Top Items:
Bill Rigby / Reuters:
Microsoft's Ballmer sells 12 percent stake in company — (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) Chief Executive Steve Ballmer sold $1.3 billion worth of shares in the company, cutting his stake by about 12 percent, but said his first stock sale in seven years should not be taken as a lack …
Discussion:
CNET News, VentureBeat, PhoneArena, The Next Web, SAI and TechFlash
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MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
That's Ballmer With A “B” — For “Billions” — Well, Steve Ballmer certainly had a productive week. — Over the past three days, the Microsoft CEO has sold 49.3 million shares of his company stock, Reuters reports. With the share price hovering around $27, the sale has made him about $1.3 billion.
Fortune:
What really happened between HP ex-CEO Mark Hurd and Jodie Fisher? — To this day, only two people know the full truth. But one thing is certain: The deeper you dig, the weirder it gets. — Mark Hurd and Jodie Fisher — Mark Hurd was miffed. It was 2007, two years into his tenure …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Between the Lines Blog, CNET News, Deal Journal and SAI
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Wall Street Journal:
Accuser Said Hurd Leaked an H-P Deal — CEO Lost Out as Board Lost Faith — “Dear Mr. Hurd,” began the note that Mark Hurd read on June 29 in his office at Hewlett-Packard Co. “Please be advised that we represent Ms. Jodie Fisher regarding her claims... against Hewlett-Packard ('HP') and you, Mr. Mark Hurd, as an individual.”
Discussion:
Reuters, VentureBeat, Gizmodo, Electronista and Voices on All Things Digital
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Google “Nexus Two” Hardware Issue Delays Launch — Google is working with Samsung on a new Android phone that will have a “clean install” of Android, and the release was at least initially planned to coincide with the launch of Android 2.3 Gingerbread. — The fact that the device …
Discussion:
PhoneArena, Androidos.in, Android Police, I4U News, Android Life, IntoMobile, Android Phone Fans, Electronista and Product Reviews Net
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Googler Accuses Twitter Engineer Of Sexual Assault, Trial By Twitter Commences — Google technical writer Noirin Shirley wrote a post on her personal blog earlier this evening entitled “A hell of a time,” describing her experiences last night at ApacheCon in Atlanta.
Discussion:
blog.nerdchic.net
Zach Epstein / BGR:
T-Mobile: iPhone cables are for unlocked handsets and phones roaming from Europe — T-Mobile has cleared the air in response to reports Friday that questioned why the carrier might be stocking connector cables for use with Apple's iPhone and iPod lines. T-Mobile, of course, does not currently sell any Apple products.
Discussion:
AppleInsider, iPhoneWorld.ca iPhone, LaptopMemo and Engadget
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:
Google Does Away With “Sponsored Links” Label, Now Ads Are Labeled “Ads” — A month ago, Google began testing labeling the AdWords ads as “ads”. Prior, Google labeled those AdWords ads as “sponsored links,” which is how they have been named for as long as I can remember.
Discussion:
Techland, paidContent, The Next Web and The Register
Kelly Hodgkins / IntoMobile:
Rumor: Gingerbread to finish cooking and come out of the Android oven November 11th — A trusted source has tipped us to the potential launch date for Gingerbread, the 2.3 version of Android. According to our source, the SDK for this upcoming revision will debut on November 11th.
Peter Kirn / Create Digital Music:
On iPad, iPod touch, and iPhone, New MIDI Support, via Wires, Wireless — Over 25 years later, portions of MIDI introduced early on in the spec remain relevant. And if you want to connect your MIDI-equipped gear to Apple's iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad mobiles, you will soon have an array of choices.
Discussion:
TUAW, THINQ.co.uk, mobiputing, Phones Review, PadGadget, Electronista, Engadget and displayblog
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
How to Watch Free, Live Broadcast TV on Your iPad, Right Now — The broadcast networks only put their stuff on the Web under very specific conditions. So this is exactly what they don't want: Free, live streams of their stuff delivered to your iPad, via the browser.
Discussion:
LAPTOP Magazine, PC World, Techland, Fast Company, SAI, mobiputing and 9 to 5 Mac, more at Mediagazer »
Alex Chitu / Google Operating System:
Gmail Tests Call Recording — Andrew Banchich spotted a new Gmail feature that lets you record calls. I don't see the call record button in my account, so it's probably an experimental feature that's not yet widely available. — It's similar to the call recording feature from Google Voice.
Discussion:
Download Squad
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Google Confirms Gmail Speed Issue, Says It's Now Fixed — Yesterday, we posted about horrible latency issues many Gmail users have been experiencing over the past couple of weeks. When I reached out to Google about the issue a few days ago, they told me that they weren't aware of anything wrong, but would look into it.
Discussion:
Silicon Republic
Nicholas Carlson / SAI:
Caterina Fake Leaving Hunch — Hunch cofounder Caterina Fake has signed an agreement to leave the company before the end of the year, we've learned from sources. — Technically, Fake will remain involved with the company as an “advisor.” But that'll just be PR.
Leander Kahney / Cult of Mac:
How Apple Almost Got Microsoft's Kinect Game Controller — In June 2008, on a flight home from Europe to San Francisco, I was given a fascinating demo of some jaw-dropping technology. — I was sitting next Inon Beracha, CEO of Israeli company PrimeSense, which had developed a low-cost chip and software to do 3D machine vision.
Discussion:
TechSpot, Geek.com, AppleInsider, PC World, Electronista, Fast Company, MacStories, Gizmodo, 9 to 5 Mac and iClarified
Denis Campbell / Guardian:
Mobile phone kits to diagnose STDs — • Plan aims to cut UK's rate of infection among young — • Many with symptoms ‘too embarrassed to go to GP’ — Mobile phones and computers will soon be able to diagnose sexually transmitted diseases under innovative plans to cut …
Joanna Stern / Engadget:
Dell XPS 14 review — When Dell told us of its plans to revive its tried and true XPS laptop line we were pretty darn excited. With so much brand dilution in the past few years — there's been the Adamo XPS and the Studio XPS — the products have noticeably strayed from providing …
Discussion:
displayblog
Wall Street Journal:
Security Fears Kill Huawei Bid in U.S. — Sprint Nextel Corp. is excluding Chinese telecommunications-equipment makers Huawei Technologies Ltd. and ZTE Corp. from a contract worth billions of dollars largely because of national security concerns in Washington, according to people familiar with the matter.
Discussion:
Computerworld and FierceWireless
Stephen Shankland / CNET News:
Adobe Photoshop for tablets looms nearer — Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch demonstrates an iPad-based color palette app used to mix, select, and paint colors. It's attached to a separate computer computer running Photoshop. — You can't download Photoshop for your iPad yet …
Discussion:
PhoneArena, Electronista, MacRumors, 1001 Noisy Cameras, 9 to 5 Mac and John Nack on Adobe
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Going Flash-Free on Mac OS X, and How to Cheat When You Need It — Last week I mentioned that, following Steven Frank's lead, I'd completely disabled Flash Player on my Mac. But I have a cheat, for web pages with Flash content with no non-Flash workaround. I'm really happy with this setup, so I thought I'd document it here.
Discussion:
Webmonkey, PC World, Boing Boing, GigaOM and Lifehacker
Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
Adobe intros cloud-based file sharing, PDF creation tools — Adobe has introduced two new services that it hopes will get the masses using its products again: one that converts and processes PDFs on the Web, and another that allows users to easily send large files to one another.
Discussion:
Acrobat Blog, ReadWriteWeb and VentureBeat
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
North Korea gets a PDA befitting its Dear Leader — The DPRK's not exactly the world's healthiest economy. So it's with some surprise that we're now presenting you with North Korea's newest (only?) touchscreen slab. Apparently, it's available “in all the computer shops” …
Discussion:
The Register and Reuters
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Lamebook Sues Facebook Over Trademark Infringement. Wait, What? — Here's a head scratcher, at first glance at least: Lamebook, a hilarious advertising-supported site that lets Facebook users submit funny status updates, pictures and “other gems” originating from the social network …
Discussion:
Neowin.net, Techdirt, ZDNet, Pulse2, TechEye, Gawker, Silicon Republic, VatorNews and Gearlog
Amir Efrati / Wall Street Journal:
Google to Update Shopping Service — Web Giant Seeks to Make Searches for Products on Its Site Easier for Users — Google Inc. is upgrading its shopping site as it steps up efforts to compete in Web comparison shopping, a move to become a key player in a market dominated by sites like Amazon.com Inc. and eBay Inc.
Discussion:
Digital Trends, Google Watch and Digits
