Top Items:
Gary Rivlin / New York Times:
Wallflower at the Web Party — JONATHAN ABRAMS was in a spot. He could take the safe bet and accept the $30 million that Google was offering him for Friendster, the social networking Web start-up he began only a year earlier, in 2002. Saying yes to Google would provide a quick …
Daniel Terdiman / CNET News.com:
'Second Life' to begin selling real names — For anyone who has used the virtual world "Second Life," the last names Gjellerup, Godel or Stapovic probably mean a lot more than their real last names. — That's because historically, "Second Life" users have had to choose names from an ever-changing …
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Brady Forrest / O'Reilly Radar:
Second Life to Start Selling Names — Second Life is going to start selling "real" names to people (just like they do with virtual land). CNET is reporting that Linden Labs, the creators, have decided "to charge individuals who want a real last name a $100 setup fee and a $50-a-year maintenance fee.
Discussion:
Clickable Culture
Newlaunches.com:
McDonalds gives MP3 players infected with spyware as prizes — If it is not lawsuits then there is virus infected MP3 players, the fast food giant is always in the news. It all started in August when McDonalds Japan in association with Coca Cola announced a contest, where a MP3 player …
Ernesto / Torrentfreak:
How to use RSS & BitTorrent to download TV shows — Are you tired of scanning several BitTorrent sites for the latest episodes of your favorite TV-show? You should definitely try using RSS feeds then. RSS and BitTorrent are a perfect match. — What the heck is RSS?
Richard Menta / mp3newswire.net:
iPod Killers for Christmas 2006 — We have run the iPod Killers for Christmas/Summer series since 2004. In that time we reported on 149 portable players and NOT one iPod killer from the bunch. That said, we may actually have a couple of genuine challengers to Apple.
Brian Krebs / Washington Post:
Microsoft Now Decides to Accept Outside Security for Vista — Microsoft Corp. did an about-face yesterday, agreeing to make it easier for customers of its forthcoming Vista operating system to use outside security vendors, such as those who make popular antivirus and anti-spyware programs.
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Microsoft:
Brad Smith Press Conference Transcript: Announcement Regarding Release of Windows Vista in Europe and Korea — Transcript of Remarks and Press Conference: Brad Smith, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Microsoft Corporation — Announcement Regarding Release of Windows Vista in Europe and Korea
Richard Siklos / New York Times:
A Loopy Deal That Actually Makes Sense — IS Google's $1.65 billion acquisition of the video Web site YouTube another milestone in the annals of the Internet? Or is it evidence of a second silly season? The answer to both questions: Yep, you'd better believe it.
Discussion:
BuzzMachine
James Niccolai / InfoWorld:
Update: MSN is latest target of Belgian copyright complaint — After Google win, Belgian publishers pursue MSN over the rights to publish content — Looking to avoid the kind of legal tangle that Google has found itself in, Microsoft's MSN division in Belgium is in talks …
Anything But iPod:
MobiBLU Cube 2 Now Available in the US — For those who like their MP3 players tiny, MobiBLU is now selling the second generation DAH-1500i, dubbed appropriately the Cube 2. Still the same size as the last generation, the Cube 2 offers smoother styling and a few more features.
John.Eberly / John Eberly's Geek Blog:
World's worst use of a jpeg. — A jpeg is good for a lot of things, but a live data feed is not one of them. In fact it might be violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. — The Seattle Fire Department has been hosting a live html feed of the latest 911 calls to the Seattle Fire Department.
Mihai / persistent.info:
Google Reader Redux — The new version of Reader has been out there long enough (and is now stable enough) that I have some time to catch my breath and make this post (my post-launch post last year came only a couple of days after the big announcement). I've jotted down some of my thoughts …
IFPI News:
Digital is driving first half world music sales — Digital sales up 106% the first six months of 2006; total music sales down 4% — Sales of digital music in the first half of 2006 rose 106% to US$945 million when compared with the first six months of last year.
Discussion:
IP Democracy
Cyrus Farivar / Engadget:
STAReBOOK e-book reader to hit China, US next month — We're still not sure exactly how successful this whole eBook thing will be. That said, if you believe Sony, "overwhelming demand" delayed the release of the PRS-500 until November, meaning that surely people will be rushing the streets to get their paws on an eBook.
Matt Marshall / VentureBeat:
Did venture firm Sevin Rosen orchestrate snow job? — Last Saturday, we wrote a piece about the decision by Sevin Rosen Funds, a big-name venture capital firm, to bag plans to raise another fund. The firm cited "terrible" investment conditions. — The rarity of the move suggested significance …
Discussion:
Texas Startup Blog
Matt Marshall / VentureBeat:
Techdirt lets companies contact expert bloggers — discreetly — for advice — There is a lot going on at the Office 2.0 Conference this week, and we point to Rafe Needleman's blog overview. He has blogged the main points, and describes the companies that are worthy of mention.
Bluelinden / Official Linden Blog:
Grid closed while permissions bug is addressed — My bad, just realized that the correct term is not Exploit, but Bug, so I am updating the title of the blog to reflect that. Sorry! [10:55 am PDT] Brent sure is swift of foot. Final testing is underway and we should be able to post …
John Murrell / Good Morning Silicon Valley:
Murder case rocks little community of Opensourceville — It sounds like your basic "Law & Order" script. A pretty Russian émigré disappears after going to drop off her kids at the home of her estranged husband. Her boyfriend leads vigils of worried friends.
