Top Items:
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
It's official: Saudi Arabia bans BlackBerries — The rumors are true: Saudi Arabia has become the second country inside of a week to block access to Research in Motion's BlackBerry devices on grounds of national security. — The ban goes into effect on August 6 after a “grace period” …
Discussion:
Inquirer, The Register, Bloomberg, Computerworld, CNET News, Tech Eye, BBC, Aljazeera, Wall Street Journal, ArabCrunch English and Engadget
RELATED:
Reuters:
U.S. authorities able to tap Blackberry messaging — (Reuters) - The BlackBerry — renown for the security of its messaging — doesn't offer 100 percent protection from eavesdropping. At least not in the United States. — U.S. law enforcement officials said they can tap into emails …
Discussion:
New York Times
Jenna Wortham / New York Times:
BlackBerry Maker Resists Governments' Pressure
Discussion:
Agence France Presse
Financial Times:
Motorola and Verizon team up for TV tablet — Motorola is developing a digital tablet device that will allow users to watch television on it, as the US mobile phone group attempts to chip away at a market established by Apple's popular iPad. — The device, which will have a 10-inch screen …
Discussion:
Inquirer, Google Android News …, SlashGear, Electronic Pulp, Engadget, TG Daily, Silicon Alley Insider, Fortune, ChannelWeb, CrunchGear, Laptops and Desktops Blog, Gizmodo, Pocket-lint, Erictric, IntoMobile, The Next Web, Android Phone Fans, Electronista, Technologizer, GottaBeMobile, Tech Trader Daily, AndroidGuys, eHomeUpgrade, Digital Daily, Crave and Gizmodo Australia, more at Mediagazer »
Chris Pendleton / Bing Maps Blog:
Bing's Bringing Sexy Maps — Over the last few weeks a few of you lucky ducks got to experience a new map type we were flighting. Around 10% of users were seeing our new maps in all its aesthetic glory. Today, we're releasing it to everyone. The new map type has two experiences …
Discussion:
AppScout, The Next Web, WebProNews, Screenwerk, LiveSide.net, The Microsoft Blog, Search Engine Land, ResourceShelf and istartedsomething
RELATED:
Dan Nosowitz / Fast Company:
Bing Maps Re-Routed to Look Smarter and Calculate Your Cab Fare
Discussion:
Techi.com, Gizmodo, Ars Technica and Lifehacker
Josh Nguyen / Flickr Blog:
Welcome to your new photo page — After a few weeks in public preview, we're rolling out the new Flickr photo page to 100% of the Flickrverse. Our effort in this release focuses on two areas that will continue to make Flickr the very best place for your photos.
Discussion:
Softpedia News, Teens in Tech, The Next Web and 1001 Noisy Cameras, Thanks:rawmeet
Alex Wagner / PhoneDog.com:
BlackBerry Torch for AT&T: Available August 12 for $199.99 — It may have been outed early a couple of times this morning, but now the BlackBerry Torch 9800 is officially official, complete with pricing and availability. The Torch will be available on AT&T beginning August 12th for $199.99 with a two-year contract.
Discussion:
DontHateTheGeek, Telegraph, AT&T, Techlicious Blog …, MobileCrunch, Boy Genius Report, IntoMobile, DSLreports, CrackBerry.com blogs, PC World, Erictric, Pulse2 and Bloomberg
RELATED:
Wilson Rothman / msnbc.com:
Underwhelming BlackBerry spells doom for RIM
Discussion:
Gizmodo, LAPTOP Mag and AppleInsider, Thanks:wjrothman
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
iPhone 4 unlock available now (update: video!) — It's the moment that many of you have been waiting for: the Dev-Team's ultrasn0w carrier unlock for iPhone 4 is out. You'll find version 1.0-1 of ultrasn0w in Cydia on jailbroken devices. If not, just add the repo666.ultrasn0w.com repository.
Discussion:
App Advice, Dev-Team Blog, MacRumors, 9 to 5 Mac, iPhone Download Blog, DailyTech, Gadget Lab, TiPb, MobileCrunch, Electronic Pulp, Neowin.net, SlashGear, Phones Review, Cult of Mac, Ubergizmo and Geek.com
Mike Schackwitz / The Windows Blog:
The new Hotmail is now available to everyone! — Here at Hotmail, we've had quite a busy week! All of our customers are now upgraded. The majority of you got the new Hotmail just this past week, as we completed the rollout to over 350 million people in more than 220 countries around the world.
Discussion:
ReadWriteWeb, LiveSide.net, Softpedia News, Neowin.net and The Next Web
Google Mobile Blog:
Introducing the new Search History link on Google — Have you ever tried to remember how to get back to a website that you found from a recent search? Today in the US, we're launching a new search history feature which helps you quickly get back to sites you've been to and see items …
Discussion:
Google Operating System, Pocket-lint, Erictric, Search Engine Journal, CNET News, ReadWriteWeb and The Next Web
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
LinkedIn Acquires mSpoke For Its Recommendation Technology, Team — Professional social network provider LinkedIn has acquired mSpoke, a small startup that aims to make content more relevant through recommendation technology. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Discussion:
Between the Lines Blog and Forbes
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Once The Most Powerful Person In Search, Srinija Srinivasan Leaves Yahoo — Back in the mid-to-late 1990s, the most powerful person in search was arguably Yahoo's Srinija Srinivasan. If Yahoo's was the “gateway” to the web in the way some think Google is today, Srinivasan was the chief gatekeeper.
Discussion:
ResourceShelf and Yodel Anecdotal, Thanks:atul
Joseph Radford / Reuters:
Sharp plans to launch 3D smartphone this year — (Reuters) - Sharp Corp plans to take on Apple's iPhone by the end of the year, with the international launch of a smartphone featuring a 3D panel that can be viewed without special glasses, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
Discussion:
Inquirer, Guardian, Neowin.net, Mobility Digest, Engadget and MobileContentToday
Staska / Unwired View:
Samsung thinks about putting touchscreen on a tablet's back — Now that Apple showed how a real tablet device should look and work, everyone else is scrambling to make their own tablet that will be at least on par with the iPad. — Samsung is no stranger here, and has already confirmed …
Discussion:
The Next Web, Fonehome.co.uk, Electronista, CrunchGear, SlashGear, Liliputing, I4U News, Gizmodo and Gizmodo Australia
Brian Womack / Bloomberg:
Facebook Advertisers Boost Spending 10-Fold, Sandberg Says — Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) — Facebook Inc.'s biggest advertisers have boosted spending by at least 10-fold in the past year as the social network crossed the half- billion user mark, becoming more alluring to marketers that want to reach a broad online audience.
Discussion:
TechCrunch and Startup Meme
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
WAR! It's Patton v. Rommel: Vic Gundotra Will Lead Google To Victory In Social War With Facebook — Google has chosen a General in their War With Facebook - VP Engineering Vic Gundotra, we've heard from multiple sources. This is the person who will control overall product strategy …
Ryan Singel / Epicenter:
FOIA Denial All But Confirms FTC Probe of Apple's Anti-Adobe Rules — The Federal Trade Commission has nearly 200 pages of records related to a purported complaint by Adobe against Apple for banning iPhone developers from using its authoring tools to make iPhone apps.
Discussion:
9 to 5 Mac, TeleRead, Computerworld and Boing Boing, more at Mediagazer », Thanks:atul
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
True Ventures Invests In 19 Year Old Entrepreneur Brian Wong — When Automattic founder Matt Mullenweg took venture money from True Ventures in 2005 and others he was just 21 years old. Now the firm has invested in someone even younger - 19 year old Brian Wong.
Discussion:
Teens in Tech
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines Blog:
Barnes & Noble on the block: Will a sale help it versus Amazon? — Barnes & Noble has been under attack from Amazon for years whether it be the physical bookstore retail model, e-commerce or e-books and e-readers. Now the company is evaluating “strategic alternatives” including a possible sale.
Discussion:
Business Wire, paidContent, Fast Company, Tech Trader Daily and Silicon Alley Insider, more at Mediagazer »
Brad McCarty / The Next Web:
Chrome users: you can now drag and drop Gmail attachments to your desktop! — For quite some time, Gmail users in Chrome and Firefox have been able to drag and drop multiple attachments into the window to be sent, but that's where the fun stopped. If you wanted to download attachments …
Discussion:
Gmail Blog, Google Operating System, Mashable!, WebWorkerDaily, Softpedia News, Erictric, Covering Web and Ubergizmo
Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent:
Newly AOL-Free Bebo Adds Hi5, Oodle Executives — Shortly after buying Bebo from AOL (NYSE: AOL), Criterion Capital Partners managing partner Adam Levin told us that the social network would be “staffing up” and that's indeed what it's doing. Bebo has hired Akash Garg …
Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:
Shopkick's mobile shopping app tracks you in stores, delivers real-time deals — Palo Alto, Calif. startup Shopkick has attracted some high-profile investors, including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers' iFund and Greylock Partners' Reid Hoffman, but it has been mysterious about its actual product.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, San Francisco Chronicle, Mashable!, Mobile Marketing Watch and IntoMobile
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Google Earth Used To Fine People With Pools, Again — “Under the table” pools may be the catalyst of the next technology revolution in government. During last February's economic collapse in Greece, the normally technophobic Greek government used Google Maps and Google Earth to find people …
Discussion:
broadstuff, Lifehacker, Gadgetell and Gizmodo
Digits:
The Information That Is Needed to Identify You: 33 Bits — With more than 6.6 billion people in the world, it's easy to feel safely anonymous. — Many data collectors assure consumers that they don't collect or store personally identifiable information — things like full names, Social Security numbers or credit-card numbers.
