Good Morning Silicon Valley

Is Jayson Blair writing for the New York Times again? That’s the question I asked myself after a reader sent me a link to a Times report claiming Microsoft is in talks to purchase controversial adware distributor Claria. How could it be that Microsoft, after all its talk of anti-ad/spyware initiatives, was considering the purchase [...]

There may be an end in sight to RIM’s seemingly interminable litigation with NTP (see "What’s this ‘asinine patent legislation’ charge doing on my RIM bill?"). According to an NTP filing with the U.S. patent office, RIM has uncovered documentation that describes a system for wireless e-mail. Authored by Norwegian telco Telenor, the documents were [...]

Don’t call it reversing field, flip-flopping or reneging — it’s simply "the foundation of U.S. policy going forward." But no amount of spin can blur the U.S. decision to keep control of the Net’s root server lists, despite a previous commitment to put them in the hands of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and [...]

"It’ll go as numb as your brain."

-Tattoo artist Don Brouse preps Kari Smith, who accepted $10,000 to have the GoldenPalace.com domain tattooed on her forehead.

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IBM has finally succeeded in knocking a few hundred million dollars out of the Microsoft antitrust settlement piñata. Microsoft has agreed to pay IBM $775 million to settle discriminatory pricing and overcharging claims stemming from the U.S. government’s mid-1990s antitrust case againts it.  The settlement is the latest in a string of similar resolutions in [...]

The valley got its first Really Simple Syndication fund yesterday when an investor group announced plans to raise $100 million to develop the technology (it’s got $20 million so far). Investors in the fund include John Palfrey and Jim Moore, both of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School; Steve Smith [...]

Excuse me, but what are they smoking over at the IRS? Earlier this week, the agency awarded a $20 million "batch process" contract to ChoicePoint — the data services company that exposed 145,000 people to potential identity theft in February. Under the terms of the five-year contract, ChoicePoint will provide the IRS with custom data [...]

It’s no secret that CNET Networks is a great acquisition target. So it comes as little surprise to learn that the company is shopping itself to potential buyers. Unnamed sources tell the New York Post that  CNET has held informal discussions with Viacom and Barry Diller’s InterActiveCorp, among others — and that investment banks are [...]

Turns out "Matrix Revolutions" wasn’t the only only copyrighted content being distributed without permission via Google Video (see "Couldn’t you have picked a better movie?"). "The Big Lebowski," "Scarface," and a number of episodes from "Family Guy," "The Daily Show" and "Stargate Atlantis" were on the menu as well. Not any more, through.  By late [...]

The iPod Flea (Thanks everyone) and Apropos comics: "The dark lord of the Sith does not tolerate foam in his latte, admiral."

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