Top Items:
John Markoff / New York Times:
I, Robot: The Man Behind the Google Phone — A RETINAL scanner emitting a blue glow monitors the entrance to Andy Rubin's home in the foothills overlooking Silicon Valley. If the scanner recognizes you, the door unlocks automatically. (The system makes it easier to deal with former girlfriends, Mr. Rubin likes to joke.
T3:
It's official: iPhone 1.1.2 — We get some hands-on time with version 1.1.2 of the Apple iPhone firmware, courtesy of our UK iPhone. — In the UK, November 9th is D-day for everything iPhone. One detail about this date strikes the fear of god into iPhone hackers, however …
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Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
iPhone v1.1.2 breaks jailbreak — coming to the UK on Friday — When we first got our hands on the UK iPhone back in September, it was already running the 1.1.1 firmware. The same firmware which helpfully bricked a number of hacked iPhones Stateside upon later release.
Discussion:
9 to 5 Mac
Hiroko Tabuchi / Associated Press:
PCs being pushed aside in Japan — TOKYO - Masaya Igarashi wants $200 headphones for his new iPod Touch, and he's torn between Nintendo Co.'s Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3 game consoles. When he has saved up again, he plans to splurge on a digital camera or flat-screen TV.
Matt Richtel / New York Times:
Devices Enforce Cellular Silence, Sweet but Illegal — One afternoon in early September, an architect boarded his commuter train and became a cellphone vigilante. He sat down next to a 20-something woman who he said was "blabbing away" into her phone. — "She was using the word 'like' all the time.
Randall Stross / New York Times:
Why Google Turned Into a Social Butterfly — FACEBOOK is an island. A most convivial island, with one's classmates, friends, workmates and family members close at hand. An island that since May has been enlivened with entertaining fauna and flora in the form of minisoftware applications.
Discussion:
Social Media
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
NYTimes Blogrunner v. TechMeme — On Thursday we covered the official launch of the NY Times Blogrunner product. Blogrunner was specifically positioned as a Techmeme-like blog news aggregator, albeit with a human touch to help pick good stories when the algorithm isn't quite up to the task (Techmeme is 100% algorithm based news).
Suzanne Nam / Forbes:
The Jonney Machine — Intel pushed and prodded. Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) came in right at the end. How Taiwan's Asustek built its cheap laptop for grown-ups. — A year ago Jonney Shih was searching for a breakthrough. The Taiwan company he has run since 1994 …
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
Canadian Study: Piracy Boosts CD Sales — University of London researchers, Birgitte Andersen and Marion Frenz surveyed a large group of Canadians to find out what the effect of piracy is on music sales. The results are surprising, at least, for the music industry.
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Juan Carlos Perez / Computerworld:
Google to unveil mobile platform; target: iPhone? — Negotiators continued to hammer our deals over the weekend — Google negotiators this weekend continue to hammer out agreements with wireless carriers, handset makers, software developers and hardware providers, as the company prepares …
Dare Obasanjo aka Carnage4Life:
Google OpenSocial: Technical Overview and Critique — Disclaimer: This post does not reflect the opinions, thoughts, strategies or future intentions of my employer. These are solely my personal opinions. If you are seeking official position statements from Microsoft, please go here.
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Micro PC Talk:
VAIO UX490 (finally) announced and on sale — More than a month after Amazon debunked rumors surrounding the release of a new UX, Sony has finally put the much awaited UX490 up on their site for sale. It actually looks like a great deal too. As previously mentioned …
Sean Michael Kerner / internetnews.com:
Microsoft Denies Nigerian Linux Scam — Microsoft is a tremendous competitor in every market in the world. And according to a letter written by Mandriva Linux CEO Francois Bancilhon, it's so bent on winning that it undercut a deal between the Nigerian government and the Linux vendor.
Dan Goodin / The Register:
Masked thieves storm into Chicago colocation (again!) — Think your data's secure. What about your data center? — The recent armed robbery of a Chicago-based co-location facility has customers hopping mad after learning it was at least the fourth forced intrusion in two years.
Antone Gonsalves / TechWeb:
LCD, Plasma TVs Found Highly Reliable — LCD and plasma TVs require few repairs during the first three years of use, and buyers would be wasting their money during the holiday shopping season if they bought extended warranties on the highly reliable devices, Consumer Reports found in a study released Friday.
