Top Items:
Sarah Lacy / TechCrunch:
Amazon Buys Zappos; The Price is $920m., not $847m. — News has just broken that Amazon.com has purchased hot ecommerce up-and-comer Zappos for 10 million Amazon shares or $880 million. (The Amazon release said it was $807 million, but that was based on a trailing 45-day estimate of its share price.
Discussion:
BetaNews, internetnews.com, Gawker, TheNextWeb.com, Mashable! and CloudAve, Thanks:gsharma
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Tony Hsieh / Zappos.com:
CEO Letter — Please set aside 20 minutes to carefully read this entire email. (My apologies for the occasional use of formal-sounding language, as parts of it are written in a particular way for legal reasons.) — Today is a big day in Zappos history. — This morning …
Discussion:
WebProNews, ReadWriteWeb, Fast Company, Techdirt, New York Times, Financial Times, CNET News, TechFlash, ClickZ, Doc Searls Weblog, Adrants, Mashable!, AppScout, AgencySpy, SOMEWHAT FRANK, Webbyist, Gear Live, CenterNetworks, Traffick and Inc.com, Thanks:gsharma
Amazon.com:
Amazon.com to Acquire Zappos.com — Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Zappos.com, Inc. a leader in online apparel and footwear sales that strives to provide shoppers with the best possible service and selection.
Alexander Haislip / PE Hub Blog:
Zappos CEO Wanted To Stay Independent, Sequoia Wanted Liquidity—Sources — The decision to sell hot online shoe retailer Zappos to Amazon.com was more in line with the interests of Sequoia Capital than the company's CEO, according to two sources close to the company.
Discussion:
Venture Capital Dispatch
Brandon LeBlanc / The Windows Blog:
Windows 7 Has Been Released to Manufacturing — I am pleased to announce that Windows 7 has RTM'd! — As I mentioned previously, RTM officially happens only after sign-off occurs. What happens is a build gets designated as a RTM contender after going through significant testing and meeting our quality bar for RTM.
Discussion:
MSDN Blogs, Windows Server Division WebLog, Technologizer, blogs.ft.com, PC World, TechCrunchIT, The Microsoft Blog, Geek In Disguise, BrandonLive, geeksmack.net, Download Squad, TechFlash, Global Nerdy, Windows 7 Center, Neowin.net, Softpedia News, blogs.chron.com, Redmond Pie, Windows Live Community, DailyTech, All about Microsoft, Microsoft News Tracker, Engadget, ChannelWeb, Seeking Alpha, virtualization.info, Pocket-lint.com, The Tech Report, Lockergnome Blog Network, ithinkdifferent, Maximum PC all and TechSpot
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Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
They're soup: Windows 7, Server 2008 R2 released to manufacturing — Windows 7 has been a tightly controlled product from its first days on the drawing board. The last milestone is proving to be no exception: On July 22, at precisely 4:40 p.m. ET, Microsoft announced it had released …
Discussion:
Computerworld, Ars Technica, Bits, eWeek, Electronista, Tech Broiler, PC World and WinBeta
Sam Diaz / Between the Lines:
eBay's Q2: PayPal, Skype growth offset by declines at marketplace sites — eBay today reported solid second quarter financial results that were slightly better than Wall Street's expectations but revenue growth of PayPal and Skype was offset, in part, by declines in the Marketplaces business.
Discussion:
eWeek, internetnews.com, The Register, Tech Check with Jim Goldman, CNET News, paidContent, Digital Daily, alarm:clock and Tech Trader Daily
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Joseph Galante / Bloomberg:EBay Profit Beats Estimates in Sign That Turnaround Plan Is Working
Discussion:
Lockergnome Blog Network
Adam Pash / Lifehacker:
Gmail Offers to Automatically Unsubscribe You from Mailing Lists — Ever get an email from a legit mailing list but went ahead and marked it as spam anyway because you just don't want it? Gmail has smartened up to this common behavior, offering to automatically unsubscribe you from certain messages.
Mark Milian / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Friendster founder on social networking: I invented this stuff [UPDATED] — Friendster founder Jonathan Abrams poses in front of the logo for his start-up company, Socializr, at a Lunch 2.0 event in 2007. Credit: Terry Chay … The millions of high school and college kids on Facebook probably …
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Yahoo to Acquire Xoopit for About $20 Million — Yahoo plans on announcing Thursday that it has bought Xoopit for a price in the $20 million range, according to several sources, one of its first acquisitions in a long while. — Reached late this afternoon by BoomTown, a Yahoo (YHOO) …
Jenna Wortham / Bits:
Mobile Internet Use Shrinks Digital Divide — Quick: Picture an Internet aficionado, circa 1995. — The first image that comes to my mind is Dennis Nedry, the embryo thief in “Jurassic Park,” who met his untimely end facing down a dinosaur in a soggy mud pit.
Gillian Reagan / New York Observer:
How The Times' Home Page Gets Made — By most counts, New York Times deputy managing editor Jonathan Landman still considers the front page of the printed newspaper a sacred space, a place where editors and reporters display their best work and uphold the tradition of The Times' quality reporting.
Chris Albrecht / NewTeeVee:
What the Heck Is Going on With Apple TV? — Apple, during its quarterly earnings call yesterday, didn't bring up its stepchild set-top box, the Apple TV. For those who follow the video industry, this is more of a predictable disappointment than a shocker.
Alex Chitu / Google Operating System:
Google Docs, Slowly Morphing into Google Drive — The new interface of Google Docs, which is slowly rolled out to all users, brings the service one step closer to an online storage service. The “items by type” menu replaced “PDFs” with “Files”, suggesting that Google Docs will allow users to upload any type of files.
Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:
Adobe confirms Flash zero-day bug in PDF docs — Hackers exploiting flaw already in the wild, says iDefense — Computerworld - Adobe is investigating a critical vulnerability in its Flash format that is currently being exploited by hackers using malicious PDF documents …
Discussion:
Symantec, Zero Day, CNET News, PC World, PSIRT, threatpost, Security Fix and Security Watch
Amy Clancy / KIRO-TV:
Apple Downplays Fiery iPod Incidents — An exclusive KIRO 7 Investigation reveals an alarming number of Apple brand iPod MP3 players have suddenly burst into flames and smoke, injuring people and damaging property. — It's an investigation that Apple has apparently been trying to keep out of the public eye.
Discussion:
AppleInsider, PC World, Ars Technica, MacRumors, OSNews, Gadget Lab, 9 to 5 Mac, Hardware 2.0, Silicon Alley Insider and blogs.ft.com
Sameer Moidu / Facebook Blog:
Share Photos and Videos Anywhere You Have Email — After you snap a great photo of friends or shoot a fun video on vacation, you want to be able to share it immediately. We've been working on providing more ways to publish those photos and videos whether you're on Facebook.com or not.
Ina Fried / CNET News:
Disney's Iger: Content need not be free — PASADENA, Calif.—Disney CEO Robert Iger said he appreciates the fact that his company helped pioneer user-generated video with “America's Funniest Home Videos,” but acknowledges he missed a big opportunity. — “Unfortunately, I didn't come up with youtube …
Ryan Tate / Gawker:
The Google-Cash-Swapping-Orgy Blimp — Google hasn't been shy about sharing its riches with select friends outside the company. And the number one rule of this tightly-knit group seems to be: spread the love. Which brings us to 23AndMe's new, very incestuous blimp.
Daniel Shen / DigiTimes:
HTC to offer Qualcomm BMP-based handsets, hike adoption of Android — Taiwan-based High Computer Tech (HTC) will launch a high-profile 3G handset based on Qualcomm's Brew Mobile Platform (BMP) in September or October targeting the consumer segment, according to industry sources in Taiwan.
Discussion:
Boy Genius Report, mocoNews, IntoMobile, last100, The Register, MobileCrunch, AndroidGuys, InformationWeek, Phone Arena and I4U News
Meg Kinnard / Associated Press:
AG in SC asks judge to drop Craigslist lawsuit — COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina attorney general who has threatened to prosecute Craigslist for prostitution-related ads wants a federal judge to dismiss the company's complaint against him, according to court papers filed this week.
Discussion:
The Register
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
iLike Negotiating A Reorganization; TicketMaster May Be Flushed Out — We've confirmed from multiple sources that San Francisco/Seattle based music service iLike, which has been profitable since 2008, is raising new capital in an unusual transaction designed to push out Ticketmaster, an investor since 2006.
Biz / Twitter Blog:
Letterman Discovers Twitter via Spacey — David Letterman was introduced to Twitter via Kevin Spacey on last night's Late Show. Once Dave got past the concept of typing with his thumbs he was able to characterize Twitter as “a waste of time.” That's generally how Twitter was characterized …
Fred / Electronic Frontier Foundation:
Apple Backs Down On Bluwiki Threats — Apple has retracted its legal threats against public wiki hosting site Bluwiki, and, in response, EFF is dismissing its lawsuit against Apple over those threats. — The skirmish involved a set of anonymously authored wiki pages in which hobbyists …
Rafat Ali / paidContent:
Updated: Bankrate Being Acquired By Apax For $571 Million in Cash; Horrendous Q209 Prelim Numbers — Updated below with more deal details: Consumer financial information and lead gen service Bankrate (NSDQ: RATE) is being acquired by PE firm Apax Partners, in a deal just announced.
Discussion:
Pulse2
Eric Lai / Computerworld:
Forrester: Vista on 12% of corporate desktops, Mac on 3.6% — Windows XP still holds 86%, as grandchild Windows 7 goes RTM — Computerworld - The much-maligned Windows Vista operating system runs on almost one out of eight corporate desktops 28 months after its release, according to a Forrester Research report released today.
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
VMware: ‘Somewhat better visibility’ ahead — VMware delivered a better-than-expected second quarter and outlook for the three months ahead. — The virtualization software company reported second quarter earnings of $33 million, or 8 cents a share, down from $52 million, or 13 cents a share a year ago.
Richard MacManus / ReadWriteWeb:
IBM and The Internet of Things — In the Web world, you know that a trend has major traction when IBM is all over it. Like any large Internet company, Big Blue is careful about which trends it latches onto. It was a good couple of years before they were spotted at the Web 2.0 conference, for example.
