Top Items:
Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:
Never underestimate Microsoft's ability to turn a corner — This week Microsoft didn't get much hype for its three major announcements. Certainly it didn't stay on top of TechMeme as long as, say, if Steve Jobs gets a sniffle. But don't miss what they did.
Discussion:
Ars Technica
Lee Mathews / Download Squad:
Windows 7 hands on - Impressive at every turn — With the Microsoft PDC recently wrapping up, excitement has been building for Windows 7. I wonder, will it be able to live up to the hype? There's only one way to find out: install it and see for myself. This is by no means a complete analysis …
Discussion:
TechSpot
AOL Mail Blog:
An Open Letter to Gmail: Happy Halloween! We love your costume! — Happy Halloween Gmail! We knew you would have the best costume at the party, and who can blame you? We think it's great that you're using this holiday to pay homage to the one who started it all, who got 35 million people online …
Randall Stross / New York Times:
30 Seconds to Boot Up? That's 29 Too Many — NEW laptops that boot up in 30 seconds? Too slow for me. Five seconds? Better, but what I want is a machine that's ready in about a second, just like my smartphone. — I'm fully aware that expressing any impatience with a computer's boot time invites derision.
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Hands On With Netflix's New Mac Streaming Player: A Good Start (NFLX) — Netflix (NFLX) opened up its new Microsoft (MSFT) Silverlight-based streaming movie player for Apple (AAPL) Macs and PCs yesterday, allowing subscribers to opt in to the service. This is the “huge step forward …
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Regarding Opera Mini and the App Store — I've done some digging on this “Opera Mini was rejected from the App Store” story, and the truth appears to be very different than what has been reported and assumed. — It all started with this paragraph from Saul Hansell on the NY Times Bits weblog …
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
DirectTV May Enter Online TV War With “Web On Demand” Service — We've received a couple of anonymous tips that DirectTV, a $24 billion satellite TV provider, may be entering the online TV wars with a new site called DirectTV Web On Demand. The site would compete with startups like Hulu, Joost, Fancast, Sling.com, etc.
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Is Revver On The Fritz? — We've been getting a lot of tips from people who have been having problems reaching the Revver website lately, getting videos uploaded or playing the ones already hosted on the platform. We haven't paid much attention to them so far, because every time we check …
Discussion:
F**kedStartups
Dong Ngo / CNET News:
No more pirated DVDs from China...maybe — The MPAA doesn't want to make it easy for you to copy DVDs; DVD Shrink does. — If you've been copying DVDs using some made-in-China DVD player, think about taking good care of the device, as you might not be able to buy a replacement.
Discussion:
TECH.BLORGE.com
Owen Thomas / Valleywag:
America CTO's infomercial for Obama — In exchange for his late-to-the-party endorsement of Barack Obama, Google CEO Eric Schmidt got a spot on Obama's prime-time infomercial last night. Note how Schmidt explains his decision, made only after Obama took a substantial lead in the polls …
Kevin Maney / Portfolio:
The End of This Blog — Kevin Maney writes: If Tech Observer looks a little sparse from here on, that's because it is dead. — Some of you may have already seen the news that almost all of Portfolio.com's staff is getting cut, and the site will be reformulated as something less costly and ambitious.
Discussion:
MediaMemo
Bloomberg:
Panasonic Seeks to Buy Control of Sanyo, Company Official Says — Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) — Panasonic Corp., the world's largest maker of consumer electronics, will seek to buy control of Sanyo Electric Co. from its biggest shareholders, a company official familiar with the negotiations said.
