Top Items:
BBC:
O2 'to get UK iPhone contract' — Mobile phone operator O2 is reported to have won the sought-after deal to sell Apple's iPhone in the UK. — Press reports said that O2 is set to sign an exclusive contract shortly and should have the new phones on sale in time for Christmas.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, PC World, ZDNet, Digital Media Wire, Epicenter, Gadget Lab, Tom Raftery's Social Media, Engadget, CrunchGear, Mashable!, Ken McGuire On The Web, SMS Text News and digg
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Financial Times:
O2 nears iPhone partnership — By Andrew Parker and Maija Palmer in London and Paul Taylor in New York — Telefónica's O2 mobile phone business was poised on Wednesday night to clinch a deal as Apple's exclusive network partner for iPhone in the UK, said people familiar with the matter.
John Oates / The Register:
O2 gets UK iPhone deal — Mobile network O2 is close to getting the exclusive right to sell Apple's ludicrously-hyped iPhone in the UK. — The handset has gone on sale in the US with one network partner, AT&T, and Apple is looking to set up similar exclusive deals across Europe.
Elizabeth Judge / Times of London:
O2 beats rivals in battle for the rights to Apple's iPhone — O2 has beaten its rivals to win the exclusive UK rights to offer Apple's iPhone. The tie-up, the mobile phone industry's most sought-after deal in years, marks a major coup for the 18 million-customer group.
Reuters:
Microsoft to launch Xbox 360 Elite in Japan in Oct — TOKYO, July 5 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday it would launch the advanced version of its Xbox 360 game console, Xbox 360 Elite, on Oct. 11 in Japan, a country where sales …
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Ben Kuchera / Ars Technica:
Microsoft to take the Xbox 360 Elite to Japan — The original Xbox was never much of a contender in Japan, and upon launch the 360 also seemed nearly DOA. Microsoft soon released the much-maligned Core configuration of the 360 in Japan on September of 2006 to offer a lower-priced alternative …
Discussion:
Reuters
Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:
Universal confirms non-renewal of iTunes contract — Hot on the heels of the almost-ran reconciliation between Apple and the Universal Music Group, the music label has issued a statement saying definitively that it will not renew its long-term agreement with the Cupertino juggernaut.
Discussion:
PC World
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IFPI:
IFPI hails court ruling that ISPs must stop copyright piracy on their networks — A court in Belgium has confirmed that an Internet Service Provider must take responsibility for stopping illegal file-sharing on its network. The ruling is the first of its kind in Europe and …
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USA Today:
The house that helped build Google — MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Susan Wojcicki is reminiscing about her old home in Menlo Park, Calif. — "It's a very humble house, less than 2,000 square feet," she recalls fondly. A cozy, four-bedroom home — and incredibly historic.
Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:
Twitter vs. Pownce — So, back to Nik's point that Twitter is better because of the API. — Absolutely correct. But when we were standing in line last week for our iPhones Pownce's lead developer, Leah Culver joined us and we talked at length about where Pownce is going.
RELATED:
Tony Hung / Deep Jive Interests:A Deep And Flawed Misunderstanding of A-Lists, Blogs, And Social Networks
Discussion:
Insider Chatter
Choe Sang-Hun / New York Times:
South Koreans Connect Through Search Engine — Park Hye Ran, a 15-year-old high school student, wanted to know the shortest route from a bus terminal in the southern port city of Busan to a fish market to the east. — That is precisely the kind of question that Cho In Joon, 50, a seller of lottery tickets in Busan, loves to answer.
Associated Press:
Digital Purchases Rise as Album Sales Fall — Album sales have continued their downward slide this year, but sales of digital tracks are up almost 50 percent over this time last year. — A total of 229.8 million albums were sold in the United States from Jan. 1 to July 1, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures released Wednesday.
BBC:
Good vibes power tiny generator — A tiny generator powered by natural vibrations could soon be helping keep heart pacemakers working. — Created by scientists at the University of Southampton, the generator has been developed to power devices where replacing batteries is very difficult.
Steve Lohr / New York Times:
At I.B.M., a Smarter Way to Outsource — Jeffrey Taft is a road warrior in the global high-technology services economy, and his work shows why there are limits to the number of skilled jobs that can be shipped abroad in the Internet age. — Each Monday, Mr. Taft awakes before dawn at his home …
Discussion:
Techdirt
Tony Hung / The Blog Herald:
Is This The Twilight of Blogging? — There's a new (or old) meme that's brewing about the nature of popularity, A-lists, and blogging that's a brewing over in the technology side of the blogosphere. I had some strong words about it, but it bears analyzing from a bit of a different point of view as well …
Discussion:
A View from the Isle, SYNTAGMA, The Webpreneur, Performancing.com, gapingvoid and rexblog.com
Steorn:
Steorn demonstrates free energy technology in public forum — Demonstration at Kinetica Museum, London, UK is world's first outing for Steorn's Orbo technology and will be streamed live around the world — London, 4th July 2007. Steorn, an Irish technology development company …
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Jack / Waiting for iPhone:
ATT Activates over 1 Million iPhones — According to reports leaked to waitingforiphone.com, ATT Mobility has fulfilled over 1 million iPhone activations since the device was launched in the US on June 29th. This news comes from a full-time staffer in ATT Mobilty's Commerce Group who chose to remain anonymous.
Chris Williams / The Register:
Spanish telco defiant over huge broadband anti-trust fine — Telefónica claims clear conscience — O2 parent company Telefónica has protested innocence after it was slammed by European anti-trust regulators for gaming the broadband market in its Spanish home territory.
