Top Items:
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Zune Apps — In my brief comments yesterday on the new touchscreen Zune HD that is set to debut September 15, I noted: … I mean, why not? The software platform has quickly become a major driving force behind the sales growth of the iPhone and iPod Touch. Microsoft is a software platform company.
Discussion:
Gizmodo, The iPhone Blog, Silicon Alley Insider, PC World, I4U News, Electronista, TechFlash, WMExperts, Softpedia News, GottaBeMobile.com, WMPoweruser.com, Ubergizmo, FierceMobileContent, iLounge, Engadget Mobile, Obsessable, MacDailyNews, Electricpig, Pocket-lint.com, Edible Apple and AppScout, Thanks:atul
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Miguel Helft / New York Times:
Netscape Founder Backs New Browser — SAN FRANCISCO — It has been 15 years since Marc Andreessen developed the Netscape Internet browser that introduced millions of people to the Internet. — After its early success, Netscape was roundly defeated by Microsoft in the so-called browser wars …
Discussion:
Between the Lines, PC World, TechCrunch, Silicon Alley Insider, @vanelsas, GMSV, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, I4U News, Maximum PC all, Download Squad, Lockergnome Blog Network, Mashable!, TECH.BLORGE.com, Softpedia News, OSNews, MarketingVOX, Web Browsers, Twitterrati, TG Daily, AppScout, ReadWriteWeb, VentureBeat, TechVi, Technology Review and WinBeta
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
A Sad Day. Goodbye, Riya — Facial recognition service Riya will shut down on August 21, 2009, says founder Munjal Shah in an email to users this morning. We are adding it to the TechCrunch DeadPool. — This was one of the original services that defined the early Web 2.0 movement.
Jackie / Qik:
Qik for iPhone 3GS - now live and free from the App Store! — You've been asking for it, and now it's here: Qik for the iPhone 3GS can now be downloaded - for free! - directly from the App Store. — If you already have Qik on your iPhone, you should know that this version is a little different.
Nate Lanxon / CNET News:
Google Chrome 4.0: Fastest OS X browser by 34 per cent — Safari, eat Google's dust — its Chrome Web browser — under its developmental title Chromium — has hit version 4.0 on the Mac, and our tests confirm it's the fastest browser in the world on both PC and now on Mac OS X.
Biz / Twitter Blog:
Project Retweet: Phase One — Some of Twitter's best features are emergent—people inventing simple but creative ways to share, discover, and communicate. One such convention is retweeting. When you want to call more attention to a particular tweet, you copy/paste it as your own …
Discussion:
Technologizer, PC World, Download Squad, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, Fast Company, Gadgetell, Trends in the Living Networks, 901am, WebProNews, Mashable!, Softpedia News, CNET News, AppScout, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, ProgrammableWeb, Pocket-lint.com, Silicon Alley Insider and Twitterrati
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Jennifer Van Grove / Mashable!:Project Retweet: The End of RTs as We Know Them?
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Cecilia Kang / Washington Post:
Major Carriers Shun Broadband Stimulus — The Obama administration made a national priority of spreading high-speed Internet access to every American home and offered stimulus money to help companies pay for it, but the biggest network operators are staying away from the program.
Tom Krazit / CNET News:
Google's Varian: Search scale is ‘bogus’ — Google's Hal Varian would likely have raised an eyebrow at a term paper submitted by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on the search market. — Varian, currently on leave from the University of California at Berkeley to serve as Google's chief economist …
David Carr / Media Decoder:
Is Journalism Online Picking Up Steam? — Journalism Online, an e-commerce engine designed to service newspapers, announced some big numbers on Thursday, although none of them are in plain sight. The venture, headed by Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz, said that they had made deal …
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Jon Jordan / The Pocket Gamer iPhone gaming podcast:
PSPgo games will be as cheap as iPhone games — Between 1 - 5 Euros — With the rumour mill speeding up prior to Sony's press conference at the Gamescom show in Cologne, Germany, next week, news has been leaked concerning the price of PSP games for the soon-to-be revitalised PlayStation Network (PSN).
Discussion:
VG247, 9 to 5 Mac, Destructoid, GamesIndustry.biz, Engadget, SlashGear, Pocket-lint.com, Joystiq, iLounge, Kotaku, Electricpig, FierceMobileContent and Gizmodo
The How-To Geek / Lifehacker:
Digsby Joins the Dark Side, Uses Your PC to Make Money — The popular Digsby instant messenger client not only bundles half a dozen “optional” crapware applications, it's also using your computer to crawl the web, do stock market research, and more. It's time to uninstall.
Discussion:
Digsby Blog, Computerworld, Download Squad, TG Daily, Maximum PC all and The Windows Club, Thanks:mrinaldesai
David Pogue / Pogue's Posts:
‘Take Back the Beep’ Campaign: An Update — It's been two weeks since I started “Take Back the Beep,” a campaign to flood the four big wireless companies with complaints. I want them to eliminate (or make optional) those time-wasting, redundant, airtime-eating, 15-second recorded instructions …
David Sarno / Los Angeles Times:
YouTube to show Sony's “Ghostbusters” this week for film's 25th anniversary — YouTube and Sony are crossing the streams. — Starting tonight at 9 p.m. PDT, YouTube will host a weeklong showing of Sony's comedy classic “Ghostbusters” in honor of the film's 25th anniversary.
Discussion:
Contentinople, MediaMemo, PC World, YouTube Blog, AppScout, Softpedia News and Quick Online Tips
Don Clark / Digits:
Apple's Cash Hoard: It Just Keeps on Growing — Remember when Wall Street was obsessed with Microsoft's bulging bank account? Now it's Apple that is awash in cash, the latest symbol of the company's stunning ascendance over the past decade. — Apple — As of June 27, Apple …
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Massive AOL Layoffs? Not Imminent-But Top-to-Bottom Cost Exam Definitely in Process — After a while-in a BoomTown mangling of the old cliché-if you are a nail, everything begins to look like a hammer. — So, it is probably inevitable that the next thing for much-beleaguered AOL staffers …
Discussion:
AdExchanger.com
Derek Kessler / PreCentral.net:
On-screen Virtual Keyboard a Possibility for Pre — It was just about two months ago that we pointed your eyes towards WebShell and its on-screen software keyboard. The browser-based SSH input served more as a tease for our desperate eyes than an actual usable keyboard.
Discussion:
MobileCrunch, I4U News, SlashGear, Engadget Mobile, Palm WebOS, Gizmodo, IntoMobile and WebOS Arena
Daniel Terdiman / CNET News:
Video game sales in free fall — In a stark reversal of the trend on display just a few short months ago—when general retail sales were plummeting even as the video games industry was still showing growth—cautious optimism in retail is now being offset by many losing months in video games.
Zachary M. Seward / Nieman Journalism Lab:
Who, really, is The Associated Press accusing of copyright infringement? — The Associated Press document we posted yesterday is in line with the consortium's most bellicose rhetoric on copyright. It begins, “The evidence is everywhere: original news content is being scraped …
Jose Nazario / Arbor Networks Security:
Twitter-based Botnet Command Channel — UPDATED TO ADD STATS — While digging around I found a botnet that uses Twitter as its command and control structure. Basically what it does is use the status messages to send out new links to contact, then these contain new commands or executables to download and run.
Bobbie Johnson / Guardian:
Microsoft: Firefox's billion claim is ‘interesting math’ — Internet Explorer chief ‘encourages people to be somewhat sceptical’ of claims by competitor — A senior Microsoft executive has called into question the claim by rival web browser Firefox that it has been downloaded a billion times.
James Sherwood / The Register:
First Samsung Android phone out next week — Exclusive Samsung's first Android-based mobile phone - the Galaxy i7500 - will be launched next week, Register Hardware has discovered. — Samsung's Galaxy: out next week on O2 — Staff at a handful of O2 retail outlets consulted …
Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
Facebook privacy: a guide — Everywhere you look (even here at Ars), there are articles about people making poor decisions about what kinds of info and how much to share on sites like Facebook. The Internet is no longer a place where you can hide out easily—friends, family …
Mary Pilon / The Wallet:
PayPal Makes a Bid for Student Banking — Parents and students looking to manage their budgets might find help from an unlikely place: PayPal. — Long associated with online payments and transfers of funds on sites like parent company eBay, PayPal this week launched a student account …
Dan Goodin / The Register:
Bug exposes eight years of Linux kernel — Passes it's-not-crying-wolf test — Free whitepaper - Avoiding 7 common mistakes of IT security compliance — Linux developers have issued a critical update for the open-source OS after researchers uncovered a vulnerability in its kernel …
Discussion:
git.kernel.org, cr0 blog, Softpedia News, fiercecio.comwatch, OSNews and Threatpost Blog
WMPoweruser.com:
HTC patents magnetic stylus for capacitive screens — Capacitive screens have received a great reception for their sensitivity to touch, but has left many stylus affectionados who appreciate the precision and other advantages of a stand-off pointing device feeling left out. — As HTC explains:
Michael Horowitz / Computerworld:
Consumer Reports at it again — Back in May, I criticized a review Consumer Reports magazine did of netbook computers (What Consumer Reports didn't tell you about netbooks). It was a fairly long critique. — Many computer articles in the magazine strike me as amateurish.
