| | April 09, 2012 | | BEHEMOTH Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook made a bold play for photo-sharing supremacy on Monday, shelling out a reported $1 billion to acquire the popular mobile-photo application, Instagram. “For years, we’ve focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family,” Zuckerberg wrote in a statement. “Now, we'll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests.” The deal comes just days after Instagram began streaming its service on Android phones in addition to iPhones. Can't Make It Hillary Clinton has long been a stable figure at Democratic conventions—a consistent presence dating back to the infamous 1968 convention in Chicago, her spokesman pointed out. But the secretary of state is sitting out this year’s convention in North Carolina, as part of her commitment to avoiding political activity (she’s actually banned from taking part by federal law). Her husband, Bill, however will make an appearance at the Democratic gathering. Legal The special prosecutor tasked with deciding whether to press charges against the man who shot Trayvon Martin has decided not to hand the case to a grand jury. Florida State Attorney Angela Corey will now decide whether or not to press charges against shooter George Zimmerman. "We want to believe that this would be a positive sign that the prosecutor has enough information to arrest Trayvon Martin's killer," said the attorney for Martin's family. Meanwhile, Trayvon's mother Sybrina Fulton said that she's "prayerful" that Zimmerman will be arrested. MOTHER LODE The technology world is in an arms race, and intellectual property is the weapon of choice. Microsoft bought its way toward the front of the pack Monday when it announced a deal with AOL that will give it 800 of AOL’s patents and license to 300 more, all for just slightly north of $1 billion. In the world of mega tech litigation, patents are both offensive and defensive weapons, as companies like Microsoft, Apple, and Google regularly go to court to fight over who has rights to basic elements of the devices and software millions use every day. Big Money Elizabeth Warren’s first-quarter fundraising total has finally been counted, and it’s huge. The U.S. Senate candidate raised $6.9 million in the first three months of 2012, more than twice the amount Republican incumbent Scott Brown raised in the same period. When Brown’s camp announced its total last week, it predicted Warren would raise more because of her out-of-state fundraising, and indeed Warren’s campaign confirmed that the majority of the money she took in came from donors outside Massachusetts. | |
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