Top Items:
CmdrTaco / Slashdot:
Fifth Cable Cut To Middle East — You may have noticed a number of stories recently about undersea cables getting cut around the world. Apparently the total is now up to 5, but the scariest part of this is that Iran is now offline. You can also read Schneier's comments on this coincidence.
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Paul Miller / Engadget:
Cut four undersea cables, shame on you, cut a fifth, also shame on you — If you're reading Engadget today because your favorite Iranian gadget blog is offline, here's why: a fifth undersea cable has now been reported as cut, responsible for [knocking Iran] and a few other million people mostly off the interwebs.
Asma Ali Zain / Khaleej Times:
Cable damage hits 1.7m Internet users in UAE — DUBAI — An estimated 1.7 million Internet users in the UAE have been affected by the recent undersea cable damage, an expert said yesterday, quoting recent figures published by TeleGeography, an international research Web site.
Discussion:
Business Technology, ...My heart's in Accra, CrunchGear, I Love Bonnie.net, DSLreports, Gizmodo, securosis.com, Boing Boing and Digg
Shane McGlaun / DailyTech:Bad to Worse: Fifth Undersea Cable Cut in Middle East
Discussion:
Good Morning Silicon Valley
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Microsoft Bid for Yahoo Drops To $29.50 a Share — As Yahoo waits in vain for other bidders or deal alternatives to emerge, the dissatisfaction of Microsoft investors with the Yahoo bid has reduced the value of Microsoft's offer to $29.50 a share. — Why? — The bid is half-cash / half-stock,
Discussion:
HipMojo.com, Scripting News, TechCrunch, The Tech Report, Social Strategist, WebProNews and VoIP Blog
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Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
No spin: Ars reviews the MacBook Air with solid state drive — The MacBook Air's high-end model comes with 200 extra MHz and a solid state drive. Is it worth the extra $1,300 to upgrade? We compare the two Airs directly to find out whether the price is worth paying.
Discussion:
Hardware 2.0, The Boy Genius Report, Engadget, Gizmodo, Forever Geek, The Mac Observer, Macsimum News, Insanely Great Mac and Digg
Peter Kafka / Silicon Alley Insider:
“BigNews”: Ask's Digg Project Revealed (IACI) — Here's the Ask.com/Digg collaboration we'd heard about earlier this week, but it may be less than we'd advertised: “BigNews” is actually more of an attempt to create a new spin on Techmeme/Google News than a ripoff of Digg's social news site.
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Ryan Naraine / eWeek:
Apple Plugs QuickTime Malware Installation Hole — The company acknowledges the bug could lead to drive-by malware installations on Windows and Mac machines. — Apple has issued a patch for a high-profile vulnerability in its flagship QuickTime media player, acknowledging that the bug …
Elizabeth Woyke / Forbes:
Google Likely Out, And Happy — After dominating the U.S. wireless spectrum auction for months, from influencing the terms of the auction to bidding, it looks like Google is off the hook. — Nine days into the closely watched Federal Communications Commission auction …
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Ex-Googlers Launch Instructional Video Site Howcast, Raise $8 Million A Round — A New York City startup called Howcast is launching today that wants to be the YouTube of instructional videos. In fact, the three founders—Jason Liebman, Daniel Blackman and Sanjay Raman …
Discussion:
HipMojo.com, The Technology Chronicles, Contentinople, Techland, Screenwerk, VentureBeat, paidContent.org, NewTeeVee, Rev2.org and Silicon Alley Insider
Greg Sandoval / CNET News.com:
Video site Revver shopping itself for a song — Revver, a YouTube competitor that made a name for itself by paying video producers, has fallen on hard times. — The company's staff has dwindled to less than half the size it was 18 months ago, according to former employees.
BBC:
Holographic displays step closer — Holograms could soon be helping monitor surgical procedures after a faster way to make the 3D images is discovered. — The journal Nature reports the breakthrough by US researchers who developed a novel material in which holographs can be created in minutes.
Discussion:
Slashdot
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John Timmer / Ars Technica:Holodeck 0.1: the durable, rewritable holographic display
Discussion:
Nature
Chris Isidore / Company news:
Time Warner may shed AOL unit — Media conglomerate says it may sell part of AOL and spin-off more of Time Warner Cable. Company also sees slower earnings growth in '08. — NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Time Warner's new chief executive officer confirmed Wednesday that the media company …
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Major Nelson / Xbox Live's Major Nelson:
Xbox 360 HD DVD Player price drop (now US $129.99) — This just in: The Xbox 360 HD DVD Player price has dropped from $179.99 to $129.99 (U.S. MSRP.) This new price is effective immediately in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Combine the new price with the 5 free HD DVD offer and it's a pretty good deal.
Discussion:
Engadget, DailyTech, ParisLemon, Variety, The Tech Report, Xbox 360 Fanboy, Kotaku, CrunchGear, Gizmodo, Hacking NetFlix and Opposable Thumbs
Daniel Terdiman / CNET News.com:
EA unveils Spielberg's ‘Boom Blox’ for Wii — It's been a long time coming, but we finally have some actual details about the first game to emerge from the partnership between Steven Spielberg and Electronic Arts. — Known as Boom Blox, the game, which will be available in May only on the Wii, is from EA's casual games unit.
Josh Bernoff / Groundswell:
Why Social Applications Will Thrive In A Recession — Is a recession coming? Don't ask me — I'm not an economist, and even the economists don't really know. But if it's anything like the last recession, advertising will plummet and experimental media will crater.
Discussion:
Web Strategy, VentureBeat, Furrier.org, Insider Chatter, The Social Web and The Social Times
Brad Linder / Download Squad:
Why Windows 7 looks so much like Vista — Last month we posted a video and screenshots of what may or may not be Windows 7, the next version of Microsoft's flagship operating system. The company hasn't confirmed or denied the authenticity of these images, but many readers have been a bit... vocal about their doubts.
Brooke Crothers / Nanotech:
ARM, Samsung Agreement May Point To Future iPhone Chips — Samsung's ARM chip roadmap may contain sign posts to future iPhone processors. On Tuesday, ARM Holdings and Samsung Electronics extended their Strategic Long-Term Licensing Agreement, allowing Samsung to retain access to key ARM processor IP.
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
MySpace's San Francisco Debut in Living Color! — Last night, BoomTown checked out the new space MySpace is renovating for its soon-to-open San Francisco office. The occasion was a party the social-networking site held for developers as part of its recent platform launch.
Discussion:
Techland, bub.blicio.us, Inside Facebook, Tom Foremski: IMHO, Webware.com and Web Strategy
Nicholas Carlson / Valleywag:
Pleading, price cuts can't halt Rackspace exodus — Rackspace management called Tumblr's David Karp yesterday and pleaded for mercy. The Web-hosting service even offered to cut bandwidth chargeds from $2 a gigabyte down to 40 cents. (Other Rackspace customers, take note.) Didn't work.
