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:
TeleRead, i-boy, Guardian, 901am, Switched, Softpedia News, Gawker, BetaNews, internetnews.com, Mashable!, TheNextWeb.com and digg.com, 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:
Bokardo, Fast Company, New York Times, the Econsultancy blog, Rex Hammock's RexBlog.com, WebProNews, SOMEWHAT FRANK, Webbyist, Doc Searls Weblog, The Social, Search Engine Watch, Techdirt, Financial Times, Lockergnome Blog Network, Mashable!, ClickZ, CenterNetworks, AgencySpy, Gear Live, AppScout, Between the Lines, TechFlash, Traffick and Inc.com, Thanks:gsharma
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.
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.
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:Getting the Goods: The New Amazon/Zappos Supply Chain Story
Thanks:phclouin
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:
Digital Daily, Engineering Windows 7, Windows Server Division WebLog, Softpedia News, Geek In Disguise, TechCrunch, ithinkdifferent, Windows Live Community, The Seattle Times, BrandonLive, Redmond Pie, Windows 7 Center, geeksmack.net, Global Nerdy, Neowin.net, Technologizer, blogs.ft.com, blogs.chron.com, The Microsoft Blog, TechLifeWeb, Microsoft News Tracker, Seeking Alpha, IDG News Service, Pocket-lint.com, Download Squad, TechFlash, The Tech Report, Lockergnome Blog Network, Maximum PC all, Engadget, PC World, DailyTech, virtualization.info, GottaBeMobile.com, ChannelWeb and TechSpot
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Sarahintampa / Channel 10:An Easy Way to Create a Bootable USB Drive for Windows 7
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MobileContentToday
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:They're soup: Windows 7, Server 2008 R2 released to manufacturing
Discussion:
AustralianIT.com.au, The Windows Blog, Electronista, Bits, Ars Technica, Tech Broiler, IDG News Service, eWeek, WinBeta and ithinkdifferent
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
AT&T activates 2.4 million iPhones; Second quarter tops estimates — AT&T's second quarter earnings were better than expected courtesy of a strong launch of Apple's iPhone 3GS. — In the second quarter, AT&T activated 2.4 million iPhones, up 29 percent from a year ago and up 31.8 percent from the first quarter.
Discussion:
Electronista
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AT&T:
Strong Wireless Growth, Continued Cost Discipline, Solid Free Cash Flow Highlight AT&T's Second-Quarter Results — * $.54 diluted EPS compared with $.63 for the year-earlier second quarter and $.53 in the first quarter of 2009; incremental noncash pension/retiree benefit costs reduced second-quarter 2009 EPS …
Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:AT&T quarterly earnings fall on cost of iPhone subsidy
Discussion:
CNET News
Jim Dalrymple / CNET News:
Apple releases new Final Cut Studio — Apple introduced on Thursday a new version of Final Cut Studio, the company's high-end video production suite. — The suite comes with six applications in all, including Final Cut Pro 7, Motion 4, Soundtrack Pro 3, Color 1.5, Compressor 3.5 and DVD Studio Pro 4.
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Jim Dalrymple / CNET News:
Apple's Logic Studio audio suite includes major updates — Apple released on Thursday the next major version of Logic Studio, the company's suite of professional audio applications. — I've been using the new version for some time now and can say the new features will not only improve your workflow …
Bryan Lamkin / Yodel Anecdotal:
Xoopit + Yahoo! Mail = Moving beyond that massive digital shoebox — If your email inbox is anything like mine, it's turned into a “digital shoebox” over the years. It's full of hundreds or maybe thousands of special photos that have been shared by close friends and family members, but they're not organized in any particular way.
Google Mobile Blog:
Layers of fun in Google Maps for mobile 3.2 — Just as the world itself can be viewed through many lenses, the latest version of Google Maps for mobile allows you to view many layers of information on your map at the same time. Layers make it easier and more useful to find and interact …
Discussion:
Google LatLong, IntoMobile, VentureBeat, MobileContentToday and Google Maps Mania, Thanks:sinkercat
Erica Ogg / CNET News:
Instant search comes to Splashtop — Computers loaded with Splashtop will soon be able to do very quick searches as soon as the pre-boot phase of the machine starts. — Starting in September, notebooks and Netbooks with Splashtop will have instant access to a search bar on the instant-on desktop …
Ginny Mies / PC World:
Hands-On With the Samsung Mondi — Samsung's mobile Internet device has much to like, but it has flaws, too—both in performance and design. — Recommends — When I first got my hands on the WiMax-enabled Samsung Mondi back in April at CTIA, I was impressed by its slick design …
Rory Cellan-Jones / BBC:
Voice technology firm under fire — A UK firm that turns mobile messages into text faces questions over its privacy standards, technology and finances following a BBC investigation. — Spinvox's service aims to convert voice messages into text messages using advanced speech recognition software.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Brainstorm Tech:
Where in the world are those 18.6 million iPod touches? — Apple (AAPL), for reasons known only to itself, does not report the number of iPod touches it has sold. — But it lets you do the math, and on Tuesday COO Tim Cook casually mentioned, in response to a question about the App Store …
Discussion:
VentureBeat
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.
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
Pirate Bay Founders Sue BREIN for Slander and Abuse — In an Amsterdam court this week, BREIN's lawyer argued that The Pirate Bay is responsible for millions of copyright infringements every day, and that the site should therefore be blocked to visitors from The Netherlands.
Ben Fritz / Company Town:
Video game publishers Microsoft, Ubisoft invading Hollywood's turf — For decades, Hollywood's relationship with video games has come down to one word: licensing. Game publishers have been licensing and adapting movies all the way back to 1984's “E.T.”, while studios started doing the opposite with 1993's “Super Mario Bros.”
Ellen Messmer / Network World:
America's 10 most wanted botnets — Botnet attacks are increasing, as cybercrime gangs use compromised computers to send spam, steal personal data, perpetrate click fraud and clobber Web sites in denial-of-service attacks. Here's a list of America's 10 most wanted botnets …
David Berlind / InformationWeek:
Matt Mullenweg And Dries Buytaert Probably Separated At Birth — When it comes to open sourced content management platforms and their creators, there's no question about the celebrity status that WordPress and its young founder Matt Mullenweg have ascended to.
Gavin Clarke / The Register:
Microsoft opened Linux-driver code after ‘violating’ GPL — Traded credibility for kudos? — Microsoft was in violation of the GPL (General Public License) on the Hyper-V code it released to open source this week. — After Redmond covered itself in glory by opening up the code …
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Zivity Splits Employees, Execs, Venture Funding Into Two Companies — In a highly unusual transaction, Zivity, a venture funded adult content startup, has spun off the majority of its assets, employees and venture funding into a new company called Top Fans.
Matthew Hines / eWeek Security Watch:
Touting Possible Benefits of Windows 7 Security — Some security researchers are already predicting a noticeable shift in the landscape once Windows 7 is launched by Microsoft later this year and finds its way into users' hands over time. — It's impressive to consider how much Microsoft …
Globe and Mail:
Ericsson joins bidding war for Nortel — Another of the world's telecommunications giants has entered what has suddenly become a pitched global battle for the spoils of Nortel Networks Corp. NT-T — Sweden's Ericsson has tabled a $730-million (U.S.) bid for Nortel's wireless network division …
Saul Hansell / New York Times:
Daring to Dream of a Resurgent AOL — Shortly after Tim Armstrong took over as chief executive of AOL, he asked to see the list of business deals that were being negotiated. He saw 900 of them. — It was too many by far. “If you looked through the deal sheet, would you have been able …
Jonathan Fildes / BBC:
Artificial brain ‘10 years away’ — Professor Markram said he would send a hologram to talk at TED in 10 years — A detailed, functional artificial human brain can be built within the next 10 years, a leading scientist has claimed. — Henry Markram, director of the Blue Brain Project, has already built elements of a rat brain.
