Top Items:
DigiTimes:
Apple reportedly planning a smaller-size iPad for 1Q11, says Digitimes Research — Apple is reportedly scheduling a smaller 5- to 7-inch version of the iPad that is expected to launch as soon as the first quarter of 2011, according to Digitimes Research senior analyst Mingchi Kuo.
Discussion:
Geek.com, SlashGear, GottaBeMobile, Electronista, I4U News, Pocket-lint, Gizmodo and Silicon Alley Insider
RELATED:
Seth Weintraub / 9 to 5 Mac:
Apple producing 5-7 inch, $400 mini-iPad for 2011?
Discussion:
Silicon Alley Insider
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Google Testing Google Voice Desktop App Internally — Last November Google acquired Gizmo5, a VoIP service that competed with Skype by making P2P VoIP calls as well as making and receiving calls with POTS (normal landlines) and mobile phones. — Gizmo5 fills some of the holes in the Google Voice product …
RELATED:
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
The iPad — Back in December, here's how I concluded my piece on what I expected from Apple's then-still-unannounced tablet: … After the iPad was announced, I got two types of emails from readers. The first group saying they were disappointed, because they had been hoping I was right …
Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent:
UK Parliament Hurriedly Approves Online Piracy Law — The UK government's controversial Digital Economy Bill was voted for by a majority of House Of Commons MPs Wednesday night - giving music labels, movie studios and other sections of the creative industries a landmark “graduated response” …
Dennis Howlett / Irregular Enterprise:
Steve Gillmor goes to the dark side: you should care — Steve Gillmor is joining Salesforce.com. Apparently he is a direct CEO appointment (cool or what?) Is that a big deal? Yes it is. Steve is a lightning rod for many things. He's been 100% relentless in his promotion of Twitter …
Discussion:
TechCrunchIT
foursquare:
On foursquare, cheating, and claiming mayorships from your couch... Hey all - — Some of you may have noticed that we rolled out the first version of our “cheater code” - an attempt to catch some of the folks that are checking in from their couches to steal mayorships.
Discussion:
Fast Company, The Next Web, VentureBeat, Erictric, Download Squad, Mashable! and lalawag
RELATED:
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Foursquare Starts To Enforce The Rules, Cracks Down On Fake Check-Ins
Discussion:
Electricpig.co.uk, The Next Web, Lifestream Blog, All Points Blog and John Battelle's Searchblog
John Markoff / New York Times:
H.P. Says New Device Could Revolutionize Computer Chips — PALO ALTO, Calif. — Hewlett-Packard scientists on Thursday will report advances demonstrating significant progress in the design of a new class of diminutive switches capable of replacing transistors as computer chips shrink toward the atomic scale.
Discussion:
The Register, SlashGear, Nature, I4U News, Digits, Electronista and Ars Technica, Thanks:hpnews
Gawker.TV:
South Park Explains Everything That Is Annoying About Facebook — Tonight, South Park made comment on Facebook and its obsessives by brilliantly taking every ridiculous thing about what the social network has become and explaining it with hilariously awkward (and eerily accurate) “IRL” interactions.
Nicholas Carlson / Silicon Alley Insider:
Holy Cow Did Twitter's Top Investor Drop A Bombshell On Twitter App-Makers Today — Twitter could buy or build its own photo-uploader and mobile app, squashing third-party developers in its way, Twitter investor and Union Square Ventures partner Fred Wilson implicitly warned in a post this morning.
Jim Hoskins / Almost Done:
AdLib - Apple's secret iPad web framework? — I know, I know, enough news about the iPad already! I haven't picked one up yet because I'm much more keen on having a device with 3G access. However, this isn't about the iPad itself, but something very interesting I stumbled upon while playing with the iPad Simulator.
Tim Wu / Slate:
The iPad is Steve Jobs' final victory over the company's co-founder Steve Wozniak. — In 2006, professor Jonathan Zittrain of Harvard Law School predicted that over the next decade there would be a determined effort to replace the personal computer with a new generation of “information appliances.”
MacDailyNews:
Justin Long: Apple's ‘Get a Mac’ commercials ‘might be done’ — “For a decade, Justin Long has acted in commercials, TV shows, studio features, and independents, many comedies and a few dramas. He's also done more than his share of voice work for animated fare... Long recently spoke …
Nicholas Carr / Rough Type:
The iPad Luddites — Is it possible for a Geek God to also be a Luddite? That was the question that popped into my head as I read Cory Doctorow's impassioned anti-iPad diatribe at Boing Boing. The device that Apple calls “magical” and “revolutionary” is, to Doctorow …
Discussion:
CNET News
Sean Michael Kerner / LinuxPlanet:
Ubuntu Claims 12 Million Users as Lucid Linux Desktop Nears — 12 Million Users, Aubergine, Synchronization — Ubuntu Linux is gearing up for the debut of its latest release with Ubuntu 10.04, codenamed “the Lucid Lynx” and scheduled for general availability at the end of the month.
Discussion:
internetnews.com
David Kushner / Mother Jones:
Inside WikiLeaks' Leak Factory — WikiLeaks has revealed the secrets of the Pentagon, Scientology, and Sarah Palin—and the explosive video of a US attack on civilians and journalists in Iraq. Meet the shadowy figure behind the whistleblower site. — Post Comment
Discussion:
Gawker
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Get your e-book on the iPad (and keep all the royalties) — Tunecore has been a boon for musicians like Trent Reznor, who pay the Brooklyn-based company a flat fee of $40 or so and then see their music available for sale on Amazon, iTunes, and eMusic. The copyrights all remain in the artists' hands …
Discussion:
TeleRead
Mike Melanson / ReadWriteWeb:
Google Earth Fills In The Blue Parts — If you thought Google's Street View was ambitious, or even Google Earth, then the companies latest efforts to “fill in the ‘blue’ part of the planet” on Google Earth puts the rest to shame. That “blue part”, after all, comprises more than 70% of the planet's surface.
Nilay Patel / Engadget:
Kindle coming to Target on April 25? — We've always wondered if and when Amazon would get the Kindle into brick-and-mortar stores to counteract the see-it-with-your-eyes marketing advantage held by competitors like Barnes and Noble, and it looks like we just got our answer …
Discussion:
GottaBeMobile, GeekSugar, Electronista, Silicon Alley Insider, Technologizer, Kindle Review and TechFlash
Kevin Krolicki / Reuters:
Japan's video game visionary: the console is dying — TOKYO (Reuters) - Hideo Kojima, one of the world's most famous video game creators, sees a future for digital entertainment outside the box — outside any box. — Kojima, whose “Metal Gear Solid” games have sold more than 27 million copies …
Discussion:
Newlaunches.com, VG247, GamingBolt.com, TG Daily, GoNintendo, MTV Multiplayer, Joystiq and Edge Online
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
iPad Sales Estimated to Have Already Surpassed 500,000 — Advertising firm Chitika earlier this week rolled out a running tally calculating the number of iPads accessing the Internet via the device's Safari browser based on unique hits to its network of advertisements.
Nilay Patel / Engadget:
Barnes & Noble Nook arriving at Best Buy, will go on sale April 18 — Looks like the e-reader wars are heating up, retail-style: we just found out that Target will be selling the Kindle later this month, and now multiple sources are telling us that Best Buy will start selling the Barnes …
Tim Conneally / BetaNews:
Windows 7 SP1 leaks, available now — In March, the Windows team announced the upcoming release of Service Pack 1 for Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2, but did not set a date of availability. — At the time, Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc said, “For Windows 7, SP1 includes only minor updates …
Discussion:
InfoWorld, The Register, Tech Eye, Technologizer, Engadget, The Next Web, TechFlash and GeekSmack
New York Times:
China's Censorship Machine Takes On the Internet — An Internet cafe in Beijing. Some Internet cafes and schools use filtering software, and a version for cellphones is in development. — BEIJING — Type the Chinese characters for “carrot” into Google's search engine here in mainland China …
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Xmarks Begins Monetizing Bookmarks With Advertising And Analytics Platform SearchBoost — Following a rebranding last year, Xmarks, a social bookmarking and search tool, has been growing steadily in users. Following the addition of its search feature last March, Xmarks now has 4.5 million active users …
Discussion:
GigaOM
Miles Godfrey / Sydney Morning Herald:
MySpace relaunch to combat Facebook — AAP — Rupert Murdoch's social networking website MySpace is planning a Spring relaunch to try to win back users from rival Facebook and reposition itself in the rapidly changing social media market. — MySpace, bought by Mr Murdoch's media group News Corp …
Ole CaveLie / Google Mobile Blog:
Google Maps 4.0 for BlackBerry adds Search by Voice, Google Buzz, Starring, Labs, and More — We've been rolling out new versions of Google Maps for mobile at a fast pace lately, and the first Google Maps for BlackBerry update of 2010 is a big one. For version 4., we've added new features …
Stuart Dredge / Music Ally:
Comes With Music goes live in China... DRM-free — Nokia is launching Comes With Music in China today, and it's the first market to get a DRM-free version of the all-you-can-eat music service. It's also the first time people will be able to sign up to the service without buying a brand new handset.
Discussion:
Dow Jones Newswires, Agence France Presse, Times of London, Engadget, Reuters and Gizmodo, Thanks:stuartdredge
Heather Horn / The Atlantic Wire:
Is It Aggregation or Stealing? — Snazzy, easy-to-use, one-stop hub Newser is one of many aggregation sites out there (The Atlantic Wire should know—we're one, too). Aggregation has its upsides and downsides: there are those who claim shortening and collecting is a useful service …
Neil Hughes / AppleInsider:
Apple rejected iPad app for using pinch to expand gesture — Apple refused to accept one iPad application to its App Store until the proprietary “pinch to expand” multi-touch gesture, which is found in Apple's own Photos application, was removed, a developer has told AppleInsider.
