Facebook funding round getting crazier

Facebook Rumors: Making Friends with More investors  —  Two hedge funds from New York have apparently jumped into the Facebook deal.We’ve got our ear to the ground to figure out who it is but each put in about $250 million—for $500 million total—at the same valuation as Microsoft Corp.

Source:   MEETblog
Link:   http://blogs.forbes.com/meetblog/2007/10/facebook…

Facebook Raises Another $500 Milion  —  Forbes’ Elizabeth Corcoran, reporting from the magazine’s MEET Conference in L.A., says Facebook raised another $500 million yesterday in addition to Microsoft’s $240 million.  The money is supposed to have come from two NYC-based hedge funds …

Source:   Silicon Alley Insider
Author:   Peter Kafka
Link:   http://www.alleyinsider.com/2007/10/facebook-raises…

Oh snap!  Faceberg raises another $500 million  —  Word up.  Hot on the heels of the big investment by the Borg only a few hours ago, Facebook has now landed another $500 million from two hedge funds in New York.  At the same $15 billion valuation.  It is on, people.

Source:   The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs
Author:   Steve
Link:   http://fakesteve.blogspot.com/2007/10/oh-snap… 

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MIT OPEN COURSEWARE- Free Online Courses

Today I accidently came across this site and got very impressed. It is good to know that some of my peer academicians are trying to serve society without any expectation of gain. Teaching is a noble cause but teaching to underprivileged is even better. Right now I am super busy, hence I can participate only by monetary contribution. I made a small donation and wish I could have written a bigger cheque, but I am a poor PhD student who is looking for a job. Once I am little settled as a Professor, I would certainly contribute to the site by both teaching and writing bigger cheques.

Since every dollar counts so please open your wallets and DONATE to this noble cause.

P.S. Concern about the quality of courses: I checked for Econometrics and the text book for the course is Introductory Econometrics by Prof. Wooldridge. This is one of the best textbooks at the undergrad level. Recitations on the course site is like icing on the cake. Based on the material discussed I feel the quality of the course is no less than Econometrics 1 that I took in UConn.

Update: “OCW is a free publication of course materials used at MIT.” I missed this part that’s why it is called MIT OCW. I guess, quality of this material has to be good.

Tango between Facebook and Microsoft

Source: Microsoft wins Facebook bid battle  —  Update: 12:30 p.m. see bottom.  —  After weeks of speculation, Microsoft appears to have won a battle with Google over who would get a stake in Facebook, according to a source familiar with the situation.  —  Microsoft and Facebook were close to a deal, according to the source.

Source:   CNET News.com
Author:   Ina Fried
Link:   http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9803689-56.html

Facebook Is Close to Choosing Microsoft or Google for Deal  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook Inc. is close to choosing between Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. to sell ads for the social networking service outside the U.S., according to people familiar with the matter.

Source:   Wall Street Journal
Link:   http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119323518308669856…

Microsoft to Pay $240 Million for Stake in Facebook  —  Microsoft has won a high-profile technology industry battle with Google and Yahoo to invest in the social networking upstart Facebook.  —  The two companies said on Wednesday that Microsoft would invest $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook.

Source:   New York Times
Author:   Brad Stone
Link:   http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/25/technology/24cnd…

Facebook and Microsoft Expand Strategic Alliance  —  Microsoft to take equity stake in Facebook; companies expand advertising deal to cover international markets.  —  PALO ALTO, Calif. and REDMOND, Wash. /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Facebook® and Microsoft Corp. today announced that Microsoft …

Source:   PR Newswire
Link:   http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/071024/aqw247.html

Facebook Takes the Microsoft Money And Runs.  —  While the storyline would have been more dramatic if Facebook had spurned its current ad-serving partner Microsoft for Google, it is confirmed that Microsoft has won the deal.  It will invest $240 million in Facebook and expand its existing relationship …

Source:   TechCrunch
Author:   Erick Schonfeld
Link:   http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/10/24/facebook-takes…

Three Reasons Microsoft Underpaid For Facebook  —  It’s official — the truth is less profitable than fiction.  Facebook has secured the cornerstone of its $15 billion valuation with today’s Microsoft alliance.  But at $240 million, that’s only a 1.6% slice of a much larger pie.

Source:   Epicenter
Author:   Terrence Russell
Link:   http://blog.wired.com/business/2007/10/three-reasons…

Microsoft’s Surprise: opened the source code of .NET libraries

It is all over the net. If you are interested to read about it then following are some good articles:

Releasing the Source Code for the .NET Framework Libraries  —  One of the things my team has been working to enable has been the ability for .NET developers to download and browse the source code of the .NET Framework libraries, and to easily enable debugging support in them.

Source:   ScottGu’s Blog
Author:   Scott Gu

Microsoft Open Sourcing .NET-Microsoft announced this morning that the source code for its .NET framework libraries is being opened to the world, allowing outside developers to see inside when developing their own software in the .NET framework.

Source: Read/Write Blog

Author: Marshall Kirkpatrick

If Microsoft does something, then it is likely to face criticism such as the following one:

Microsoft’s Open-Source Trap for Mono — Microsoft wants to destroy open-source by opening its code for examination, but not for use.  —  Microsoft is claiming that releasing the .NET Framework reference source code under the Microsoft Reference License will give developers the opportunity to understand more about .NET.

Source: eWEEK.com

Author: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

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