Top Items:
Varun Dubey / cooltechzone.com:
Microsoft Buys Out Opera — (Insider Report) - Here comes a surprise. In a recent conversation with one of our insiders at Microsoft, the source revealed that Microsoft Corp., the world's largest software maker, has acquired Opera Software, makers of the Opera browser.
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Matt Loney / ZDNet:
Opera denies Microsoft takeover rumours … As the phones ring off the hook at Opera, the browser vendor insists rumours that Microsoft is buying it out are unfounded — Opera on Friday denied the latest takeover rumour spreading round the Internet, saying that it has not had any approaches from Microsoft or anyone else.
Discussion:
mathewingram.com/work, Things That, Mark Evans, The Jason Calacanis Weblog, Neowin.net, Microsoft Watch, digg and OpsanBlog
Michael Gartenberg:
Microsoft buys Opera - Here's Why (it would have made sense) — Update - The Opera folks are saying this isn't correct and there's no deal. I should have been more skeptical, it's something we would likely have been briefed on if it were true. — Thought it was going to be a quiet day, but it doesn't seem that way at all.
Discussion:
Microsoft Monitor
MSNBC:
Microsoft, NBC restructure cable channel deal — Both sides remain committed to Internet news site MSNBC.com — NBC Universal will assume majority control of the 24-hour cable channel MSNBC under a restructuring of its 10-year-old joint venture agreement with software giant Microsoft, the two companies announced Friday.
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New York Times:
NBC Takes Control of MSNBC, Reducing Microsoft Role — NBC Universal announced today that it has reached a deal to acquire majority control of MSNBC, the 24-hour cable television news network, from Microsoft. — The transaction could be the first step in ending a nine-year partnership between …
Jason McCabe Calacanis / The Jason Calacanis Weblog:
My Predictions for 2006 — Update: Marketwatch picked up my predictions; Jim talks about a prediction that mentions WIN; Many others folks have commented including: Incremental Blogger, Bloggers Blog, Randy Holloway Unfiltered 2.0, ben barren, Sean Bonner and Blogs4Biz. — My Predictions for 2006
Discussion:
Poynter Online, Incremental Blogger, Bloggers Blog, Randy Holloway Unfiltered 2.0 and ben barren
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Steve Rubel / Micro Persuasion:
2006 Trends Part I: Comment Search — There's a ton of bloggers making 2006 predictions in the blogosphere this week. Two notable ones were opined by Jason Calacanis and John Battelle. I am not here to predict, more to observe. So over the next 10 days (by now you know I like that number) …
John Battelle / John Battelle's Searchblog:
GOOGLE CLARIFIES — On the AOL announcement. — I want to take this at face value. But that's not my inclination. Talking to Google in the next few days, and as usual, I am sure there will be clarity there. But for now, why am I skeptical? Because, well, I've negotiated with AOL.
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Marissa Mayer / Official Google Blog:
About the AOL announcement — The recent announcement of the AOL partnership has been the source of a lot of rumors and misconceptions. We'd like to clear some of those up. — Biased results? No way. Providing great search is the core of what we do.
Shelleyp / Burningbird:
Web2.0 — Jeneane Sessum is writing on Web 2.0 stuff. To her I say Blog! Oh, geez that felt so good! But I digress. — Jeneane writes about Web 1.0 and 2.0 terminology and says you can't have consensus on the web. That's an excellent point. We had agreement about the web.
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Scobleizer / Microsoft Geek Blogger:
MarkL loves 4 a.m. workers — Mark Lucovsky of Google came by Mini-Microsoft and bragged "I worked until 3 a.m. and guess what. … Keep in mind here that Mark is an industry leader that's paid many times my salary of less than $100,000 a year. His comment pisses me off.
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Who da'Punk / Mini-Microsoft:Comment Report - MarkL nee of Microsoft now of Google drops by
Discussion:
Smalltalk Tidbits …
CNET News.com:
Verizon plans to offer mobile music downloads — Verizon Wireless is expected to introduce a music download service next month that will let subscribers purchase music wirelessly over their mobile phones and transfer songs between their phones and Windows PCs, CNET News.com has learned.
Kenji Hall / Business Week:
Sony: Shooting from the Chip? — A top exec boasts that the new Cell processor is "as good as the Pentium, if not better." But topping Intel is a tall order — Nearly anyone who owns a PC is familiar with the "Intel Inside" sticker. The blue-and-white logo has been a potent symbol of Intel's …
Raf Casert / Associated Press:
EU threatens Microsoft with penalties — DEC. 22 9:26 A.M. ET The European Union has threatened to fine Microsoft up to 2 million euros ($2.37 million) a day, saying Thursday the software company is not fully complying with the EU's 2004 antitrust ruling. — Microsoft immediately retorted …
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rexblog.com:
iTunes tip — Pre-Christmas morning iTunes tip: Long time readers of the rexblog know I'm a big user of Apple's iTunes service. However, my "power" usage and the length of time I've been using the iTunes store (since the day it was opened), means I know what I'm talking about when I say the following:
PR Newswire:
What Do President Bush, Lindsay Lohan and Star Wars Have in Common? They Topped Ask Jeeves Search Categories in 2005 — Current Events and Celebrities Dominate User Searches Overall — OAKLAND, Calif., Dec. 22 /PRNewswire/ — Ask Jeeves, Inc. today released the list of 2005's …
A Whole Lotta Nothing:
you learn something new everyday — Let's say you take a trip out to your mailbox a few hundred yards away, and you know there are big packages in the box, and it's a downpour. So you grab an umbrella (knowing that true Oregonians never use umbrellas, but you make an exception for the sake of dry christmas presents).
