CNET Aug 13, 07 3:30 PM CDT
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Microsoft completed the largest buyout in its history today, snatching up online advertising firm aQuantive for $6B. Microsoft closed the deal on Friday and will dole out $66.50 in cash for each share of the Seattle-based company, which will de-list from the Nasdaq after nearly doubling in value after its filing today, CNET reports.
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New access to Web opens in 2009
Washington Post Aug 13, 07 9:28 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Regulators won't OK Microsoft's plan to give consumers access to the Internet through unused TV airwaves, but the firm isn't taking no for an answer. The FCC has already nixed a protoype that caused static on existing broadcasts, but Microsoft says it now has a version that works, and a filing today will ask regulators to reconsider the initial ruling.
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Sites, government
still have some work
to do, study finds
PC World Aug 9, 07 5:06 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Search engines are beginning to take user privacy more seriously, but stronger federal privacy legislation is still necessary, a new study says. In the online marketplace, privacy policies have become competitive factors, with sites one-upping each other to make surfers feel that they're safe and have control over their personal info, says the report by a prominent advocacy group.
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How service will protect against pranksters is unknown
Ars Technica Aug 8, 07 9:54 PM CDT
(Newser)
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People who want to talk back to the press received a major invitation from Google News yesterday when it announced a plan to post user comments alongside links to news articles, ars technica reports. But only people and groups specifically mentioned in the articles will be allowed into Google’s new peanut gallery, which will open its doors later in this week.
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Photo feature expands to SoCal; privacy concerns follow
Los Angeles Times Aug 8, 07 12:11 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Google has added street-level views of Los Angeles and other cities to its popular mapping service, the Los Angeles Times reports, raising a chorus of privacy concerns that echoes objections to the feature elsewhere. Though a useful navigation tool, Street View "is a visual reminder of how our private spaces are really shrinking," one privacy advocate says.
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Join sports leagues and other aggrieved parties in class-action suit
Ars Technica Aug 7, 07 9:38 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Apparently YouTube forgot to make a deal for the music and lyrics played on its website, or so claims a music publishers’ association that has joined a growing copyright lawsuit aimed at Google, the site's owner, ars technica reports. YouTube, which did agree to share ad revenue with four major music labels, continues to remove copyright-violating videos when asked and plans to install a new filtering system by fall.
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Company showing prototypes in bid to break into cell phone ad market
Independent (UK) Aug 3, 07 3:17 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Google is spending hundreds of millions of dollars secretly developing a cell phone which offers Google search technology and other services, reports the London Independent. Prototype phones have been shown to several wireless carriers. The company is poised to bid on wireless spectrum licenses in the upcoming federal auction, which could be used to become a mobile phone operator.
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Techies’ lobbying tactics on wireless auction vex old guard
Washington Post Jul 30, 07 9:53 AM CDT
(Newser)
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The FCC will rule tomorrow on whether an upcoming airwaves auction will require its winner to build an open-access network, and the verdict will test Google’s lobbying prowess, the Washington Post reports. Google has been pushing the open network aggressively, to the chagrin of AT&T and Verizon, mustering support from public interest groups and consumer advocates.
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Despite most volatile market ever, Microsoft chairman will bow out
New York Times Jul 30, 07 8:03 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Bill Gates says that, despite a surge in competition from all sides of the market, his phased exit from Microsoft has been bug-free so far. His two-year transition period halfway done, the chairman and former CEO says that his handpicked successors have been successfully picking up the slack. But doubters say Gates can't fully disengage at such a critical time.
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User-generated custom atlases are becoming guides to everything
New York Times Jul 27, 07 2:16 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Taking a page from Wikipedia, Internet users are harnessing the collective knowledge of millions and applying it to maps. On the rapidly growing "GeoWeb," surfers create custom atlases using mapping technology by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and others. The user-generated maps can highlight anything from stores to previously unavailable maps of endurance horse races, the Times reports.
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Search giant set to buy wireless frequencies
San Francisco Chronicle Jul 22, 07 7:39 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Google is poised to bid $4.6 billion in the upcoming federal auction of wireless frequencies, to create a national broadband network that could challenge the dominance of companies like AT&T and Comcast. If Google's bid triumphs, the web search giant could expand into selling Internet, telephone and television services—or have other providers do it for them, reports the San Francisco Chronicle .
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After flirtation with 14K, reality bites
Bloomberg Jul 20, 07 4:04 PM CDT
(Newser)
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A week of record highs ended with a thump today as the major markets plummeted after a flurry of disappointing quarterly earnings reports. The Dow, which crested 14,000 yesterday, dropped 149.33 to close at 13,851.08, off more than 1%. The S&P 500, beset by worries about banks' earnings, fell 18.98 to 1,534.10. The Nasdaq dropped 32.44, closing at 2,687.60.
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Web giant boosts wireless profile with move into mobile media
Wall Street Journal Jul 17, 07 12:43 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Google is taking its business to a smaller screen with the development of a search tool to help cellphone users find and purchase content. Sources tell the Wall Street Journal the company hopes to tap into the small but lucrative world of mobile media, expanding beyond simple Web searches to broker sales of music, ringtones, and games.
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