Top Items:
Miguel Helft / New York Times:
Developer of Tablets Loses Apple as Customer — SAN FRANCISCO — Apple severed ties with a small Silicon Valley design firm that for nearly a decade had helped with the development of some of its products, after the firm showcased its own prototype tablet computer.
Discussion:
9 to 5 Mac, CNET News, DailyTech, Black Web 2.0, MacRumors, SlashGear, Cult of Mac, IntoMobile, Gizmodo, MacNN and iLounge
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Guess Who Is Trying To Trademark The Word “Face”? (And Guess Who Is Trying To Stop It?) — When it comes to trademarks, Facebook is proving to be a bully. It is going after Teachbook in court for using a similar name, and already forced Placebook to change its name. But that is only half the story.
Stuart Parmenter / The Mozilla Blog:
Fennec Alpha Released for Android and Nokia N900 — The Alpha release of the next major version of Fennec is now available for Android and Nokia N900 users to download and test. Fennec (codename for Firefox mobile) is the first mobile browser to offer add-ons and is built on the same technology that powers desktop Firefox.
Discussion:
BetaNews, Computerworld, ReadWriteWeb, GigaOMGigaOM, PC Magazine, Download Squad, InformationWeek, DailyTech, Phone Arena, Droid Life, Erictric, Android and Me, AndroidGuys, Gizmodo, Android Police, Electricpig.co.uk, SlashGear, TechCrunch, Electronista, Android Phone Fans, FierceMobileContent, iThinkDifferent and EuroDroid
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft Blog:
A billion to launch Windows Phone 7? I bet Microsoft is paying a lot more — Combining guesswork with analyst estimates, TechCrunch is reporting that Microsoft may spend as much as a billion dollars to launch and develop Windows Phone 7 in its first year. — Microsoft, as you'd expect, isn't commenting on that figure.
Discussion:
GMSV, Silicon Alley Insider, WMPoweruser.com and The Huffington Post
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Kim-Mai Cutler / TechCrunch:
Microsoft To Pay More Than Half A Billion Dollars To Jump-Start Windows Phone 7
Discussion:
PC World, GigaOMGigaOM, Engadget, Silicon Alley Insider, Electricpig.co.uk, Tech Trader Daily, WMPoweruser.com, AppleInsider, Geek.com, Gadgetell, FierceWireless, Gizmodo, Hardware 2.0 Blog, WMExperts, Electronista, www.pocketgamer.biz, asymco, Phone Arena, Appolicious Advisor, MobileContentToday, Neowin.net, Tech Eye, InformationWeek, The Microsoft Blog and Phones Review
Jeremy Horwitz / iLounge:
Brand New Details On the iPod touch 4G — According to a source who would have reason to know, the fourth-generation iPod touch is changing back shapes—sorry, readers who have been posting with love for the dome-like curved iPod touch 2G/3G back, but that's going away.
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, 9 to 5 Mac, Technologizer, Cult of Mac, App Advice, MacRumors and AppleInsider
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Index Ventures Buys Into Etsy, Triples Valuation To Nearly $300 Million — Crafty commerce site Etsy just raised another $20 million in its fifth venture round (that would be the Series E). Index Ventures is the new investor leading the round, with partner Danny Rimer getting an observer's seat on the board.
Discussion:
alarm:clock, GigaOMGigaOM, A VC, Venture Capital Dispatch, VatorNews, Silicon Alley Insider and paidContent
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Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Former Googler Adam Freed Takes COO Job at Etsy, As It Crafts More Funding
Discussion:
VentureBeat
Jessica Guynn / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Google buys Angstro and hires founder to help build social networking service — Highly respected entrepreneur and Internet researcher Rohit Khare has sold his company Angstro to Google and taken a job at the Internet giant to help build its social networking product Google Me.
Discussion:
MediaMemo, TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb, angstro.com and The Next Web
Emily Wood / The Official Google Blog:
Find out what's hot on search with the Google Beat — Every day, there are more than a billion searches for information on Google. Have you ever wondered what those searches are about—or whether what you're searching for also happens to be on the minds of millions of others across the country?
Discussion:
NewTeeVee, Silicon Alley Insider, Pocket-lint and BlueGlass
Peter Kirn / Create Digital Motion:
Apple-Centric Observers Get the Facts Wrong: H.264 Still Ain't Free — Addendum to the previous story: an “end user” and an “application” are not the same thing. Watching comments from some users dumping on Firefox and Opera because they don't understand this is painful.
Discussion:
Engadget, Open Source Blog, DailyTech, Hardware 2.0 Blog, The Register, gHacks Technology News, CNET News, Geek.com, InformationWeek, AppleInsider, Neowin.net, Webmonkey, TechSpot, MacRumors, TUAW, Computerworld, The Business Of Online Video, VentureBeat, Ars Technica, Softpedia News, Download Squad, MacNN and NewTeeVee
Greg Sandoval / CNET News:
Netflix soars as Blockbuster plans bankruptcy — Remember walking the aisles to find a movie? Those days appear to be ending. — As if fights for survival, video-rental chain Blockbuster is preparing to file bankruptcy next month, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
Discussion:
NewTeeVee, Electronista, Los Angeles Times, Gawker, Gizmodo, DSLreports, SlashGear, The Next Web, CrunchGear, paidContent, DealBook and I4U News
Miguel Helft / New York Times:
Charges Settled Over Fake Reviews on iTunes — SAN FRANCISCO — Savvy Internet users know that glowing online reviews of things like books or restaurants can't always be trusted. But federal regulators are giving notice that if you stand to gain financially from the review you are writing, you should be up front about it.
Paul Lamkin / Pocket-lint:
ViewSonic Android tablet: Pictures emerge — Earlier this week, we at Pocket-lint brought you the news that ViewSonic is planning a big (well, little in size but big in attitude) tablet launch at IFA. — And now we've been sent these pics from our inside man, showing off a ViewSonic tablet in all of its glossy glory.
Discussion:
GottaBeMobile, Engadget, SlashGear, I4U News, Softpedia News, Electronista and Liliputing
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Lawsuit Says Teens Should Not Be Allowed To Like Ads On Facebook — Some people don't like ads. But a new class action lawsuit in California against Facebook (embedded below) thinks it should be illegal for teenagers to like any ads without first obtaining parental consent.
Discussion:
Silicon Alley Insider
Matthew Humphries / Geek.com:
Lenovo to release Ebox game console in China next year — In a surprise move it is being reported that PC manufacturer Lenovo has decided to develop a games console for the Chinese market. — The China Daily newspaper is reporting that 40 Lenovo staff have been allocated to the project …
Discussion:
Dow Jones Newswires, Technologizer, CNET News, Tech Eye, CHINAdaily, The Tech Report and GamePolitics News
RELATED:
Kelvin Soh / Reuters:
Lenovo to develop game consoles in China: report
Discussion:
PC World, Electronista, SlashGear, Obsessable, Tech Trader Daily and Gearlog
JR Raphael / Computerworld:
Confirmed: Verizon's Droid Incredible Froyo rollout starts today — After all the rumors and speculation, it's finally official: Android 2.2 will hit Verizon's Droid Incredible today. — Verizon confirmed the start of the rollout on its @VZWSupport Twitter account just moments ago:
Discussion:
Fortune, PC World, CNET News, Droid Life, PC Magazine, MobileCrunch, Electronista and dailywireless.org
Alex Chitu / Google Operating System:
Don't Click this Button in Google Voice! — Warning: This tip is only for Gmail users outside US. — Google says that the latest Gmail feature that allows you to make phone calls is only available in the US, but that's not true. If you set Gmail's interface language to English (US) …
Leena Rao / TechCrunchIT:
The Bidding War For 3PAR Continues; HP Offers $2 Billion In Cash — Here we go again-again. HP just offered $2 billion, or $30 per share in cash for data storage company 3PAR. This morning, Dell announced that 3PAR had accepted its increased offer to acquire the storage leader for $27 per share in cash …
Mary Branscombe / ZDNet:
Hotmail Exchange ActiveSync — Hotmail will be switching on Exchange Active Sync connections for mobile phones on Monday 30 August. (The feature has been in development for some time and a number of users who figured out the server name have had intermittent unofficial access during tests, but this will be the official launch.)
Discussion:
jkOnTheRun and WMExperts
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Carl Sjogreen / Facebook Developer Blog:
Social From the Ground Up — At Facebook, we are huge believers in what a small dedicated team with a unique perspective can accomplish. We've already seen how a group of startups who built social interactions into the core of their product experience have completely changed how people play games online …
Discussion:
All Facebook, Venture Capital Dispatch, Pluggd.in, Inside Facebook, ReadWriteWeb and The Next Web
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Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Facebook To Begin Giving Y Combinator Startups VIP Treatment
Discussion:
VentureBeat and GigaOMGigaOM
Join Diaspora Blog:
An Overdue Update — Since August is nearly over, it is time for an update and answers to some questions. We have been coding. We have Diaspora working, we like it, and it will be open-sourced on September 15th. — We are spending a good chunk of time concentrating on building clear, contextual sharing.
Discussion:
PC World, VatorNews, Epicenter, Download Squad, VentureBeat and ReadWriteWeb
RELATED:
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Diaspora Three Weeks Away From Unveiling Open-Source Facebook Alternative
Discussion:
Mashable!
