Top Items:
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Google Kills Its Homepage Background Image Experiment Early — Last night, Google decided to temporarily abandon the principles behind its famously spartan homepage in favor of something a little different: a background image, which has been a design element present on rival search engine Bing since it launched.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Silicon Alley Insider, NBC Bay Area, GottaBeMobile, Gadgetell and The Next Web
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Marissa Mayer / The Official Google Blog:
The art of a homepage — Last week, we announced a new feature that lets you add a favorite photo or image to the background of your Google.com homepage. — To provide you with an extra bit of inspiration, we've collaborated with several well-known artists, sculptors and photographers …
Discussion:
PC World, Google Watch, Computerworld, Webware.com, Search Engine Land, Lockergnome Blog Network, Geekosystem, LiveSide.net, Silicon Alley Insider, Lifehacker, eSarcasm, ZDNet, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, Digits, The Next Web, Faster Forward, The Microsoft Blog, Switched, Fortune, Black Web 2.0, Erictric, GigaOM, AppScout, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Pulse2, Seattle Times, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, Telegraph, Mashable!, newsfeed.time.com, Inc.com and T3.com News, Thanks:marcusschuler
Ryan Hamrick / knowyourcell.com:
Motorola to launch 2GHz Android phone in 2010 — Motorola is swinging for the fences with superphone plans that may leave all other smartphones in the dust — On Monday, Apple announced that the iPhone 4 will become available later this month, with pre-orders starting June 15th.
Discussion:
Droid Life, Phone Arena, Maximum PC, PhoneDog.com, Android Phone Fans, IntoMobile, SlashGear, Unwired View, ConceivablyTech, Google Android Blog and CNET News
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Reuters:
Motorola: Droid sales “extremely” strong — (Reuters) - Motorola Inc is seeing strong demand for its Droid phone at Verizon Wireless despite the popularity of rival HTC Corp's Droid Incredible, co-Chief Executive Sanjay Jha said on Wednesday. — Jha told reporters after an Executives Club presentation …
Discussion:
VentureBeat, ZDNet, Engadget, Digital Daily, CNET News, Unwired View, I4U News, Android and Me, Gadget Lab, Softpedia News, AndroidGuys, DailyFinance, Android Phone Fans, Ubergizmo, Silicon Alley Insider, Boy Genius Report, Phone Scoop, Gadgetell and EuroDroid, Thanks:marcusschuler
Ryan J. Reilly / Main Justice:
FBI Opens Investigation Into iPad Security Breach — The FBI has opened an investigation to address potential cybersecurity threats after basic information about thousands of Apple iPad users was exposed, a bureau spokeswoman told Main Justice. — At least one Justice Department employee …
Discussion:
ZDNet, Wall Street Journal, VentureBeat, Associated Press, Ars Technica, Silicon Alley Insider, Bits, Gawker, Unwired View, The Next Web, DailyFinance, Hillicon Valley, Geekosystem, Faster Forward, TUAW, Gizmodo and ABCNEWS
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AppsFire.com blog:
Apple, you win: we're pulling out of the App Store. for now — Dear Apple Inc. — Your app-roval process is full of holes; you have approved Appsfire v1.0 last August and wished you hadn't because almost no one had any real clue about discoverability issues back then - indeed, we were the very first to address this issue in an app.
Ryan Naraine:
Googler Drops Windows Zero-Day, Microsoft Unhappy — Google security researcher Tavis Ormandy has set the cat among the “responsible disclosure” pigeons with the release of technical details of a zero-day vulnerability affecting the Microsoft Windows Help and Support Center without giving Microsoft adequate time to prepare a patch.
Discussion:
Ars Technica, Microsoft, PC World, TechNet Blogs, Network World, Security Watch, SC Magazine US and THINQ.co.uk
Jay Hathaway / Download Squad:
Think Safari Reader looks familiar? That's because Apple used open source Readability code — One of the most talked-about features in Apple's new Safari 5 browser is Safari Reader, the button that delivers a stripped-down, ad-free, extra-readable version of any web article.
Kevinweil / Twitter Blog:
More Than Dabbling — Every day millions of people use Twitter to create, share and discover information, and as we grow, analytics becomes an increasingly crucial part of improving our service. — Up until about a year ago, we used an online database called Dabble DB to track and share information about our projects internally.
Discussion:
Webware.com, Computerworld, Bits, GigaOM, VatorNews, Erictric, ReadWriteWeb, Mobile Marketing Watch, Techie Buzz, TechCrunch, Mashable!, paidContent and VentureBeat, Thanks:arpitnext
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Phil Plait / Bad Astronomy:
Resolving the iPhone resolution — With much bruhaha, Steve Jobs and Apple revealed the new iPhone 4 yesterday. Among other features, Jobs said it has higher resolution than older models; the pixels are smaller, making the display look smoother. To characterize this, as quoted at Wired.com, he said,
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Nilay Patel / Engadget:
Adobe Flash Player 10.1 now officially available for download — Well look at that — Adobe's now officially serving up Flash Player 10.1 on its download pages. If you're anything like us, you've been running 10.1 since it hit Release Candidate status a couple months ago …
Discussion:
Adobe, The Register, MacRumors, Krebs on Security, Webware.com, Adobe Flash Player Team Blog, Macworld, Download Squad, Maximum PC, ZDNet and Electronista
Choire / The Awl:
‘New York Times’ Bans the Word ‘Tweet’ — Phil Corbett, the latest standards editor at the Times (maybe the greatest job in the world?), has issued a proclamation! Yesterday, the following memo went out, asking writers to abstain from the invented past-tense and other weird iterations of the magical noun-verb “Twitter.”
Marco.org:
iPhone multitasking and background updating — One of my most common feature requests is for Instapaper to periodically download articles in the background. A lot of people forget to launch the app to let it download content before going underground or boarding a plane.
Arno Gourdol / Adobe AIR Team Blog:
Adobe AIR 2 Now Available! — We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of the Adobe AIR 2 runtime. Starting today, you can download and install the new version at get.adobe.com/air/. Developers can now deploy applications built for AIR 2 on Windows, Mac OS and Linux.
Discussion:
Download Squad, Digital Daily, Mashable!, Erictric, gHacks technology news …, Security Watch and Liliputing
Megan Garber / Nieman Journalism Lab:
Google News experiments with human control, promotes a new serendipity with Editors' Picks — Late this afternoon, Google News rolled out a new experiment: Editors' Picks. Starting today, a small percentage of Google News users will find a new box of content with that label …
Declan McCullagh / CNET News:
Judge limits DHS laptop border searches — A federal judge has ruled that border agents cannot seize a traveler's laptop, keep in locked up for months, and examine it for contraband files without a warrant half a year later. — U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in the Northern District …
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:
An iPhone for T-Mobile? — T-Mobile, not Verizon, will be the next carrier to get Apple's smartphone, says an analyst — Like most analysts, Kaufman Bros. Shaw Wu believes Apple (AAPL) will eventually end its exclusive relationship with AT&T (T) and give the iPhone to other U.S. carriers …
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:
Feds eye Apple-Google ad war — A dispute that broke out Monday has already caught the eye of antitrust regulators — That didn't take long. — On Monday, Apple (AAPL) changed the rules that govern its new iAd mobile advertising platform to exclude competitors like Google (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT).
Avi Muchnick / Aviary Blog:
Aviary launches Music Creator! — We're happy as a lark to announce the launch of Aviary's new online music creator (codenamed Roc). Aviary's music creator turns anyone into a musician with a few simple clicks. — Try it now! — Now anyone can create music and beats completely …
Christopher Mims / Technology Review:
AI That Picks Stocks Better Than the Pros — A computer science professor uses textual analysis of articles to beat the market. — The ability to predict the stock market is, as any Wall Street quantitative trader (or quant) will tell you, a license to print money.
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Best Buy Admits Defeat, Gets Rid of Speakeasy — Best Buy agreed to merge its Speakeasy DSL business with Covad and Megapath today, creating a managed service local exchange carrier, and sounding the death knell for independent DSL providers. In return, Best Buy is getting a minority stake …
Discussion:
DSLreports
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
PC makers no longer allowed to preinstall Windows XP on new netbooks as of October — Before Windows 7 launched, there was a lot of consternation about when Microsoft planned to cut off the supply of Windows XP to netbook makers. — This week, Microsoft officials reminded customers …
Agam Shah / Network World:
Canonical developing Ubuntu OS for tablets — Tablets with the OS could reach store shelves in the latter part of Q1 next year — Canonical is preparing a version of the Ubuntu OS for tablet computers as the company looks to extend its presence in the mobile space, a company executive said on Wednesday.
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Kevin Rose: I'm Sticking With Diggnation Through 2010, Announcing New Show Soon — Digg CEO Kevin Rose just addressed the report that he's leaving his web video show Diggnation: “i'm staying on w/diggnation through 2010 and will be announcing a new show very soon!” he just tweeted.
