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:
L.A. Times Tech Blog, TechCrunch, App Advice, CNET News, Techland, Hillicon Valley, Bits, Digits, TUAW, Digital Trends, BlogsDNA, World of Apple, I4U News, MacGazette.net, GottaBeMobile, NBC Bay Area, CNNMoney.com, Redmond Pie, Between the Lines Blog, SAI, TiPb, 9 to 5 Mac, MacRumors, AllNewsMac, PhoneArena, AOL News, AppleInsider, Softpedia News, MacNN, Electronista, msnbc.com, Macworld and PE Hub Blog, more at Mediagazer »
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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, SAI, Apple Bitch, mocoNews, VentureBeat, MacGazette.net, @gartenberg, World of Apple, MacRumors, App Advice 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:
GigaOM, SFGate, Daily Patricia, Inside Facebook, The Social, VentureBeat, ReadWriteWeb, All Facebook, Beluga, louisgray.com, Erictric, SlashGear, Ubergizmo, @chrishogg, Mashable!, @tomkrazit, Androinica, IntoMobile, CNNMoney.com, Bits, Black Web 2.0, GigaOM, VatorNews, Electronista, parislemon, L.A. Times Tech Blog, NetworkEffect and GMSV
RELATED:
Kim-Mai Cutler / Inside Mobile Apps:
Analysis: What's Behind Facebook's Friendfeed-Style Acquisition of Beluga?
Analysis: What's Behind Facebook's Friendfeed-Style Acquisition of Beluga?
Thanks:eldon
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Charlie Sheen, Now On Twitter At @CharlieSheen — Because if I don't write this somebody else will: After blazing a colorful trail through some obscure radio show, The Today Show, Good Morning America, TMZ, CNN and so on, media obsession of the moment Charlie Sheen has brought his antics to Twitter.
Discussion:
Sean Percival's Blog, Mashable!, The Atlantic Online, @charliesheen, @someecards, @perezhilton, Reuters, SAI and @gaberivera, more at Mediagazer »
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Jolie O'Dell / Mashable!:
Google Pulls 21 Apps In Android Malware Scare — Google Pulls 21 Apps In Android Malware Scare — Google has just pulled 21 popular free apps from the Android Market. According to the company, the apps are malware aimed at getting root access to the user's device, gathering a wide range …
Discussion:
Android Police and MobileCrunch
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:
Nieman Journalism Lab and CrunchGear
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:
CNET News, ReadWriteWeb and Search Engine Land
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 …
RELATED:
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
The Pros And Cons Of Facebook Comments
The Pros And Cons Of Facebook Comments
Discussion:
Scobleizer, Lost Remote and Techie Buzz
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:
CNET News, Electronista, PC World, TechCrunch, Politico, PhoneArena, The Huffington Post, msnbc.com, Fast Company, Digital Daily, Digital Trends, mocoNews, AppleInsider, SAI, MacRumors and iLounge
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:
Computerworld
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:
Engadget, WinRumors, The Microsoft Blog, eWeek, The Register, GottaBeMobile, X-bit labs, BlogsDNA, Liliputing, Geek.com, LAPTOP Magazine, Softpedia News, The Next Web and Electronista
Jon Brodkin / Network World:
Meet Google's human search engine for innovation — Google startup-hunter Don Dodge sheds Microsoft roots, ‘kisses a lot of frogs’ in quest for cool technology — It was November 2009, and Don Dodge had just been laid off by Microsoft. Instead of writing a new resume and collecting unemployment …
Discussion:
VentureBeat
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:
CNET News, Network World, PC World, Computerworld, eWeek, Softpedia News, CIOInsight, WinRumors, WinBeta, Neowin.net and Windows 8 Beta
Allen Stern / CenterNetworks:
Mahalo Reduces Headcount by 10% After Google Algo Change — I feel for Mahalo founder and CEO Jason Calacanis this past week. He finishes his Launch conference (my recap), heads to the afterparty and probably gets 10,000 text messages because that was just about the time that Google announced their algorithm change.
Amir Efrati / Wall Street Journal:
To Grow Big, Twitter Seeks Small Ads — Twitter Inc. is a hot property among investors, who are pumping up the company's valuation. But whether the start-up can live up to its multibillion-dollar appraisal depends on the likes of David Szetela, who holds the purse strings of numerous small and medium-sized advertisers.
Discussion:
Digits
Reuters:
Exclusive: Yahoo closes in on Yahoo Japan deal — (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc is in advanced talks to exit its joint venture in Japan with SoftBank Corp, a move that could lead it to focus on reaching a decision on its China assets. — A deal to transfer Yahoo's 35 percent stake in Yahoo Japan …
Discussion:
SAI, paidContent, @ericjackson and DealBook
Joel Johnson / Wired:
1 million workers. 90 million iPhones. 17 suicides. Who's to Blame? — It's hard not to look at the nets. Every building is skirted in them. They drape every precipice, steel poles jutting out 20 feet above the sidewalk, loosely tangled like volleyball nets in winter.
Discussion:
SAI, @radleybalko, CrunchGear and Gizmodo
Scott Morrison / Wall Street Journal:
Amazon Threatens to Cut Affiliates in California — Ramping up its battle against Internet sales taxes, Amazon.com Inc. has warned it will sever ties with thousands of California-based advertising affiliates if the state government passes legislation requiring the e-commerce giant to collect taxes on items sold to residents.
Discussion:
Bloomberg
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:
Tech Broiler Blog, SAI, Engadget, Know Your Cell and PhoneDog.com, Thanks:mspoonauer
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes / Hardware 2.0 Blog:
‘Death Grip’ is real claims UK scientists, cases don't help — The iPhone 4 ‘death grip’ (aka 'antennagate') antenna degradation effect is real and plastic cases don't help, or so say UK researchers from University of Bristol. You hold a handset (any handset), and you affect the signal.
Discussion:
University of Bristol news, Digital Daily and Electronista
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:
CNET News, eWeek, ReadWriteWeb, WebProNews, threatpost, Mashable! and SecurityWeek
Anton Shilov / X-bit labs:
AMD: Thunderbolt Is Just Another Proprietary Standard — Advanced Micro Devices, the second largest supplier of x86 microprocessors on the globe and the designer of half of the world's discrete graphics adapters, said that Intel Corp.'s recently introduced Thunderbolt input/output technology …
Discussion:
Gearlog, Electronista, Ubergizmo and The Tech Report
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 …
Nick O'Neill / All Facebook:
Google Misses Facebook Platform Ads Deadline — If you were using Google Adsense to generate revenue within your Facebook application, you no longer can according to the social network's official policy. The new preferred advertiser list went into effect yesterday and Google isn't on it.
Discussion:
Search Engine Land
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:
App Advice, Loopt In, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, Mashable! and WebProNews
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Internet Up For Nobel Peace Prize Again, Let's Hope It Wins This Time — more info (via: Wylio)The Internet, which was nominated but lost to Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo last year, is up for the Nobel Peace Prize again this year. This year's 241 nominations surpassed last year's 237 …
Discussion:
Reuters and Digital Trends