rumors

A trio of German entrepreneurs-turned-investors may have invested in Facebook, TechCrunch wrote Tuesday.

The European Founders Fund, consisting of thirtysomething brothers Alexander, Marc and Oliver Samwer, has reportedly put out a "very brief press release" explaining that they have invested in the Palo Alto, Calif.-based social-networking site. An exact amount was not disclosed.

The investment firm was not immediately available for comment.

It's no secret that Facebook has been hunting for new investors ever since it was pegged with a whopping $15 billion valuation following Microsoft's famous purchase of a $240 million stake. Some of … Read more

Bjork fans sing along: It's oh, so quiet / Shhh, shhh / it's oh, so still / Shhh, shhh...

Few manufacturers want to interrupt the holiday buying season with new product announcements; why make the stuff currently sitting on shelves seem obsolete? Besides, two major shows--CES and Macworld--are just around the corner. So this week was filled with a little news and a lot of speculation.

First up: Apple. Matt Elliott redefined our notion of gadget lust in his write-up about the LED-backlit MacBooks, which are reportedly on the way in time for Macworld. But who wouldn't get a little … Read more

There must have been something afoot in the crisp, early-December air that hinted News Corp. mogul Rupert Murdoch was in the market for a new Web acquisition. But, contrary to rumors, it isn't social news site Digg or business networking hub LinkedIn.

Rather, the media conglomerate is rumored to have purchased religion and spirituality site Beliefnet, according to a report from the FishbowlNY blog at Mediabistro. The blog received an "anonymous tip" that prompted a call to Beliefnet, resulting in an odd no-we-won't-deny-it comment that convinced FishbowlNY editor Noah Davis that it was pretty much a … Read more

Recently, a number of conflicting rumors have been spinning around over media mogul News Corp. potentially wanting to fork over as much as $1 billion for business-oriented social network LinkedIn. Would it sell? Would it really cost that much? Or is it all a load of misinformation?

I met with LinkedIn CEO Dan Nye on Monday while he made the rounds at an NYC press tour, and the company's official comment on the LinkedIn rumors is, well, no comment. However, while speaking about the projected growth of the company from its status as a partner in Google's OpenSocial initiative … Read more

The latest rumor has it that Pentax plans to announce two new SLR models, the K20D and K200D, on January 24, a week before the Photo Marketing Association trade show that begins.

A now-defunct discussion thread on a Chinese Web site, helpfully archived at DCHome.net and supplemented by postings at Bigbigcar.com and PhotoMalaysia forums, includes a few supposed details about models that would presumably replace the K10D and K100D:

The alleged K20D has a 14-megapixel sensor of the smaller APS-C size, a 14-bit analog-to-digital converter (for better tonal gradations than typical 12-bit converters but leading to larger raw … Read more

Update 4:20 a.m. Wednesday: Information from a Digg representative has been added.

Kevin Rose, founder of social news aggregator Digg, posted a quick blog entry on Tuesday night about his site's new relationship with Rupert Murdoch's latest accessory, The Wall Street Journal.

"The Wall Street Journal online is adding Digg buttons across the entire site, and you'll now have full (free) access to the articles submitted to Digg," Rose wrote. "The Digg buttons have started appearing on WSJ.com articles tonight."

The "full free access" part is key. While … Read more

Several sources close to InterActiveCorp (IAC) have told CNET News.com that, contrary to rumors, the media conglomerate is not purchasing youth-oriented social-networking site MyYearbook. The rumor was originally reported by Valleywag on Wednesday.

The misconception arose, one source said, because MyYearbook was one of multiple start-ups that were invited to do "mock pitches" to IAC chairman and CEO Barry Diller as part of a session at this week's exclusive Quadrangle conference (hosted by the eponymous private equity firm) at the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan. Essentially, it was like moot court for entrepreneurs.

MyYearbook was founded by … Read more

This post has been updated with comment from Digg CEO Jay Adelson.

Valleywag reported on Wednesday afternoon that a "major media player" was close to plunking down $300 million to $400 million for social news site Digg. Valleywag editor Owen Thomas wrote that "a source rules out all the big Internet players--not Microsoft, not Google, not Yahoo, not News Corp.," and that CBS had "taken itself out of the running."

Thomas went on to speculate that perhaps the buyer for the Kevin Rose-founded Digg would be the New York Times Company or the Washington … Read more

Our continental brethren at Crave UK have heard from a source at Asus that Apple's plans to build a tablet computer are definitely under way. Yes, the rumor has been around for years, but Asus is one of Apple's contract manufacturers, and we all know that it's all about the touch screen these days down in Cupertino.

According to the source, the tablet will supposedly be based on an entirely new blueprint, though no specs or other details are known. And it's always possible that a prototype is being made without any definite plans for production. … Read more