Top News:
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Why the feds smashed Megaupload — The US government dropped a nuclear bomb on “cyberlocker” site Megaupload today, seizing its domain names, grabbing $50 million in assets, and getting New Zealand police to arrest four of the site's key employees, including enigmatic founder Kim Dotcom.
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TechCrunch, PC Magazine, CNET, The Lede, Digits, Media News, Guardian, TechCrunch, New York Times, TeleRead, GigaOM and The Not-So Private Parts, more at Techmeme »
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Molly Wood / CNET:
Anonymous goes nuclear; everybody loses? — #OpMegaUpload: like watching “War Games” play out, but with cyber-bombs. — In the aftermath of the Jan. 18 SOPA/PIPA blackout protests, the Internet community had amassed quite a bit of goodwill, flexed its muscles in a friendly, humorous …
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Forbes, Fast Company, New York Times, Mother Jones, Gawker, Techdirt, rt.com, Pocket-lint, Gizmodo and WatchingTV Online, more at Techmeme »
Ben Sisario / The New York Times:
7 Charged as F.B.I. Closes a Top File-Sharing Site
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Wall Street Journal, Federal Bureau …, Gizmodo, Threat Level, Fast Company, Company Town, BET.com, Rolling Stone, CNET, Business Insider, Hillicon Valley, CNNMoney.com, The Verge, Gothamist, FP Passport, Betabeat, Mashable!, NME, ReadWriteWeb, Wall Street Journal, Future of Journalism, Techland, New York Magazine, GigaOM, The Verge, Forbes, Media Decoder, Gawker, FishbowlLA, Betabeat, The Next Web, Electronista, GalleyCat and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
Greg Sandoval / CNET:
Facebook in talks to replace YouTube as Vevo's host — Facebook has held talks with Vevo about moving the music-video service away from YouTube and over to the social network's platform, sources with knowledge of the talks told CNET. — While the sources said the discussions are very preliminary …
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The Tech Trade, mediabistro.com, paidContent, VatorNews, SplatF, Electronista, Gizmodo, The Next Web and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »
Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:
BuzzFeed Makes Another Splashy Hire, This One From Rolling Stone — BuzzFeed, the social Web site that made a splash last month by hiring the blogger Ben Smith away from Politico, will signal its expansion plans on Friday by announcing that it has hired Doree Shafrir of Rolling Stone to oversee culture coverage.
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FishbowlNY
Telegraph:
News International faces FBI phone hacking probe — Rupert Murdoch's is facing an FBI investigation into phone hacking in America after News International admitted intercepting voicemails of Jude Law, the actor, while it is thought he was in the United States. — Jude Law
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The Huffington Post
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Dan Wineman / venomous porridge:
The Unprecedented Audacity of the iBooks Author EULA — Apple just released iBooks Author, a free Mac app for creating digital books for the new version of iBooks. I haven't played with it much, but so far it looks like a very good tool. However, a curious thing happens when you go to export your work in iBooks format:
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paidContent, Baldur Bjarnason, David Smith, ZDNet, GigaOM, Apple, TUAW, Daring Fireball, The Vook Blog, 9to5Mac, AllThingsD, SiliconFilter, VentureBeat, MacRumors, Gizmodo, Business Insider, The Apple Core Blog, The Verge, ReadWriteWeb, MacStories, PandoDaily, Mashable!, The Digital Shift, CNET, SplatF, Rex Hammock's RexBlog.com, The Next Web, L.A. Times Tech Blog, WebProNews and Eater National, more at Techmeme »
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Mark Sweney / Guardian:
Iran's Press TV loses UK licence — Ofcom revokes English-language channel's licence for breaching the Communications Act — Press TV, the Iranian state broadcaster's English-language outlet, has been forced off the air in the UK after Ofcom revoked its licence for breaching the Communications Act.
Discussion:
Press Gazette and Reuters
Jeff Roberts / paidContent:
Leaders In House And Senate Postpone Piracy Laws — The push for controversial legislation known as SOPA and PIPA appears to have unraveled completely after leaders in both the House and Senate put the bills on ice. — In a press release this morning, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tx) …
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Nikki Finke / Deadline.com:
EXCLUSIVE: Hollywood Moguls Stopping Obama Donations Because Of President's Piracy Stand: “Not Give A Dime Anymore”
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New York Times, Threat Level, Indecision Forever, paidContent, rbr.com, The Huffington Post, ReadWriteWeb, The Informer, CNN, Techdirt, CNET, LA Observed and Free Press, more at Techmeme »
Politico:
CNN's John King puts himself on firing line — CHARLESTON, S.C. — Newt Gingrich's heated exchange with moderator John King at Thursday's CNN debate may help determine the fate of Gingrich's campaign for president and could also be a defining moment for King, whose image as a serious reporter …
Discussion:
Poynter, TVNewser, Media Decoder, New York Times, Washington Times, Online NewsHour, WLTX-TV, The Caucus, The Daily Beast, Telegraph, Erik Wemple and Inside Cable News
Cotton Delo / AdAge:
Search Still Drives Google, but Display Ads Now a $5 Billion Business — Revenue Falls Short of Expectations but Still Up 25% in Q4 — Citing a strong holiday season, Google reported a 25% increase in fourth-quarter revenue and a display advertising business that has doubled in the last two years.
Ananyo Bhattacharya / Guardian:
Nine ways scientists demonstrate they don't understand journalism — If reporters wrote stories the way some scientists seem to want, few people would read science coverage — Have you heard of Futurity? How about The Conversation? In different ways, these sites and others are bypassing …
Discussion:
Erik Wemple
Laurie Sullivan / MediaPost:
Online Ad Spend Projected To Soar To Nearly $40B — In a watershed moment for the Web, researchers expect domestic online advertising to finally surpass print adverting in 2012. According to eMarketer, U.S. online ad spending will grow an additional 23.3% to $39.5 billion this year.
Discussion:
MediaPost, NetNewsCheck Latest, AdAge, Future of Journalism, eMarketer, BtoB Magazine, Business Insider and Forbes
Jim Romenesko:
Dealing with the Fox News PR machine — “Much as I like Gabe Sherman's work, I disagree with him in this instance,” Times media editor Bruce Headlam told me Tuesday night. “Covering a person or organization doesn't mean you are carrying water for them. If it did, our homepage right …
Discussion:
Gawker, Inside Cable News, Future of Journalism and TVNewser
John Koblin / WWD:
Condé Nast CEO Plans Meeting for Editors — NEW BFFS: Ever so slowly, the editors at Condé Nast are getting to know their company's chief executive officer more and more. Early next month, for the first time, Condé Nast ceo Charles Townsend will host a meeting …
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