Top Items:
Robin Schriebman / Gmail Blog:
Call phones from Gmail — Gmail voice and video chat makes it easy to stay in touch with friends and family using your computer's microphone and speakers. But until now, this required both people to be at their computers, signed into Gmail at the same time.
Discussion:
Between the Lines Blog, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Google Operating System, TechCrunch, GottaBeMobile, Boy Genius Report, VentureBeat, The Seattle Times, Macworld, Technologizer, ReadWriteWeb, Fast Company, Google Voice Blog, SFGate, Digital Daily, Tech Trader Daily, The Next Web, Techie Buzz, Softpedia News, Faster Forward, Hillicon Valley, Telecom Trends, I4U News, PhoneDog.com, Geekosystem, TiPb, 901am, Switched, USA Today, SlashGear, DSLreports, The Huffington Post, GeekSugar and CNET News
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Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Google Voice Phone Booths To Start Popping Up In Airports, Universities — Google wants to get you hooked on Google Voice, and it's got a new weapon in its arsenal: charming red telephone booths inspired by the sort that litter the UK. Today at a press event where it announced the launch …
Discussion:
Download Squad, BetaNews, Black Web 2.0, Electronista and silicontap.com
Sean Hollister / Engadget:
Google introduces Voice in Gmail, free calls to US and Canada (update: impressions) — Rumors have been buzzing about since June, but Google just made it official — the company's baking Google Voice calls right into Gmail today. Like the Google Chat text, voice and video chat integrated …
Discussion:
The Toybox Blog, 9 to 5 Mac, Mashable!, Erictric, dailywireless.org, Fortune, TechSpot and Newlaunches.com
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Live Blogging The Google Voice Press Gathering
Discussion:
Silicon Alley Insider and Download Squad
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft Blog:
Is this Microsoft's new Internet Explorer 9 interface? — Microsoft has delivered four developer previews of Internet Explorer (IE) 9 so far, but has yet to show off the new interface for its next-generation browser. That is expected to happen on September 15, during Microsoft's beta launch event in San Francisco.
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:
Apple Issues Invitation For September 1 “Special Event” — Apple (AAPL) has e-mailed invitations to the media for a “special event” to be held September 1 at 10 a.m. at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco. Previous reports suggested that Apple would be holding an event on September 7 …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Engadget, Technologizer, Ars Technica, Digital Daily, App Advice and Techie Buzz
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Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Is Apple Really Going To Announce A TV Gadget At An Event With A Guitar On The Invitation? — Apple has invited reporters to an event in San Francisco on Sept. 1, with this guitar as the invitation art. — This tells us it's obvious that Apple will announce updates to its music lineup at the event …
Discussion:
AppleInsider
Peter Burrows / BusinessWeek:
Apple's New Video Strategy Coming Into Focus — The blogosphere has been buzzing with talk of a radically updated version of the Apple TV set-top box. It turns out Apple plans to unveil the $99 device at an event on Sept. 7, my Bloomberg colleagues and I reported today .
Discussion:
Computerworld, AppleInsider, Silicon Alley Insider, BetaNews, The Toybox Blog, CNN, Fortune, MacRumors, NBC Bay Area, MacStories and iPodNN, more at Mediagazer »
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Neil Hughes / AppleInsider:
New Apple TV will have ARM processor, App Store access - report — Like the iPhone 4 and iPad, the new Apple TV will run the iOS operating system and be powered by a processor with ARM architecture, and will also have access to the App Store, according to one prominent analyst.
Discussion:
Bits, VatorNews, New York Times, everythingiCafe, Softpedia News and Mashable!
Dan Provost / The Russians Used a Pencil:
Controlling Apple TV
Discussion:
VideoNuze and The Mobile Gadgeteer Blog
Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg / Wall Street Journal:
Amazon Loses E-Book Deal — A month after jolting the book industry with a deal to give Amazon.com Inc. exclusive digital access to some of the country's best-known literary works, literary agent Andrew Wylie is largely abandoning the agreement. — The Amazon deal was struck after Mr. Wylie failed …
Discussion:
Crave, DailyFinance, New York Times, NYConvergence and Future Tense, more at Mediagazer »
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Amazon: New Kindles Selling At Record Rates, U.S. Store Now Has Over 670,000 Books — Amazon has announced today that more “next generation Kindles were ordered in the first four weeks of availability than in the same timeframe following any other Kindle launch, making the new Kindles the fastest-selling ever.”
RELATED:
Adam Vaughan / Guardian:
Apple blocks iPhones from green ranking scheme — Scheme rates handsets on factors such as ecological impact of raw materials, manufacturing process and energy efficiency — • iPhone app pitches climate change science against scepticism — Apple has refused to allow its iPhones …
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
New Version of Digg Goes Live For Everyone This Morning — It's finally here. Digg, the social link sharing site that has watched its once-meteoric rise to popularity level off over the last couple years, is relaunching today as it attempts to surge to greater heights …
Discussion:
ReadWriteWeb, Geekosystem and The Huffington Post
RELATED:
Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:
Defense official discloses cyberattack — Now it is official: The most significant breach of U.S. military computers was caused by a flash drive inserted into a U.S. military laptop on a post in the Middle East in 2008. — In an article to be published Wednesday discussing the Pentagon's cyberstrategy …
Discussion:
New York Times, The Register, Computerworld, Gizmodo, Security Watch and Technology Liberation Front
Mark Milian / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Podcaster Leo Laporte, the everywhere man — Leo Laporte arrived Thursday at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank. — On Friday morning he arrived at the office of KFI AM 640, the radio station that airs his syndicated “The Tech Guy” program. At 3:42 p.m., he was back at the airport, ready to fly home to Petaluma, Calif.
Mike Luttrell / TG Daily:
Digital Chocolate sues Facebook game giant Zynga over Mafia Wars — Casual gaming company Digital Chocolate has just filed suit against Zynga, the leader in social gaming, because it says it owns the exclusive rights to the name “Mafia Wars.” — Zynga's Facebook game Mafia Wars has become …
Discussion:
mocoNews, Inside Social Games, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Gamezebo, SocialTimes.com and GamePolitics News
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Google's Gaming Advocate Leaves After Only 4 Months On The Job — In April of this year, signs started pointing to Google getting serious about gaming. That was when they hired gaming industry vet Mark DeLoura (formerly of Ubisoft, Sony Computer Entertainment America, Nintendo and others) to be their developer advocate for games.
Discussion:
ReadWriteWeb, Satori and Android Phone Fans
Jay Baer / Convince and Convert Blog:
Is Starbucks the Most Dangerous Competitor to Facebook? — Starbucks is not only offering free Wi-Fi in all stores come this fall, but also unveiling their Starbucks Digital Network that all in-store web and mobile users will have the opportunity to enjoy (it's a partnership with Yahoo!).
Jenna Wortham / Bits:
CollegeOnly, a Social Network Just for the University Set — When Facebook arrived at my university near the end of my fourth year, I remember feeling a huge wave of relief. — Not because I had an easy way to keep in touch with my friends after college but because the site arrived …
Discussion:
paidContent, Silicon Alley Insider, The Next Web and VentureBeat
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Facebook Improves Chat's Stability And Speed; Kills Support for IE6 — According to a blog post today on the company's site, Facebook is revamping its Chat feature to be faster, more stabilized and reliable. — Facebook says that Chat, which launched two years ago, is now one of the most …
Discussion:
Facebook Blog and The Next Web
Liz Gannes / GigaOM:
$750K for Flowtown's Social Marketing to Existing Customers — Yes, Flowtown is yet another social media marketing company, but it's not just another tool for monitoring customer feedback through their tweets. Flowtown takes a list of your existing customers' email addresses and delivers profiles …
Discussion:
VentureBeat, TechCrunch and alarm:clock
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Why Motorola Bought 280 North — Andy Rubin (Google) and Dr. Sanjay K. Jha (Motorola) join Om Malik on stage at Mobilize 2009 in San Francisco. — Motorola is buying 280 North, a tiny software and web applications start-up started by ex-Apple employees, for $20 million.
Graeme Wearden / Guardian:
Shareholder trading values Facebook at more than $33bn — With shares selling for up to $76, investors are calculating social networking site is worth nearly twice as much as Yahoo! — Facebook is now being valued at more than $33bn (£21.3bn) as investors try to secure a stake …
Discussion:
DealBook
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Foodspotting Investors Put Their Money Where Their Mouths Are With $750K Seed Round — People love taking pictures of food. It's just a fact of life. Don't even bother arguing about it. It's just the way it is. Case in point: Foodspotting, the service which asks you to take pictures of your food to share with others.
Discussion:
ReadWriteWeb, VentureBeat and GigaOM
Slash Lane / AppleInsider:
Third-party iPad clamshell keyboard case revealed in FCC filing — A new third-party iPad peripheral coming soon to the U.S. will turn Apple's touchscreen tablet into more of a traditional laptop form factor, with a clamshell case that provides tactile input via an attached Bluetooth keyboard.
Discussion:
Computerworld, I4U News, Fast Company, Cult of Mac, GottaBeMobile, iLounge, Engadget, CrunchGear and Geek.com
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
GameCrush Is Crushing It. Investors Agree. — San Francisco based GameCrush is part happy hour at the local bar, part old school “900 chat line.” Users come to the site to play games with others, and there's a video/audio cam. The only hitch is that you have to pay $.60/minute to do so.
