Top Items:
Nilay Patel / Engadget:
Confirmed: Apple and AT&T signed five-year iPhone exclusivity deal — but is it still valid? — The term of Apple and AT&T's iPhone exclusivity deal has long been a mystery — although USA Today reported a five-year arrangement when the original iPhone came out in 2007 …
Discussion:
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MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
The Long, Complicated Tale Of AT&T's Exclusive (And Elusive) iPhone Agreement — The details of Apple and AT&T's agreement in the U.S. for exclusive iPhone rights is a bit like a mythical beast. Every so often, someone comes along and says they've seen it. But when someone else starts to look, it vanishes again.
John Herrman / Gizmodo:
The Real Story Behind Twitter's Ridiculous Follow Bug — For a while today, a Twitter bug let anyone force anyone to follow their accounts. It was a hilariously simple trick, and equally bizarre. Even better? This bug was discovered by accident, by a Turkish Twitter user. Here's what happened.
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Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Is Android Really Outselling Apple? — Here's a curveball of a data point: Android is now outselling the iPhone. — Really? Really, says NPD. — The consumer research shop says U.S. sales of smartphones using Google's mobile operating system climbed past Apple in the first three months of this year.
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NPD Group:
Android Shakes Up U.S. Smartphone Market — First quarter 2010 information from The NPD Group's Mobile Phone Track reveals a shift in the smartphone market, as Android OS edged out Apple's OS for the number-two position behind RIM.
Discussion:
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Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
It Would Be Kind of Stunning if Android Phones Weren't Outselling iPhones
John Herrman / Gizmodo:
Sprint Won't Sell the Nexus One — First, Verizon changed their mind about the Google Phone after releasing the similar HTC Incredible. Now Sprint, weeks before the release of the Evo 4G, has done the same. And with that, the CDMA Nexus One is all but dead.
Discussion:
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Liz Gannes / GigaOM:
Google Seeks to Hire “Head of Social” — Google says it's willing to accept its shortcomings on the social web and bring in a “Head of Social” to set it on the right course. The company has hired an executive recruiter to fill the position, and is currently in the process of casting its net as widely as possible.
Discussion:
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Arn / MacRumors:
Steve Jobs Says Printing “Will Come” for iPad — Since Steve Jobs has taken it upon himself to answer customer queries, he becomes a frequently cited source for what Apple is working on. According to one reader, Steve Jobs replied to an email asking why there are no printing capabilities on the iPad.
Discussion:
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Ben Parr / Mashable!:
Twitter to Launch Twitter Business Center [SCREENSHOTS] — We have confirmed with Twitter that beta testing of its new business features, dubbed the “Twitter Business Center,” has begun. — According to the company, “only a handful of accounts have these features presently,” but it will expand on a gradual business to more accounts.
Greg Kumparak / MobileCrunch:
It's hip to be square (and Android 2.1-powered): Meet the Motorola Flipout — Square phones, man. Call me old fashioned, but I just don't get it. Nokia did it with the Twist, LG did it with the LG Lotus and Lotus Elite, and now Motorola appears to be giving it a go — but unlike the rest of the lot …
Discussion:
Android and Me, Electronista, Android Central, AndroidGuys, Android Phone Fans and EuroDroid
Julia Ioffe / New Yorker:
ROULETTE RUSSIAN — The teen-ager behind Chatroulette. — The random encounters of Chatroulette buck a decade-long trend that has made the Internet feel progressively more ordered. … KEYWORDS … Andrey Ternovskiy, an eighteen-year-old high-school dropout from Moscow …
Discussion:
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Jay Yarow / Silicon Alley Insider:
Apple's ‘iWork’ iPad Apps Will Generate Almost As Much Revenue As Google Docs (AAPL, MSFT, GOOG) — Apple's iPad office apps — Pages, Keynote, and Numbers — have consistently been among the most popular iPad apps since the tablet launched last month. — The “iWork” apps are already …
Mark Milian / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
A faster Wi-Fi format aims to eliminate most wires — Ready to cut the cord? The next generation of Wi-Fi technology could make most wires obsolete. — The Wi-Fi Alliance, an organization that certifies wireless industry standards, announced the specification for a new format …
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John Battelle / John Battelle's Searchblog:
The iAd: Steve Jobs Regifts The Mobile Marketing Experience — We're used to buzz around Apple, and in particular, we're quite used to buzz about how Apple goes to market. CEO Steve Jobs is widely considered the greatest marketer alive, and nearly every marketer I've worked …
Sam Diaz / ZDNet:
Was Apple right? Adobe Flash crashes twice during mobile demo — Nothing sucks more than being on stage in front of a bunch of techies and having your demo crash on you twice. Actually, the only way that sucks more is if you're Adobe and it's Flash that's crashing on a mobile device …
Matt Asay / CNET News:
Fragmenting Linux is not the way to beat Apple — In an attempt to copycat Apple's hardware-plus-software vertical approach to the mobile market, the Linux industry is fragmenting fast and risks undermining its best chance for beating the iPhone. — The mobile Linux market has always …
Dan Primack / PE Hub Blog:
“Smart” Tabletop Game Company Sifteo Raises $9 Million — One of the more buzzworthy talks at TED 2009 came from David Merrill, whose MIT research project revolved around cookie-size “smart” tiles that could be used as the basis for a tabletop gaming console.
Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:
What Silicon Valley could learn from these 14 Israeli companies — This post reposted from building43. — Last week Rocky Barbanica and I visited Israel and we videoed many companies (some of those interviews are still to come after we edit them). But while going through all the videos …
Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM:
Heroku Raises $10M for Its Ruby Platform — Heroku, a platform provider built on top of Amazon's EC2 compute infrastructure, has raised $10 million in its second round of funding, bringing its total investment to $15 million. In the last six months, the Heroku platform …
Casey Johnston / Ars Technica:
New hard drive write method packs in one terabit per inch — Hard disk systems have recently encounted a storage density ceiling. Most methods in use today have a limit of a few hundred gigabytes per square inch thanks to perpendicular recording. To try to keep storage density rising …
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Facebook Begins Testing ‘Offers’ Payment Option Beyond Games — Last month, Facebook started experimenting with a new payment option for a select handful of game developers: it began supporting Offers as a way to earn its virtual currency, Facebook Credits.
Matt Legend Gemmell:
iPad Multi-Touch — A friend of mine recently asked how many simultaneous touch events the iPad supported; I wasn't sure, so I promised to write some code to conduct an experiment and find the answer. I got around to doing so, and the answer is: eleven. — I'm sure you can imagine …
