Top Items:
Engineering Windows 7:
A few more changes from Beta to RC... Hey folks, just wanted to provide another update (building on the recent post on some changes since Beta) on some of the changes you will see in the Release Candidate. Again, there are many and this is not an exhaustive list.
Discussion:
The Register, Download Squad, TechSpot, Silicon Alley Insider, Engadget, AppScout and GottaBeMobile.com
David Wood / Symbian Foundation Blog:
Introducing the Release Plan — There's a lot of activity underway, throughout the software development teams for all the different packages that make up the Symbian Platform. — These packages are finding their way into platform releases. The plan is that there will be two platform releases each year.
Discussion:
Electronista, jkOnTheRun, InformationWeek, Gadgetell, Boy Genius Report, Unwired View, Phone Scoop, All About Symbian and MobileBurn.com
Charles Cooper / Coop's Corner:
It was 20 years ago today: The Web — History in the making: Berners-Lee's original schematic for a client/server model for a distributed hypertext system. — Is it already 20 years since Tim Berners-Lee authored “Information Management: A proposal” and set the technology world on fire?
Discussion:
VentureBeat, CNET News, Between the Lines, Technologizer, Digital Daily, Gawker, TED Blog, dailywireless.org and Imaging Insider, Thanks:mrinaldesai
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Robert Andrews / paidContent:
Why YouTube's PRS Spat Is Just One Battle In The Coming Online Music War — Google's opposition to proposed new UK music rates may look like just public posturing, as private negotiations continue. But it's only one instance of what may become an increasingly fractious tug 'o war between online services …
Discussion:
Music Ally
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Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
iPod touch—not lies—sets kid's pants on fire; parents sue — “Liar liar, pants on fire!” One kid from Cincinnati won't be able to listen to that one again after allegedly having an iPod touch actually set his pants on fire, resulting in melted underwear and second degree burns on his leg.
MG Siegler / VentureBeat:
Fire Eagle perches on Facebook — Despite the hype they get, location-based services have yet to catch on in the mainstream. The problem so far is that most of the social networks that use location are relatively small — at least, compared to something like Facebook, which is nearing 200 million users.
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Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
How We Search With The Twitter “Help Engine” — Is Twitter a search engine or not? There's been plenty of discussion and debate about this recently. I'd say yes, in a way. It's clear to anyone who watches a twitterstream that people put out questions to Twitter similar to how they use search engines.
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Heather Hopkins / Hitwise Intelligence:Where to From Twitter — Is Twitter, as Eric Schmidt opined …
Discussion:
the Econsultancy blog, InformationWeek, Twitterrati, SiliconAngle, Beyond Search, ReadWriteWeb, Search Engine Land and Micro Persuasion, Thanks:atul
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Facebook Getting Serious About Vanity URLs — Facebook is getting wise to something MySpace has known from the start - users love vanity URLs. When you tell someone your MySpace page, you just say myspace.com/[user/brand/band/ etc.] (I'm myspace.com/mikearrington). On Facebook it has always been more difficult.
Mobile Today:
O2 drops price on 3G iPhone ahead of new Apple device this summer — Stocks cleared as new Apple iPhone set for July release — O2 is poised to tweak prices on the 3G iPhone in May, ahead of what is believed to be a new Apple mobile phone in June or, most likely, July, Mobile can exclusively reveal.
Discussion:
Ars Technica, Wall Street Journal, GPS Obsessed, O'Grady's PowerPage, FierceWireless, mocoNews, Music Ally and Boy Genius Report
Elizabeth Montalbano / Computerworld:
Report: Microsoft U.S. search share hits 12-month low — Google continues to dominate as Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL lag far behind — IDG News Service) Microsofts Corp.'s share of Internet searches in the U.S. fell to a 12-month low according to a ComScore Inc. report on Internet search queries for February.
Discussion:
Digital Daily
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Cisco's expected Unified Computing System splash raises a data center ruckus — Cisco Systems on Monday is widely expected to launch network servers in a move that will put it in the virtualization business and potentially at odds with players like Hewlett-Packard and IBM.
Discussion:
TheStreet.com
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
FanSnap Is The New Kayak For Event Ticket Searches — Event tickets are a big business and startup FanSnap is entering the game with a compelling ticket search engine. FanSnap is launching the public beta of its nifty Kayak-like live ticket search engine for sports, concerts, and theater events.
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
Amazon Uses DMCA To Try To Block Other Ebooks From Getting On Your Kindle — Slashdot points us to the rather unfortunate news that Amazon has sent a DMCA takedown notice to MobileRead, concerning a link that site had to a small piece of software that would allow ebooks purchased elsewhere (other than Amazon) to work on the Kindle.
Hiawatha Bray / Boston Globe:
MagicJack far from enchanting — You've probably seen the ads on TV, especially if you're up late. Plug a little device called magicJack into a PC, then connect your telephone, and get unlimited calls throughout the United States for $20 a year. — To me, there was a whiff of sleaze about the whole thing.
Discussion:
Nieman Journalism Lab
Jenna Wortham / Bits:
Foursquare Seeks to Turn Nightlife Into a Game — Dennis Crowley's last big project, a location-based messaging service called Dodgeball, was just shut down by its owner, Google. — But Mr. Crowley got back in the game Friday with Foursquare, a free mobile application that aims to turn nightlife …
Patrick Thibodeau / Computerworld:
Kundra takes leave of absence from federal CIO post — The move follows allegations of bribery in DC office he ran — The fallout from Thursday's arrests of a District of Columbia IT security official and contractor quickly raised questions about the fate of Vivek Kundra …
Dan Moren / Macworld:
Mystery of missing iTunes Genius feature solved — We're no stranger to odd happenings in the world of Apple—sometimes it's a bit like ufology or cryptozoology, all apocryphal stories and blurry photos. But the company's predilection to secrecy doesn't always help clear up matters when confusion arises.
Chris Albrecht / NewTeeVee:
Where to Watch March Madness Online (and on Mobile and On-Demand) — Let's be honest. This is the most wonderful time of the year. March Madness, baby! The NCAA Men's College Basketball Tournament is back! — Once you've filled out your bracket and given $5 to the office pool, all that's left to do is watch the games.
InfoWorld:
Amazon, Microsoft improve their cloud computing game — Amazon has introduced EC2 Reserved Instances which allow you to obtain a reduced hourly fee for an upfront payment that varies according to which level of EC2 server you use. So, for example, with an upfront payment of US$325 …
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Apple 2.0:
Stewart slams Cramer with Apple video — The highlight of Thursday night's appearance of CNBC's Mad Money host Jim Cramer on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart — which both NBC and Comedy Central had done their best to promote as the grudge match of the century — turned out to be a two-year …
Eric Krangel / Silicon Alley Insider:
TheStreet.com CEO Out — Shakeup at financial news site Thestreet.com (TSCM), founded by Jim Cramer. CEO Thomas J. Clarke Jr is leaving the company after over 9 years on the job. — No word yet on a successor — director Daryl Otte will oversee the search for a new boss.
Jason Fitzpatrick / Lifehacker:
JPEGSnoop Sniffs Out Signs of Editing — Windows only: JPEGSnoop is a small and portable application that sleuths through images determine if the image has been altered or edited. — JPEGSnoop starts by reading a JPEG/JPG file's EXIF data to give you a wealth of information about the photo …
Keith Sevcik / CNET News:
Why Google Maps blurring would set us back — Editor's note: This guest post by Drexel University researcher Keith Sevcik is in response to statements made by California assemblyman Joel Anderson in a Q&A conducted earlier this week with CNET News. — California Assemblyman Joel Anderson wants …
