Top Items:
Janet Whitman / New York Post:
YAHOO! BOO-BOO: SEMEL PASSED ON GOOGLE — May 12, 2006 — Acquiring Google for $3 billion seems like an impossible bargain today, but back in 2001 Yahoo! boss Terry Semel shied away from doing just that deal. — Semel, the former movie mogul who runs Yahoo!, met with Google's two young founders …
Discussion:
Google Operating System
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Stefanie Olsen / CNET News.com:
Yahoo CEO laments not buying Google — In the annals of missed opportunities by tech CEOs, Yahoo Chief Terry Semel has a doozy. — In a talk with The New Yorker writer Ken Auletta as part of a Newhouse School lecture series, Semel was asked what his dumbest decision was after taking the job at the Net media company in 2001.
Discussion:
John Battelle's Searchblog, Gadgetell, Valleywag, Good Morning Silicon Valley and Digital Inspiration
John Paczkowski / Good Morning Silicon Valley:
It's not an outrageous security vulnerability, it's a feature — Are electronic voting machines ever held to any baseline computer security standards? It certainly doesn't seem so. To wit, the discovery of a security hole in Diebold Election Systems' touch-screen voting machines that experts …
Rob Hof / TechBeat:
TechCrunch Goes Green — Mike Arrington's well-read TechCrunch blog has a new look, as he announces on one of his other blogs, CrunchNotes. Many of the commenters there aren't so sure about the heavy use of the color green, but as Mike explains: … Indeed, the notable change is that there's …
Don Dodge / Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing:
Microsoft VC Summit — Microsoft held its 6th annual VC Summit yesterday. Over 170 VCs from around the world were invited to attend. Steve Ballmer does the keynote speech every year and many top executives also present at the Summit. — The Microsoft VC Summit is an opportunity for VCs …
Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed:
Crossing the Crunch Chasm — Josh Kopelman nailed something in a savvy post yesterday. Too many companies are currently targeting an audience of 53,651. That number is, to allay your puzzlement, the number of subscribers to Mike Arrington's must-read, influential TechCrunch blog feed.
Microsoft:
Microsoft Statement on Agreement to Extend Part of Consent Decree Related to Protocol Licensing Program — Microsoft voluntarily agrees to continue licensing and documenting desktop communications protocols for Microsoft Windows. — REDMOND, Wash. — May 12, 2006 — Microsoft Corp. issued …
Discussion:
Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check
Tracy / The Student Tablet PC:
CONTEST: DESING THE NEW STUDENT TABLET PC HEADER — You may have picked up from a past post that we're planning on making a big move from MovableType to WordPress. You may also remember our move from TypePad to MovableType wasn't exactly seamless ^_^. This time we're doing it right.
John Battelle / John Battelle's Searchblog:
THOUGHTS ON GOOGLE PRESS DAY — A few things that strike me as we digest all the news yesterday (webcast). (PS, Google's shareholder meeting is going on now...) — 1. A renewed focus on search (yes, we are still about search, says Marissa in a new blog post).
Jonathan Fildes / BBC:
BBC starts to rock online world — The BBC has staked a claim to a virtual tropical island where it can stage online music festivals and throw exclusive celebrity parties. — The rented island exists in online game Second Life and will hold its first event this weekend with bands including Muse, Razorlight and Gnarls Barkley.
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Jackass of the Week: Rob Glaser — I'm never quite sure what to make of Rob Glaser, CEO of Real Networks. As his company's digital media technologies fall further behind Apple's and Microsoft's (at least in terms of popularity), he frequently pipes up in the press with ridiculous statements …
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David Beisel / Genuine VC:
All Users Are Not Created Equal — Brad Feld called Josh Kopelman's recent blog entry, 53,651, "a perfect post." I completely agree with Josh's fundamental premise - that there is a strong disconnect between new Web 2.0 companies claiming traction with plugged-in Silicon Valley geeks and real usage by "Mainstreet USA" consumers.
John Battelle / John Battelle's Searchblog:
ANOTHER HITWISE: MYSPACE SENDS 8.2% OF TRAFFIC TO GOOGLE, IMPLICATIONS — Wow. I love infoporn. I have a hunch that Mr. Murdoch is thinking hard about this graph: … There are a lot of other insights in the piece. I've had MySpace again on my mind after talking Weds with Jon Miller, CEO of AOL.
Discussion:
Clickety Clack, WebMetricsGuru, ReveNews Online Revenue … and The Unofficial Google Weblog
Evan Blass / Engadget Mobile:
Apple said to be working with Softbank on "co-branded" handset — Japanese news agency Nikkei is reporting that Apple and new Vodafone Japan owner Softbank are working together to develop cellphones capable of downloading and playing music from the iTunes store.
Rob Bushway / GottaBeMobile.com:
The best features from Tablet PCs I've used — Having used quite a few tablet pcs the past several years, I've come to appreciate the finer things about each of them. I thought I'd compile that list for your enjoyment. These are all subjective. — Best pen - The eraser pen for the HP TC1100.
Discussion:
Life On the Wicked Stage
Evan Blass / Engadget:
WSJ sez Nokia 770 followup to feature Google Talk — We've known since February that Nokia was working on a QWERTY-sportin' followup to the 770 Internet tablet, and now the Wall Street Journal has confirmed that the included VoIP app will indeed be, as we anticipated, Google Talk.
Discussion:
MobHappy
Susan / Susan Crawford blog:
A low point — The XXX decision on Wednesday by ICANN's board, which voted 9-5 to reject the XXX contract, represents a low point for ICANN. I am a member of ICANN's board, and I voted in favor of the agreement. — Here is the statement I made in connection with the vote on Wednesday afternoon:
Marshall Kirkpatrick / The Social Software Weblog:
LAPD starts a blog — It's true, the LA Police Department have started their first blog. (Found via Ed Cone on eWeek.) They say they aim to have all 19 precincts blogging soon. Typepad, moderated comments, using Feedburner but haven't put the new feed in their header tags for autodetection …
Discussion:
Know It All
Tara Connell / gannett.com:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Gannett acquires Planet Discover — Firm's technology powers Web sites' local search — McLEAN, VA - Gannett today acquired Planet Discover, a provider of local, integrated online search and advertising technology. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Andrew / Treonauts:
Treo 700p News Ahead Of Schedule... It's funny how every time a new Treo smartphones is just about to be released there is at least one news organisation which prints the news 'by accident' a few days ahead of time... For the forthcoming Treo 700p the award goes to TechWorld which yesterday posted …
Sogrady / tecosystems:
DEBIAN, UBUNTU AND THE FUTURE OF LINUX — It's perhaps only fitting that I begin a defense of the Debian Linux distribution with remarks from one of the people behind one of Debian's more significant competitors. It was efforts like Debian, after all, that are likely to have inspired the original comment.