Around the Web 2.11.09: Twitter goes down, authors object to Kindle 2, troubles in Yelpland

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George Washington didn’t need Facebook. Credit: cliff1066 via Flickr.

-- Twitter goes down and then up and then down again (again), members shake their fists in anger. TechCrunch

-- Maryland General Assembly members can now use Facebook but not MySpace. Silicon Alley Insider

-- Online real estate broker Redfin will post reviews of real estate agents online. LAT

-- Yelp says it’s not trying to shake down merchants. Some merchants disagree. LAT

-- We’re spending $350 million to figure out who has broadband? Bits

-- Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz convenes an off-site meeting with managers, and perhaps begins to grind her ax. BoomTown

-- RIM says it has more BlackBerry subscribers than anticipated, but profits still aren’t too peachy. Silicon Alley Insider

-- Sirius XM may file for bankruptcy protection. Whither Howard Stern? NYT

-- An inspection finds horrible working conditions at Chinese factories for Microsoft and Dell. Engadget

-- Does the Kindle’s text-to-speech software create copyright issues? One author says yes. CrunchGear

-- Alana Semuels