Top Items:
Susan Wojcicki / The Official Google Blog:
Making ads more interesting — At Google, we believe that ads are a valuable source of information — one that can connect people to the advertisers offering products, services and ideas that interest them. By making ads more relevant, and improving the connection between advertisers and our users …
Discussion:
PC World, The Register, The Technology Chronicles, Ars Technica, MediaMemo, Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog, GMSV, ReadWriteWeb, BBC, Google Operating System, The Technology Liberation …, Search Engine Watch, louisgray.com, GigaOM, BetaNews, Tech Beat, Kelsey Group Blogs, OUT-LAW News, Gawker, Joe Duck, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, Epicenter, Profy, Nelson's Weblog and AdExchanger.com
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Miguel Helft / New York Times:
Google to Offer Ads Based on Interests — SAN FRANCISCO — Google will begin showing ads on Wednesday to people based on their previous online activities in a form of advertising known as behavioral targeting, which has been embraced by most of its competitors but has drawn criticism from privacy advocates and some members of Congress.
Discussion:
Contentinople, TechFlash, Geeking with Greg, Financial Times, Blogspotting and Gadgetell
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:
Google Gets Into Behavioral Targeting, Launches “Interest-Based Advertising” Beta — Google today is launching a form of behavioral targeting advertising named Interest-Based Advertising. Interest-Based Advertising allows advertisers to deliver ads based on hundreds of interest categories and previous interactions with those users.
Christine Monaghan / Apple:
Apple Announces Incredible New iPod shuffle — World's Smallest Music Player Now Talks to You — Apple® today introduced the all-new iPod® shuffle, the world's smallest music player at nearly half of the size of the previous model, and the first music player that talks to you.
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Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
Apple's redesigned iPod shuffle hits 4GB, talks to you (updated with video!) — Bam, another Apple rumor vindicated. Apple just doubled the capacity of its iPod shuffle to 4GB while ditching the control wheel entirely. The new design keeps the clip and adds VoiceOver …
Discussion:
NEWSFACTOR, The Technology Chronicles, eWeek, techblog.dallasnews.com, Crave and SlipperyBrick.com
Chris Dannen / Fast Company:
The Gross Inconvenience of the New iPod Shuffle — If you're an iPhone user, you just looked at Apple's [AAPL] new 4GB iPod Shuffle and groaned. — Announced this morning, the little stainless steel slab is beautifully minimalist, and about the size of a piece of Trident.
Microsoft:
Microsoft Unveils Its Developer Strategy for the Next Generation of Windows® Phones — Familiar tools, large worldwide customer base and transparent policies allow mobile developers to innovate and generate new revenue opportunities with Windows Mobile 6.5 and Windows Marketplace for Mobile.
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Ina Fried / Beyond Binary:
Microsoft details app store plans — Microsoft on Wednesday is offering up more details on its would-be rival to the iPhone's app store. — The software maker said it will charge developers $99 a year, plus $99 for each application they submit to get an app into the Windows Marketplace store.
Discussion:
Agence France Presse, Softpedia News, eWeek, Download Squad, Engadget, InformationWeek, Gizmodo, Electronista, IntoMobile and AppScout
Kelvin Soh / Reuters:
Apple orders 10-inch touchscreens for third quarter: source — TAIPEI (Reuters) - Apple will take third-quarter delivery of newly developed 10-inch touchscreens from Taiwan, a source said on Wednesday, amid talk the U.S. firm is developing a touchscreen PC.
Discussion:
CNET News, MacRumors, Digital Daily, Technologizer, The Apple Core, Gadget Lab, SlashGear, CrunchGear, Electronic Pulp, Gizmodo and 9 to 5 Mac
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Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:Apple orders 10-inch touchscreens for mystery product
Discussion:
The Register
John Timmer / Ars Technica:
Lithium breakthrough could charge batteries in 10 seconds — A new version of lithium battery technology can either provide a higher storage density than current batteries, or can charge and discharge as fast as a supercapacitor, emptying its entire charge in under 10 seconds.
Alan Travis / Guardian:
Web inventor warns against third-party internet snooping — Sir Tim Berners-Lee speaks out against collection of users' data by commercial companies — Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the world wide web, today warned MPs and peers that they should not allow third parties …
Discussion:
Between the Lines
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Marguerite Reardon / CNET News:
SAP to offer corporate apps on iPhone — Corporate software makers SAP and Sybase are teaming up to make it easier for business users to access SAP's software on mobile devices such as Apple's iPhone. — SAP, which is the world's biggest maker of business management software …
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Sam Diaz / Between the Lines:SAP, Sybase partner to deliver apps for any device
Discussion:
PR Newswire
Peter X. Deng / Facebook Blog:
Welcome to Your New Home Page — Last week, we shared our philosophy behind the new updates and changes on Facebook to give you a better understanding of why we make certain product decisions. We explained how we've been mapping out the Social Graph, or the network of connections that exist in the world …
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Apple 2.0:
Apple's Snow Leopard may be delayed - analyst — Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, the update of Apple's (AAPL) current Macintosh operating system that Steve Jobs said would ship in “about a year” when he introduced it last June, may not arrive until later this summer or fall.
Ghassan Haddad / Facebook Blog:
Facebook Now Available in Arabic and Hebrew — . Ù' . — . . Ù' . — Ù' Ù' . . . . . "" “Ù'” "" . — We're making Facebook available in Arabic and Hebrew—two languages where writing begins at the right-hand side of the page and concludes on the left.
Jim Dwyer / New York Times:
The Officer Who Posted Too Much on MySpace — In pictures, Vaughan Ettienne is a champion bodybuilder of surreal musculature. In conversation, he is polite and thoughtful. — And in the looking glass of his computer screen, he becomes a man of fierce, profane views on how to keep law and order.
Slash Lane / AppleInsider:
Faster iTunes 8.1 with new import and Genius features due soon — Apple sometime later today or this week will make available for download a speedier version of its iTunes media software that extents the company's Genius feature to more media types and also support direct imports to iTunes Plus, new parental controls and more.
Marguerite Reardon / CNET News:
Nokia fights to hold on to smartphone dominance — Nokia is still by far the No. 1 mobile handset maker in the world, but as competition heats up in the smartphone market, Nokia has become increasingly vulnerable to smaller players such as Apple and Research In Motion, which are increasing market share.
Discussion:
eWeek, Ars Technica, jkOnTheRun, Computerworld, Dow Jones Newswires, mocoNews, Smartphones and Cell Phones, WMExperts and Boy Genius Report
Karl Bode / DSLreports:
Comcast Now Third Largest Phone Company - Passes Qwest with explosive digital voice growth... Sure, we've given Comcast some grief over the years, but one thing that can't be denied is the speed at which the company absolutely dominated of the VoIP (sorry, Digital Voice) market.
Heather Dougherty / Hitwise Intelligence:
Visits to Gmail surpass YouTube — For the past two weeks, the market share of US Internet visits to Gmail has been higher than visits to YouTube. Previously, YouTube consistently ranked 10th among all websites by market share of visits until the week ending Jan. 10, 2009, where Gmail moved up one rank to reach #10.
Thanks:atul
Anita Barci / Checkout:
Google Checkout fees in 2009 — When we launched Google Checkout in 2006, we set out to create a fast, secure online shopping experience for our users. Now in our third year of helping merchants increase sales and attract user interest, we're announcing the decision to move …
Discussion:
Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim
Nokia:
Nokia latest releases set to hit the top of the charts — Espoo, Finland - Nokia today announced the arrival of new Nokia Music Stores, more Comes With Music launches and three new music devices. The Nokia 5730 XpressMusic, Nokia 5330 XpressMusic and Nokia 5030 bring people's music to life …
Discussion:
last100, Pulse2, SlashGear, Mobilewhack.com, Nokia Experts, Phone Scoop, Smartphones and Cell Phones and Boy Genius Report
Associated Press:
EBay's PayPal envisions doubling in size by 2011 — SAN JOSE, Calif. - EBay Inc.'s name may conjure images of online auctions, but the company is hoping to turn attention to its second-largest business — PayPal — which it expects to blossom significantly in the next few years.
Brooke Crothers / CNET News:
AMD: MacBook issues giving graphics bad rap — Advanced Micro Devices worries that lingering issues—both real and speculative—with Apple MacBooks are giving laptop graphics a black eye. — In a phone interview Tuesday, Stan Ossias, director of marketing, mobile graphics, at AMD …
Discussion:
Electronista
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
Fight Over YouTube Videos Heats Up In The UK; Musician Propaganda Begins — from the you're-about-to-learn-what-leverage- is dept — The decision earlier this week by Google to block music videos in the UK has certainly kicked off quite the firestorm of discussions within the music industry …
Discussion:
Times of London
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Apple 2.0:
Is Apple laying off or staffing up? — It's hard to make sense of the conflicting reports of recent layoffs at Apple (AAPL). Valleywag's gossip editor in two separate posts said as many as 50 employees were laid off here and there. Apple PR flatly denied the first report and went semi-mum about the second.
Justin Smith / Inside Facebook:
Gambit Launching Payments Engine for Social App & Game Developers — Virtual currency monetization and payments are hot on the Facebook Platform right now, and Inside Facebook has the exclusive on a new startup that is helping social network application and online game developers do just that.
Charles Cooper / Coop's Corner:
Q&A: California lawmaker wants to blur Google Earth — OK, it's California. So we are quite used to the rest of the country rolling their eyes in knowing exasperation at our fads. But often, they turn out to be harbingers of national trends. And so the question: Will AB-255 number among them as well?
Discussion:
CNET News
