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, ReveNews, TeleRead, i-boy, Guardian, 901am, Natural Search Blog, Softpedia News, Switched, BetaNews, Gawker and internetnews.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, InformationWeek, the Econsultancy blog, Rex Hammock's RexBlog.com, WebProNews, Lockergnome Blog Network, The Social, SOMEWHAT FRANK, Webbyist, Search Engine Watch, Financial Times, Doc Searls Weblog, Techdirt, Mashable!, ClickZ, CenterNetworks, Gear Live and AgencySpy, 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.
Discussion:
Screenwerk, Venture Capital Dispatch, bijan sabet, MYBLOG by Ouriel, TechFlash and TechCrunch
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, Engineering Windows 7, Digital Daily, Computerworld Blogs, All about Microsoft, Softpedia News, blogs.chron.com, GMSV, bit-tech.net, ithinkdifferent, Maximum PC all, Geek In Disguise, Windows Live Community, BrandonLive, Lockergnome Blog Network, TechCrunch, Windows Server Division WebLog, Tech Broiler, Electronista, Windows 7 Center, geeksmack.net, Redmond Pie, The Seattle Times, Ars Technica, Global Nerdy, Seeking Alpha, TechLifeWeb, blogs.ft.com, Technologizer, Neowin.net, The Microsoft Blog, Microsoft News Tracker and Pocket-lint.com
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Walter S. Mossberg / Personal Technology:For Some, Move To Windows 7 Will Be Tough
Discussion:
NPR Blogs, SEO and Tech Daily, AustralianIT.com.au, Computerworld, All about Microsoft and Bits
Sarahintampa / Channel 10:An Easy Way to Create a Bootable USB Drive for Windows 7
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MobileContentToday
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 — Updated: 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.
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:
Search Engine Land, Screenwerk, Google LatLong, GPS Obsessed, FierceMobileContent, IntoMobile, Local Mobile Search, VentureBeat, MobileContentToday and Google Maps Mania, Thanks:sinkercat
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:
9 to 5 Mac, ReadWriteWeb, VentureBeat, Boy Genius Report, Electronista, Softpedia News and IntoMobile
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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:
Macworld, BusinessWeek, PC World, Apple, AppleInsider, 9 to 5 Mac, MacRumors, TheAppleBlog, Engadget HD and Macgasm
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Jim Dalrymple / CNET News:
Apple revamps Logic Studio audio suite — Apple released on Thursday the next major version of Logic Studio, the company's suite of professional audio applications. — I was given early access to the new version and have been using it for some time now. I can say the new features …
Discussion:
Ars Technica, Macworld, AppleInsider, 9 to 5 Mac, Softpedia News, Apple, The Mac Observer and The Loop
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:
MacRumors, All Things Digital, The Loop, 9 to 5 Mac, TUAW, Electricpig.co.uk and MacDailyNews
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, Xoopit Team Blog, PC World, BetaNews, CNET News, BoomTown, Softpedia News, The Register, paidContent, VentureBeat, Search Engine Journal, ChannelWeb and WebProNews
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:
Guardian, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, TechCrunch Europe, Electricpig.co.uk and TheNextWeb.com
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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 …
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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 …
Adobe:
Security advisory for Adobe Reader, Acrobat and Flash Player — Vulnerability identifier: APSA09-03 — A critical vulnerability exists in the current versions of Flash Player (v9..159. and v10..22.87) for Windows, Macintosh and Linux operating systems, and the authplay.dll component …
Discussion:
internetnews.com, eWeek, US-CERT, Symantec, PSIRT, Computerworld, SANS Internet Storm Center …, Softpedia News, Zero Day and Security Watch
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 …
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.
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:
Los Angeles Times, VG247, Kotaku, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Destructoid, Joystiq and GamesIndustry.biz
Arnold Kim / Normalkid:
App Icons are Itty Bitty Banner Ads — An old blog post I wrote last year about a decades old humor article on icon design is actually remarkably relevant to today's App Store market. … As much as this was a big joke for Mac applications, I think it's a pretty accurate view of the importance of App Store icons.
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 …
Discussion:
All about Microsoft, Bill Snyder's blog, Microsoft Watch, Pass the Source and The Open Road
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 …
Discussion:
Liquidmatrix Security Digest
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 …
