Top Items:
Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:
Steve Ballmer still doesn't understand social networking — A few years ago I wrote to Microsoft's leadership and asked them why they weren't involved in the new Web 2.0 space. I got an answer back that was about 2,000 words long and included the words "business value" 13 times.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, loose wire blog, innonate, Bokardo, Leveraging Ideas, Silicon Valley Blog and Smalltalk Tidbits …
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Gemma Soames / Times of London:
Ballmer: Facebook risks being 'a fad' — The Microsoft chief says that Facebook's appeal could fade - after being linked to an investment that would value the site at $10 billion — Steve Ballmer, the Microsoft chief executive, believes that the craze for individual social networks …
Peter Kafka / Silicon Alley Insider:
Microsoft: Yep, New Zunes. And DRM-Free Music? — Our spy in Seattle (actually, 20 minutes or so out of Bellevue) tells us that Microsoft did indeed show off three new Zunes today - a $149, 4 gig version and a $199, 8 gig model, both of which use flash memory, and an $249, 80 gig version that uses a hard drive.
Discussion:
PR Newswire, Valleywag, Engadget, Geek News Central, Mashable!, Daring Fireball and Gizmodo
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Todd Bishop / Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog:
Highlights: Microsoft overhauls its Zune lineup — Microsoft released details of its new Zune devices Tuesday. They're due for release in November. Analysts say some of the new features are interesting, such as wireless synching with the PC. But Microsoft is playing catch-up to Apple's iPod …
Jeff Leeds / New York Times:
Microsoft Updates Its iPod Competitor — Microsoft has revamped its slow-selling Zune digital music players and created a MySpace-style social-networking site in its drive to compete with Apple's market-leading iPod player. — In large part, the Microsoft moves announced Tuesday …
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Google to $2,000 a Share? — A reader complained that we've been nothing but negative of late—recession, Microsoft, Yahoo, newspapers, music, dying TV ads, etc.—so we'll brighten your afternoon with some rip-roaring positivity. — Remember a couple years back when some analyst floated …
Discussion:
Valleywag
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Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Google To $2000/Share? Somebody Muzzle Blodget — Henry Blodget made his name by predicting outlandish price increases for Internet stocks in the late nineties. A lot of people lost a lot of money (or, all their money) by listening to his recommendations.
Discussion:
mathewingram.com/work
Martin LaMonica / Webware.com:
Adobe expands online services, woos designers with Thermo — Attendees at Adobe's Max developer conference check out Thermo, the code name for a design tool that enables designers to construct Web applications without writing code. — (Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET News.com)
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Ryan Block / Engadget:
Microsoft's new Zunes: officially in 80, 8, and 4GB sizes — We love a good non-mystery around here, and Microsoft's new Zunes are about as un-mysterious as they get. But we also love a good product refresh, and now that the cat's officially out of the bag we can really dig into the new Zunes …
Eric Bangeman / Ars Technica:
First RIAA trial gets under way with jury selection, opening statements — Duluth, Minnesota — Capitol Records, et al v. Jammie Thomas (the name of the suit changed after the RIAA dropped the sole Virgin recording from the case) got under way this morning in Courtroom One of the Federal Building in Duluth.
Caroline McCarthy / Webware.com:
NEW JERSEY ATTORNEY GENERAL SUBPOENAS FACEBOOK OVER SEX OFFENDER DATA — Anne Milgram, the attorney general for the state of New Jersey, issued a subpoena on Monday against popular social-networking site Facebook, requesting that the company turn over information as to whether registered sex offenders have profiles on the site.
Discussion:
BloggingStocks
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Victoria Shannon / New York Times:
Microsoft to Increase Ad Business — Steve Ballmer, the chief executive of Microsoft, vowing that the company's $6 billion plunge into the ad business two months ago was not just an experiment, said today that advertising would become 25 percent of the company's business within a few years.
Brad Stone / Bits:
Bubblewatch: The Industry Standard is Coming Back — As if we needed any more evidence that the bubble is back in Silicon Valley, technology media company IDG plans to revive that hallmark publication of the dot.com era, the Industry Standard. — I hear that IDG has hired San Francisco …
Gina Piccalo / Los Angeles Times:
BoingBoing.net bounces into TV territory — The arty blog adds a video component to its eclectic mix. — BoingBoing.net, the popular everything blog that now gets 7.5 million page views a month, today will launch a daily online TV show. — Five days a week, tv.boingboing.net …
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Take me out to the ballgame, then watermark it — Major League Baseball likes its copyrights served up strong, with just a hint of hyperbole to keep things interesting. The league has previously asserted that player names and statistics are subject to copyright (and must therefore be licensed …
