Top Items:
Walter S. Mossberg / Personal Technology:
A Windows to Help You Forget — In just two weeks, on Oct. 22, Microsoft's long operating-system nightmare will be over. The company will release Windows 7, a faster and much better operating system than the little-loved Windows Vista, which did a lot to harm both the company's reputation …
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Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Brainstorm Tech:
What's wrong with Windows 7 — Reading between the lines of Walt Mossberg's review — It's a given that Windows 7, scheduled for release in two weeks, is an improvement over Vista. But how does it stack up against Apple's (AAPL) Snow Leopard? — The definitive word comes …
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
Ballmer: Testers didn't ring Vista warning bells; Could the same happen with Windows 7? — Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has done his best over the past year-plus to try to dampen expectations around Windows 7. He's doing it again this week during his pre-launch European tour, telling press …
Discussion:
Gizmodo
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Twitter Talking Separately to Microsoft and Google About Big Data-Mining Deals — Is there gold in them thar tweets? — Maybe so, because-according to sources familiar with the situation-Twitter is in advanced talks with Microsoft and Google separately about striking data-mining deals …
Discussion:
Mashable!, Venture Capital Dispatch, Fast Company, CNET News, GMSV, Silicon Alley Insider, Softpedia News, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, Search Engine Journal, The Next Web, Lockergnome Blog Network, TECH.BLORGE.com, The Noisy Channel, WebProNews, TheStreet.com, ParisLemon and PR News, Thanks:enauzer
Reza Ziaei / Google Mobile Blog:
Introducing Search Options for mobile — Finding the exact information you need sometimes requires filtering and refining your search results. Earlier in the year, we launched a collection of tools called Search Options which enable you to easily and quickly do this from a computer.
Discussion:
MacRumors iPhone Blog, PC World, AppScout, Search Engine Land, FierceMobileContent, WebProNews, Search Engine Journal, MobileContentToday, Phone Scoop and ReadWriteWeb, Thanks:atul
Chris Ziegler / Engadget:
BlackBerry Bold 2 to be announced October 21 for T-Mobile, AT&T — We have it on good authority that T-Mobile and AT&T both currently plan on announcing the Bold 2 — also known as the Onyx — on October 21. As a refresher, this would be the touchpad-driven piece with model number 9700 that's …
Discussion:
Boy Genius Report, Gizmodo, Softpedia News, Engadget Mobile, I4U News, Gadgetell, Electronista, IntoMobile, SoftSailor, Unwired View, TmoNews, PR News, Electricpig.co.uk, TechVi and Gearlog
Steve Gillmor / TechCrunchIT:
Ozzie on the realtime wave — In June, I spent several days on the Microsoft campus talking with Microsoft executives about the impact of realtime and the emerging era of cloud computing. My conversation with Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie began with a discussion of the recently unveiled Google Wave …
Fred / Electronic Frontier Foundation:
It's My Browser, and I'll Auto-Click if I Want To — Free file hosting provider MediaFire seems to think that, when you follow a link to download a file from its service, it has the right to control your browser. This is yet another example of a web site owner forgetting that it's your computer …
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Joanna Stern / Gizmodo:
Sony Vaio X: World's Lightest Laptop $1300 (Actually Affordable, For a Vaio) — Sony's X comes out from its dark hiding spot. Not only is the 11-inch carbon fiber notebook super slim, but it's actually affordable on the Sony scale of economy, starting at $1,300. (Update: It's got netbook guts.)
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Jennifer Vilaga / Fast Company:
FTC Responds to Blogger Fears: “That $11,000 Fine is Not True” — As you've likely heard by now, the Federal Trade Commission is trying to reign in freebie-grabbing bloggers and graft-happy social media users masquerading as unbiased critics. The agency announced an update to the FTC Act of 1980 …
Andrew LaVallee / Digits:
IPhone Tethering Still Unavailable, AT&T Says — AT&T subscribers still won't be able to use their iPhones as wireless modems for their computers, despite the carrier's reversed position on Internet-phone applications. … Tethering, the process of using an Internet-enabled mobile device …
Discussion:
Digital Daily, AppleInsider, MacRumors, Engadget, Softpedia News, IPHONETOUCH.BLORGE, MacNN, The iPhone Blog and The Mac Observer
Philipp Lenssen / Google Blogoscoped:
Join the Minimalist Google Homepage Prototype — You might have heard of the new experiment Google is running for its homepage, showing only logo and search box (and apparently search buttons, at times) unless your mouse moves over the page. To join this prototype, you can go to google.com …
Rosa Golijan / Gizmodo:
Iomega's StorCenter ix2-200 NAS Has Bluetooth, Time Machine, Chubby Exterior — Iomega's on to something with the StorCenter ix2-200: built-in torrent and Time Machine support, Bluetooth-based uploads from phones, remote access, and lotsa spiffy features wrapped up in an earth-friendly green gadget.
Discussion:
internetnews.com, Electronista, TUAW, Softpedia News, Crave, Engadget and The Mac Observer
Greg Kumparak / MobileCrunch:
Yes, Rock Band is coming to iPhone. Here's proof. — A few weeks back, we got a press release from EA's PR company. It was tucked within an attachment titled “Rock Band Verizon iPhone Fact Sheet_V3.docx”. As if seeing “iPhone” behind “Verizon” wasn't strange enough …
Stephen Shankland / Crave:
Intel's Light Peak optical links could arrive in 2010 — In September, Intel showed off Light Peak as if it were the latest the latest hot idea out of the labs. But the fiber-optic communication technology could well be coming to near you next year rather than in some distant sci-fi future.
Venture Capital Dispatch:
VC Fund-Raising Drops, Marketing Not Worth ‘Brain Damage’ — Just like their portfolio companies, venture capital firms continue to find it difficult to raise funding compared with last year. — Through the end of the third quarter, 83 venture funds raised $8 billion …
Emil Protalinski / Ars Technica:
Microsoft mulling 128-bit versions of Windows 8, Windows 9 — Believe it or not, Windows 7's successor(s) have been in the planning and early development stages for a while now. We haven't posted anything about any of them yet, but we've been watching closely to see if anything really interesting turned up.
Discussion:
Hardware 2.0, Softpedia News, Computerworld, I4U News, Pocket-lint.com, Maximum PC, Lockergnome Blog Network, SlashGear, Windows 8 News, gdgt, PR News, AppScout and Gizmodo
Ppk / QuirksBlog:
There is no WebKit on Mobile — Last week I spent a lot of time on WebKit in order to produce a comprehensive comparison of all WebKits. My purpose was to prove there is no “WebKit on Mobile,” and to gain some more insight in the complicated relations between the various WebKits.
The Official Google Blog:
Quickly view formatted PDFs in your search results — Google search results sometimes include documents that were not originally formatted to be viewed in a web browser, such as PDFs. In the past, the only way to view these documents was to download them and open them in a separate viewer application.
Discussion:
Google Watch, Download Squad, The Register, Softpedia News, Mashable!, PC World, WebProNews, CNET News, Lifehacker, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, The Next Web, AppScout and Search Engine Journal, Thanks:mrinaldesai
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Twitter Down, Again, Just Like the Old Days — Unless the 400+ people I follow on Twitter have all gone mute at the same time, I suspect that something's wrong with Twitter, since I haven't seen a new message for the last hour or so. A quick scan of Facebook — and Twitter's own search engine …
Discussion:
RedEye
Steve Gillmor / TechCrunchIT:
Ozzie FUSEs social media teams in Microsoft reorg — For months now we've been wondering when Microsoft was going to start making moves in the social media space. Rumors of talks with Twitter have been swirling at all levels of the company, but now a subtle re-org may shed light …
Robert Andrews / paidContent:
Dailymotion Raises Another $22 Million As Costs Outstrip Income — French video site Dailymotion, which had already raised $43.5 million since 2006, has now has to find another €15 million ($22.1 million), as the economics of playing second fiddle to overseas vid portals continue to look challenging.
Robert Miller / Skype Blogs:
Skype and eBay Win Appeal in Patent Case — Robert Miller is Skype's General Counsel. — On October 6, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in favor of Skype and eBay affirming a judgment from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas finding …
Matt Asay / CNET News:
Cisco becomes a major Linux server vendor overnight — In the battle for supremacy among the software industry's Big Four, Cisco may be placing the biggest bets and angling for the biggest returns. Some still think of Cisco as a networking hardware vendor, but hardware is simply Cisco's beachhead …
Wailin Wong / Chicago Tribune:
United Airlines launches Wi-Fi on some flights — Chicago-based carrier first testing service on flights between New York, California — United Airlines has started inflight Wi-Fi service on flights between New York and California, allowing passengers to surf the Web on their laptops and mobile devices.
Robert Mueller / CNET News:
FBI head banned from online banking after phishing attempt — SAN FRANCISCO—No one is immune from cyberthreats, not even the head of the FBI. — FBI Director Robert Mueller was banned by his wife from doing online banking after he nearly fell for a phishing scam, he said on Wednesday during …
Business Wire:
Burst Media Acquires Giant Realm — Deal Reinforces Burst's Position as a Champion of Vertical Content Online — BURLINGTON, Mass.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Burst Media, (www.BurstMedia.com), a leading provider of advertising representation, services and technology to independent Web Publishers …
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
Best Buy Announces MobileMe Competitor “mIQ” — Earlier this week, electronics retailer Best Buy announced a new mobile backup service called mIQ. Designed to compete with similar services like Apple's MobileMe or Microsoft's My Phone, mIQ offers up to 1 GB of storage space in the cloud for photos …
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Should Twitter Buy Oneforty? — We've heard an unconfirmed rumor that conversations are taking place between Twitter and Twitter-focused app marketplace oneforty. This is PURELY speculative and it's unclear if talks are about a possible acquisition or a partnership.
