Top Items:
New York Times:
Apple Is Weighing a Cheaper iPhone — SAN FRANCISCO — Apple has been exploring ways to broaden the appeal of the iPhone by making the popular device less expensive and allowing users to control it with voice commands. — But contrary to published reports, Apple is not currently developing …
Discussion:
Digital Daily, AppleInsider, Examiner, App Advice, ReadWriteWeb, Crave, NewsGrange, 9 to 5 Mac, TiPb, Erictric, Mashable!, MacStories, Geek.com, Apple Bitch, TUAW, Engadget, msnbc.com, iClarified, The Loop and everythingiCafe
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The Official Google Blog:
An update to Google Social Search — Today we're doing a little bit more to bring you all the goodness of Google, plus the opinions of the people you care about. As always, we want to help you find the most relevant answers among the billions of interconnected pages on the web.
Discussion:
InformationWeek, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, SAI, Friending Facebook Blog, Examiner, VentureBeat, Epicenter, Fortune, V3.co.uk, All Facebook, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Adotas, Googling Google Blog, Fast Company, Pulse2, Local Media Watch, Erictric, BetaNews, CNET News, The Business Insider, Search Engine Watch, Softpedia News, MediaFile, Bits, NewsGrange, Digital Trends, NBC Bay Area, Webmonkey, Techland, Google Operating System, Tnooz, paidContent, Silicon Valley Watcher, GigaOM, Lost Remote, Digits, Techie Buzz, MarketingVOX, PC World, New York Magazine, PC Pro and The Next Web
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Matt McGee / Search Engine Land:
Google's Search Results Get More Social; Twitter As The New Facebook “Like” — Your friends' activity on Twitter, Flickr and elsewhere — but for now, not Facebook — will soon be a lot more visible in Google's search results, including having an impact on how pages rank.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb, Inside Facebook, Gizmodo, Mashable!, WebProNews, Neowin.net, Logic+Emotion, The Huffington Post, Fortune, MediaPost, SAI, The Atlantic Online, NetworkEffect and Electronista
Popular Mechanics:
Confessions of an Apple Store Employee — Apple is famous for its secrecy, with a code of silence that runs from top management all the way down to its retail employees. One Apple Store employee decided to throw protocol to the curb and tell us what it's really like working at the vaunted retail outlets.
Discussion:
Examiner, App Advice, AppleInsider, MacNN, TUAW, MacRumors, MacStories and NBC Bay Area
Wall Street Journal:
Regulators Eye Apple Anew — Enforcers Interested in Whether Digital-Subscription Rules Stifle Competition — WASHINGTON—U.S. antitrust enforcers have begun looking at the terms Apple Inc. set this week for media companies who want to sell their content on its popular iPad and other devices …
Discussion:
9 to 5 Mac, New York Times, MacStories and MacNN
David Sarno / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Official list of attendees at Obama tech meeting: CEOs of Twitter, Netflix, Oracle, Yahoo, others — Here's the official list of attendees of Thursday evening's meeting of technology industry chiefs with President Obama in San Francisco. It includes many of Silicon Valley's biggest names.
Discussion:
Between the Lines Blog, The Oatmeal, Computerworld, Reuters, Bits, Digital Daily, The Snitch, @lexnfx, NBC Bay Area, Pulse2 and SiliconANGLE
Leander Kahney / Cult of Mac:
Confirmed: Apple To Build Biggest Store Yet In Grand Central Terminal [Exclusive] — Apple will be building a massive store in New York's Grand Central Terminal, we have independently confirmed. The store will open in the fall, likely early September — and it will be Apple's largest retail space in the world.
Discussion:
VentureBeat, MacStories, Epicenter, Geek.com, Pulse2, MacRumors, CNET News, RazorianFly, The Next Web, MacNN and The Huffington Post
Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:
Redesigned Bing Bar Toolbar More Like A “Dashboard” — Bing is introducing a totally redesigned version of its toolbar, called the “Bing Bar.” Apparently it has been “rebuilt from the ground up,” says Microsoft's Stefan Weitz. Indeed, it operates more like a kind of “dashboard” …
Discussion:
Bing, Computerworld, TechCrunch, TechFlash, The Next Web, The Microsoft Blog, Adotas, SAI, Friending Facebook Blog, Download Squad, Erictric, Pulse2, WebProNews, Mashable!, LiveSide.net and Nine By Blue
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Josh Constine / Inside Facebook:
Microsoft Releases New Version of Bing Bar Toolbar With Facebook Integration
Discussion:
CNET News, PC Magazine, LiveSide.net, All Facebook, Search Engine Watch and WinRumors
Connie Loizos / PE Hub Blog:
It's Not a Bubble, People; It's a Pyramid Scheme — Mark Cuban knows a thing or two about bubbles, having profited handsomely from an earlier Internet boom. But ask him if we're seeing Bubble 2.0 and he'll give you a different theory. — “It's almost the 2011 version of a private equity chain letter …
Discussion:
DealBook
Neil Hughes / AppleInsider:
Apple looking to increase battery life with dense lithium cells — Apple is investigating techniques to increase the energy capacity of rechargeable lithium battery cells without increasing the size of the battery, allowing longer battery life in future devices.
Discussion:
MacStories, RazorianFly, Electronista and TUAW
Jan Wildeboer:
Microsoft: Absolutely NO (GPLv3-or-compat-licensed) Free Software for Windows Phone and Xbox Apps. — This is rather uncool, IMHO, I stumbled upon this forum entry and was quite astonished. It points to the Microsoft Application Provider Agreement that governs the Windows Marketplace …
Discussion:
thinq_, Reuters, PC World, Arktronic's blog, The Next Web, ForeverGeek, The Register, Hardware 2.0 Blog, Neowin.net and ThinkMobile
Jennifer Lynch / Electronic Frontier Foundation:
Newly Released Documents Detail FBI's Plan to Expand Federal Surveillance Laws — EFF just received documents in response to a 2-year old FOIA request for information on the FBI's “Going Dark” program, an initiative to increase the FBI's authority in response to problems the FBI …
Discussion:
paidContent
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Declan McCullagh / CNET News:
FBI: We're not demanding encryption backdoors
Discussion:
PC World, Techdirt and DSLreports
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Nordstrom Acquires Flash Sales Site HauteLook For $270 Million — In one of the larger exits so far in the flash sales business, retail chain Nordstrom has acquired flash sales site HauteLookfor $180 million in Nordstrom stock and three-year earn-out of up to $90 million. HauteLook has raised $41 million in funding.
Discussion:
Venture Capital Dispatch, Thomson IR, eMoney, SAI, @msuster, @cisco_mobile and Pulse2
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Spotify Signs On EMI for U.S. Launch. At Least One More to Go... It's getting closer: Spotify has finalized a U.S. distribution deal with EMI Music, multiple sources tell me. — Both EMI and Spotify declined to comment. — Coupled with last month's Sony deal, Spotify now has the approval …
Discussion:
SAI, Erictric, Mashable!, Electronista, hypebot and The Next Web
Ben Fritz / Company Town:
Redbox digital service will go toe-to-toe with Netflix — Redbox is gearing up to challenge Netflix head-on, the kiosk DVD rental company confirmed Wednesday. — At a meeting with analysts, Redbox President Mitch Lowe said his company's forthcoming digital option will be subscription-based …
Discussion:
PC World, Engadget, ReadWriteWeb, SAI, Hollywood Reporter, SlashGear, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, eHomeUpgrade, Techland, Pulse2, TechFlash, Electronista, TDW Geeks, GigaOM, NBC Bay Area, Bloomberg, DailyTech, Digital Trends, The Digital Home, MediaPost and Home Theater Blog
Bianca Bosker / The Huffington Post:
Facebook Adds ‘Civil Union,’ ‘Domestic Partnership’ To Relationship Status Options — Facebook has added two new relationship status options users can include in their online profiles: “in a civil union” and “in a domestic partnership.” — The new fields are being rolled out in the U.S …
Discussion:
Examiner, GLAADBlog.org, All Facebook, Zero Day Blog, Digital Trends, SFGate, ReadWriteWeb, Runnin' Scared and The Social
Sascha Segan / PC Magazine:
Skype: Expect Video Calling for AT&T — Now that Skype and Qik have joined, they plan to bring video calls to all four major US carriers. — BARCELONA—Skype's video-calling prowess will improve the quality of Qik video calls on Sprint and T-Mobile devices, and the joined company is pursuing …
Discussion:
Electronista and Engadget
John Paczkowski / Digital Daily:
Mac Growth Outpaces Market for 19th Straight Quarter — The Mac has been on a growth tear for a few years now, outperforming the broader PC market in most every sector. Indeed, December 2010 marked the 19th consecutive quarter that it did so. Mac shipments grew 23.5 percent for the month …
Discussion:
SAI, Ars Technica, MacStories, The Loop, TUAW and everythingiCafe
Claude Brodesser-Akner / New York Magazine:
YouTube Offering Millions for Celebrity-Created Content — In a move designed to vastly improve the quality of its content, Google's YouTube is undertaking what's understood to be a massive bid to attract Hollywood talent — one that has agents practically leaping out of their John Lobbs …
Discussion:
Digital Trends, GigaOM, SAI, Techland and WebProNews
Ken Jennings / Slate:
Jeopardy! genius Ken Jennings on what it's like to play against a supercomputer. — When I was selected as one of the two human players to be pitted against IBM's “Watson” supercomputer in a special man-vs.-machine Jeopardy! exhibition match, I felt honored, even heroic.
Discussion:
SAI, New York Times, Switched, Geek.com, Faster Forward, Know Your Meme Blog, Tradigital and PC World
Andrew Lyle / Neowin.net:
Microsoft planning IE9 announcement on March 14, launch imminent? — Earlier today Microsoft unveiled plans for a special celebration for “Beauty of the Web” hosted by the Internet Explorer 9 team. The Internet Explorer team made the announcement today on their blog but did not specify if this will be the launch event for IE 9.
Discussion:
The Windows Blog, Thanks:lylesback2
Paul Lamkin / Pocket-lint:
Acer Windows Phone 7 devices coming Autumn 2011 — EXCLUSIVE: September or October release — An Acer spokesperson has confirmed to Pocket-lint that Acer will be joining the Windows Phone 7 party this autumn, with a September or October 2011 launch planned.
Discussion:
SlashPhone, WinRumors, SlashGear, WPCentral.com, PhoneArena and The Next Web
Tricia Duryee / eMoney:
Telltale Signs That Videogames Will Be Downloaded, Not Sold at Retail — The business of selling plastic-wrapped videogames for $60 apiece is becoming an ancient practice, as digital downloads take over-often at lower prices. — But a small San Rafael, Calif.-based videogame company thinks …
Discussion:
VG247, Joystiq and GoNintendo
Evelyn M. Rusli / DealBook:
Zynga Nears Deal Valuing It at Close to $10 Billion — Zynga, the company behind many of the Web's most viral games, is in advanced discussions on an investment that would value the company at nearly $10 billion and could pave the way for an initial public offering next year.
Discussion:
BoomTown and Venture Capital Dispatch
