Top Items:
Ina Fried / Beyond Binary:
Microsoft still paying people to search — Microsoft's latest effort to get people to use its search service is something called SearchPerks, which gives people points for using the search engine that can later be redeemed for prizes. — Users who agree to download a small program to track …
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Kip Kniskern / LiveSide:
Live Search Perks - more rewards for using Live Search — It all started with Live Search Club, the somewhat maligned program to reward users for playing games using Live Search (and somewhat skewing search share counts, causing a bit of a scramble by Compete.com and others).
Josh Lowensohn / CNET News:
StumbleUpon 2.0: Good-bye, software toolbar — On Tuesday night StumbleUpon is changing the way users interact with the service, ditching the need for a software-based browser toolbar in place of a small frame that loads on top of the Web site you're on. Users with the toolbar installed …
Discussion:
Download Squad, Silicon Alley Insider, RotorBlog.com, Pulse 2.0, Technologizer, SarahLacy.com, AppScout, webmonkey and Mashable!
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John / What They Play:
New Wii due by 2011 — What They Play has heard from multiple sources in the game development and publishing community that Nintendo is currently showing early presentations of its next home console hardware. Apparently set to hit the market “by 2011” the new device is said to be the true …
Discussion:
The Tech Report, Engadget, Kotaku, GamesIndustry.biz, Technology Live, techtickerblog.com, Gizmodo and Edge Online
Jonathan Skillings / CNET News:
HP to buy LeftHand Networks — Hewlett-Packard announced on Wednesday that it intends to buy storage specialist LeftHand Networks for $360 million. — Privately held LeftHand will fill out HP's virtualization offerings as the tech giant targets midsize companies and corporate branch offices trying …
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Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Apple TV Gets An Upgrade — Without Steve Jobs' Help (AAPL) — A neat new feature is coming to Apple TV, Apple's (AAPL) set-top box, without Apple's help. No, it's not a DVD drive, which we suggested yesterday. But clever coders have devised an easier way to add more software to your Apple TV …
Jon Fortt / Big Tech:
Why Palm needs Android — The new Treo Pro runs Microsoft's Windows Mobile - but Palm may get even more mileage out of embracing Google's Android for future phones. Image: Palm — Unless you're Google, these look like rough times to launch a mobile operating system. — That puts Palm (PALM) in an awkward position.
Discussion:
mocoNews.net
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Jessica Dolcourt / CNET News:
Skype 4.0 beta 2 gives you more say — Skype 4.0 beta 2 (download when available) has done a lot of growing since the first beta for Windows rolled out this past June. While that release showed some success reorganizing Skype's services, we predicted that folks would protest the gawky layout.
Discussion:
Inquirer
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Brad Stone / New York Times:
Studios Sue to Bar a DVD Copying Program — Six major movie studios sued RealNetworks, the Seattle-based digital media company, on Tuesday over its new $30 software program that allows people to make digital copies of their DVDs. — As the opening warning on every DVD indicates, Hollywood has bitterly opposed such copying.
Mike Ricciuti / CNET News:
Oracle buys maker of 3D retail software — Oracle is adding to its retail software lineup by acquiring Advanced Visual Technology, a maker of 3D space planning software for retailers. — AVT, based in Hertfordshire, England, sells a product called Retail Focus, which lets retailers plan store floors and shelf space.
Discussion:
All Points Blog
BBC:
Blizzard wins Warcraft bot payout — World of Warcraft creator Blizzard has won $6m (£3.36m) in damages from the makers of a software ‘bot’. — The damages award comes after Blizzard won the first round of its legal battle against MDY Industries in July 2008.
Werner Vogels / All Things Distributed:
Expanding the Cloud: Microsoft Windows Server on Amazon EC2 — The backend servers that power the world of Internet Services have become increasingly diverse. With today's announcement that Microsoft Windows Server is available on Amazon EC2 we can now run the majority of popular software systems in the cloud.
Discussion:
The Register, Rough Type, Amazon Web Services Blog, Furrier.org, CloudAve and Smalltalk Tidbits …
Kevin Michaluk / CrackBerry.com blogs:
Leaked: RIM's New BlackBerry Terminator 9900! — On AT&T waiting for the Bold? Visions of a BlackBerry Storm dancing thorugh your head? Screw it! Set your eyes on RIM's latest device, the BlackBerry Terminator. With no less than four machine guns, this baby is RIM's literal response …
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
A DonorsChoose.org Miracle: My Dinner With Jerry (and BoomTown Plans to Vanquish the Naked Scoble!) — If it's October 1, it must be time for the DonorsChoose.org's Blogger Challenge 2008! — DonorsChoose.org is a charity that funds classroom projects in high-need public schools …
Caroline McCarthy / The Social:
Bezos, Benioff invest in appointment-booker ZocDoc — There are some big new names backing ZocDoc, a start-up that lets you book doctor's appointments online (currently just in New York). Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has contributed an undisclosed amount to the company, as has Bezos Expeditions …
Todd Haselton / LAPTOP Magazine:
XOHM WiMAX In Baltimore: Speed Tests With XOHM ExpressCard — We went to Baltimore today to check out America's first fully-functional XOHM city for ourselves. Earlier today, we had a hands-on experience with XOHM using a Nokia N810 WiMAX tablet. Since then, we've gone out and purchased …
Richard MacManus / ReadWriteWeb:
Where Are All The RDF-based Semantic Web Apps? — RDF is the cornerstone of The Semantic Web, yet there still very few commercial RDF apps. — In the latest issue of Nodalities, a magazine about the Semantic Web by UK company Talis, there is an article by Talis CTO Ian Davis about the state of Semantic Web applications.
Discussion:
The Semantic Web
Rafe Needleman / CNET News:
Note-taking app Evernote gets an API — Evernote, the multiplatform note-taking app that I can't stop raving about, is opening up. New PC and Mac clients will get additional HTML import and export capabilities as well as accessibility from scripting tools like AppleScript.
Discussion:
SurfBits
Elinor Mills / CNET News:
Kevin Mitnick detained, released after Colombia trip — Since being released from prison eight years ago, Kevin Mitnick's brushes with the law have consisted of a few parking tickets and a citation for driving without a front license plate—that is, until he returned from a trip to Colombia two weeks ago.
Patrick Foster / Times of London:
ITV plots future in which there is no escape from ads — Television viewers who like to fast-forward through advertising breaks may want to look away now. ITV is developing a new form of unavoidable advertisement that can be embedded in television programmes.
The Boy Genius / Boy Genius Report:
BlackBerry Bold training on AT&T cancelled due to launch delays — For realz, y'all. October 2nd was about as concrete as we were going to get, but the powers that be (RIM's lack of focus on the OS) have interjected. We've been working on this story over the past couple days …
Discussion:
IntoMobile, ChannelWeb Complete Feed, InformationWeek, BlackBerryNews.com, Gadgetell and CrackBerry.com blogs
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Netflix API Launches Tomorrow - Here's What it Will and Won't Include — The much-awaited Application Programming Interface (API) for movie site Netflix will launch tomorrow, according to an email from the company. As HackingNetflix found out last week, the launch event will occur at the AJAX Experience conference.
Discussion:
NewTeeVee, The Web Services Report, paidContent.org, ProgrammableWeb, Hacking NetFlix, Gizmodo, Electronista and Mashable!
Luke Dittrich / Esquire:
The Google Diaspora — The next big idea to come out of Google may not come out of Google. Luke Dittrich looks as the computer giant's offspring. — “Regroup (The Google Diaspora)” by R. Justin Stewart; fleece, rope, paint, PVC cap, hose barb, metal hardware; 8 1/2' X 21' X 13'; commissioned for Esquire, June 2008.
