Top Items:
CNET News.com:
Microsoft's Zune to rival Apple's iPod — update After trying for years to compete with the iPod through an array of partners, Microsoft confirmed Friday that it plans to directly go after Apple Computer with its own rival, Zune. — Confirming weeks of rumors, Microsoft …
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Om Malik / GigaOM:
Microsoft Partners, You Been Zunked — So Microsoft is going to get into the music device business - imitating the same "integrated experience" philosophy as Apple has successfully deployed to carve itself a big share of the portable music player and online music business. Devices, the store, the whole nine yards.
Antony Bruno / billboard.biz:
ZUNE GETS IN THE RING — Microsoft Preps Music Player, Service To Rival Apple's Wares — Microsoft officials for the first time have confirmed that the Redmond, Wash.-based company is readying a portable music player and integrated service, shedding new light on a topic …
Discussion:
MobileWhack.com, Rough Type, Newsome.Org, Anything But iPod, hypebot, Digital Music News and paidContent.org
Ryan Block / Engadget:
Zune: what we know, think we know, and don't yet know — Ok, so we got off the horn with Microsoft just a few minutes ago and realized that making heads or tails of all this Zune stuff is probably driving some of you crazy . (We know others are probably just getting driven crazy by all the posts we've been writing about it.
Michelle Pearcy / Dell one2one:
No Bloatware, Please — Michelle Pearcy, WW Client Software Manager — Lots of chatter these days on why Dell pre-loads so much software on new systems. Several of you have asked about how this software affects performance, some have commented about the sheer number of apps …
Reuters:
AMD seen close to $5.5 billion chip deal — Source says Applied Micro Devices could announce deal with #2 Canadian chipmaker as early as Monday. — PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) — Advanced Micro Devices, the No. 2 supplier of computer processors, is close to a deal to buy graphics chip maker ATI …
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Fuad Abazovic / Inquirer:
AMD and ATI to ask shareholders for merger approval — Monday's news today — ACCORDING to an extraordinarily reliable source, AMD and ATI will on Monday pitch their shareholders with the proposition that the two companies merge. — It's an interesting idea - AMD doesn't quite have the shekels in the bank to buy ATI outright.
Russell Shaw / IP Telephony, VoIP, Broadband:
Skype applies for trademark that could mean worldwide free calling to any phone — This is going to sound strange and quite likely improbable, but I have information that may indicate that Skype could be considering dropping the equivalent of a nuclear bomb on the VoIP world.
Ryan Block / Engadget:
Apple to do eBooks? — We tend to field a lot of inside information here at Engadget HQ, but we've gotten not one, but two bits from separate, trustworthy insiders that Apple's not satisfied merely vending Audible's books-on-digital-audio solution. With the iRex iLiad and Sony PRS-50 Portable Reader …
Rick Segal / The Post Money Value:
TEO 3.0 - Goooood eatin.. — Josh Einstein's latest release of Tablet Enhancements for Outlook should be the first software product every Tablet PC user and developer gets at Microsoft. It is the perfect showcase Tablet PC application and Josh is the perfect ISV case study when it comes …
Glenn Fleishman / Wi-Fi Networking News:
In Toronto, Utility Poles Once Again Become Muni-Fi Factor — Toronto Hydro owns the utility poles, even, and they're still a problem: Toronto Hydro bought the street light system from the City of Toronto, ITBusiness.ca reports, and they were unaware that their plan to bring Wi-Fi …
Jon Arnold / Jon Arnold's Blog:
Gizmo Project, Part 2 - What About the Biz Model? — Yesterday, I posted about Gizmo's All Calls Free offering. Notice that I'm calling this an "offering" - not a "plan". It's an offering - you can take it or leave it. — I don't normally do follow-ons to my posts, but I am here.
Jon Watson / BizPodcasting:
Time for a New Directory — Dave Winer recently proposed 'rebooting' the podcast directory world. Like many of us, he noticed that the existing directories have become ad-laden vote-getting slums where a few users rule the roost. Winer proposed a new directory free of advertising and with the one true goal of promoting podcasting.
Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:
Too many journalists — The accepted wisdom in the news biz is that you can never have too many journalists and that the ad and circ crunch hitting papers will hurt papers by reducing newsroom staff. I've been questioning that wisdom here. — But sitting on another darned panel yesterday …
Discussion:
michael parekh on IT
Robert X. Cringely / I, Cringely:
They Wrap Fish, Don't They?: — Internet News Isn't What It's All Wrapped Up to Be — I have been writing for the World Wide Web since April 1997, which is about as long as anyone on continuous duty can claim. That's 480+ columns, totaling just over 800,000 words (at least one version …
Steve Lohr / New York Times:
Profit Lags as Microsoft Spends to Meet Competitors — Microsoft reported yesterday that its sales grew strongly in the recent quarter, but its profits lagged. — The company is in the midst of product transition as sales of its new, as yet unprofitable, Xbox video game console are increasing rapidly …
Discussion:
DealBreaker.com
Denise / Official Google Base Blog:
New rich text editing feature — By Deepak Lachwani, Google Base Engineering — To help you better describe your items, we're introducing a new rich text editor to our posting form. When you're posting an item, you can now format your description by using formatting buttons or by using HTML.
cellular-news:
Cheaper to "Give Away" Free Cellphone Services in Rural Areas — U.S. taxpayers are getting stuck with the tab for up to US$13,345 per telephone line per year for federally subsidized phone service under the US$7-billion "Universal Service Fund" tax on long-distance service …
Pamela Parker / ClickZ:
MSN Revenues Decline Slightly; Investments Continue — Revenues at Microsoft's MSN declined 3 percent year-over-year, coming in at $580 million, as compared to $598 million during the same period last year. The company revealed results and plans for MSN when it announced earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter of 2006 yesterday.
Discussion:
Google Watch
