Top Items:
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
J Allard's goodbye note: ‘No chairs were thrown’ — Microsoft Chief Experience Officer J Allard sent out a goodbye note of his own on May 25, the date that Microsoft announced officially that both Allard and Entertainment and Devices President Robbie Bach are leaving the company.
Discussion:
Gizmodo, Kotaku, The Official Microsoft Blog, Silicon Alley Insider and DailyTech, Thanks:atul
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Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
Bach, Allard leaving Microsoft in big shift for consumer business — Robbie Bach and J Allard, founding fathers of Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division, are leaving the company as part of a broader restructuring that will give CEO Steve Ballmer more direct oversight …
Discussion:
Engadget, Gizmodo, Silicon Alley Insider, BetaNews, Macworld, The Microsoft Blog, The Next Web, CNET News, VentureBeat, PC World, IBD Click, internetnews.com, Kotaku, The Register, ZDNet, paidContent, Digital Daily, InformationWeek, Mashable!, Gadgetell, DailyTech, Network World, I4U News, MacDailyNews, GottaBeMobile, Blue's News, Boy Genius Report, Tech Trader Daily, WMExperts, Ars Technica, SlashGear and LiveSide.net
Horace Dediu / Asymco:
The reason Robbie Bach was fired — Vague justifications about under-performance of Windows Mobile or cancelled Courier miss the whole point. The chronic problems with Microsoft's consumer businesses cited as causes for dismissal have roots in core processes and priorities which management changes will not address.
Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
Q&A: Microsoft's Bach on his exit, and the future of the company — Q&A: Microsoft's Bach on his exit, and future of the company — Robbie Bach may have been viewed at one point as a potential successor to Steve Ballmer as Microsoft's chief executive — but Bach says he never aspired to the job …
Brad Stone / New York Times:
U.S. Is Said to Scrutinize Apple's Online Music Tactics — SAN FRANCISCO — The Justice Department is examining Apple's tactics in the market for digital music, and its staff members have talked to major music labels and Internet music companies, according to several people briefed on the conversations.
Brian Rakowski / Google Chrome Blog:
A new Chrome stable release: Welcome, Mac and Linux! — In our most recent beta release, we fired up all engines to bring to life our fastest version of Chrome to date. — Today, we're bringing all this beta goodness to the stable channel so that it's available to all Chrome users.
Discussion:
Google Chrome Releases, Softpedia News, Chromium Blog, Lockergnome Blog Network, TUAW, Ars Technica, Datamation, Google Operating System, ExtremeTech, Computerworld, InfoWorld, Boy Genius Report, The Register, Erictric, Telegraph, MacRumors, 9 to 5 Mac, gHacks technology news, TechSpot, BlogsDNA, Mashable!, Macworld, Techie Buzz, Lifehacker, Macsimum News, VatorNews, TechCrunch, Download Squad, Daring Fireball, AppleInsider, SlashGear, MacNN and Ubergizmo
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Chris Cameron / ReadWriteWeb:
Chrome Brings Stability, Syncing and HTML5 Across All Platforms
Discussion:
Softpedia News, The Official Google Blog, WebProNews, Lockergnome Blog Network and The Download Blog
Jolie O'Dell / Mashable!:
Facebook Heads to D.C. for Congressional Briefing on Privacy — Most Facebook users have no idea that the social network giant has a D.C. office full of lobbyists and policy wonks. But that office will be staging a Congress staffers-only briefing this week to address issues of — you guessed it — user privacy.
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MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
New “Drastically Simplified” Facebook Privacy Controls Start Rolling Out Tomorrow
Discussion:
GigaOM, Mashable!, Epicenter, BlogsDNA, eWeek, NBC Bay Area, The Next Web, Silicon Alley Insider, the Econsultancy blog, Inside Facebook, Maximum PC, Erictric, Bloomberg, MediaPost, VentureBeat and Bits
Bill Kircos / Technology@Intel:
An Update On Our Graphics-related Programs — “Graphics.” I think the high-tech industry needs to do a better job defining this omnibus word. At a minimum, graphics can be divided into creating, consuming (viewing), interacting, playing and connecting digital media - visually rich computing experiences.
Discussion:
Tech Eye, Engadget, CNET News, Digits, VentureBeat, eWeek, The Register, ZDNet, The Tech Report, insideHPC, Electronista, AnandTech, VizWorld.com and Maximum PC
Kat Hannaford / Gizmodo:
Motorola Droid Shadow Found In Gym — The story goes that this phone was left in a corporate Verizon gym in Washington, but before it was remotely locked the finder saw a text message confirming it was “unreleased”. What is it? Why, the Motorola Droid Shadow.
Stephen Lawson / Computerworld:
US ranks 26th in new broadband index — IDG News Service - South Korea has the fastest home Internet service in the world, with a downstream speed 100 times faster than the average in Sudan, the operator of Speedtest.net reported on a new Web site that compiles results from consumers running its online test.
Jennifer Valentino-DeVries / Digits:
Yahoo Adds More Facebook Features to Email — For more than a year, Yahoo has been adding social features to make its email platform look more like Facebook; now, it's rolling out a change that just brings part of Facebook itself to Yahoo mail. — The move is another step in Yahoo's attempt …
Discussion:
WebProNews
Jennifer Jacobson / Retrevo:
New Data Shines Light on Future of Netbooks — In past years, the netbooks took the market by a storm. With Intel Atom chip sets, long battery life, small form factors, and low price they offered a great alternative to expensive, bulky laptops. However, the double whammy of cheaper laptops …
Associated Press:
Amazon CEO: Color Kindle ‘still a long way out’ — A color version of Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle e-reader may come eventually, but it won't be soon. Speaking Tuesday at the online retailer's annual shareholder meeting in Seattle, founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said that adding color to the Kindle's …
Discussion:
MarketWatch, Electronista, CNET News, Wall Street Journal, Engadget, Maximum PC, Zatz Not Funny!, Kindle Review, The Next Web, mocoNews, MacRumors, Gearlog, Tech Trader Daily, TechFlash and Digital Daily
Barbara De Lollis / USA Today:
Holiday Inn to test smartphone as hotel-room key; some guests prefer to skip front desk — InterContinental Hotels Group next month will begin testing new technology at two Holiday Inns that lets guests use their smartphones to unlock their hotel-room door, Hotel Check-In has learned.
Russell Adams / Digits:
Wired Coming to Apple's iPad — With Adobe — Wired magazine's iPad application is expected to hit Apple's app store on Wednesday, capping a nearly year-long effort that thrust the Conde Nast publication into the middle of the public feud between Apple and Adobe.
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
RealNetworks Founder Glaser Becomes a VC at Accel-the Venture Firm that Backed Him 15 Years Ago — Rob Glaser, the founder of RealNetworks, is joining Accel Partners as a part-time venture partner. — Ironically, it was Accel that first funded the digital media pioneer …
Shane Snow / Epicenter:
Inside Foursquare: Checking In Before the Party Started (Part II) — In Part I of our insider look at the earliest days of Foursquare, we saw everything go downhill in a flurry of technical catastrophes. But we also caught a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel.
Nat Ives / AdAge:
New Yorker Plans One Price for Access Across Digital Platforms — Magazines' Current Model Charges Existing Subscribers Extra for IPad and Kindle Editions — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The New Yorker wants to let readers pay once for digital access across the iPad, the Kindle and other platforms …
Lance Ulanoff / PC Magazine:
The Dell Streak is Not a Tablet — I get it. If I were a consumer electronics device in 2010, I'd want to be a tablet. Tablets are cool. They're now. They're hip. The hottest product on the planet right now is a tablet. But wanting to be one and actually being one are two very different things.
Washington Post:
Google tries its hand at influence in Washington — When someone as influential as Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV requests your presence at a hearing, Washington insiders know it's more of a summons than an invitation. — So for two hours on the morning of April 29, Microsoft, Facebook …
Amy Chang / Google Analytics Blog:
Greater choice and transparency for Google Analytics — Many website owners use Google Analytics and other web analytics tools to make business-critical decisions about how to improve their websites by understanding how users engage with their webpages. We've worked hard to make Google Analytics …
Matt Drance / Apple Outsider:
Whither Verizon? — Speculation over the iPhone coming to Verizon Wireless will continue until it actually happens. Loyal Verizon customers want iPhones, and AT&T continues to take it on the chin. The promise of a huge untapped market is enough to keep analysts and investors buzzing indefinitely.
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:
Apple iPad Production Could Hit 2.5M Units/Month, Analyst Says — Apple (AAPL) is cranking up production of the iPad. Sterne Agee analyst Vijay Rakesh writes this morning that his checks with the company's supply chain finds that the company has been been producing the tablet at a rate …
Claire Cain Miller / Bits:
MasterCard Wants Programmers to Use Its Payment Technology — There has been a lot of talk about digital forms of payment replacing cash and even credit cards. But MasterCard intends to stay in the middle of the technological innovation. — On Tuesday, MasterCard announced …
