Windows Blog, The Next Web, PC Magazine, WinBeta, Lifehacker, TechNet Blogs, The Verge, The Official Microsoft Blog and MacNN

Jeff John Roberts / GigaOM:

UK fines Playboy for underage website visitors; age verification less pressing in US — British regulators fined Playboy nearly $160,000 after finding the publisher didn't do enough to prevent minors from visiting its website. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the agency Ofcom said Playboy's …

More: Ofcom

Eva Dou / Wall Street Journal:

Asustek in Talks to Offer Windows 8 Phones — TAIPEI—Taiwanese PC maker Asustek Computer Inc. is in talks with Microsoft Corp. on a licensing deal to offer Windows 8 mobile phones, an executive said, making it the latest Asian computer maker eyeing the new operating system.

More: ZDNet, TechCrunch, The Verge, Gizmodo, Inquirer, Softpedia News, Engadget, WMPoweruser, Neowin, PhoneArena, IntoMobile, SlashGear and Pocketnow

Hugo Miller / Bloomberg:

RIM BlackBerry 10 Training Program Attracts 1,600 Busines — Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM), which is preparing to unveil its BlackBerry 10 phones later this month, said more than 1,600 North American businesses have registered for a training program for the new handsets and software.

More: AllThingsD, Reuters, digitaltrends.com, Canada Real Time, BerryReview, NerdBerry.net, Los Angeles Times and SlashGear

Ian Hardy / MobileSyrup.com:

Visa approves RIM's Secure Element Manager solution for NFC mobile payments — RIM has notched up another certification on their belt. This time around is has to do with NFC (Near Field Communication) and their Secure Element Manager (SEM) has been approved by Visa.

More: Research in Motion, eWeek, Ubergizmo, Fox Business, ValueWalk, digitaltrends.com, Engadget and Computerworld

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