Top Items:
John Markoff / New York Times:
Google Is Taking Questions (Spoken, via iPhone) — SAN FRANCISCO — Pushing ahead in the decades-long effort to get computers to understand human speech, Google researchers have added sophisticated voice recognition technology to the company's search software for the Apple iPhone.
Discussion:
Google Operating System, Technologizer, Webware.com, Infinite Loop, PC Magazine, mocoNews.net, Search Engine Journal, iPhone Buzz, Alice Hill's Real Tech News, Obsessable, webmonkey, Gadget Lab, Screenwerk, Unwired View, PC World, TheAppleBlog, InformationWeek, AppleInsider, TECH.BLORGE.com, AndroidGuys, GottaBeMobile.com, Google Watch, TG Daily, Lifehacker, Boing Boing Gadgets, 9 to 5 Mac, Gizmodo, The iPhone Blog, Search Engine Watch, dailywireless.org, CrunchGear, Silicon Alley Insider, I4U News, Profy, RexBlog.com, The 26th Story, Electricpig.co.uk, TheNextWeb.com, AppScout, MacRumors iPhone Blog, Phone Scoop, IntoMobile, VentureBeat, iLounge and Webmetricsguru
Business Wire:
Sun Microsystems Aligns Business with Global Economic Climate and Amplifies Growth Opportunities Across Open Source Platforms — SANTA CLARA, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAVA - News) today announced a series of changes designed to align its cost model …
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Margaret Kane / CNET News:
Sun restructures, lays off up to 6,000 — Sun Microsystems has announced a restructuring that will involve layoffs of 15 percent to 18 percent of its global workforce. — The company also announced a reorganization of its software operations and the departure of Rich Green, executive vice president of software.
Discussion:
The Open Road, InfoWorld, Computerworld, The Register, DailyTech, Outside the Lines, Reuters and OStatic blogs
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Microsoft launches online store: Is there deeper meaning here? — Microsoft has launched something long overdue: An online store. Yes Virginia, you can download Windows. — The launch is a bit quiet. Trevin Chow, a senior program manager at Microsoft, announced the “first-party” store on his blog.
Discussion:
Electronista, Gizmodo, DailyTech, Engadget, Obsessable, Addicted to Digital Media and The Windows Blog
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Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Apple 2.0:
IBM must put up $3 million in Papermaster case — IBM only had to pay a $350 filing fee to sue Mark Papermaster, the 25-year IBM (IBM) veteran hired by Steve Jobs last month to run Apple's (AAPL) iPod and iPhone division. — It's going to cost them a lot more to pursue the case.
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Jose Antonio Vargas / Washington Post:
The YouTube Presidency — The White House has gone YouTube. — Today, President-elect Obama will record the weekly Democratic address not just on radio but also on video — a first. The address, typically four minutes long, will be turned into a YouTube video and posted on Obama's transition site …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb, Download Squad, WebProNews, CNET News, Homotron.net, Threat Level, Gizmodo, Profy, Save the Internet Blog, Mashable!, Chris O'Brien, SitePoint and The Utube Blog
Martin Peers / Wall Street Journal:
Google's Consumers Are Checking Out — Google's business model is revealing its Achilles' heel. — The Internet giant's big perceived advantage over traditional media has long been its consumer-driven business model. Whereas traditional media has more of a marketer-driven approach …
Discussion:
Valleywag
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:
Compete: Google Docs & Spreadsheets Keeps Growing, But User Engagment is Flat — It's been a little bit more than two years now since Google merged Google Spreadsheets with Writely, and while there has been a lot of talk about online office suites, the latest data from Compete indicates …
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Alex Patriquin / Compete Blog:Happy 2nd Anniversary, Google Docs & Spreadsheets
Discussion:
Digital Inspiration
Eric Krangel / Alley Insider:
October Game Sales: Nintendo Wii Kicking PS3 Butt — Nintendo (NTDOY) is eating Microsoft (MSFT) and Sony's (SNE) lunch in the console wars, the NPD Group says. — Look at the sales figures for consoles in October: — Wii: 803,000 consoles — Xbox 360: 370,000 — PS3: 190,000
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Slash Lane / AppleInsider:
Apple sued over hairline cracks in iPhone 3G casings — Apple is facing yet another lawsuit over the performance of its iPhone 3G on AT&T's network but with added allegations that the company is ignoring the occurrence of hairline cracks in the handset's enclosure.
Royal Pingdom:
The world's most super-designed data center - fit for a James Bond villain — This underground data center has greenhouses, waterfalls, German submarine engines, simulated daylight and can withstand a hit from a hydrogen bomb. It looks like the secret HQ of a James Bond villain. — And it is real.
Business Technology:
How Old Is Your Work Computer? — It used to be that every three years, workers would get brand new computers from their businesses' tech departments. But for many those days are over. — The reason: Delaying computer upgrades is one of the easiest ways for a tech department to cut its budget.
BBC:
European debut for ‘$100 laptop’ — Europeans will soon be able to buy their own XO laptop. — The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) organisation is planning to sell the devices via online store Amazon's European outlets from 17 November. — The machines will be sold under the Give One …
Discussion:
Mark Evans, TeleRead, Lockergnome Blog Network, Liliputing, CrunchGear, p2pnet, Guardian and Gearlog
Vivek Wadhwa / Business Week:
Engineering: Suddenly Sexy for College Grads — As the financial crisis deepens, science and math grads who once flocked to investment banking are now considering jobs in engineering — Early in his college career, Tyler Bosmeny assumed that after graduating, he would do what hundreds …
Discussion:
The Toybox
WindowsForDevices.com:
Smart camera sports Atom — Matrox Imaging announced a Windows CE “smart camera” that uses a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor. The Iris GT features 256MB of RAM, 1GB of flash storage, a gigabit Ethernet port, USB 2.0 and RS232 serial ports, plus an opto-coupled trigger input and strobe output, says Matrox.
Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
New court documents reveal internal Microsoft fighting over Vista, Intel — A new court filing reveals disputes at Microsoft's highest levels leading up to Windows Vista's release — including CEO Steve Ballmer describing former Windows chief Jim Allchin as “apoplectic” …
Craig Rubens / GigaOM:
Bond Comes to Your iPhone — iPhone apps might some day be the gold mine for advertising. In the meanwhile, we are seeing the emergence of a new trend: iPhone apps as ads. Hollywood studios are the first ones to react and using free applications to promote its movies.
Discussion:
VentureBeat
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
The Very Curious Microsoft-Facebook User Data Relationship — Facebook's ties to Microsoft go back to 2006 when they first signed an advertising deal. A year later they took a $240 million investment, and the advertising relationship was extended this year.
