Top Items:
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 …
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Gizmodo:
Zune News Trifecta — Since Microsoft's official announcement in Billboard didn't tell us all that much new info, here's a little bit more on Zune's rumored capabilities from another tipster. — There's going to be an add-on game pad similar to the Sony Ericsson P800 Bluetooth game pad.
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 …
Nick / Rough Type:
Zune and the Apple way — Early last year, Bill Gates commented on Apple's success with its "closed" iTunes/iPod system and laid out Microsoft's very different, "open" strategy for the music-player market: … "Other than Apple and Microsoft," he should have said.
Nick / Rough Type:
When "direct" becomes a disadvantage — Dell's latest and greatest earnings disappointment pretty much settles it: The company isn't just struggling to overcome a blip; its traditional strategy is no longer working, at least not the way it used to. — What went wrong?
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Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:
"Where's Michael Dell?" BL Ochman asks — BL Ochman has an interesting post today about Dell's recent business problems. — I think it's even deeper than the support issues that Dell has had with bloggers. — But, let's start there. This week Patrick's power supply broke for his Apple iBook.
Discussion:
Smalltalk Tidbits …
Ian King / Bloomberg:
Advanced Micro May Buy ATI for About $5.5 Billion, Person Says — July 21 (Bloomberg) — Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the world's second-biggest maker of microprocessors, plans to buy ATI Technologies Inc. for about $5.5 billion, according to a person involved in the negotiations.
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Kevin O'Keefe / Real Lawyers:
Best blogs send audience away — Jeff Jarvis writes "The problem with portals is that they aren't portals at all. ... They want to lure you in and then not let you leave." … Some of the best blogs are what Buzz Bruggeman describes as intelligence agents.
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Fred / A VC:
Scars From The Last Bubble — In general, I think entrepreneurs and VCs who lived through the last bubble and its burst are better off because of it. We've seen what can go wrong and what happens when it does go wrong. I think it has made us all better at what we do.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Online Dating 2.0: Thirteen Sites To Find Love — Online dating is big business, drawing about 4 million U.S. Internet users daily in June 2006 (and 25 million monthly), and they spend a daily average of nearly 17 minutes each on these sites. That adds up to a lot of page views - almost 4.5 billion per month (source: Comscore).
Discussion:
Open Culture
Dick / Identity 2.0:
Google's Identity Silo — Ben Laurie from Google responded to my post on Google Account Authentication: two steps forward, one step back. A few comments that I'd like to respond to: … Uh, actually, yes. That is the idea behind Identity 2.0, that I could use my Yahoo login to authenticate to Google and to access Google services.
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 …
Discussion:
TeleRead, rexblog, Infinite Loop, CyberNet Technology News, The Unofficial Apple Weblog, MobileRead Networks and digg
Somini Sengupta / New York Times:
India Calls It a Technological Error, but Blog Blockade Continues — NEW DELHI, July 21 — After two days of angry inquiries and charges of government censorship, the Indian government took a step Thursday toward explaining a mysterious blockade on personal blogs, calling it "a technological error" that would be repaired soon.
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 …
Bryan Betts / Techworld.com:
"I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that." — TALK TO YOUR COMPUTER AND IT MIGHT JUST UNDERSTAND YOU. — Talking to your computer has been a staple of science fiction since at least the 1960s, but it looks as if it's finally coming within reach. — This week saw the release …
Discussion:
digg
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.
Doc Searls / Linux Journal:
Markets without Marketing — Next Tuesday at OSCON in Portland, I'll be giving a 3.5 hour tutorial titled Open Source Clue Training: How to Market to People Who Hate Marketing. — As I prepare for that, I thought I'd share some of the curriculum I've come up with.
Discussion:
People Over Process
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
