Top Items:
Dan Farber / Outside the Lines:
Is Microsoft stalking Powerset's search technology? — While Powerset is preparing for the public rollout of its unique, semantic search engine, Microsoft may be interested in acquiring the startup, according to sources. — I asked Barney Pell, Powerset co-founder and CTO, whether there was any truth to a Microsoft-Powerset deal.
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Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Powerset's Dilemma: Go For It, Or Sell — San Francisco based search startup Powerset will be launching shortly. For now, Powerset will query only Wikipedia and Freebase. But as I said when the product was demo'd to me a few weeks ago, it is compelling nonetheless: “When I tested the service …
Joel Hruska / Ars Technica:
Security flaw turns Gmail into open-relay server — A recently-discovered flaw in Gmail is capable of turning Google's e-mail service into a highly effective spam machine. According to the Information Security Research Team (INSERT), Gmail is susceptible to a man-in-the-middle attack …
Charles Jade / Infinite Loop:
iPhone “currently unavailable” at Apple Store — Following reported shortages of iPhones by UK reseller O2 earlier this week, both the Apple Store in the US and UK “appear” to have run out of iPhones. It is probably best to say the outage is parenthetical at this time, because both the French and German stores still have stock.
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IDG News Service:
Microsoft to Limit Capabilities of Cheap Laptops — Microsoft is launching a program to promote the use of its Windows OS in ultra low-cost PCs, one effect of which will be to limit the hardware capabilities of this type of device, IDG News Service has learned.
Discussion:
TechSpot, Linux News from Linux Loop, TECH.BLORGE.com, Gizmodo, Engadget, GottaBeMobile, Slashdot and Digg
Stowe Boyd / /Message:
The Growing Backlash Against PR Spam, And The Rationale For MicroPR — Gina Trapani, of Lifehacker, has created a prspammers wiki where she and others can publicly out PR firms that are spamming bloggers at their personal email addresses, or using other unsavory spammish practices.
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Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Three's Company Or Three's A Crowd? Google To Launch “Friend Connect” On Monday — Don't they say good things come in threes? Well, regardless, we've heard from multiple sources that Google will launch a new product on Monday called “Friend Connect,” which will be a set of APIs …
Fred / A VC:
Three Reasons To Use Disqus — First, I'd like to be perfectly clear that our firm, Union Square Ventures, is an investor in Disqus. So I am clearly biased about what I am about to say. Second, I'd like to point out that the reason we made the investment is largely based on my experience …
Discussion:
mathewingram.com/work, David Risley, Dragon Reborn, SheGeeks, Don Dodge on The Next … and Blogcosm
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Cash-Burning Facebook Borrows $100mm...Because It Couldn't Sell Stock? — Remember the $500 million in equity financing at a $15 billion valuation Facebook was going to raise around the time it launched Beacon last fall? — The company never confirmed that it was seeking this much, but, in any event, it didn't get it.
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
The iFund Has Competition: $150 Million Blackberry Fund To Be Announced Soon — The platform wars are going mobile. Whether it's the iPhone, Blackberry,Android or Windows Mobile, the mobile platform that will win in the end will be the one with the best and broadest collection of applications.
Discussion:
VentureBeat
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Apple 2.0:
How AT&T spilled the Starbucks beans — Here's one thing the folks at Apple could teach their friends at AT&T: how to parcel out the good news. — Case in point: the Starbucks-iPhone-Wi-Fi deal that's been on and off all week and generating all the wrong kind of headlines (see for example, here).
