Thursday 8am Silicon Valley news report:

U.S. Video Views Up 16% in April to New High -NYTimes

While the number of U.S. video viewers continues to hold at something like 78 percent of the country’s Internet population, the number of videos they’re watching continues to soar.

Yahoo CEO says no pressure for deal despite Bing -Reuters

Bartz said. "I want the audience."
And she said that Yahoo is not interested in acquiring a large company, but small, "tuck-in" acquisitions of technology or content would represent a good use of Yahoo's cash

Free digital book plan costly, educators say -SFGate

The idea of free digital textbooks is nice, but given the associated technology costs and teacher training, they won't save schools much money now or anytime soon. In short, digital textbooks require that teachers, if not all students, have working computers and presumably online access.

China blocks Web sites as anniversary looms -SFGate

Over the years, human rights groups and members of the U.S. Congress have intensely criticized U.S. Internet companies for agreeing to restrictions in China, including censoring search results as Google does. Yahoo, in particular, has been attacked for turning over personal user information to Chinese police that was used to identify dissidents and imprison them.

NAB: House majority opposes new performers royalty -AP

If the music industry succeeds in requiring new fees for traditional radio airplay, performance artists could be sharing hundreds of millions a year. Such a move also would unlock an estimated $70 million to $100 million per year that is collected by radio stations abroad for U.S. artists, but never paid out because U.S. stations don't pay foreign artists in return.

U.S. Investigating Hiring Practices At Google & Others -WebGuild

“This could be collusive restraint on trade, which could have a serious impact on competition. Such an agreement would underscore the fierce competition over top engineering and business talent,” said Albert Foer, president of the American Antitrust Institute.

Ex-Googler’s New White House Job Rankles Some -WSJ

“We do not object to Mr. McLaughlin’s appointment because he is associated with Google per se. The problem is that he has been a lobbyist for the biggest digital marketing company in the world, and we believe no special-interest connected person should assume a position of vital importance to the country’s future,” wrote John M. Simpson, founder of Consumer Watchdog, and Jeffrey Chester, founder of the Center for Digital Democracy.

Cisco rallies channel to target virtualized data centers -ZDNet

Cisco’s trump card in the data center wars - ts history as a networking company - has caused it to be a major disruptor of this space. Its architecture integrates the networking equipment into the data center, reducing all of those wires and cables that once connected boxes into one single cable.

Success Of Start-Ups Is All About The People -WSJ

When it comes time to hire employees, entrepreneurs should be careful of making promises. Mitchell said it’s important to draft an employment letter that lays out all the terms of the agreement. He has seen legal disputes develop around the amount of equity supposedly promised at the time of hire after a disgruntled employee leaves the company.

IBM expands Information on Demand portfolio -NYTimes

Rather than competing head-on with packaged business application giants like SAP and Oracle, through the IOD strategy IBM is focusing on data management, delivery and analysis products and services that make applications work more effectively.

Facebook use grows by 700%; maintains top social networking spot -SFGate

The one thing that is clear about social networking is that regardless of how fast a site is growing or how big it is, it can quickly fall out of favor with consumers.

NetApp claims victory in bidding for Data Domain -SFGate

NetApp Inc. has claimed victory over EMC Corp. in a bidding battle for Data Domain Inc., a company whose products help cut unnecessary data storage.

BlackBerry maker warns on security vulnerability -Reuters

When companies publicize security flaws, criminals rush to exploit them because it can take weeks or months for users learn of such problems and protect against them.

Yahoo sues NFL Players Association -AP

Yahoo Inc. has sued the NFL Players Association, claiming it shouldn't have to pay royalties to use players' statistics, photos and other data in its popular online fantasy football game because the information is already publicly available.