Top Items:
The Boy Genius / Boy Genius Report:
BlackBerry Bold delayed on AT&T until at least mid-August! — We know what you're thinking... but this is for reals! We've just confirmed this now with two high-level sources: the Bold is actually delayed until August on AT&T. It seems like AT&T and RIM are still having software issues with battery life and overheating.
Peter Kafka / Silicon Alley Insider:
Starbucks (SBUX) Dumping CDs, iTunes Gift Cards (AAPL) — Starbucks, which has been scaling back its once-grand ambitions to turn itself into an entertainment hub, is about to shrink its plans yet again. We hear that by September, the chain will have dumped almost all of its in-store music retail offerings.
Jesusdiaz / Gizmodo:
iPhone 2.0 Golden Master Could Hit this Friday — According to a sources inside the Cupertino's iPhone software development effort, it is “highly probable” that the iPhone 2.0 Golden Master will hit this Friday. The final version could arrive two weeks before the introduction of the new iPhone 3G …
Todd Bishop / Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog:
Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant — Sometimes, software isn't so magical. Even for Bill Gates. — For the opening piece in our series on Gates leaving daily life at Microsoft, one goal was to give a clear picture of the Microsoft co-founder's role inside the company, as a gauge of the impact his departure will have.
Discussion:
STARTUP CHATTER, Software as Services, TeleRead, Techdirt, Mashable!, Digital Daily, Zoli's Blog, TechBlog, CyberNet, Boing Boing Gadgets, MacDailyNews, AppScout, Gizmodo, AccMan Pro, Bleeding Edge, Chris Edwards' blog, p2pnet, Venture Chronicles, The Open Road, Signal to Noise, Furrier.org, Gadgetopia, LiveSide and Digg
RELATED:
Michael Krigsman / IT Project Failures:Bill Gates' web experience: Byzantine, idiotic logic
Discussion:
Zoli's Blog
Sundeep Tucker / Financial Times:
Virgin Mobile and SK to combine operations in the US — Virgin Mobile USA is to acquire the US mobile phone operation controlled by SK Telecom of South Korea, after each side decided to combine their struggling businesses to build scale in the fast-maturing market.
RELATED:
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Helio-Virgin Mobile A Done Deal. Why Did Virgin Do It? — Virgin Mobile USA will bail out rival “virtual” carrier Helio after all, the FT reports: The companies have agreed to a deal in principle and could announce it as early as this week. — The gist: Virgin will take over Helio's subscriber base and keep its own brand.
Discussion:
Inquirer
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Yahoo Wilts as TechCrunch “Microsoft Takeover!” Sources Sober Up — Anyone else spoken to any Microsoft or Yahoo sources who think the two companies are discussing a full takeover deal? Everyone we've talked to thinks that TechCrunch's sources must have been drunk.
RELATED:
Caroline McCarthy / The Social:
Social network Multiply goes premium — Multiply, a social network that has done a fine job of flying under the radar since its 2005 launch, has announced a new paid-account program that focuses on media storage. Called a “digital scrapbook,” this premium feature will cost $19.95 annually.
RELATED:
Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:
Google's Vint Cerf, ‘Father of the Internet’: “Online Video Will Be Distributed in Download Mode” — Vint Cerf, a computer scientist who is most often called the “father of the Internet,” says that the popularity and demand for online video will mean that the distribution will eventually be done …
RELATED:
Dan Farber / Outside the Lines:Vint Cerf: Video streaming to give way to downloading
Discussion:
News Headlines
Arn / MacRumors:
Time of iPhone 3G Launch Remains Unclear — Unconfirmed reports claim that the U.S. iPhone launch will take place starting at 8am, July 11th at AT&T stores nationwide. A screenshot posted to our forums claims to depict the actual email sent to AT&T managers.
Jason Perlow / Between the Lines:
I'm sticking with Windows XP — You've heard it all before — the bell tolls for Windows XP. The governor isn't calling to give it a reprieve — Microsoft is officially declaring it end of life for system OEMs on June 30. On April 14, 2009, mainstream support dies.
Mark Hendrickson / TechCrunch:
Mixx Gets Serious About Community Building — Digg competitor Mixx just launched an extension to its groups feature that founder Chris McGill describes as “Ning for social media”. — Users can now set up Mixx community sites on their own subdomains (see ours here).
Discussion:
ReadWriteWeb
Andrew Orlowski / The Register:
Farewell then, Symbian — Epoc's journey: from world-beater to basket case — The smart in smartphone disappeared — The smartphone wars once devoured a great deal of attention and energy, particularly during the long PR war that took place in the first four barren years …
Chris Anderson / Wired News:
The End of Theory: The Data Deluge Makes the Scientific Method Obsolete — “All models are wrong, but some are useful.” — So proclaimed statistician George Box 30 years ago, and he was right. But what choice did we have? Only models, from cosmological equations to theories of human behavior …
BBC Press Office:
Next generation BBC iPlayer launches — The BBC today unveils a new-look BBC iPlayer which fully integrates radio and TV in one interface, as the service records over 100 million requests to view programmes in the six months since its launch. — The new-look service, which launches in beta tomorrow …
Michael Learmonth / Silicon Alley Insider:
Next New Networks Inks With Hulu, Yahoo, Metacafe — Next New Networks, the conglomerate of niche video channels that's best known as home of Obama Girl, has struck online video distribution deals with Yahoo, Hulu and Metacafe. Yahoo (YHOO) and Metacafe will get access to all Next New Networks programming …
