Top Items:
GeekSugar / Geek is chic.:
New Mercury Free MacBook Pro Unboxed! — I got my hands on the new MacBook Pro first thing this morning and saying everyone around me is gushing and jealous is an understatement. Unlike last year's model, the new MacBook Pro has a mercury-free, power-efficient LED-backlit display.
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Robert McLaws / Windows-Now.com:
Time for Microsoft to Change Its Patch Policy? — A very interesting post on the Google Online Security Blog analyzes which web servers are responsible for the world's malware. — Microsoft IIS 6 tied with Apache at 49% for compromised servers, even though Apache has a 40% lead in deployments.
Discussion:
Channel 9
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Alex Iskold / Read/WriteWeb:
Clearspring Lands Major Deal With NBC — Clearspring is going to annouce tomorrow that it was chosen by NBC to be its exclusive widget platform for the next year. This is a major deal for Clearspring, and for NBC as well. The specific terms of this business arrangement have not been disclosed.
New York Times:
Doll Web Sites Drive Girls to Stay Home and Play — Presleigh Montemayor often gets home after a long day and spends some time with her family. Then she logs onto the Internet, leaving the real world and joining a virtual one. But the digital utopia of Second Life is not for her.
Discussion:
Clickety Clack
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Ask.com Commercial: Now on YouTube — Ok, we got a copy of the actual Ask.com TV ad we mentioned earlier today and uploaded it to YouTube. This will supposedly be broadcast on TV tonight for the first time. The basic idea of the ad is a guy singing "I got what I was looking for," …
Olga Kharif / Business Week:
Amp'd Mobile Runs Out of Juice — The "virtual" cell-phone company seeks bankruptcy protection after nearly half of its customers fail to pay their bills — The gold rush of specialized cell-phone companies targeting niche audiences took another hit on June 1 as Amp'd Mobile …
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Dare Obasanjo aka Carnage4Life:
Google Gears: Replacing One Problem with Another — I've been thinking a little bit about Google Gears recently and after reading the documentation things I've realized that making a Web-based application that works well offline poses an interesting set of challenges.
Ashlee Vance / The Register:
Google shivs server crowd with PeakStream buy — Exclusive Google has stunned the server world by acquiring superstar start-up PeakStream, The Register can confirm. — PeakStream's website and phone lines mysteriously crashed yesterday, indicating that the software maker was struggling to pay its bill or had been gobbled.
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Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
TechCrunch Party at August Capital on July 27 — Update: Ok, tickets are selling faster than we thought. We've sold 300 in about 45 minutes. We are going to shut down the list for now and re-open it in a few days. — After a long hiatus of old-fashioned social networking (a.k.a parties) …
John Timmer / Ars Technica:
Product loyalty: consumers mistake familiarity with superiority — Anyone who has followed consumer electronics and online services knows that once a product reaches dominance, it becomes very hard for it to be dethroned (hello, iPod, Google, and Windows). Economists have argued …
Discussion:
journals.uchicago.edu
Red Sweater Blog:
MarsEdit 1.2: Growl, Picasa and Vox! — MarsEdit 1.2 is now available for download (or just "Check for Updates" from the app). This is a free update for all registered MarsEdit users. — Three relatively big changes in this release: — Growl support.
Discussion:
GigaOM, MacUser, Roland Tanglao's Weblog, Macworld, Macsimum News, The Unofficial Apple Weblog and inessential.com
Arik Hesseldahl / Business Week:
What Apple TV Costs to Make — Analyzing and pricing out the components of Apple's new set-top video box reveal uncharacteristically slim profits — When Apple CEO Steve Jobs called Apple TV a "hobby," he wasn't kidding. — By typical Apple standards, the new set-top video box …
Discussion:
Inquirer
Kotaku:
Industry: Lay-Offs Hit SCEA HQ Today — Roughly 80 to 100 employees of Sony Computer Entertainment of America's Foster City headquarters were laid off today, Kotaku has learned from a source who was among those asked to hand in their badge and keys before leaving the premises.
Will Watts / The Register:
Microsoft threatens its Most Valuable Professional — Who said you could improve our software? — What's the best way to attract a pile of threatening lawyers' letters from Microsoft? Sell pirate copies of Windows? Write a DRM-busting program? — Londoner Jamie Cansdale has just discovered a new approach.
Business Wire:
EA Appoints Kathy Vrabeck to Lead EA Casual Entertainment — New Group to Focus on Lighter Games for Family and New Consumers — REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS - News) today announced the formation of EA Casual Entertainment …
Caroline McCarthy / CNET News.com:
Major League Gaming acquires GotFrag — It could be said that GotFrag, a news and social networking site for fans of competitive video gaming, just got pwned—but in a good way. New York-based professional gaming league Major League Gaming announced Wednesday that it has purchased GotFrag for an unspecified amount.
Discussion:
paidContent.org
Anne Broache / CNET News.com:
Politicos threaten schools over campus piracy — WASHINGTON—Politicians on Tuesday threatened to enact new laws if universities don't do more to prevent their students from unlawfully swapping music, movies and other copyrighted files on campus networks. — At the latest in what has become …
