Top Items:
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:
BetaNews, Search Engine Watch, NewsGrange, John Battelle's Searchblog, Google Operating System, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Googling Google Blog, CNET News, SAI, Fortune, Computerworld, Digits, Bits, GigaOM, Fast Company, paidContent, Erictric, NBC Bay Area, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, Pulse2, Local Media Watch, Adotas, New York Magazine, Softpedia News, MediaFile, The Next Web, MarketingVOX, Digital Trends, Webmonkey, Techie Buzz, Lost Remote, Tnooz, Techland and PC Pro
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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:
MediaPost, Mashable!, TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb, Gizmodo, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic Online, Fortune, Neowin.net, NetworkEffect, Logic+Emotion, SAI and Electronista
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:
MacRumors, CNET News, Pulse2, VentureBeat, Geek.com, MacStories, RazorianFly, The Next Web, iClarified and Gizmodo
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:
The Microsoft Blog, LiveSide.net, TechFlash, SAI, Bing, TechCrunch, Download Squad, Erictric, Pulse2, Mashable!, Adotas, The Next Web and Nine By Blue
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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:
Digital Daily, Bits, @lexnfx, Pulse2, SiliconANGLE, NBC Bay Area and SAI
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:
MacRumors, TUAW, MacStories and NBC Bay Area
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:
The Register, thinq_, Computerworld, The Next Web, Neowin.net, Arktronic's blog, Hardware 2.0 Blog, ForeverGeek and ThinkMobile
DigiTimes:
Apple secures 60% of global touch panel capacity, causing tight supply — In order to achieve its internal goal of shipping 40 million iPad products in 2011, Apple has occupied close to 60% of the global touch panel capacity causing tight supply among Apple's competitors, according to sources from upstream component makers.
Discussion:
BlackBerry Cool, Pulse2, TechSpot, AppleInsider, IntoMobile, SlashGear, PadGadget, TUAW, ConceivablyTech, Geek.com, RazorianFly, SAI, brian s hall, I4U News, Digital Daily, Engadget, thinq_, The Tech Trade, TechEye, App Advice, iLounge, 9 to 5 Mac, MacRumors, everythingiCafe, The Apple Core Blog, The Loop, The Next Web, DisplayBlog and iClarified
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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:
DSLreports, Techdirt and Electronista
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, TechFlash, GigaOM, VentureBeat, MediaPost, Engadget, SAI, Hollywood Reporter, Pulse2, ReadWriteWeb, eHomeUpgrade, SlashGear, Techland, TechCrunch, TDW Geeks, The Digital Home, Electronista, Digital Trends, DailyTech, Bloomberg, NBC Bay Area, Home Theater Blog, FOXBusiness.com and DailyFinance
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:
Ars Technica, The Loop, MacStories, TUAW and everythingiCafe
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, Electronista, Mashable!, The Next Web and Gizmodo
Ben Rooney / Tech Europe:
Motorola Executive Defends Tablet Price Tag … Motorola mobility chief Sanjay Jha confirmed that the company's new Xoom tablet will go on sale in the U.S. at $800, a higher price tag than current market leader Apple's iPad. — And in what has been described as the worst kept secret in the tech world …
Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM:
Presenting Our National Broadband Map. It's a Start. — The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) unveiled a nationwide broadband map for the U.S. today, and said “between five and ten percent of Americans don't have broadband.”
Discussion:
CNET News, Computerworld, internetnews.com, Between the Lines Blog, Datamation, NTIA, DSLreports, BetaNews and @gigastacey
RELATED:
Amy Schatz / Digits:
NTIA, FCC Publish New National Broadband Map
Discussion:
Electronista and Gizmodo
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:
eMoney, Thomson IR and @cisco_mobile
Wall Street Journal:
Accel Targets $2 Billion for New Venture Funds — Silicon Valley venture-capital firm Accel Partners is raising four new funds this year with an overall target of more than $2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. — Accel is raising a growth-oriented fund …
Discussion:
SAI and PE Hub Blog
Matt Rosoff / SAI: Silicon Alley Insider:
Sony Exec: We Are Not Abandoning iTunes — Sony has no plans to withdraw Sony Music songs from Apple's iTunes as payback for Apple's decision to block the Sony e-reader app from the App Store. — Sony is launching its own subscription service, Music Unlimited, in the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand today.
Discussion:
AppleInsider, Bloomberg, MacStories, Techland, MediaMemo, Electronista, CNET News, MacRumors, SlashGear, TUAW, RazorianFly, TiPb, Mashable!, Apple Bitch, ReadWriteWeb, Softpedia News, everythingiCafe, paidContent:UK and iLounge
Jay Yarow / SAI: Silicon Alley Insider:
CHART OF THE DAY: The Death Of The Music Industry — Here is a stunning visualization of the collapse of the music industry from Bain. As you can see, the growth of digital sales is not doing enough to offset the death of the CD. — (Chart via Peter Kafka, who spotted it on Flickr.)
Discussion:
Evolver.fm and p2pnet
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:
New York Times, PC World, Switched, Tradigital, Geek.com, Engadget, Know Your Meme Blog, Faster Forward, SAI and Gizmodo
Reuters:
Intel says will find new MeeGo partners — (Reuters) - Chipmaker Intel Corp (INTC.O) said it would look for new partners for the MeeGo mobile operating system after partner Nokia chose to focus on Microsoft's Windows Phone platform. — Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini said in a meeting …
Discussion:
VentureBeat, Fortune, SAI, Inquirer, Digital Daily, GMSV, PhoneArena and Electronista
