Yesterday, after a prolonged pursuit, Conde Nast, owner of Wired magazine, acquired Wired News from Lycos for $25 million, reuniting the magazine and its website after eight years apart. In 1998, Conde Nast had bought Wired magazine from Wired Ventures, leaving it the online properties; later that year, Lycos announced the acquisition of the online group. But because Wired News kept the Wired brand, many were unaware that Wired magazine didn't own Wired News, which had retained the right to publish the magazine's archive online.

According to Wired News's own report, Conde Nast will pay South Korea's Daum Communications -- Lycos' latest parent company -- $25 million for the website. The tech blogger community has greeted the news mainly with pats on the back for Wired editor Chris Anderson. Leave it to several skeptical Digg readers, however, to rain on the Conde Nast victory parade by wondering how an operation with only a handful of staffers could fetch $25 million. "Remember when Wired was cool?" writes one. And another: "Ugh... glad they're getting away from Lycos, but frankly, I'm less than thrilled with what Conde Nast has done with the print version."