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Exclusive: Weblogs Inc Being Bought Out By America Online : [by Rafat Ali] As usual, you read it here first: Weblogs Inc, the blog media company founded by Jason Calacanis (pictured at We Media conference today) and Brian Alvey, is being bought by America Online, paidContent.org has learned from multiple sources.
Discussion:
B.L. Ochman's weblog, Blog Tips at ProBlogger, Tom Raftery's I.T. views, Micro Persuasion, TechCrunch, Scobleizer, Software Only, ben barren, technology filter, Susan Mernit's Blog, Ed Bott's Windows Expertise, Small Business Trends, The Stalwart, A VC, Search Engine Journal, Colin's Corner, Blogspotting, paradox1x, BlogNetworkWatch, Read/Write Web, Adrants, jkOnTheRun, BetaNews, Digital Tech Life, SearchViews, Business Blog Consulting, Mashable*, The Blog Herald, @rgumente, The Voice of Online …, Om Malik's Broadband Blog, Gawker and Webby Media Blog Network
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AOL to buy Weblogs Inc. network for $25 mln-source — SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 5 (Reuters) - America Online Inc. has agreed to buy Weblogs Inc. — a network of Internet diaries focused on niche topics ranging from food to gadgets — for around $25 million, a source familiar with the deal said on Wednesday.

The Companies of Web 2.0, Part 2 — Here's the second set of companies that presented at the Web 2.0 conference Launchpad workshop. See Part 1 here. — Zvents — My friend Ethan Stock showed off Zvents, which launched last night. We've written about zvents here and here.
Discussion:
ClickZ Internet Marketing …, Charlene Li's Blog, Om Malik's Broadband Blog and Mashable*
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Microsoft Announces New Product to Help Protect Business Customers — Q&A: Microsoft Client Protection is designed to protect business desktops, laptops and file servers from current and emerging malware threats. — REDMOND, Wash., October 6, 2005- Microsoft today announced Microsoft Client Protection …
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Sprint-Nextel vs. Vonage: First Bicker, Then Make Up? — I just got done reading a 13-page lawsuit, alleging that Vonage, providing popular VoIP services, infringed on telco Sprint-Nextel's patents. And I have to say that this is the tiniest, and the least detailed lawsuit I've ever seen.

Google Maps becomes Google Local — BECOMES.. — Our observations of changes in the Google Maps site have been explained. Google's product management group has merged 'Maps' and 'Local' together to make just.. "Google Local". When you enter http://maps.google.com …
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More details on Web 2.0 story — This is why I love having a blog. Here's a story that includes a quote from me from a Web 2.0 panel: … What I mean by that is that competition makes things better for users and publishers. If someone comes along and competes fairly and does a better job than Google …
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The Carnival of Gamers — Welcome! — This marks, I believe, the seventh Carnival of Gamers thus far, and I would congratulate it on lasting seven months except that the first four carnivals all happened in basically six weeks. But regardless of time, seven is a pretty decent number …

Is Yahoo public enemy No. 1 for Big Media? — Yahoo has always worked closely with media companies. But as Yahoo News rolls out original content, has Big Media's ally become a challenger? — Rare is the moment when a newspaper actually thinks out loud.

16 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Blog. Tips for Terrific Telephone Interviews. — You've got your blog set up and you've started posting pithy, useful information that your niche market would benefit from and enjoy. Days go by, you keep publishing, but no one comments and your traffic stats are barely registering.
Discussion:
Micro Persuasion

Re: Comment on post 992 — Editorial: Google diversifies, opportunity for upstarts — Prev/Next: — 1009/1011 — Reads: — 984 — A rough design for RSS integration in search engines.... 1. Suppose I search for "Rex Hammock" on site:scripting.com (that is …

Network feud leads to Net blackout — Two major Internet backbone companies are feuding, potentially cutting off significant swaths of the Internet for some of each other's customers. — On Wednesday, network company Level 3 Communications cut off its direct "peering" …
Discussion:
MacInTouch

Record labels, satellite radio seen in showdown — LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The record industry may next aim its legal guns at satellite radio due to a dispute involving new portable players which let listeners record and store songs, an analyst and industry sources said on Wednesday.
Discussion:
Copyfight