Top Items:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Fever Pitch: It's Droid Day, Enjoy The Moment. — If you are a tech lover, there is nothing quite like the launch day of a much hyped new gadget. Expectations run high. And since those expectations are rarely satisfied once you have the special little device in hand, it's a moment to savor.
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Phil Goldstein / FierceWireless:
Verizon launches Droid to few lines, but much excitement — Verizon Wireless launches its first two Android phones this morning, and though the launch was not greeted with the same crowds and lines that accompanied previous iPhone launches, customers said they were excited about the devices, especially the Motorola Droid.
Prince McLean / AppleInsider:
Report: Apple to launch Verizon iPhone in Q3 2010 — A new report citing sources in the Taiwan handset supply chain says Apple has contracted to produce a UMTS/CDMA hybrid iPhone due in the third quarter of next year that will enable the company to sell a single global handset to all carriers …
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Confirmed: Skype Founders Settle With eBay And Others, Get 14% Stake In Skype, Not 10% — eBay has just announced that it has reached a settlement with the founders of Skype, clearing the way for the sale of the Internet communication company to a consortium formed by private equity firm …
Discussion:
Business Week, GigaOM, Business Wire, Macworld, Gawker, eWeek, VoIP Watch, Between the Lines, VentureBeat, Brainstorm Tech, GMSV, paidContent, internetnews.com, Skype Journal, Financial Times, Tech Trader Daily, The Register, CNET News, silicontap.com and Silicon Alley Insider, Thanks:mgcreed
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Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Andreessen On Skype: “This Is One Of The Most Important Companies On the Internet.” — Earlier this morning, Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis settled their lawsuits with eBay and a syndicate of investors in return for a 14 percent stake in the company they founded.
Discussion:
BoomTown, PE Hub Blog, NBC Bay Area, Communications …, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim and New York Times
Kevin Bury / The LinkedIn Blog:
A new design for LinkedIn — Some of you may have noticed a new site navigation experience on LinkedIn. We are in the process of testing a new design. During this testing phase, some users will see the new design, while others will not. — What's New
John Herrman / Gizmodo:
Giz Explains: Android, and How It Will Take Over the World — This week we met Motorola's Droid, the first handset with Android 2.0. To an outsider, it just looks like another Google smartphone, but 2.0 is more than that: it's proof that Android is finally going to take over the world.
Discussion:
Computerworld, Tech Trader Daily, Between the Lines, mocoNews, IntoMobile, Washington Post, jkOnTheRun, Digital Daily, NPR Blogs and Mashable!
Emil Protalinski / Ars Technica:
October 2009 OS stats: Windows 7 passes Snow Leopard, Linux — In less than two weeks of general availability, Windows 7 has already captured a market share that is greater than Snow Leopard and Linux. Details inside. — Windows 7 arrived two weeks ago and so far it's selling quite well.
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Boxee Beta Coming December 7 — NYC-based Boxee will release the long-awaited beta version of its Web video-watching software on Dec. 7, MediaMemo's Peter Kafka tweets. — It'll be shown off at an event at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. — Boxee is basically a Web video browser designed …
Nick O'Neill / All Facebook:
Facebook Surpasses 325 Million Users — Facebook has continued to grow at an impressive rate throughout the year, most recently announcing the 300 million user milestone. According to Facebook's own advertising statistics though, the company is now beyond 325 million users and continuing to grow.
Discussion:
TECH.BLORGE.com
Daniel Lyons / Techtonic Shifts:
Is Facebook a Paradise for Scammers? — Every day tens of millions of people log on to Facebook, the popular social-network site, and spend time playing goofy online games. But watch out. Some people playing these games are getting fleeced by scammers, tricked into signing up for products and services they didn't want.
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Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Apple Retail Stores Roll Out ‘Reserve and Pick Up’ Purchasing for Holiday Season — Apple has rolled out a new Reserve and Pick Up purchasing program for its retail stores, allowing customers to select and reserve products for later in-store purchase and pick up ahead of the holidays.
Abbey Klaassen / AdAge:
The Droid Gets Google.com Real Estate — Part of the All-Out Push for the Verizon Handset — “Sesame Street” is not the only one getting plum placement on Google.com. Droid is as well, with 42 characters of promotion, right underneath Bert and Ernie. — Google's done this sort …
Tony Smith / The Register:
Intel replicates ‘bricked SSD’ bug, pledges fix — Intel has once again promised a fix for the glitchy firmware update tool it released for its 34nm solid-state drives last month. But it still can't say when the new version will arrive. — The chip giant released new firmware for the drives on 26 October.
Michael Learmonth / AdAge:
Will Ferrell Jumps to YouTube for ‘No Financial Gain’ — Meanwhile, That Bulldog on a Skateboard Gets Some Ads — YouTube is bending over backward to accommodate content creators, and it just landed one it probably should have had a long time ago: Will Ferrell's Funnyordie.com.
Stephanie Bodoni / Bloomberg:
Google, Microsoft ‘Strongly’ Urged to Limit Internet Search Data Storage — Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) — Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo! Inc. must limit the amount of time they keep Internet- search records and can't justify keeping the information beyond six months, European Union officials …
Nick Eaton / The Microsoft Blog:
Microsoft tops Google, Yahoo, Facebook in worldwide Web use — Windows Live Messenger led Microsoft's Web properties in capturing 14.5 percent of total time spent online in September worldwide, handily beating Google, Yahoo, Facebook and other sites, according to analysis firm comScore.
Tyler Hamilton / Technology Review:
Betting on a Metal-Air Battery Breakthrough — A government-funded start-up claims it can make ionic liquid energy storage feasible. — A spinoff from Arizona State University says it can develop a metal-air battery that dramatically outperforms the best lithium-ion batteries on the market …
Stephanie N. Mehta / Brainstorm Tech:
Will Microsoft become the General Motors of software? — It has near-monopoly status and nimble, disruptive competitors. We've seen this movie before. — By Jay R. Galbraith, president and founder, Galbraith Management Consultants — Galbraith questions Microsoft's resolve to change.
Long Zheng / istartedsomething:
Microsoft College Tour 09: mindblowing natural user interface concept demos from Microsoft Research — It turns out 2019 is getting closer every day. At the moment, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie is doing the rounds at a number of prestigious colleges …
Discussion:
SlashGear, Engadget, CrunchGear, Kindle Review, Slashdot, Gizmodo and The Microsoft Blog
Markus Goebel / TechCrunch Europe:
Europe's biggest newspaper decides the iPhone browser isn't welcome — So much for the coming mobile nirvana of free mobile content - at least for iPhone users in Germany. Today Europe's biggest newspaper, BILD-Zeitung, intends to use, in effect, brute force to compel users buy its new iPhone app.
Venture Capital Dispatch:
Limited Partners Demanding More Face Time With VCs — When it comes to venture firms communicating with their limited partners in today's uncertain economic times, there is no such thing as too much information. … So said general partners and consultants who spoke as panelists during …
Jennifer Van Grove / Mashable!:
Lady Gaga Goes Exclusive With Google — Last week Google made a big announcement around enhanced search features for music discovery. Now when you search for a song, album, lyrics, or an artist, your search results will include streaming audio previews and purchase options.
Rachel Cooper / Telegraph:
Inventor of mobile phones says they have become ‘too complicated’ — Mobile phones with cameras and music players are too complicated, according to the inventor of the device. — Martin Cooper, who was the lead engineer of the Motorola team that developed the mobile phone …
John Paczkowski / Digital Daily:
Is Verizon's New Early-Termination Fee Anti-Consumer? — Beginning Nov. 15, Verizon subscribers looking to get out of their smart-phone contracts early will pay $350 for the privilege. That early-termination fee is double the current one, but Verizon insists it's justified because of the higher prices of today's phones.
Discussion:
mocoNews
Marguerite Reardon / CNET News:
GetJar: The unknown app store leader — I'm sure you've heard of Apple's App Store for the iPhone. But have you ever heard of an independent mobile app store called GetJar? — No? Well, that's not surprising. The tiny company now based in Silicon Valley has done virtually no marketing.
Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent:
DailyCandy's Sheinbaum Gets Funding For His New Startup — Mandelbrot Project, a stealth startup led by former DailyCandy CEO Pete Sheinbaum has raised $500,000, according to an SEC filing. PEHub says the backer is the Foundry Group, which declined to comment.
