Top Items:
Gmail Blog:
Millions of Buzz users, and improvements based on your feedback — Posted by Todd Jackson, Product Manager, Gmail and Google Buzz — It's been just two days since we first launched Google Buzz. Since then, tens of millions of people have checked Buzz out, creating over 9 million posts and comments.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, A VC, Technologizer, Computerworld, internetnews.com, InformationWeek, Google, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, CNET News, Search Engine Watch, Silicon Alley Insider, GMSV, MediaFile, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Search Engine Journal, Scripting News, Shelly Palmer, Mashable!, AccMan, Boy Genius Report, eWeek, Erictric, The Register, Electricpig, thinq.co.uk, Between the Lines, Softpedia News, VatorNews, Geekword, ResearchBuzz, Pocket-lint, ZDNET.com.au, GigaOM, The Huffington Post, Google Blogoscoped, The Progress & …, ReadWriteWeb, The Next Web, Security Watch, Lifehacker, VentureBeat, Download Squad, broadstuff, Gizmodo and Bits, Thanks:chrismessina
RELATED:
Harriet Jacobs / Fugitivus:
F**k you, Google — I use my private Gmail account to email my boyfriend and my mother. — There's a BIG drop-off between them and my other “most frequent” contacts. — You know who my third most frequent contact is? — My abusive ex-husband. — Which is why it's SO EXCITING …
Philipp Lenssen / Google Blogoscoped:
5 Reasons Why Gmail Buzz Privacy Isn't All That Bad — Google released Buzz for Gmail and there are issues if you're not careful with your settings as well as possibly unwanted group overlaps (I wouldn't be too surprised if in the future, a less tech savvy family member posts a meant …
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:Too Easy: How a Simple Hack Can Turn Your Numeric Google Profile URL …
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Amazon Wants To Give A Free Kindle To All Amazon Prime Subscribers — In January Amazon offered select customers a free Kindle of sorts - they had to pay for it, but if they didn't like it they could get a full refund and keep the device. It turns out that was just a test run for a much more ambitious program.
Philipp Lenssen / Google Blogoscoped:
New: Google Maps Labs — When Google wants to test new features, they call them Lab experiments, and make them opt-in. Now, following many other services, Google Maps received a Lab icon. Click the green flask at the top of Google Maps and you get a chance to enable features like the following:
RELATED:
Stan Schroeder / Mashable!:Google Maps Get Labs With 9 Cool New Features
Discussion:
All Points Blog
Bloomberg:
Microsoft Bets on Software Upgrade to Fight IPhone — Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) — Six years ago, Microsoft Corp.'s software ran about a quarter of all smartphones and was gaining ground. Then Apple Inc.'s iPhone and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. left the software giant in the dust.
RELATED:
Nicholas Kolakowski / eWeek:Microsoft Acquiring RIM May Be Bad Idea, Says Analyst
Discussion:
NEWSFACTOR, PC World, Business Week, MacDailyNews, Daring Fireball and Enterprise Mobile Today
Eric Zeman / InformationWeek:Windows Mobile 7 Being Announced Monday Feb. 15
Discussion:
TechFlash, The Register, Tech Eye, Phone Scoop, eWeek, Wall Street Journal and Electronista
The Official Google Blog:
Google acquires Aardvark — When you need an answer to a very specific question, sometimes the information just isn't online in one simple place. For example, let's say you want to know if there's snow on Skyline Boulevard on a given day or the best time of year to plant beans in the Bay Area.
Discussion:
Aardvark Blog, VentureBeat, Google Labs, TechCrunch, Silicon Alley Insider, AppScout and Seeking Alpha
Sam Dillon / New York Times:
Wi-Fi Turns Rowdy Bus Into Rolling Study Hall — VAIL, Ariz. — Students endure hundreds of hours on yellow buses each year getting to and from school in this desert exurb of Tucson, and stir-crazy teenagers break the monotony by teasing, texting, flirting, shouting, climbing (over seats) and sometimes punching (seats or seatmates).
Discussion:
CrunchGear
Peter Burrows / BusinessWeek:
Another Sign of An Apple-Bing Deal On iPhone — Since we broke the story that Apple and Microsoft were in talks to make Bing the default search engine on the iPhone, I've been waiting for more evidence from other sources. It came this morning, from Collins Stewart analyst Sandeep Aggarwal …
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Brainstorm Tech:
The iPad that launched a thousand apps — Data gathered in January show a rush of new projects on the iPhone operating system — Click to enlarge. Source: Flurry Analytics — Measured by the number of new applications being written for each type of device, Google's (GOOG) …
Discussion:
Mashable!, Digital Daily, Fast Company, VentureBeat, Silicon Alley Insider, MacRumors, Electronista, AppleInsider, AppScout, blog.flurry.com and MacDailyNews
Ingrid Lunden / mocoNews:
Skype Planning VoIP Over Verizon Wireless? — This just in: Skype tells mocoNews.net it will be hosting a joint news conference with Verizon Wireless at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week. No word on what this announcement is about, but it will be the first time that a major mobile operator has stood up with Skype.
Discussion:
9 to 5 Mac, DSLreports, VoIP & Gadgets Blog, MobileCrunch, Android Phone Fans, Verizon, FierceWireless and IntoMobile
Andy Greenberg / Forbes:
IBM Eyes The iPad — Big Blue launches Lotus software for the iPhone platform and has more plans yet for Apple's tablet. — Apple's iPad represents a thin, 1.5-pound wrecking ball aimed at the division between netbooks and smart phones. But it may also do collateral damage …
Discussion:
AppleInsider
Todd Shields / Bloomberg:
AT&T, Verizon May Have to Share Lines Under FCC Plan — Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) — AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. would be forced to lease fast Internet lines to rivals providing Web services to small businesses under a proposal being weighed by U.S. regulators.
Google Code Blog:
Announcing Google Chart Tools — A good chart can tell a story, such as depicting when you get home on Saturday night by plotting your tweet patterns along the week. — A good chart can take an elusive concept and clarify it in a visually appealing manner.
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Roundtable:
Picture of Google News New Home Page Test — A week ago today, we reported Google News was testing a new home page design. Since then, I have been begging those who have seen the test to post a picture so the rest of us can see what they see. Finally, yesterday, someone posted an image in the Google News Help forum.
New York Times:
China Alarmed by Security Threat From Internet — BEIJING — Deep inside a Chinese military engineering institute in September 2008, a researcher took a break from his duties and decided — against official policy — to check his private e-mail messages. Among the new arrivals …
Thanks:mrinaldesai
Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:
Bing Demos StreetSide With Flickr Photos, Live Video & “Bing Sky” — Today at the TED conference in Southern California, Microsoft demonstrated its enhanced, Silverlight version of Bing Maps, with StreetSide imagery, Photosynth and Map Apps, which allow third party data and content to be placed within the map.
Discussion:
Bing Maps Blog, Search Engine Watch, BoomTown, Search Blog, GMSV, Softpedia News, Screenwerk, LiveSide.net, Epicenter, Geek In Disguise, The Microsoft Blog and VentureBeat
Nancy Sudheer / business24-7.ae:
LG's e-reader to take on rivals iPad, Kindle — Consumer Electronics major LG plans to introduce its own e-reader by April in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) market competing with Apple's latest iPad and Amazon's Kindle. — LG's CEO (MEA), KW Kim, told Emirates Business: “We will soon launch a new product, maybe by April.
Nancy Gohring / Computerworld:
EFF, library groups argue against Autodesk appeal — IDG News Service - The Electronic Frontier Foundation, along with several other groups including the American Library Association, urged an appeals court to uphold a ruling in a long-running suit related to secondhand software sales.
Discussion:
p2pnet
Neil Hughes / AppleInsider:
Strong Mac, iPhone sales projected to propel Apple stock to $280 — Stronger-than-expected Mac and iPhone sales in the last two quarters and the impending launch of the iPad have led Needham & Company to raise its price target on Apple stock to $280. — Analyst Charlie Wolf said in a note …
Opera Press Room:
Opera Mini reaches important milestone — Crosses 50 million active users — Opera Mini, the world's most popular mobile browser, has crossed the 50 million unique monthly users mark in January 2010. This milestone proves the popularity of Opera Mini compared to other mobile browsers …
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Marvell seeks to enable the iPhone-like $99 smartphone — Marvell is announcing today new chip designs that will enable fully functional, iPhone-like smart phones at mass market prices of $99 or less. — The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip maker is announcing Pantheon …
