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Microsoft's Latest Revenue Stream: Acquisition Yard Sale [Digital Daily]
01 08 2010 In its most recent fiscal year, Microsoft made more money divesting old acquisitions than making new ones. According to the company’s annual 10-K, Microsoft spent $267 million to purchase five companies in fiscal 2010 and made $600 million by selling off three others.
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In Silicon Valley, Forget Your Wallet–But Not Your Phone [Voices]
31 07 2010 Two pilot programs by start-ups in Silicon Valley are testing ways to bring to market a long-promised innovation of the Internet era: the digital wallet.
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Wonder If RIM's Blackpad Will Have a Roller Ball App [Digital Daily]
31 07 2010 Does RIM really have a tablet in the works? “Two people familiar with the company’s plans” tell Bloomberg that it does and plans to launch it in November just in time for the annual holiday spending binge.
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The Big Money Isn't Enough. Slate Shuts Down Business Site After Two Years. [MediaMemo]
31 07 2010 Fortune magazine launched during the Great Depression, and it's still with us today. But The Big Money, a business site launched by Slate during the dark days of September 2008, is going away. The smart site never got much traction. But then again, it didn't seem to get that much support.
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Microsoft to Mount Antitrust Challenge to Google-Yahoo Japan Deal [Digital Daily]
31 07 2010 So guess what Microsoft thinks of Yahoo Japan’s decision to swap it out for Google as main search partner? Yeah, not too happy about it. And it’s going to do all that it can to thwart the deal.
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In IPO-Signaling Move, Zynga Adds Fancy CFO [BoomTown]
31 07 2010 Zynga, the fast-growing social gaming site, said it had hired Allen & Co. investment banker David Wehner as its new CFO.He replaces Mark Vranesh, who becomes Chief Accounting Officer, reporting to Wehner.The move is yet another indication that the San Francisco-based start-up is prepping for an initial public offering, rounding out its executive team, which is headed by founder and CEO Mark Pincus.
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David Choe Book Signing; No Need To Bring Your Own Sharpie [Voices]
31 07 2010 Something for a slow, geeky Friday afternoon: Artist David Choe -- some may remember him as the one who famously graffiti-fied the offices of Facebook back in 2007 -- will be signing copies of his new book, and figures from his new edition of vinyl toys, at Giant Robot tonight in San Francisco. If you're not in SF, or just hate crowds, you could watch this cool video instead.
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Twitter Offers Following Suggestions [Voices]
31 07 2010 Seeking to deepen user engagement, Twitter has been looking for ways to give its members, especially the newer ones, more guidance when it comes to navigating the sea of chatter and finding interesting streams. Today, it's rolling out "Suggestions for You," personalized recommendations for interesting folks to follow, generated by an algorithm that takes into account the people you already follow and the people they follow (although no one should be surprised if Twitter eventually makes it possible for well-heeled users to buy their way into the recommendations).
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BoomTown Gets Ping-Ponged in Seattle by TechFlash [BoomTown]
31 07 2010 On my trip to Seattle this week to attend Microsoft's Financial Analyst Meeting, the fine folks at the most excellent tech news site TechFlash dragooned me into a ping-pong tournament they were holding.The Second Annual TechFlash Summer BBQ and Ping-Pong Tournament, held at the Showbox SoDo is really a big schmoozefest for techies in the Pacific Northwest.
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Singapore’s 'Over-the-Top' iPhone 4 Launch [Voices]
31 07 2010 Apple’s new iPhone 4 went on sale in Singapore Friday, and its debut in this city state may have been more over-the-top than its U.S. debut last month.Singapore Telecommunications, known as SingTel, Southeast Asia’s biggest phone company by revenue, held its midnight launch party at the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Center.
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Facebook's IPO Waiting Game Gets a Little Longer–"Probably" Not Going Public in 2011 [MediaMemo]
30 07 2010 Ripple effect: Facebook's non-move gives Zynga more time before it goes public too. Meanwhile, if you're dead set on buying some of Zuck's company next year, Digital Sky Technologies may be able to help.
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QOTD [Digital Daily]
30 07 2010 QOTD [Digital Daily] “The first time someone created a camera, there was someone who said, ‘Wouldn’t it be good for someone to take off their clothes in front of this camera?’” – Interpret LLC’s Michael Gartenberg on the porn industry’s plans for the iPhone 4’s FaceTime video chat feature
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The Polyvore Team Talks About User-Generated Fashion Stylists and More! [BoomTown]
30 07 2010 Earlier this week, I headed down to Mountain View, Calif., to the downtown HQ of Polyvore--the unusually named start-up aimed at the inner stylist in everyone--to talk about the economics of fashion online.The odd name is a combination that roughly means the devouring of many or much--which at Polyvore translates into leopard prints, kitten heels or the rubber clothes of Lady Gaga.The registered site, with six million unique monthly visitors, allows users to "mix & match products from your favorite stores" into fashion "sets" on any topic, concept or--in BoomTown's taste-challenged case--fleece and Pumas.
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"The Honeymoon Period for Apple in the Mobile World Is Clearly Coming to an End" [Digital Daily]
30 07 2010 With global shipments that rose 43 percent to 60 million units in the second quarter, the cellphone industry has been on a real tear lately. And while it’s not yet a top-five player there, Apple has been reaping the benefits of fast developing interest in high-end 3G touch screen phones. But research outfit Strategy Analytics thinks the iPhone juggernaut may be slowing, if only a bit.
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Intel Wins Key Antitrust Ruling [Digital Daily]
30 07 2010 Intel has won a crucial victory in a lawsuit claiming that consumers were harmed by the improper discounts it allegedly used to discourage PC makers from buying chips from its rivals. Late Thursday, a court-appointed “special master” recommended that the judge presiding over the case deny it class-action status, saying essentially that if consumers were overcharged as a result of Intel's alleged tactics, it wasn’t Intel’s fault.
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Slip 'N Slide Time: All the Presentations From Microsoft's Financial Analyst Meeting [BoomTown]
30 07 2010 Microsoft had its annual Financial Analyst Meeting at its Redmond, Wash. campus yesterday, where BoomTown liveblogged the morning and afternoon sessions with the software giant's top execs.And, because it is Microsoft, there were lots and lots of slides to look at, which are all after the jump.
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Microsoft Totally Going to Make Things Happen in Tablets [Digital Daily]
30 07 2010 Microsoft--which foresaw the tablet PC, but failed to commercialize it--has a lot to prove in the market currently dominated by Apple’s iPad, and every intention of proving it. Bringing Windows-based slates to market “is job one urgency around here,” said CEO Steve Ballmer at the company’s Financial Analyst Meeting Thursday.
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The Spotify Song Has a Familiar Chorus: U.S. Launch Talks Back to "Square One" [MediaMemo]
30 07 2010 When will Spotify, the best music service Americans can't use, finally make it to the U.S.? No time soon, according to a new report from Billboard. The good news for impatient people: There are plenty of substitutes available right now.
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Samsung's Results Jump, But Executives Are Cautious [Voices]
30 07 2010 Samsung Electronics Co. on Friday reported a record profit for the second quarter as expected, but company executives said that may have been the peak for the year as pricing pressures are likely to overwhelm the sales growth that normally occurs in the second half.
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The History and Use of "Spoiler Alert" [Voices]
30 07 2010 In her July 14 article about the premiere of the fourth season of "Mad Men," Alessandra Stanley neglected to include a phrase that precedes potentially revealing facts in film and TV reviews: “spoiler alert.”
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Our Rotting Video-Game Heritage [Voices]
30 07 2010 Not long ago a film buff turned up a 90 year old film of Charlie Chaplin.
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The WikiLeaks Paradox [Voices]
30 07 2010 Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, doesn't know who leaked the thousands of Afghanistan war documents that his site posted this week.
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Exclusive: Google, CIA Invest in 'Future' of Web Monitoring [Voices]
30 07 2010 The investment arms of the CIA and Google are both backing a company that monitors the web in real time — and says it uses that information to predict the future.
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First, Give Away the Game [Voices]
30 07 2010 More videogame companies, angling for larger audiences for big-budget online games, are making their products free to play in the hopes they can make more money by charging players for virtual goods.Videogame makers in Asia, who years ago figured out how to make money from free services by began charging players for virtual goods on free services, like weapons and outfits. Now that approach is catching on in the U.S., even among makers of big-budget online games.
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Is There Really a Key to Reboot the Internet? [Voices]
30 07 2010 It sounds like a Fellowship of the Ring for the internet age – a carefully chosen alliance of technology warriors, safeguarding a mythical key that could one day shut down the internet.
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