Top Items:
Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
Microsoft sues TomTom over Linux and other patent claims — Microsoft filed suit against TomTom today, alleging that the in-car navigation company's devices violate eight of its patents — including three that relate to TomTom's implementation of the Linux kernel.
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Eric Krangel / Silicon Alley Insider:
Microsoft Sues Linux For Patent Infringement — Microsoft (MSFT) has gone and done it, they've filed suit in U.S. District Court claiming Linux violates their patents. — The case centers on portable GPS device maker Tomtom, which uses Linux in its device.
Discussion:
Engadget
Microsoft:
Microsoft v. TomTom: Patent Infringement Action — Microsoft has filed an action today after attempting for more than a year to engage in licensing discussions with TomTom. — REDMOND, Wash. — February 25, 2009 — Microsoft Corp. today filed a patent infringement action against TomTom NV and Tom Tom …
John Battelle / John Battelle's Searchblog:
Twitter = YouTube. — What? Is Battelle crazy? Hear me out. Think back when YouTube was growing like a weed, and Google snapped it up. Most folks (including me) saw this as Google “getting into the video business,” and sure, that in fact was one part of the equation.
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Chris O'Brien / Mercury News:
How Twitter could be a threat to Google — Google's search engine is so dominant that it's hard to imagine how anyone could knock the Mountain View company from its pedestal. And yet if history is any guide, such reigns never last. IBM gave way to Microsoft, which now has been usurped by Google.
Discussion:
Bloggers Blog
Tarmo Virki / Reuters:
Nokia considering entering laptop industry — HELSINKI (Reuters) - The world's top mobile phone maker Nokia is eyeing entering the laptop business, its Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in an interview to Finnish national broadcaster YLE on Wednesday.
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Prince McLean / AppleInsider:
Apple shareholder meeting dominated by politics — Apple's annual shareholder meeting was dominated, as usual, by groups using the event as a soapbox for furthering their political agenda. Apple COO Tim Cook only answered a couple real questions from individuals, and the crowd sang …
Discussion:
Byte of the Apple, CNET News, The Register, Epicenter, 9 to 5 Mac, mocoNews.net, MacBlogz and World of Apple
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Bloomberg:
Apple CEO Steve Jobs Remains Deeply Involved at the Company, Director Says — Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs remains deeply involved in strategic decisions and the company will disclose more information about his health if warranted, a director said.
Juan Carlos Perez / Network World:
IDC forecasts first U.S. ad spending contraction since 2001 — More bad news for advertising-supported Internet and media companies like Google, Yahoo, Facebook and MySpace: IDC is predicting that online ad spending in the U.S. will shrink year-on-year in the first quarter for the first time since the dot-com bubble burst in 2001.
Discussion:
HipMojo.com
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Roy Blount Jr / New York Times:
The Kindle Swindle? — BEING president of too many well-meaning organizations put my father into an early grave. The lesson in this was not lost on me. But now I am president of the Authors Guild, whose mission is to sustain book-writing as a viable occupation.
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Apple:
MobileMe: Service updates as of February 25, 2009 — The MobileMe service has recently been updated with improvements as described below. — Products Affected — MobileMe — Mail — Compose window address selector shows all email addresses for contacts, not just home and work addresses.
Discussion:
TUAW
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Tim Culpan / Bloomberg:
Microsoft May Begin Shipping Windows 7 in September, Compal's Chen Says — Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) — Microsoft Corp., the world's largest software maker, may begin shipping its Windows 7 operating system as early as the third quarter, a computer-industry executive said.
Discussion:
Technologizer, Electronista, PC World, Gizmodo, Obsessable, Softpedia News, Microsoft Pri0, Homotron.net, Silicon Alley Insider, Network World and BetaNews
MG Siegler / VentureBeat:
Google unveils App Status Dashboard to confirm when your anger is justified — When Gmail had a massive worldwide failure a couple days ago, a lot of users were angry. And rightfully so — even though it was only for a few hours, some people are paying Google to use Gmail for their work.
GamesIndustry.biz:
PS3 price cut announcement “in the next couple of days” - Janco — The PlayStation 3 could be about to receive a price cut, with Sony due to make an announcement imminently. — That's according to Janco Partners' Mike Hickey, who has said in his latest note to investors that Sony needs …
Brandon LeBlanc / The Windows Blog:
Announcing the Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 RC — This week we are announcing that Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 has hit an important milestone in development: Release Candidate (RC). — Starting today, the RC of SP2 for Windows Vista …
Discussion:
Windows Server Division WebLog, windowsteamblog.com, eWeek, Neowin.net, ChannelWeb and AppScout
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Biden Forgets Recovery.gov's “Website Number” — This morning Vice President Biden went on the CBS early show to promote Recovery.gov, the website that will detail where all of the money in The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be going. Unfortunately, he forgot the actual address …
Nancy Gohring / Macworld:
Google blocks paid apps for unlocked G1 users — People who bought an unlocked version of the Android G1 phone are no longer allowed to download new paid applications from the Market, after a change Google made late last week. — Google is prohibiting users of the unlocked phones …
Josh Cohen / Google News Blog:
Ads in Google News search results — If you're in the US, starting today you may notice something a bit different when you search Google News. — Last November, we announced plans to begin experimenting with ads on a number of Google properties, including news query refinements within Google search.
Emil Protalinski / Ars Technica:
IE8 compatibility and reliability update for Windows 7 beta — Microsoft has released an update for Internext Explorer build 8.0.7000.0, fixing many bugs that were fixed with the release of IE8 RC1 for Vista and XP. — Microsoft has released a patch via Windows Update for Internet Explorer 8 …
Alex Chitu / Google Operating System:
Google Shared Stuff to Be Discontinued — Google Shared Stuff, the social bookmarking service that has never been officially launched, will no longer be available after the end of March. — Google Shared Stuff was only used to share videos at Google Video and Knol articles, but it was buggy and underdeveloped.
MG Siegler / VentureBeat:
Google says hello to Twitter with a stream of 1s and 0s — That was the first official tweet from Google's official Twitter account today. The second tweet announced the launch of its App Status Dashboard, which we just covered. This looks to be another move in the direction of transparency …
Johnny Minkley / GamesIndustry.biz:
EA: We've learned our lesson on release dates — Electronic Arts has admitted it got it wrong with the releases of some of its biggest games of 2008, and insists the industry must now rethink its entire approach to putting products into the market. — Glen Schofield, general manager …
David Chartier / Ars Technica:
AIM for iPhone gets paid version, SMS alerts, location awareness — AIM for iPhone and iPod touch has split into free (ad-supported) and paid versions, though both feature the same enhancements for this 2.0 upgrade. New in AIM for iPhone 2.0 are SMS notifications, location-aware services, multiple accounts, and more.
Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:
Apple updates Apple TV software to version 2.3.1 [Ux2] — Apple overnight released a minor software update for owners of its Apple TV set-top media box that has thus far been revealed to include a new Network Test function and improvements when using Apple Remote for iPhone.
Sue Zeidler / Reuters:
Netflix to offer “streaming only” plans in future — LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Netflix Inc Chief Financial Officer Barry McCarthy said on Wednesday it plans to offer its online streaming service on a stand-alone basis. — “We're likely to do that in the foreseeable future,” …
Jon Fortt / Fortune:
What Margaret Mead could teach techs — Big tech firms are hiring social scientists to help them figure out the changing landscape. — (Fortune) — While traveling in China, Genevieve Bell figured she'd have no trouble getting a cell phone. With cash, a passport and official documents from her employer …
Zach Spear / AppleInsider:
SoftBank now giving away iPhones in Japan — In a bid to possibly clear inventory, combat slumping sales, or both, SoftBank Mobile's new “iPhone for Everybody Campaign” is offering customers in Japan a free iPhone 3G with a two-year contract through May. — Announced on the Japanese carrier's website …
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:
Penn State Study: Search Ad Click Through Rate — Penn State's Jim Jansen announced a recent study they just finished that looked at the click through rate of search ads. They studied hundreds of thousands of users, as they interacted with DogPile, the popular meta search engine.
Fëdor Karpelevitch / Gmail Blog:
New in Labs: Browser title bar tweaks — I'm often doing something on my computer and want to know if I have new mail without having to keep my Gmail window open. But if you keep Gmail minimized or in an inactive tab sometimes all you see in the browser title bar is something like “Gmail - Inbo...”
William M. Bulkeley / Wall Street Journal:
Camera Sales Slump 12% — Market research firm IDC said that U.S. digital camera sales declined even more sharply than expected in the fourth-quarter holiday season, falling 12% to 15 million units. — Worsening the pain for camera makers and retailers, the market skewed toward lower-end devices …
