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, Digits, Bits, Macworld, AppleInsider, SAI, I4U News, Tech Trader Daily, 9 to 5 Mac, Techland, MacRumors, World of Apple, NBC Bay Area, Electronista, AllNewsMac, Softpedia News, TiPb and msnbc.com
RELATED:
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:
SAI, VentureBeat, App Advice, mocoNews, 9 to 5 Mac, MacRumors, @gartenberg, Apple Bitch and Electronista
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.
Discussion:
Bits, Inside Facebook, ReadWriteWeb, VentureBeat, L.A. Times Tech Blog, NetworkEffect, VatorNews, GigaOM, Beluga, Ubergizmo, Erictric, Electronista, IntoMobile, louisgray.com, parislemon, GMSV, Androinica, @chrishogg, Mashable! and @tomkrazit
RELATED:
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, BlogsDNA, Liliputing, Softpedia News, Electronista and Daring Fireball
RELATED:
Matt Rosoff / SAI: Silicon Alley Insider:
Microsoft Preparing Windows 8 Tablet Design Demos For June
Discussion:
The Register, LAPTOP Magazine, X-bit labs, Geek.com, GeekSmack, Softpedia News, GottaBeMobile, Ubergizmo, blogs.chron.com, WinRumors, Neowin.net and PC World
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:
AppleInsider, Politico, Digital Daily, Digital Trends, mocoNews, MacRumors, Fast Company, Electronista, iLounge and SAI
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 …
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 …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, paidContent, NewsGrange, TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb, Black Web 2.0, Techie Buzz and The Next Web, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:
Ray C. He / Facebook Developers:
Improving Comments Across The Web
Discussion:
All Facebook, Mashable!, The Blog Herald and Lost Remote
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:
internetnews.com, Royal Pingdom, BetaNews, Search Engine Journal, CNN, BBC, Mobile Marketing Watch, Techland, @akovacs, Digits, Googling Google Blog, Daily Mail, L.A. Times Tech Blog, BBC, ITworld.com, Search Engine Watch, msnbc.com, Geek.com, Digital Trends, The Huffington Post, HEXUS.net, NBC Bay Area, Post Tech, Data Center Knowledge and Neowin.net
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, App Advice, www.pocketgamer.biz, Cult of Mac, GigaOM, msnbc.com, Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check, FierceWireless, MacStories and MacDailyNews
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:
Venture Capital Dispatch, TechCrunch and PE Hub Blog
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.
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:
Fortune, Millennial Media, Tech Trader Daily, Engadget, Geek.com, Gizmodo and Android Phone Fans
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:
Mashable! and threatpost
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:
PC World
@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, ReadWriteWeb, TechCrunch, AppScout, Download Squad, GeekSugar, Techland, Mashable!, @lbraun2000, Tnooz, Xconomy and The Next Web
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:
Venture Capital Dispatch and VatorNews
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:
Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim
Kevin C. Tofel / GigaOM:
Too Much Data? New Evernote Should Help — Evernote today launched a redesigned version of its iPhone software, adding new views and features that further help to organize thoughts on the go. Evernote 4, available in the iTunes App Store, now supports multiple attachments and up to 90 minutes of audio recording per note.
Discussion:
SAI, Evernote Blogcast, Mashable!, VentureBeat, TUAW, PC World, ReadWriteWeb, Softpedia News, Gizmodo, MacStories, Download Squad, everythingiCafe, MobileCrunch, @kenburbary, AppScout, IntoMobile and Lifehacker
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
StatCounter: Bing Just Beat Yahoo Worldwide — According to analytics firm StatCounter, the Bing search engine has just overtaken Yahoo for the first time worldwide during the month of February 2011. From StatCounter Global Stats, Bing closed out the month with a 4.37% search share compared with Yahoo's 3.93%.
Discussion:
StatCounter Global Stats, VentureBeat, Neowin.net, The Next Web and Gearlog
Peter Bright / Ars Technica:
Hands-on: Google Cloud Connect for Office not ready for prime time — Google Docs, the online suite of productivity applications, has long offered collaborative, cloud-based sharing and editing of office-type documents. A new add-in for Microsoft Office, Cloud Connect …
Discussion:
everwas
Reuters:
Verizon eyes tiered pricing for mid-summer — * Sees tiered pricing around mid-summer — 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 (VZ.N).
Discussion:
Bloomberg, ZDNet, GigaOM, FierceWireless, Yahoo! News, Mobilized, MacRumors and Electronista
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, BlogsDNA, Softpedia News and GottaBeMobile
Enigmax / TorrentFreak:
70% of the Public Finds Piracy Socially Acceptable — During the last decade the entertainment industries have tried numerous strategies to thwart Internet piracy. One of the most common, especially with the music industry, was to sue some file-sharers into submission thereby creating a climate of fear designed to deter others.
Discussion:
GizmoFusion and PlagiarismToday
Dan Levine / Reuters:
Ex-Apple employee pleads guilty in kickback scheme — * Devine worked as a global supply manager at Apple — * Accused of taking kickbacks from suppliers — * Devine “a good man who made a mistake” - defense lawyer (Adds comments from Devine attorney and Apple, byline)
Discussion:
PC World, BBC, Computerworld, IntoMobile, eWeek, Digital Trends, CNET News, Techland, Engadget, TUAW, SlashGear, TechEye, TG Daily, Know Your Mobile and The Register
Brice Morrison / Inside Social Games:
How Zynga Defused Its FarmVille Time-Bomb — [Editor's note: This is a guest post by Brice Morrison, editor of game industry design site The Game Prodigy.] — When Zynga's FarmVille hit 80 million players on year ago in February 2010, it was a breathtaking event for the entire games industry.
Discussion:
eMoney
Frederic Lardinois / NewsGrange:
Bing's Shopping Search Gets Smarter with Natural Language Capabilities — If you search for “air jordans under $100” on Google today, you will get a nice list of ten blue links. If you search on Google's shopping site, you will get quite a few results with prices around $250.
Discussion:
Search Engine Land, Bing, Search Engine Watch, LiveSide.net and The Next Web
Christopher Williams / Telegraph:
Gordon Brown ‘blocked knighthood’ for Steve Jobs — Gordon Brown blocked an honorary knighthood for Apple founder Steve Jobs, it has emerged. — Apple chief executive Steve Jobs poses with the Apple iPad — The then-Prime Minister refused to knight Mr Jobs in 2009 because he turned …
Discussion:
Examiner, MacStories, AppleInsider, Digital Trends, The Next Web, Gizmodo, p2pnet, Computerworld, Techland, CNET News, Geek.com, @dannysullivan, 9 to 5 Mac, Gearlog, AllNewsMac, iPhone Buzz, Epicenter, World of Apple and Fortune
Nicholas Carlson / SAI:
WOAH: AOL Finally Fires North American Ad Chief Mark Ellis — AOL is finally parting ways with North American ad sales boss, Mark Ellis. — MediaMemo had the scoop. — Ellis is - was - one of the few top execs at AOL remaining from the Pre-Tim Armstrong era. — Now he's gone.
Discussion:
MediaMemo and paidContent
