Top Items:
Louise Story / New York Times:
Company Will Monitor Phone Calls to Tailor Ads — Companies like Google scan their e-mail users' in-boxes to deliver ads related to those messages. Will people be as willing to let a company listen in on their phone conversations to do the same? — Pudding Media, a start-up based in San Jose …
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Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Today's Terrible Idea: Pudding Media — A new start-up called Pudding Media is offering free PC-based telephone calls—if users allow the company to listen in on their conversations and serve targeted ads based on what they're talking about (NYT). This is one of the worst business ideas we've heard …
Om Malik / GigaOM:
The Mad Ad World & Cheap Calls — Technology business often goes through periods where rationality and reality are suspended. We just might be in that phase, and nothing highlights that than the launch of ad-supported phone services. In UK, Blyk, an ad-supported mobile service we wrote about eons ago launched.
Peter Svensson / Associated Press:
New service eavesdrops on Internet calls — NEW YORK - A startup has come up with a new way to make money from phone calls connected via the Internet: having software listen to the calls, then displaying ads on the callers' computer screens based on what's being talked about.
Discussion:
dslreports.com, Newlaunches.com, Gizmodo, CrunchGear, ReveNews Online Revenue … and The Raw Feed
Wall Street Journal:
Microsoft Is in Talks To Buy Facebook Stake — SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft Corp. is in talks with Facebook Inc. about making an investment in the social-networking startup that could value Facebook at $10 billion or more, according to people familiar with the matter.
Jonathan Fildes / BBC:
'$100 laptop' to sell to public — Computer enthusiasts in the developed world will soon be able to get their hands on the so-called "$100 laptop". — The organisation behind the project has launched the "give one, get one" scheme that will allow US residents to purchase two laptops for $399 (£198).
Discussion:
The Browser, Daggle, broadstuff, Wikinomics, Between the Lines, Guardian Unlimited, Mashable! and Digg
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Steve Lohr / New York Times:
Buy a Laptop for a Child, Get Another Laptop Free — One Laptop Per Child, an ambitious project to bring computing to the developing world's children, has considerable momentum. Years of work by engineers and scientists have paid off in a pioneering low-cost machine that is light, rugged and surprisingly versatile.
Discussion:
Smart Mobs, Wall Street Journal, IP Democracy, Memex 1.1, Digital Trends, dailywireless.org, Compiler and Slashdot
James Kendrick / jkOnTheRun:
We need a real handheld computer, who will build one? Apple of course — It's a great time to be a handheld PC enthusiast, not because there are so many good devices to choose from, because I don't think there are, but because public awareness of handheld PCs are at an all-time high.
Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:
Is FeedHub the answer to information overload? — I've been playing with mSpoke's FeedHub, releasing today at the Demo Conference. I'll have a video up later today demonstrating the product. — Dan Farber has a review and info up on his ZDNet blog. — I've been interested i this topic for some time.
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Duncan Riley / TechCrunch:
Pownce vs Digg: Who Will Kevin Rose Back? — I've speculated previously on the growing conflict Kevin Rose has between his roles at Digg and Pownce, and now it would appear that we may finally be on the eve of Rose being forced to decide between the two. — Leah Culver, a co-founder …
Prince McLean / AppleInsider:
Updated Leopard requirements to exclude 800MHz systems — Just weeks ahead of its public launch, Apple Inc. has updated the minimum system requirements for its next-generation Leopard operating system to exclude 800MHz PowerPC-based Macs, AppleInsider has learned.
Discussion:
Byte of the Apple, CrunchGear, Compiler, The Unofficial Apple Weblog, Gizmodo, Ubergizmo and ParisLemon
Associated Press:
Starbucks to Give Away 50 Million Songs — SEATTLE (AP) — Starbucks Corp. plans to give away 50 million free digital songs to customers in all of its domestic coffee houses to promote a new wireless iTunes music service that's about to debut in select markets.
Discussion:
Engadget, Gizmodo, Orbitcast, Yahoo! News, Newlaunches.com, ExtremeTech, Gadget Lab, The Globe and Mail and Ubergizmo
Dave McClure / Master of 500 Hats:
VCs & Tech Lawyers: INNOVATE, AUTOMATE, SIMPLIFY — i'll have a lot more to say about this in the future, but at the moment i just want to observe that for a group of folks who hang around startups & talk about technology & innovation all day long, most VCs & lawyers i know really need to eat some of their own [startup's] dogfood.
Discussion:
Jeremy Toeman's LIVEdigitally
Duncan Riley / TechCrunch:
Google Prepping A Second Life Competitor? — Rumors of a Google powered virtual world based on Google Earth surfaced in January; today there is word that Google may be testing their virtual world at Arizona State University (ASU). — According to Google Operating System …
Gary Gentile / Associated Press:
Myspace offers ad-supported mobile version — LOS ANGELES - The social networking Web site MySpace is launching a free, advertising-supported cell phone version Monday as part of a wider bid by parent News Corp. to attract advertising for mobile Web sites. — Fox Interactive Media …
Candace Lombardi / CNET News.com:
Think tank to EU: Unbundle Windows on PCs — The Globalization Institute, a Brussels-based EU think tank, has recommended the European Union require all PCs to be sold without pre-loaded operating systems such as Microsoft Windows. — There is no reason why computer operating systems …
