Top Items:
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
With Jobs Definitely Mulling Appearance at iPad Event, Let's Hope the Focus Is on the Product — According to several sources close to the situation, Apple CEO Steve Jobs-who is on a health-related leave from the company-is definitely considering an appearance at its big iPad 2 event tomorrow.
Discussion:
CNET News, Between the Lines Blog, CNNMoney.com, Digital Trends, Computerworld, Digits, Bits, GottaBeMobile, TUAW, MacGazette.net, Macworld, Techland, AppleInsider, SAI, 9 to 5 Mac, I4U News, World of Apple, AllNewsMac, NBC Bay Area, Softpedia News, TiPb and MacRumors
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Leander Kahney / Cult of Mac:
Apple Staffer: iPad 3 Is The One To “Make A Song & Dance About” — We've received some tidbits of information about the iPad 2 launch tomorrow from an Apple staffer: — MobileMe is being revamped with cloud storage features. — The iPad 2 is a ho-hum update. It's more of a speed bump than a redesign.
Discussion:
PC World, VentureBeat, SAI, paidContent, App Advice, MacGazette.net, Apple Bitch, @gartenberg and MacRumors
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Facebook Acquires Group Messaging Service Beluga In A Talent AND Technology Deal — Facebook has just acquired group messaging service Beluga, we've learned. — Here's what we know: Facebook has acquired both the product and the team, and the plan is apparently to keep the service open for now.
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Nick O'Neill / All Facebook:
Is Facebook Group Texting Coming Soon?
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Dirty Percent — It's not hard to make the case that Apple's new in-app subscription system offers numerous benefits to users, developers, and publishers. But whatever those benefits, they stem from the mere existence of these new subscription APIs. What's controversial is the size of Apple's cut: 30 percent.
Discussion:
Technovia
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft Blog:
Microsoft delivers its ‘other’ tablet operating system: Windows Embedded Compact 7 — Microsoft announced general availability on March 1 of the final version of its Windows Embedded Compact 7 operating system, codenamed “Chelan.” — Microsoft posted a 180-day trial version …
Discussion:
WinRumors, The Next Web, BlogsDNA, Liliputing and Softpedia News
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Matt Rosoff / SAI: Silicon Alley Insider:
Microsoft Preparing Windows 8 Tablet Design Demos For June
Microsoft Preparing Windows 8 Tablet Design Demos For June
Discussion:
eWeek, The Register, LAPTOP Magazine, Softpedia News, GeekSmack, GottaBeMobile, X-bit labs, Ubergizmo, blogs.chron.com, WinRumors, Geek.com and PC World
Josh Constine / Inside Facebook:
Facebook's New Comments Box Plugin Filters Website Comment Reels by Relevance — Facebook has released a major update to its embeddable Comments Box social plugin for third-party websites. The plugin processes social signals to surface the most relevant comments, and a new moderation dashboard allows admins …
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Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Actually, AOL's Mark Ellis Is Headed to Yahoo — As AOL CEO Tim Armstrong works to integrate his $315 million purchase of the Huffington Post into the Internet portal, one of its top advertising leaders is departing for a big job at Yahoo. — Mark Ellis will become head …
Discussion:
paidContent
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Gaurav Jain / Google Enterprise Blog:
Now available with Google Apps: User Managed Storage — Editor's note: Last year we launched an improvement that makes over 60 additional Google services available to Google Apps users. This series showcases what's new and how your organization can benefit. — Welcome to User Managed Storage
Discussion:
InfoWorld
Emma Barnett / Telegraph:
Google issues ultimatum to Yelp: free content or no search indexing — Yelp's chief executive, Jeremy Stoppelman has spoken out against Google's use of its users' business reviews on its Places service, saying the search company has failed to offer them any leeway on the matter.
Discussion:
Search Engine Land
Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
Apple fights for ‘App Store’ name, calls Microsoft clueless as usual — Apple is defending its attempt to trademark the phrase “App Store,” saying in a new filing that Microsoft has failed to prove that the term should be left open for use by competing mobile application marketplaces.
Discussion:
Electronista, Politico, AppleInsider, Digital Daily, Digital Trends, mocoNews and Fast Company
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Google's New In-App Payments Product Set For Launch In May 2011 — Google was originally set to debut in-app payments support for Android in the fourth quarter of 2010, and recently said that the launch would be delayed until the end of this quarter. Be that as it may, the company is set …
Roger Capriotti / The Windows Blog:
IE9 Reaches 36 Million Downloads; Internet Explorer Share Grows — Last month, we saw share of both Internet Explorer 8 and 9 grow, and we're pleased to see that momentum continue in February with the availability of the IE9 Release Candidate. Since its release on February 10th …
Discussion:
Computerworld, PC World, CIOInsight, CNET News, Network World, Softpedia News and eWeek
Peter Cohen / The Loop:
Angry Birds CEO: “We really have Apple to thank” — Of the thousands of games available for download from the App Store, none has had the sustained popularity of Rovio's Angry Birds, a 99 cent physics-based puzzler in which you use a slingshot to launch birds of various shapes and sizes at fortresses containing green pigs.
Discussion:
The Next Web, Cult of Mac, www.pocketgamer.biz, msnbc.com, FierceWireless, GigaOM, MacStories, MacDailyNews, Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check and App Advice
Sinead Carew / Reuters:
Verizon eyes tiered pricing for mid-summer — (Reuters) - Verizon Wireless will replace its unlimited mobile data service with usage-based pricing for iPhone customers around the middle of the summer, according to the finance chief of parent Verizon Communications.
Discussion:
Digital Trends, ZDNet, Verizon, Mobilized, Bloomberg, Yahoo! News, Engadget, FierceWireless, Reuters, MacRumors, iLounge, GigaOM, MobileBurn.com, MacStories, Android Phone Fans, IntoMobile, PalmAddicts and MacDailyNews
Richi Jennings / Computerworld:
Google Apps and Gmail outage outrage: Problem NOT resolved — Update: The Gmail outage is not yet resolved, despite 35,000 Google Apps and consumer Gmail users agonizing over missing mail. The cloud service provider is furiously restoring from backup tapes as we speak.
Discussion:
LiveSide.net, internetnews.com, Royal Pingdom, Search Engine Journal, Googling Google Blog, BBC, L.A. Times Tech Blog, BBC, Daily Mail, Faster Forward, ITworld.com, Digits, @akovacs, msnbc.com, Techland, Techie Buzz, Network World, SlashGear, Post Tech, Search Engine Watch, HEXUS.net and Digital Trends
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Google Buys Security Analytics Software Developer Zynamics — It looks like Google has made an acquisition today: security analytics software company Zynamics. — Here's the post on Zynamic's blog: We're pleased to announce that zynamics has been acquired by Google!
Discussion:
ReadWriteWeb, WebProNews, SecurityWeek, Mashable! and threatpost
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Andreessen Horowitz Makes It a Foursome-Adds IronPort's Scott Weiss as Investing GP — High-profile venture firm Andreessen Horowitz added another investing general partner to their group today, with the appointment of IronPort Co-founder Scott Weiss. — Weiss is the fourth investing GP …
Discussion:
ben's blog, Venture Capital Dispatch, TechCrunch and PE Hub Blog
Amir Efrati / Digits:
Coming Soon: Advertiser Alerts on Your Phone — Advertisers have long contemplated a world in which they could contact people walking down the street with special offers and get them to change course and enter a store. There's been new movement this week to make that vision a reality.
Discussion:
Loopt In, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim and Mashable!
Sean Hollister / Engadget:
Google gifts Xoom tablets to game devs at GDC 2011 — Google's notoriously generous at developer events, tossing out free devices like candy on Halloween, but here at the Game Developer Conference in San Francisco it's letting them flow like wine. Each attendee at Google's Web Developer …
Sarah Lacy / TechCrunch:
Big Appetite: Greylock Sends Entrepreneurs a Message with Expanded $1 Billion Fund — In case you missed it, being a super angel is officially passe. The new hotness is having a late-stage growth cash. Sequoia Capital is doing it. Andreessen Horowitz is doing it. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is doing it.
Discussion:
VatorNews, Venture Capital Dispatch and Greylock Partners
Sharon Begley / Newsweek:
I Can't Think! — The Twitterization of our culture has revolutionized our lives, but with an unintended consequence—our overloaded brains freeze when we have to make decisions. — Imagine the most mind-numbing choice you've faced lately, one in which the possibilities almost paralyzed you …
@theHipmunk blog:
Hipmunk Hotels — Today's a big day for Hipmunk: we're now searching hotels. We've designed our hotel search around one basic premise: to find you a good deal in a good location. — Hipmunk helps you find the interesting parts of a city and see which hotels are nearby. Our hotel search is built around a big map.
Discussion:
VentureBeat, GeekSugar, ReadWriteWeb, Download Squad, Mashable!, AppScout, @lbraun2000, Tnooz, TechCrunch, Xconomy, Techland and The Next Web
Dan Frommer / SAI: Silicon Alley Insider:
Amazon's Android App Store Is Supposedly Launching This Month — Amazon's app store for Google Android devices is launching soon — this month — according to this tweet from mobile ad network Millennial Media. — “Launching this month! Amazon Appstore for #Android—learn more here,” …
Discussion:
Millennial Media, Fortune, The Digital Reader, Gizmodo, Geek.com, Tech Trader Daily, Engadget and Android Phone Fans
Mark Spoonauer / LAPTOP Magazine:
HP Says BlackBerry PlayBook Imitates webOS, RIM Responds — There's no denying it. RIM's first tablet, the BlackBerry PlayBook, looks pretty darn similar to HP's TouchPad. Yes, the PlayBook has a smaller 7-inch screen, compared to 9.7 inches for HP's slate.
Discussion:
Engadget and PhoneDog.com, Thanks:mspoonauer
Vlad Savov / Engadget:
NVIDIA Tegra Zone officially launched, takes Android to new dual-core heights — It's the first of March, which in NVIDIA land means no longer just talking about Tegra Zone, but actually activating it and letting users see what all the fuss is about. For those who've not yet heard of it …
Discussion:
VentureBeat, IntoMobile, Electricpig.co.uk, Softpedia News, GottaBeMobile and BlogsDNA