Flock, the social Web browser startup founded by former Mozilla business-development guy Bart Decrem, has defied its faded buzz to score an additional $15 million in funding, bringing the total raised in the $27 million range. Twitter, the current darling of The 250, has yet to close a rumored deal to raise the same amount. [PaidContent]
Pop quiz: What does a once-popular startup, top-heavy with philosophy and lacking direction, do when the one guy who started the whole thing quits?
9rules designer/blogger Mike Rundle was quick to notice that business incubator Next Internet (covered here) borrowed a teensy bit (by which I mean all) of the site design from eternally-alpha-testing browser Flock. The two sites are uncannily twinlike — identical fonts, identical basic color schemes, and two toolbars you'd never tell apart. But should we assume there was theivery just because Next Internet is Flock's perfect doppelganger?
Geeky investor Joi Ito says the new golf isn't extreme biking, it's World of Warcraft. [1up.com]
Pixar's taking over Toy Story 3, not shelving it. A power play against Lasseter, or can he wring more magic from the series? [Moviehole]
Google can keep a copy of your tax records, love letters, and porn folder, and they promise not to peek — as long as that's considered evil, anyway. [EFF]
Get in on the ground floor (or own a piece of doomed software history) — order a Flockstar tee. [Factory Joe]
Homeland Security saves the Internet from hackers and, um, bloggers in a simulation. They probably cheated and skipped the "Cory Doctorow of Mass Destruction" simulation. [Newsvine]
