Top Items:
Arn / MacRumors:
Apple Researching Movement-Aware Interfaces for iPhones, Depicts Front-Facing Video Camera — Apple has been conducting ongoing research into how to further improve their mobile device interfaces as evidenced by a couple of patent applications published over the past couple of weeks.
Discussion:
CNET News, 9 to 5 Mac, Obsessable, The Apple Core, CrunchGear, I4U News, Gizmodo, TUAW and The iPhone Blog
RELATED:
Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:
Apple exploring motion-adaptive iPhone with video chat — Patent requests from Apple continue to provide clues as to where the company may take its iPhone interface in the coming years, such as a new filing which depicts a version of the handset with a front-facing video camera …
Bloomberg:
Sun Said to Be Willing to Resume IBM Talks With Assurances Deal Will Close — Sun Microsystems Inc. would be willing to resume takeover talks with International Business Machines Corp. if IBM makes a stronger commitment to close the acquisition, two people familiar with the matter said.
RELATED:
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Sun to IBM: We're willing to talk again; Big Blue not interested — Updated: Sun Microsystems would reportedly be willing to resume takeover talks with IBM if Big Blue says it'll commit to closing the deal. — Bloomberg reports the news based on two people familiar with the matter (Techmeme).
Marguerite Reardon / CNET News:
Nokia's net profit falls 90 percent — If you were wondering how bad things have gotten for the mobile handset market, just take a look at Nokia, the world's largest maker of cell phones. — The company on Thursday reported a 90 percent fall in first-quarter net profits as the global recession took …
RELATED:
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:Nokia Sees Handset Demand Stabilizing; Shares Jump
Discussion:
All Things Digital
Claire Cain Miller / Bits:
Twitter Wants Distribution Deals, Not a Buyout — Yes, Twitter is talking to big Internet companies about forming partnerships with them. No, it is not looking to sell itself. — That is the latest from Fred Wilson, the Union Square Ventures partner who was an early investor in Twitter …
RELATED:
Eyal Sela / ProductiveWise:Has Twitter Reached its peak? Google Insights Suggests it May Have
Discussion:
GMSV
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Decision Time For Facebook: Term Sheet Received At $2 Billion Valuation — Facebook has been pitching for a new round of funding these last few months to bridge itself to an IPO sometime in the future. We've known that since October, when (former) CFO Gideon Yu was in Dubai.
Discussion:
Between the Lines, MediaPost, Venture Capital Dispatch, Silicon Alley Insider, Electricpig.co.uk, Smalltalk Tidbits …, AppScout and DealBook, Thanks:mrinaldesai
RELATED:
Eric Eldon / VentureBeat:Facebook rejects funding at $4 billion valuation, may not raise more
Discussion:
Epicenter, CNET News, All Facebook, Silicon Alley Insider, A VC, Pulse2 and Wall Street Journal, Thanks:bobcaswell
Farhad Manjoo / Slate:
Do You Think Bandwidth Grows on Trees? — User-generated content may have changed the Internet, but sites like YouTube are suffocating under the costs of storing it. — Everyone knows that print newspapers are our generation's horse-and-buggy; in the most wired cities, they've been pummeled by competition from the Web.
Gartner:
Gartner Says Worldwide PC Shipments Declined 6.5 Percent in First Quarter of 2009 — HP Regains No. 1 Position in U.S. for First Time Since 2001 — Worldwide PC shipments totaled 67.2 million units in the first quarter of 2009, a 6.5 percent decline versus first quarter 2008, according to preliminary results from Gartner, Inc.
RELATED:
Arik Hesseldahl / Business Week:
Mac vs. PC: What You Don't Get for $699 — A 17-in. PC may cost a lot less than a 17-in. Mac. But you get less, too, including security, multimedia tools, and, some say, satisfaction — I'm a sucker for a well-made TV ad. — Inspired by the Nike (NKE) “Just Do It” and “Air Jordan” …
Chris Morris / CNBC.com:
GameStop Wants Cheaper Consoles, Predicts Hot Titles — Consumers hoping for a price cut on video game hardware have a new—and powerful—ally. — While the video game industry has proved relatively resistant to the recession so far, the CEO of GameStop [GME Loading...
Discussion:
Ars Technica, Silicon Alley Insider, VG247, Joystiq, Gamasutra, Kotaku, GamesIndustry.biz, GameBizBlog, GoNintendo and Edge Online
PR Newswire:
Activision Blizzard's March Quarter Net Revenues and Earnings Tracking Ahead of Prior Outlook — Due to the better-than-expected performance of its titles at retail, Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI) announced today that its March quarter net revenues and earnings per diluted share are tracking ahead of the company's prior outlook.
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Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:
Add Zoho to other sites with Zoho Gadgets — Zoho provides useful and free Web applications for productivity and business, just like Google does. But Zoho has done a particularly impressive job integrating all these applications together. Now it's integrating those apps with non-Zoho websites …
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
TwitPic Hits 1 Million Users, Brick Wall — Sharing photographs and other images on Twitter is a fairly natural and thus wildly popular extension of the micro-sharing service's main reason for being. We've earlier noticed how TwitPic seems to have emerged as the leader of the pack.
Discussion:
AppScout
New York Times:
N.S.A.'s Intercepts Exceed Limits Set by Congress — WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year, government officials said in recent interviews.
Jessie Scanlon / Business Week:
Kiva Robots Invade the Warehouse — Fetching goods and filling orders, little helpers from Kiva Systems are revolutionizing companies' supply-chain and distribution networks — In a warehouse at the headquarters of Kiva Systems in Woburn, Mass., an ottoman-shaped robot slides beneath …
Steve Espinosa / Silicon Alley Insider:
How Twitter Will Win Local Search — (This post was originally published on Local Search News) — Almost everything on Twitter is inherently local. The simple question “What are you doing?” implies that because, unless you are at home watching TV, you are doing something that is local …
The Local:
ISP sabotages file sharing law — Bahnhof CEO Jon Karlung, a vociferous opponent of the measures that came into force on April 1st, has said he is determined to protect the company's clients. — The new file sharing law is based on the European Union's Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive …
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Gannett's Disappearing Ad Revenue Bodes Badly for Newspapers — Yesterday we got a sense of how bad the first quarter was for the magazine business. Today we get a report card from the newspaper industry, and it's equally grim. — If you're one of the few people gambling on Gannett …
Discussion:
Smalltalk Tidbits …
Stephanie Clifford / New York Times:
Video Prank at Domino's Taints Brand — When two Domino's Pizza employees filmed a prank in the restaurant's kitchen, they decided to post it online. In a few days, thanks to the power of social media, they ended up with felony charges, more than a million disgusted viewers, and a major company facing a public relations crisis.
