5 O’Clock Roundup: Google gets Gizmo, Timberlake as Facebook prez

November 9, 2009 | Paul Boutin | Comments | |

1402v2-max-250x250Google has acquired VoIP startup Gizmo – The deal for the Skype-alike startup was done for around $30 million in cash, says the rumor mill. eBay had come close to buying Gizmo as the company’s backup infrastructure, says TechCrunch, but walked away after the company’s founders settled with Skype.

mysqlSun – Oracle deal meets stiff opposition from European antitrust regulators — The European Commission issued a list of objections t0 the deal. Unlike U.S. antitrust authorities, the EU feels that the open-source MySQL database is particularly threatened by an Oracle-Sun alliance, since Oracle would then 0wn Sun’s version 0f MySQL.

Yahoo to provide free WiFi in Times Square – The network goes live on Tuesday. But … isn’t there plenty of free WiFi in Times Square already?

First photos of Justin Timberlake as Facebook president Sean Parker – Timberlake’s been cast as Parker in “The Social Network,” a movie currently in production by Columbia Pictures. Valleywag put a photo of JT on the set of the movie next to a shot of the real Parker from January. Click for full size.

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About the Author, Paul Boutin

Paul (paul@venturebeat.com) covers Apple & the iPhone, social networks & social media, digital music & video, and any crazy Internet story. Paul wrote and edited for Valleywag from 2006-2008, after several years with Wired magazine and Slate. He writes regularly for The New York Times' technology section and sometimes for Wired and The Wall Street Journal. He studied computer science at MIT in the early 1980s, and worked as a software developer and network administrator for 15 years before becoming a professional writer. Follow him on Twitter at @paulboutin, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

  • PHWalsh
    Very good article mate, been loving a lot of your stuff recently.

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    http://www.theisbook.com/status-generator/

    Check it out and thank me later

    Keep up the good work, I look forward to reading more of your stuff.