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:
Contentinople, TeleRead, i-boy, the Econsultancy blog, ReveNews, 901am, Guardian, Softpedia News, Natural Search Blog and Switched, 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 …
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:
Xconomy, Screenwerk, Venture Capital Dispatch, bijan sabet, TechFlash and MYBLOG by Ouriel
Joe Wilcox / BetaNews:
Apple has 91% of market for $1,000+ PCs, says NPD — Move over Microsoft. Apple can claim big, big market share numbers, too. According to NPD, in June, nine out of 10 dollars spent on computers costing $1,000 or more went to Apple. Mac revenue market share in the “premium” price segment was 91 percent, up from 88 percent in May.
Discussion:
VentureBeat, Technologizer, AppleInsider, MacRumors, Digital Daily, TUAW, The Loop, Electronista, 9 to 5 Mac, Daring Fireball, I4U News, Electricpig.co.uk and MacDailyNews
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:
Cult of Mac, VentureBeat, 9 to 5 Mac, ReadWriteWeb, Boy Genius Report, Softpedia News, IntoMobile, Electronista and PalmAddicts
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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:
eWeek, Google Watch, Search Engine Land, Screenwerk, Google LatLong, Mashable!, Pocket-lint.com, IntoMobile, GPS Obsessed, MobileContentToday, VentureBeat, FierceMobileContent and Local Mobile Search, Thanks:sinkercat
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 …
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Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:AT&T activates 2.4 million iPhones; Second quarter tops estimates
Discussion:
eWeek, internetnews.com, VentureBeat, Business Wire, CNET News, Electronista, Macworld, AppleInsider and I4U 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.
Discussion:
BetaNews, eWeek, AppleInsider, Apple, PC World, Computerworld, MacRumors, BusinessWeek, Macworld, 9 to 5 Mac, Techgeist, The Mac Observer, TheAppleBlog, Engadget HD and Macgasm
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Jim Dalrymple / CNET News:Apple revamps Logic Studio audio suite
Discussion:
Ars Technica, Macworld, Computerworld, AppleInsider, 9 to 5 Mac, Apple, MacFixIt, Softpedia News, The Loop and The Mac Observer
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:
PC World, Tim Anderson's ITWriting, Computerworld Blogs, Techgeist, Engineering Windows 7, All about Microsoft, Softpedia News, blogs.chron.com, GMSV, ithinkdifferent, Maximum PC all, bit-tech.net, Digital Daily, Lockergnome Blog Network, Windows Live Community, Geek In Disguise and BrandonLive
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Sarahintampa / Channel 10:An Easy Way to Create a Bootable USB Drive for Windows 7
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MobileContentToday
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
Facebook Relents, Lets You Change Your Username — Last month, Facebook finally announced that they would allow users to pick out custom usernames for use in vanity URLs that read www.facebook.com/username. At the time, users were advised to “choose wisely” because the username they selected would be stuck with them for life.
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.
Discussion:
GigaOM, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Guardian, IntoMobile, TechCrunch Europe, Electricpig.co.uk and TheNextWeb.com
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Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
AOL May Spin Bebo Off Into Independent Company — Interesting off hand comment by AOL CEO Tim Armstrong at the Fortune event this morning. Bebo, the social network AOL paid $850 million for in 2008, wasn't mentioned on the list of AOL's core product goals going forward.
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The New York Times Company:
The New York Times Company Reports 2009 Second-Quarter Results — The New York Times Company announced today second-quarter 2009 operating profit of $23.3 million compared with $40.3 million in the second quarter of 2008. Excluding depreciation, amortization, severance and a pension charge as noted below …
Discussion:
VentureBeat, paidContent, MediaMemo, TechCrunch, Screenwerk, Mediaite and New York Times
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.
Discussion:
internetnews.com, PC World, Xoopit Team Blog, BetaNews, CNET News, Softpedia News, The Register, ChannelWeb, BoomTown, paidContent, Search Engine Journal and VentureBeat
Camille Ricketts / VentureBeat:
How-to video site 5min scores $7.5M for wider syndication — 5min, a site that syndicates instructional videos to a host of other web sites reaching 200 million viewers a month, has raised $7.5 million in a second round of funding. — The 5min site itself has built a library of more than 100,000 short …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, NewTeeVee, HipMojo.com, MediaMemo, alarm:clock, Beet.TV, paidContent, PR Newswire and Techgeist
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.”, and studios started doing the opposite with 1993's “Super Mario Bros.”
Discussion:
Ars Technica, Digital Joystick, Los Angeles Times, Kotaku, VG247, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Joystiq, Destructoid and GamesIndustry.biz
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 …
Mark Spoonauer / LAPTOP Mag:
Sony Promises Touchscreen VAIOs for Fall, PlayStation Network Support Coming — I was only half joking during a call yesterday with Sony's Mike Abary when I said that we should expect a touchscreen VAIO by the holidays, complete with Sony's Xross Media Bar interface and one-touch access …
Aaron / YouTube Blog:
More statistics coming to a video near you — When you discover videos on YouTube, we try to provide you with useful information about what it is you're watching — like total views, the number of ratings, and other metrics that make the site more transparent and the videos themselves more interesting.
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 …
Stephen Shankland / CNET News:
Google building 3D hardware boost into Chrome — In a dramatic departure from what other browsers offer, Google has begun building its O3D plug-in, which lets browsers take advantage of hardware-accelerated 3D graphics, into the Chrome browser. — “The O3D team is working on getting O3D integrated …
Discussion:
Electricpig.co.uk
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 …
