What If Google’s Social Layer Is Chrome? What If Facebook Builds A Browser? (TechCrunch)

Since being wrestled back from Microsoft’s death grip, the web browser has thrived thanks to its openness. All of the popular browsers beyond IE — Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera — are either based on open-source or have a thriving community that helps develop and expand each of them. And it’s relatively easy for a user to switch between any of them. But what if that were to change?

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Microsoft Rolls Up Cloud Services Into Office 365, Takes Aim At Google Apps (TechCrunch)

Today at an event in San Francisco, Microsoft's Office division is unveiling a new product: a suite of the company’s productivity services called Office 365

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Food stamps for broadband would bring slow 'Net to the poor (Ars Technica)

A former FCC Commissioner wonders aloud about a crazy new idea: "broadband stamps" that would provide truly terrible Internet service to the poor.

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Exclusive: Coca-Cola taps new drink textures (Reuters)

Scientists at Coca-Cola Co are working on developments ranging from plant-derived plastic to beverages with new textures, as the world's largest soft drink maker aims to stay ahead of consumers' quickly changing tastes.

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Claim your $16! Comcast P2P settlement now final (Ars Technica)

Despite a campaign to derail the settlement, a long-running class-action lawsuit against Comcast and its P2P-blocking ways has ended. If you were a Comcast subscriber between April 1, 2006 and December 31, 2008, and you used the Ares, BitTorrent, eDonkey, FastTrack, or Gnutella P2P networks, congratulations—you've just won $16 in the litigation lottery.

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iPad Invades Corporate America (NetworkWorld)

Despite all claims by PC purists that the iPad is a toy that has no real purpose -- especially in the corporate world -- there are large enterprises embracing the tablet device. It may be designed as a portable media consumption device for consumers, but the iPad also provides a unique mobile computing platform for business as well.

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