Top Items:
Amazon Web Services Blog:
Ka-Ching! — Ever since the first Amazon Web Service was released in mid-2002, we have encouraged developers to use them to create new types of businesses. — This encouragement has taken many forms over the years. Let's revisit some of the more interesting moments in the last 5 years of AWS history...
Discussion:
mathewingram.com/work, Scobleizer, uncov, Mashable!, Chuqui 3.0.1 Beta, Smalltalk Tidbits … and Payments News
RELATED:
Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
Amazon's Flexible Payments Service to compete with Google Checkout, PayPal — A new payment service for online vendors has entered the scene, this time introduced by online retail giant Amazon. The Amazon Flexible Payments Service offers an extensive API to developers that will allow …
Phil801:
Amazon Announces "Flexible Payment Service" or FPS — With what may have been the biggest buildup to a blog post I've ever seen (all done via Twitter), Jeff Barr publicly announced Amazon's FPS product - effectively ending my NDA about it from over a year ago.
Eric Eldon / VentureBeat:
Plaxo launching Pulse, its own social network — Plaxo, the online address book, will try to recreate itself as an open social network called "Pulse" beginning Monday. — In retrospect, you should have seen this coming. Plaxo is primed for this. — The Mountain View …
RELATED:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:Plaxo Prepares To Launch Pulse Social Network - Will Users Trust It?
Reuters:
Microsoft slashes Vista price in China — Microsoft has more than halved the retail price of its Vista operating system in China. — The Home Basic edition dropped from $201 (1,521 yuan) to $66, and the Home Premium package dropped from $238 to $118. The move was effective as of Wednesday.
RELATED:
BBC:
Warning of webmail wi-fi hijack — Using public wi-fi hotspots has got much riskier as security experts unveil tools that nab login data over the air. — Demonstrated at the Black Hat hacker conference in Las Vegas, the tools make it far easier to steal account details, said Robert Graham of Errata Security.
Joe McDonald / Associated Press:
Lenovo targets rural China with basic PC — BEIJING - Lenovo Group Ltd. said Friday it will sell a basic personal computer aimed at China's vast but poor rural market and priced as low as $199. — Lenovo's announcement follows rival Dell Inc.'s bid to boost its presence in China's booming market …
BBC:
Google sidesteps mobile reports — Google has refused to deny mounting speculation that it is working to produce its own brand mobile phone. — Reports suggest that the web giant is developing a "GPhone", centred on its mobile services, such as search, e-mail and maps.
Wil Harris / Inquirer:
Tech rags forced to face unpalatable facts — Analysis Online is the way, unless it isn't — WHAT TO make of the recent wave of high-profile defections, replacements and general crashes over in the SF tech press? Some might suggest it's the death of print. Some suggest it's the death of online.
Wagner James Au / GigaOM:
Second Life (finally) gets a direct competitor: Multiverse — The brainchild of several ex-Netscape execs, the Mountain View start-up Multiverse, as the name suggests, isn't a single online world, but a platform for creating games and other 3D experiences with the company's development tools, which are then run on its servers.
Discussion:
Multiverse, Portfolio.com, Second Life Insider, Metaversed, Tech Confidential Blog and Virtual Worlds News
Todd Bishop / Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog:
Microsoft resolves lawsuit over Xbox Fall Update — Microsoft has reached a resolution in one Xbox 360 lawsuit. The latest court filing in the case of Kevin Ray v. Microsoft Corp. (PDF, 3 pages) indicates that the two sides have agreed to dismiss the case.
Fred / A VC:
The Open Social Network — We've got social networks with lots of users, like MySpace, Beebo, Facebook, etc, and we've got open social networks like Marc Canter's People Aggregator and Marc Andreessen's Ning. But we really don't yet have an open social network with a lot of users.
Discussion:
Publishing 2.0, Scripting News, Online Spin, Mashable!, broadstuff, Basement.org, CostPerNews, Feedonomics and MediaVidea
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Vonage Beta Testing New Ambit VOIP Gateway — Consumer VOIP service Vonage is beta testing a new, self-described "cool and sleek, yet simplistic and approachable" gateway device produced by Ambit. The device, an Ambit VDV21, includes a LCD screen that displays caller ID and voicemail notifications.
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
HP ridicules Queensland study linking laser printer particles to potential health issues — Oh noes, that study claiming that laser printer particles are dangerous is shaping up to be just as contentious as those studies proving that cellphones are/aren't dangerous.
