One of the most controversial moves when it came to internet news this year came in the form of The Times paywall.
Head of News Corp, Rupert Murdoch, decided it was time for people to pay for their online news content and began charging for access to the websites for The Times, The Sunday Times and News of the World.
Although many protested the move, rumours are now going around that the Telegraph Media Group (TMG) is considering a similar play for its newspaper websites.
We think it is likely TMG will charge for some content but we both hope and doubt all the papers will follow suit and there will continue to be a lot of free news content from the nationals.
Google to buy Salesforce?
This year there has been a heavy focus on cloud computing as definitions have finally come to light and interest has grown massively in the enabling technologies.
Two of the companies largely associated with the buzz word of the year, however, have stolen some of the headlines from the technology itself with rumours of a takeover.
IDC analyst Frank Gens predicted back in March that internet giant Google would swoop in and buy Salesforce sometime this year but he was not the only one to suggest it. 2010 was littered with rumours about what would be an enormous acquisition and, despite 2010 being over, the rumour mill is still churning and 2011 could see the cloud companies come together.
We can't really see Mark Benioff giving up his beloved Salesforce easily but, if there is a hot company to get involved with now, Google is the one to go with.
Seagate buyout?
Another buyout rumour, with a lot more evidence to back it up, is the proposed takeover of Seagate.
The leading hard drive manufacturer admitted back in October it had been in talks about a go-private deal after an investor showed interest. However, the company refused to name the party who would stump up the cash and the deal has received little press since.
We were surprised the contracts weren't signed in 2010 but Seagate does sound interested and we are pretty sure 2011 will see the company fall into new hands.
