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Microsoft has bought Skype for $8.5 billion, in an all-cash deal. Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, is said to be a big champion of the deal, the largest in the history of the company. Ballmer and Skype CEO Tony Bates will host a press conference to announce it officially. The deal is Microsoft's largest cash purchase in its 36-year long history. "The combination will extend Skype's world-class brand and the reach of its networked platform, while enhancing Microsoft's existing portfolio of real-time communications products and services," according to Microsoft's press release on the deal. "With 170 million connected users and over 207 billion minutes of voice and video conversations in 2010, Skype has been a pioneer in creating rich, meaningful connections among friends, families and business colleagues globally." Skype has been up for sale for some time, thanks to some very antsy investors. Facebook and Google were said to be earlier dance partners...

A Facebook conman has been posting women's photos on porn sites after breaking into their accounts, in an incident that underscores the need for greater awareness of social networking security. Timothy Noirjean, 26-years-old, was arrested in his parents' Minnesota basement today for stealing and illegally posting Facebook photos of 13 young women on porn sites. Noirjean says he didn't know hacking into 100 Facebook accounts was a crime. Police tracked down Noirjean after a 20-year-old woman filed a complaint saying she was instant messaging with someone she thought was a friend when her account password was suddenly changed. After managing to log in again, she discovered links to a sexually explicit website that contained three photos of her. Noirjean explained that he accessed the woman's and others' accounts by friending them on Facebook, obtaining their e-mail addresses, and then subtly persuading them to give him answers to their security questions. Noir...