Top Items:
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 …
New York Times:
Virtual Goods Start Bringing Real Paydays — SAN FRANCISCO — Silicon Valley may have discovered the perfect business: charging real money for products that do not exist. — These so-called virtual goods, like a $1 illustration of a Champagne bottle on Facebook or the $2.50 Halloween costume …
Jeff Bertolucci / PC World:
Black Friday Starts Now for Savvy Shoppers — If you love Black Friday bargains, but hate the idea of pre-dawn lines, surly shoppers, and the risk of bodily harm just to score a bargain Blu-ray player or Xbox console, major U.S. retailers have an alternative: Why not shop early?
Farhad Manjoo / Glamour:
Marissa Mayer: The Visionary — You do it. Your mom does it. Nearly every American does it: We google, about 7 billion times a month. And each time, itâs like a trip into Marissa Mayerâs mind. That sunny logo, blessedly spare interface and perfect list of links you get in response to a query are all pure Mayer.
Ryan Pollock / Google Mobile Blog:
NYC subway maps in your pocket with Google Maps for mobile — Hey New Yorkers — looking for somewhere to celebrate the Yankees' 27th World Series title? It's now easier than ever to carry a NYC subway map in your pocket. — A few weeks ago we announced the Layers feature on Google Maps for BlackBerry …
Discussion:
ProgrammableWeb, Google LatLong, Softpedia News, CenterNetworks, IntoMobile and Phone Scoop
Kim Hart / The Hill:
Pressure on Google over blocked calls — Pressure is growing on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to come down on tech giant Google for blocking access to certain telephone numbers with its Google Voice service. — The issue involves fees that traditional phone companies are forced …
Discussion:
GigaOM
Rosa Golijan / Gizmodo:
OpenOfficeMouse Is An 18 Button Freak, But I Want It — 18 programmable buttons. E-I-G-H-T-E-E-N! Forget the 512k of flash memory, analog Xbox 360-style joystick, basic scroll wheel and whatever-else-is-in-there. 18 buttons! Yes, I'm a button lover. Yes, I just had an orgasm.
Eric Eldon / Inside Social Games:
Zynga Launches FishVille — How Big Will This Virtual Aquarium Game Get? — Zynga, the largest developer on Facebook — and one that has come under increasing scrutiny recently for its use of scammy advertising offers in games — has just soft-launched a new title called FishVille.
RELATED:
Daniel Lyons / Techtonic Shifts:Is Facebook a Paradise for Scammers?
Discussion:
Gizmodo, Time, the Econsultancy blog, NBC Bay Area, TechCrunch and digg.com, Thanks:atul
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.
Discussion:
HipMojo.com, comScore, Inc., Agence France Presse, internetnews.com, Beyond Search and LiveSide
Jeff Longo / MacRumors:
RadioShack To Sell iPhone — In a brief press release today, RadioShack announced that it will begin selling the iPhone starting with the Dallas-Fort Worth and New York City markets later this month. RadioShack plans to sell the iPhone across the U.S. in 2010.
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.
Brad Stone / Bits:
Lessons From the War Over Skype — The dust has settled, the ink on the deal has dried, and one of the biggest sideshows in Silicon Valley this year appears to be over. The litigation between eBay, the buyers of Skype and its original founders has been dropped, and the deal …
Discussion:
Mashable!
