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Oracle Acquisitions are not about MySQL — I've been thinking about this for the last day or so and have come to the conclusion that Oracle's acquisition of Sleepycat Software (and Berkeley DB) is not about MySQL. Even when combined with their previous purchase of Innobase Oy (and InnoDB), it's not about MySQL.
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Om Malik on Broadband
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Climbing Bloggers Hill: Scoble on Getting A-Listed — As a Valentine's Day present to those of us trying to scrape and claw our way up bloggers hill (and there are many of us), Scoble hands out some tips for joining the A-List. Obviously he knows what it takes to get on the proverbial A-List and he has some good ideas.
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Internet Firms to Defend Policies — Yahoo Inc., Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. will go on Capitol Hill today to defend corporate policies for dealing with China that they say balance business interests with human-rights concerns. — In testimony before the House subcommittee on Africa …
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RConversation
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Why we invested in Sipphone, developers of Gizmo Project — Dawntreader Ventures has just led a $6mm round of financing in Sipphone, its first outside round of capital. We look forward to working with Michael Robertson and Jason Droege to fuel continued growth in the Sipphone …
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Alec Saunders .LOG
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In Contest, Players Vie to Position A Site Atop a Google Search — Remember how your parents used to tell you that when you encounter people you don't like, you should just ignore them? This story will help to show why that's true. — John Scott is a member of the occasionally shadowy fraternity of …

UK holds Microsoft security talks — UK officials are talking to Microsoft over fears the new version of Windows could make it harder for police to read suspects' computer files. — Microsoft Vista is due to be rolled out later this year. Cambridge academic Ross Anderson told MPs it would mean more computer files being encrypted.

Microsoft Hopes Prizes Attract New Search Users — Remember the long-running e-mail hoax from the early days of the Web, the one that had Bill Gates testing an "e-mail tracing program" and offering to pay recipients big bucks if they passed his test e-mail along to all their friends?
Discussion:
The Kelsey Group Blog
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Exclusive: PS3 HUB; September Launch — Next Generation can reveal that Sony is planning to launch an online games service, largely modelled on Xbox Live, currently called PlayStation HUB. We also understand Sony is aiming for a September launch for PlayStation 3 in Japan and North America.

WHAT OFFICE LIVE IS NOT — Last night, Microsoft lifted the NDA for Office Live, so I am rapidly blogging a day sooner than expected. Office Live goes live—at least in limited beta—tomorrow. — So there is to confusion about Office Live: — * Office Live absolutely is not a hosted version of Microsoft Office.
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Virtual Reality Prepares Soldiers for Real War — Young Warriors Say Video Shooter Games Helped Hone Their Skills — One blistering afternoon in Iraq, while fighting insurgents in the northern town of Mosul, Sgt. Sinque Swales opened fire with his .50-cal. That was only the second time, he says, that he ever shot an enemy.
Discussion:
Smart Mobs

Why Most VC's Don't Sign NDAs — The following question appeared in my inbox the other day. … For starters, I'll restate the assertion. Most VC's don't sign non-disclosure agreements. Guy Kawasaki had a good comment on it in his Venture Capitalist Wishlist post. … That basically says it all.
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ben barren

HD DVD and Blu-ray delayed again, as AACS is pushed back — Remember all of the positioning about which next-generation optical format would hit the market first? Forget about it. It now appears that both formats will hit the market at the same time, because delays in the security specification …

Scrivs launches jihad against 9rules members — All is not well at 9rules today with word coming via BlogNetworkWatch that network owner Paul Scrivens has launched a jihad against 9rules members who don't meet the following (new) rules: — 9rules sites will only be allowed to be in 9rules - and not in any other content network.

About the Firefox "memory leak" — A lot of people complain about the Firefox "memory leak(s)". All versions of Firefox no doubt leak memory - it is a common problem with software this complicated. We look to fix the issues where we can. David Baron and others have done a huge amount of excellent work in this area.

The flattening of the press world — A dirty little secret about PR: they give certain press "exclusives" to try to get the story out better. This still goes on all the time. Why does Walt Mossberg or Steven Levy write about something before everyone else does?

The Evolution of Information Grazing — Update: James Corbett disagrees completely. — One lens through which to look at the recent innovation in the memetracker space is frustration. If you look at where the frustration is in how we track memes (ideas), you can get a decent picture of where the innovation is going.
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EirePreneur