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Time Warner Plans to Sell 5% of AOL to Google — Rebuffing aggressive overtures from Microsoft, Time Warner has agreed to sell a 5 percent stake in America Online to Google for $1 billion as part of an expanded partnership between AOL, once the dominant company on the Internet, and Google, the current online king.
Discussion:
PaidContent.org, mathewingram.com/work, Rough Type, The Kelsey Group and Incremental Blogger
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AOL to stick with Google — update Google may pay $1 billion for a 5 percent stake in America Online as part of an exclusive deal with Time Warner that would strengthen ties with the search giant instead of dumping Google for Microsoft. — As part of the current negotiations with Google …

Time Warner in exclusive talks with Google on AOL — NEW YORK (Reuters) - Time Warner Inc. is in exclusive talks with Web search leader Google Inc. about broadening a partnership with Time Warner's AOL online unit, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Google Buying Stake in AOL for $1 Billion — Google Inc. is buying a 5 percent stake in Dulles-based America Online for $1 billion as part of a far-reaching business and advertising partnership that will link the two companies in many ways and will greatly enhance AOL's financial prospects …

Google 'in exclusive AOL talks' — Google shares have hit record highs on reports it could take a stake in Time Warner's internet unit, AOL. — Under the deal, Google would pay $1bn (£565m) for a 5% stake in AOL, the Wall Street Journal website has reported. The two firms have declined to comment.

Update on TypePad Issues — Here is an update on the current issues we're experiencing with TypePad. — Most importantly, we want you to know that your blog data is safe. We have no reason to believe that any of your posts, comments, TrackBacks, photos or files have been lost.
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Current Issues with TypePad — During routine maintenance of our network and storage systems last night, we experienced an issue with our primary disk system where data from published blogs are stored. We are currently running diagnostics on the device, and working to restore your data as soon as possible.

The Web 2.0 Hit By Outages — Update: Anil says TypePad is back online. — A few weeks ago, I had a healthy and civilized debate with the gents from 37Signals (followed subsequently with a podcast with questionable sound quality) on the issue of scale and scalability.

Start-up merges cell phone and PC into a handheld — It's a cell phone. It's a computer. It's the two invaluable companions of the modern executive in one. — DualCor Technologies next month will unveil the cPC, a full-fledged handheld Windows XP computer that also comes with a built-in smart phone that runs Windows Mobile 5.0.
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Will Apple Push "Intel Inside"? — It sure is hard to imagine Jobs & Co. putting the chipmaker's ubiquitous logo on their gleaming machines — or in their ads — The coming year for Apple Computer (AAPL) is full of questions, and many of them are connected one way or another with the switch …

eBay faces up to online fraud — The online auctioneer eBay has admitted an "extreme growth" in the number of personal accounts being hijacked by fraudsters. — Criminals are obtaining the secret passwords of eBay subscribers and using their sites to conduct bogus auctions for non-existent goods.
Discussion:
The Consumerist

The Great Xbox Shortage of 2005 — Why you can't buy the one present you really need. — Gaming enthusiasts camp outside electronics stores, desperate to buy the hot new game console. Corporate flacks are deployed to fend off PR calamity: "Consumer demand for the new console has exceeded …

'Mighty Mouse' robot frees stuck radiation source — DOE's Sandia, DoD's White Sands achieve successful extraction of deadly material — ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Sandia National Laboratories robot recently withstood enough radiation to kill 40 men in freeing a stuck radiation source …

News Analysis: Publisher Apologizes To Online Lyrics Tool — The saga started in early December, in what has become almost standard practice: the music industry using legal threats to quash first, question later an interesting new technology. — But on Dec. 15 there was a less typical development …