Links for Wednesday May 11^th, 2011

• The Senate calls the AT&T / T-Mobile merger into question: I hope that this deal gets blocked, but I don't know that doing so would fix what ails the wireless industry (you know, in terms of providing better service and prices to its customers).

• Andy Rubin gets Danger back together at Google to work on Android hardware - Fortune Tech: I wonder if Google is going to start making actual Android phones?

• Google Chromebooks coming this June from Samsung and Acer: Specs and product photos of the upcoming Chromebooks. I'll be interested to read the first reviews.

• Codifying asymmetry: How Apple became Jobsian: More great stuff from Horace Dediu:

  "The evidence of the forgetting of history abounds at companies like Sony and Microsoft which seem to be behaving exactly opposite to how they once did. Sony, once a serial disruptor, turned into a sustainer. Microsoft who pioneered software as a business, cannot find new business models for software."

• After approving NBC buyout, FCC Commish becomes Comcast lobbyist: Do you still believe that the NBC/Comcast merger is going to be great for consumers?

• YouTube - Introducing the Chromebook: Fantastic video from Google, introducing ChromeOS and the Chromebook hardware that it runs on, to the world. This really sums up everything that is broken with computers for most people, and highlights how Google is attacking the problem. This is the kind of product from Google that I admire and respect.

• Has Google lost its mojo at I/O 2011?: While I haven't watched today's keynote yet, yesterday's keynote was definitely lacking in "wow" factor, for me.