Every day, the Fortune staff spends hours poring over tech stories, posts, and reviews from all over the Web to keep tabs on the companies that matter. We’ve assembled the day’s most newsworthy bits below.
- Facebook topped expectations at their media event yesterday — they didn’t just launch an email service, but a revamped Messaging app that fuses email, SMS, IM and Facebook chat. All communications between two people, regardless of format, will show up in one united thread, like one big long FB chat. Upcoming features will include IMAP support, file attachments, and Microsoft Web Apps. (Inside Facebook)
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SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott. Photo: SAP SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott apologized to Oracle on the witness stand. “They were doing things that required much closer scrutiny,” Mr. McDermott testified Monday, referring to SAP’s now-closed TomorrowNow unit. “I am sorry for that.”
- With the company’s stock hovering in the $16 range, Facebook’s valuation is now theoretically around $41 billion, third only to Google ($192.9 billion) and Amazon ($74.4 billion). (Read Write Web)
- Data management and storage company EMC will acquire Seattle-based network storage provider Isilon Systems for $2.25 billion. (SYS-CON)
- Former Digg CEO Jay Adelson, who left the struggling content discovery service back in April, landed a new gig as CEO of SimpleGeo, a location services startup. (Erictric)
- Associated Content, a freelance aggregator site picked up by Yahoo last May, will be renamed the Yahoo Contributor Network. The site’s content, generated by over 400,000 writers, photographers and videographers, will be integrated into Yahoo sections and sites like Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, and the Yahoo homepage. (paidContent)
- Former Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang will reportedly join former Yahoo exec Ash Patel in a new $10 million micro-venture fund, Morado Ventures. Limited partners could be a veritable “Who’s who” of Yahoo alum like include former CEO Terry Semel, ex-COO Dan Rosenweig, former ad sales head Greg Coleman, and ex-president Sue Decker. (BoomTown)
- According to Google 24/7 editor Seth Weintraub, Google just might take its newly-acquired Like.com assets to help consumers buy clothes online and in person this holiday season. (Fortune)
- In other rumors, Apple could announce a cloud-based iTunes service for content streaming later today. Also reportedly on the agenda: rights to The Beatles music catalog! (Fortune)
- Microsoft launched the Microsoft Games Hub, which connects the company’s three social gaming portals. According to Xbox senior marketing manager Michael Wolf, the new hub will let anyone who uses MSN Games, Bing Games and Windows Live Messenger to play the same games, view friend updates, and send each other game challenges. (Marketing Vox)
- Also, Microsoft denies its Kinect controller, which just crossed the one million mark in 10 days, can and will collect video and audio user info like appearance and gameplay habits for potential targeted ads and such. (Microsoft Watch)
- Take this with a grain of salt, but according to one new study, 11% of Brits have had uh, “intimate relations” with someone they met via Facebook. (All Facebook)
- Comcast released its Xfinity TV iPhone/iPod touch app which lets the Apple devices control TVs and DVRs, change channels, and use On Demand. (app advice)
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