Facebook plans to file for its initial public offering as soon as Wednesday next week according to multiple reports from Dow Jones Newswires. Morgan Stanley is expected to win the deal to lead the highly anticipated IPO, and Goldman Sachs is also reportedly expected to play a role. According to Dow Jones Newswires, Facebook is currently looking at a valuation between $75 billion and $100 billion. Following next week’s anticipated filing, it will still be several months until the company goes public. The...

It’s no secret that U.S. wireless provider Sprint is not a fan of the proposed AT&T and T-Mobile merger. The company’s CEO, Dan Hesse, has been very forthcoming with his concerns — mainly that the merger will create a duopoly between AT&T and Verizon Wireless — and now the carrier is looking for even more anti-merger ammunition. Bloomberg is reporting that Sprint representatives have “signed confidentiality agreements in advance of possibly gaining access to filings that won’t ...

It looks as though software developer James Laird has opened Pandora’s box for Apple’s AirPlay music streaming system. Frustrated by the fact that an AirPort Express emulator did not exist, Laird began to look for a solution that would allow him to stream iTunes music without the use of AirPlay. “I was disappointed to find that Apple used a public-key crypto scheme, and there’s a private key hiding inside the ApEx [Airport Extreme],” wrote Laird. “So I took it apart (I stil...

Hulu Plus, a premium Web-based video streaming service, is now available to the public. Rob Wong, product director for Hulu Plus, made the announcement Thursday on the company’s blog, saying the service is now available without need for an invitation. Hulu provides a service that allows users to stream movies and TV episodes for free to computers. Hulu Plus, which costs $9.99 each month (for the time being, at least), offers enhancements such as additional content and the ability to stream to more devic...

We do wonder what it is like to be 26 years old and have a net worth of $6.9 billion. Seems like a pretty awesome problem to have. Forbes is reporting that Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is now ranked thirty-fifth on the Forbes 400 list; a list that details the richest Americans. One notable tech persona that Mr. Zuckerberg leapfrogged is Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Mr. Jobs is currently ranked forty-second on the list with an estimated net-worth of $6.1 billion. The young, social-networking tycoon isn&...

Aside from announcing the C6-01, C7, and E7, Nokia also announced some added features to their Ovi Maps application today at Nokia World. The new, improved Ovi Maps will offer, live traffic flow information, a new drive assist mode, public transportation maps, a redesigned places page, and social check-ins. The public transportation maps will be available via a map layer for over 80 cities around the world and check-ins will allow you to broadcast your location via SMS or to your social network of choice....

Bloomberg is reporting that social network Facebook will postpone an IPO until 2012. Investors have been speculating that the world’s largest social network — valued at $24.9 billion — would go public sometime in 2011. Bloomberg writes, “Waiting lets Zuckerberg, 26, hone the skills needed to steer a company that issues quarterly results while facing criticism on such matters as user privacy.” Facebook declined to comment, and Zuckerberg himself said his company would offer an IPO...

Today Swype announced that its popular keyboard alternative is now available for public download for all Android users. The free-for-all beta download will be available for a limited amount of time — a few days most likely — and is a feature limited version of the keyboard. Folks that want the fully featured version will have to purchase a handset like the myTouch 3G with Swype pre-installed. Despite its limitations, the keyboard is a worthy replacement for the stock Android keyboard and is we...

As impatient people craving access to Google Voice continue to wait for the arrival of that joyous invitation email, Google Voice head Craig Walker gives us a brief insight into just how long of a wait some users may be looking at. A short while ago, Walker tweeted that the team is currently working on invitations that have been pending since the days of GrandCentral before it moves on to more recent invitations requested since Google acquired the service. The clarify that time frame, Google snatched up Grand...

Following a tasty spot with NBC’s Janet Shamlian on NBC’s Today Show this morning, it looks as though Google Voice has taken a big step toward wider availability today. According to GV’s Twitter account, invites are starting to go out en masse. Now, don’t start going crazy if you’ve registered for an invite and don’t see anything hit your inbox today — as Google Voice head Craig Walker notes, the waiting list is a bit lengthy to say the least:About GV invites…th...

Following our report yesterday, it looks like we can now confirm Google Voice will not be opening up to the public today. Dry those eyes though — it should be happening soon. To recap, Google has kept its voice communications/SMS management service in private beta since it acquired the service, then branded as GrandCentral. Everyone who uses it loves it, and everyone who doesn’t have it wants it. Cnet’s Natali Del Conte suggested in a podcast yesterday that her source at Google pinned today ...

This is still definitely at rumor status but according to Cnet’s Natali Del Conte, Google plans to make its game-changing service Google Voice open to the public tomorrow, June 18th. During the 999th episode of Cnet’s Buzz Out Loud podcast, Del Conte responded to an anxious caller seeking info about the public availability of Google voice. According to Del Conte, her contact at Google emailed her several weeks ago while she was testing the service and pinned June 18th as the official public launch...

Microsoft and Mickey Rourke have more in common than you might think. Both went from being desirable to being painfully tolerated in an instant and both are now poised to make huge comeback. At this point we’re even giving slightly better odds to Windows 7 over The Wrestler, following the massive demand for Microsoft’s first publicly available 7 beta. Oh, and Windows install discs are made of plastic, just like Rourke. As announced by Ballmer during his keynote at CES, Redmond made Windows 7 avail...

So let it be written, so let it be done. During Steve Ballmer’s decidedly humdrum keynote yesterday evening, the Microsoft CEO made several announcements that were less than surprising. In fact, the majority of Ballmer’s key points were leaked earlier this week. One simple statement however, has the tech blogosphere buzzing and rightfully so. That statement: “I’m thrilled to announce the availability of the Windows 7 beta.” Despite the fact that everyone and their 10-year-old torrent-tra...