Rojo

 

An inquest heard today how a Keighley engineer and her work colleague died in a popular cave when they became trapped in strong waters...  

MySpace, then Facebook and then Google all recently launched services for third parties to access their users’ data through other sites.

Google, though, uses Facebook’s developer platform to distribute Facebook user data through its own service, Google Friend Connect. Now, Facebook has cut off that access.

When Google announced Friend Connect on Monday, I asked the company for clarification on its relationship with Facebook — strangely, Google didn’t offer MySpace data even though those two companies are partners on Open Social. A main point of the announcement, after all, was that Open Social applications could run on other sites, with better access to social networks’ data.

Instead, Google announced that third party developers would be able to access data from Orkut, smaller Open Social member network hi5 and Linked — and Facebook. Google, it seems, wanted to see just how open Facebook’ social network rival was.

For Google’s response to my question, check out this audio clip. As the company tells me in the clip, it has no business relationship with Facebook.

From the Facebook company blog, today:

In the past, when we found applications passing user data to another party (for instance, to ad networks for the purpose of targeting), we suspended those applications and worked with those developers to ensure they respect user privacy. Now that Google has launched Friend Connect, we’ve had a chance to evaluate the technology. We’ve found that it redistributes user information from Facebook to other developers without users’ knowledge, which doesn’t respect the privacy standards our users have come to expect and is a violation of our Terms of Service. Just as we’ve been forced to do for other applications that redistribute data in a way users might not expect or understand, we’ve had to suspend Friend Connect’s access to Facebook user information until it comes into compliance. We’ve reached out to Google several times about this issue, and hope to work with them to enable users to share their data exactly when and where they choose.

 

As expected, Carl Icahn has sent a letter to Yahoo Chariman Roy Bostock indicating his plans to nominate an alternative board of directors, which, amongst others, includes Mark Cuban, who has been a proponent of a combined Microsoft-Yahoo since the news first broke. Ironically, Cuban made his fortune when he sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo for $5.6 billion back at the peek of the first dot-com boom. This move paves the way for Yahoo shareholders to elect the alternative board at the company’s annual meeting, which would then set the stage for Microsoft to make a new bid to acquire the company.

In the letter, Icahn discloses that he has acquired 59 million shares of Yahoo. Hence, if he’s able to get his board elected and Microsoft to re-offer $33/share, he stands to make several hundred million dollars. How’s that for motivation?

The letter has some awesomely stern-worded sound bites, including:

“It is irresponsible to hide behind management’s more than overly optimistic financial forecasts.”

“During the past week, a number of shareholders have asked me to lead a proxy fight to attempt to remove the current board and to establish a new board which would attempt to negotiate a successful merger with Microsoft, something that in my opinion the current board has completely botched.”

“It is unconscionable that you have not allowed your shareholders to choose to accept an offer that represented a 72% premium over Yahoo’s closing price of $19.18 on the day before the initial Microsoft offer.”

Here’s the full text of the letter, which also includes Icahn’s full set of board nominees:

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Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:

Pushed By Icahn, Yahoo Jumps Back Into Ad Deal With Google?
The Microsoft-Yahoo Dream/Nightmare Lives On: Billionaire Icahn Makes a Move
More Love Notes: Yahoo Responds to Icahn’s Master Plan
Jerry Yang To Workforce: Nevermind The Pitchforks And Torches. Keep Coding.
Yahoo Gives Microsoft More Time to Nominate Directors
Yahoo Gets Sued for Not Selling to Microsoft?
The Daily Poll: Is Microsoft-Yahoo Inevitable?

 

 

lilac_leaf has added a photo to the pool:

this was a small cascade, with the green light effect adding to the ambiance...

 

CaverScott has added a photo to the pool:

 

lilac_leaf has added a photo to the pool:

This looked like the jawbone of a dinosaur...

 

By Sean Maguire

Standing strong at number 24 on Forbes list of the 400 Richest Americans, with a cool $8.7 Billion to his name, Carl Icahn can haz lots of cheezburgerz! Guess what? He wants more.

Oh, the intrigue; the recent breathtaking game of “Deal or No Deal” between Microsoft and Yahoo. Unless you’ve been rafting down the Bolivian mountains’ Tuichi River for the last three months, you’re well aware of Jerry Yang and Co’s, repeated rejections of Microsoft’s increasingly generous overtures. The last one being a lofty (cough cough) - $33.00/share or $47.5 Billion dollars! This represented a full 70% premium over Yahoo’s closing price of $19.18 on January 31. With Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer playing the role of Howie Mandel, Yang sent two of his yings to politely tell him “No Deal Stevie…No Deal”!

On May 3rd, Ballmer finally had enough and sent a little love letter (or nastygram), depending on how well you read between the lines, to Jerry Yang, thanking him and telling him how disappointed he was that they couldn’t get a deal done. Marketing translation - “Jerry – you really screwed your investors on this one. Oh, and thanks for wasting my time.”

Nevertheless, Yang must have been thinking he had successfully fended off his unwelcome rival. There was one problem. The banker in the booth was seething. His name? Carl Icahn. One of the shrewdest investors in America, Mr. Icahn is not someone to be taken lightly. In fact, as of this writing, Reuters is reporting that Icahn is filing a full board slate for Yahoo, readying himself to take the big stick to Mr. Yang and Co.

Looks to me like Messrs. Brin, Page and Schmidt may be having that 30 minute strategy meeting afterall, since it won’t be long before Jerry Yang gets back on the phone to his buddy in Redmond to deliver a one word message: “Deal.”

My prediction? Carl Icahn will get his cheeseburgers and ultimately drive the sale to Microsoft. My sweepstakes number is $34.00 a share. Give us your opinion and price here at the Pilgrim and let’s see who the sharpest trader is.

About Sean Maguire.

Sean Maguire is the Founder and Managing Partner for 360SELL, Inc., an Austin, TX based internet sales and marketing consulting firm. Sean has over 20 years experience working with venture funded startups through Fortune 500 industry leaders.

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