Top Items:
Duncan Riley / TechCrunch:
And The Walls Came Tumbling Down: Madonna Dumps Record Industry — Since reporting Monday that Nine Inch Nails had dumped its record label and was to offer future albums direct to the public, Oasis and Jamiroquai have also joined the move away from the record industry, but the biggest announcement …
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Ethan Smith / Wall Street Journal:
Madonna Heads for Virgin Territory — In the latest seismic shift to rock the music industry, pop superstar Madonna is close to leaving Warner Music Group Corp.'s Warner Bros. Records for a $120 million deal with concert-promotion giant Live Nation Inc., according to people familiar with the deal.
Reuters:
Madonna dumps label in $134m deal — Pop star Madonna is close to leaving her long-time Warner Bros. Records label for a wide-ranging $US120 million (A$134 million) deal with concert promotion firm Live Nation, a source familiar with the talks said on Wednesday.
Josh / Netly News:
More Google Brass Head for the Exits — Bigshots from around the world are converging on Google HQ tomorrow for Zeitgeist, the faithful's annual mecca to the Googleplex. But at least one of Google's top brass is heading for the exits: Benjamin Ling, a high-ranking engineer described by Google …
Rafat Ali / paidContent.org:
CBS Buys 10-Month Old Celebrity Gossip Blog Dotspotter; Price Around $10 Million — CBS (NYSE: CBS) has bought 10-month-old celebrity gossip blog Dotspotter, for a price of around $10 million. The rumor was first reported on Valleywag, and has also been confirmed to us by sources.
Discussion:
Profy.Com, Silicon Alley Insider, MediaBytes with Shelly …, alarm:clock, The Last Podcast and 901am
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Amin Charaniya / Google LatLong:
Now Playing: YouTube videos in Google Earth — I love watching videos on YouTube. Every once in a while I'll see something so good that it makes me stop and wonder where it was recorded or how I can find more videos from that particular location. For instance, just the other day I stumbled upon …
Discussion:
Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, VentureBeat, Mashable!, Ogle Earth and John Battelle's Searchblog
Stephen J. Dubner / Freakonomics:
Here Are the Answers to Your Craigslist Questions — Last week, you submitted lots and lots of questions for Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster, the founder and CEO, respectively, of Craigslist. They couldn't answer every question but I think you'll agree they've given us a lot of good answers, time, and ideas.
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Facebook Funding: A Yahoo Bovine Update? — "Why," said a sharp Silicon Valley figure to me last night, "would Facebook give away the cow for a price of quart of milk?" — Why, indeed, although it would be a $15 billion quart of milk. — But it was an interesting point he was making …
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Glenn Fleishman / TidBITS:
Apple Nearing iPhone Third-Party Developer Announcement — Several sources tell me that Apple is nearing an announcement of some sort regarding third-party development on the iPhone. The bits and pieces I've heard are maddeningly non-specific: I don't know, for instance …
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
iPhone unbricking now available from IPhoneSimFree — Hacked your iPhone did ya? Now, after the 1.1.1 update, you're looking at a non-functioning paperweight? Well, we've got good news for you just as long as you're willing to pay. Not only does the 1.1.1 iPhoneSimFree unlock released …
ABC News:
Plasma TVs may be banned — Most plasma television sets are in danger of being banned from sale in Australia if a proposed energy-efficiency rating system is adopted. — A report commissioned by the Federal Government says there is a growing demand for plasma and LCD televisions, which use more power than traditional TV sets.
Discussion:
DailyTech, The Pondering Primate, ParisLemon, Techdirt, Engadget HD, Gizmodo and The Raw Feed
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
iPod touch now running Mail, Google Maps, and more — We're not looking at general availability yet, but those happy hacking cats unravelling the iPod touch have decrypted the ramdisk and are now busy installing applications. Already, Mail, Maps, and other 3rd party apps are up and running on their jailbreaked touches.
The Korea Times:
PS3 to Debut as IPTV Set-Top Box — KT, Korea's dominant telecom operator, and Sony Computer Entertainment Korea (SCEK) will launch an Internet-based TV service in November that runs on the PlayStation 3 game console, the companies said Tuesday. — The PS3 console will act as a set-top box …
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Duncan Riley / TechCrunch:
Twitter + Second Life = Spontaneous Web Meetspace — We've been rather harsh in our coverage of Second Life in the past, the sad truth being that this year Second Life has provided a range of tabloid fodder that we've seen fit to print. — Of late our coverage has started to change.
Discussion:
VentureBeat, Metaversed.com, Guardian Unlimited, MediaShift, The Podcast Network Blog and www.nickhodge.com
John Chan / Crave: The gadget blog:
Palm Treo 500v launched in Singapore — First announced exactly a month ago, the Palm Treo 500v smartphone is now available in Asia, at least in Singapore. The 500v was launched in partnership with European carrier Vodafone in September and still bears that operator's brand name even though Palm has released it with M1 here.
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BBC:
Universal avatars bestride worlds — A virtual character, or avatar, for all the virtual worlds in which people play is the goal of a joint project between IBM and Linden Lab. — The computer giant and the creator of Second Life are working on universal avatars that can travel between worlds.
Duncan Riley / TechCrunch:
Facebook Vs ConnectU: "Facebook Makes Untrue Assertions" Claims ConnectU — The long running saga of claims and counter claims between Facebook and ConnectU hit court today with an initial setback for ConnectU. — The case before the San Jose Federal Court was not the allegations …
Discussion:
Facebook Observer
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Nick / Rough Type:
Storage: too cheap to meter? — At a recent conference, I saw Chris Anderson make a presentation in which he quoted the famous 1954 prediction by Lewis Strauss, the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, that "our children will enjoy in their homes electrical energy too cheap to meter."
Discussion:
Smalltalk Tidbits …
Ewan Spence / blognation:
Mippin's Mobile Portal Now in Public Beta — Now open to the public is Refresh Mobile's Mippin , their third big play in the mobile content business. Designed to let mobile phone users get to relevant information, fast, I spoke to their VP of Product Management, Prashant Agarwal, about the service.
