Top Items:
Roger Parloff / Fortune:
Microsoft takes on the free world — Microsoft claims that free software like Linux, which runs a big chunk of corporate America, violates 235 of its patents. It wants royalties from distributors and users. Users like you, maybe. Fortune's Roger Parloff reports.
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Ina Fried / CNET News.com:
Report: Microsoft says open source violates 235 patents — Microsoft claims that free and open-source software violates more than 230 of its patents, according to a magazine report published Sunday. — In an interview with Fortune, Microsoft top lawyer Brad Smith alleges …
Discussion:
Neowin.net
David Dalka:
MyBlogLog to Rebrand and Make Significant Changes — At SOBcon yesterday in Chicago, Robyn Tippins, who was recently hired as the MyBlogLog community manager, spoke about several major upcoming changes with MyBlogLog. — There are several changes in the works:
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Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Yahoo To Finally Upgrade MyBlogLog — MyBlogLog, the ubiquitous blog widget that shows pictures of recent visitors to a site, was one of the "instant" success stories of 2006 - Yahoo acquired the company before most people even had a chance to hear about it. — Like many blogs, we had the MyBlogLog widget on TechCrunch for months.
Discussion:
duncanriley.com
Jossip:
CBS News Acquiring Wallstrip, New Headache in Eeking Out Online Profits — Wallstrip - the Wall Street web video program featuring Lindsay Campbell trying to make the Nasdaq hilarious - is being snapped up by CBS News, we're told, for something in the $5 million range.
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Duncan Riley / TechCrunch:
CBS Acquires WallStrip for $5 million — Jossip is reporting that corporate focused video blog WallStrip has been acquired by CBS News for $5 million. The report states that an announcement is expected early this week and involves WallStrip host Lindsay Campbell being the next Amanda Congdon for CBS, fronting online shows.
Discussion:
duncanriley.com
Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:
We need better statistics... Almost every entrepreneur I talk to lately whines privately about the stats they see on places like Compete.com, Comscore, and Alexa. Today Tom Conrad of Pandora told me that they are extremely low. He says his service requires registration …
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Marshall Sponder / WebMetricsGuru:Second Life Key Metrics - April 2007
Discussion:
Conversion Rater
Skrentablog:
Give Hammer a break — The collective response to Michael Arrington including MC Hammer on his TechCrunch 20 review panel is pretty lame, IMO. — Commenters should keep in mind that this is a real guy they're talking about. Have some friggin courtesy. I've actually met the guy at a party …
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
AllFreeCalls Back From DeadPool, Now Called Yak4Ever — AllFreeCalls Back From DeadPool, Free Calls Are Here Again — When AllFreeCalls shut down in February as a result of litigation, most people thought it was gone for good. The service, which allows people to call overseas for free …
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Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen / MacUser:
Apple.com sees quite a spike is U.S. visitors — Apple.com sees quite a spike in U.S. visitors — Apparently, Apple's website saw quite a jump in visitors between March and April. comScore's data shows that the number of American visitors at Apple.com went from 27.3 million to 38.8 million …
Jeremy Reimer / Ars Technica:
RFID being tapped to stifle exam cheaters — Cheating has been around for as long as there have been exams, and modern-day cheaters have a whole host of electronic tools to help them in their nefarious activities. The other side hasn't stood still, however: the UK-based Edexcel examination board …
Discussion:
The RFID Weblog
Clive Thompson / New York Times:
Sex, Drugs and Updating Your Blog — Jonathan Coulton sat in Gorilla Coffee in Brooklyn, his Apple PowerBook open before him, and began slogging through the day's e-mail. Coulton is 36 and shaggily handsome. In September 2005, he quit his job as a computer programmer and …
Doreen Carvajal / New York Times:
Music Radio on the Internet Faces Thorny Royalty Issues — Since Pandora.com closed its box of digital musical delights this month to users outside the United States, the complaints have been pouring in from Dubai to Patagonia. — It is "a step back to the dark ages in the music world!" fumed Mario from Mexico City.
ongoing:
Lightroom and Open Source — · Over the last few years, I've become something of an open-source triumphalist, drifting to the conclusion that (on the engineering side) it's the best way to build software and (on the business side) it's a better way to monetize it.
Discussion:
Roland Tanglao's Weblog
Valleywag:
Wedding Announcements: Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki — Since nobody else has posted an announcement, it falls to Valleywag: Sergey Brin, the Google founder and the richest eligible bachelor in the US, and Anne Wojcicki, the down-to-earth biotech specialist he's been dating, were married last weekend.
Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:
Mashup litmus test for Web 2.0 start-ups — Social music darling Last.fm announced this week that they are going to start a video service any minute now. Some folks apparently couldn't wait and just developed their own mashups in the mean time. — Take Lasttube for example.
