Top Items:
Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:
iPad 2 first hands-on! (update: even more video!) — Well there you have it folks — the absurdly thin new iPad 2. We just got our hands all over the next greatest tablet from Apple and it's... very much the same, save for that new body. There's no question that the industrial design is top notch …
Discussion:
blogs.chron.com, Computerworld, GottaBeMobile, CrunchGear, Inquirer, IntoMobile, MacStories, MacRumors, Apple Gazette, VentureBeat, App Advice, NBC Bay Area, PhoneArena, Phones Review, 9 to 5 Mac, Mobilized, CNET News, MacStories, iClarified, LAPTOP Magazine, Know Your Cell, VentureBeat, DisplayBlog and TechCrunch, more at Mediagazer »
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Daniel Eran Dilger / AppleInsider:
Apple kills fall iPad 3 rumors by calling 2011 “Year of iPad 2” — Apple has grounded speculation of a fall release of “iPad 3,” focusing its marketing message on the iPad 2 it will soon offer for sale by calling 2011 “the year of iPad 2.” — Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs noted …
Discussion:
SAI, Geek.com, Technologizer, Engadget, 9 to 5 Mac, TechCrunch, Geekosystem, Gizmodo Australia, @grahams, DailyFinance, Engadget and AppleInsider
Apple:
Apple Launches iPad 2 — All New Design is Thinner, Lighter & Faster with FaceTime, Smart Covers & 10 Hour Battery — Apple® today introduced iPad™ 2, the next generation of its magical device for browsing the web, reading and sending email, enjoying photos, watching videos …
Discussion:
Apple, Fast Company, Gizmodo, Fortune, The Apple Core Blog, Techland, Phones Review, Engadget, PC Magazine, Digital Inspiration …, Webomatica, MediaPost, @joehewitt, Stage Two, The Toybox Blog, Engadget, Podcasting News, AllNewsMac, broadstuff, MacRumors, Examiner, everythingiCafe, @dannysullivan, Hardware 2.0 Blog, Macworld, PE Hub Blog, eHomeUpgrade, FierceWireless, Reuters, Internet2Go, Between the Lines Blog, Digital Daily, TechFlash, Mobilized, @scobleizer, Laughing Squid and dailywireless.org
John Paczkowski / Digital Daily:
Apple's iPad 2 Event by the Numbers
Discussion:
SiliconANGLE and Mobilized
Seth Weintraub / 9 to 5 Mac:
iPad 2 will be at Best Buy at launch (Update: Sams Club+Walmart) — In case you want to sit in the parking lot of a Best Buy rather than the parking lot of an Apple Store: Best Buy will have iPad 2 at launch. Wooo! — Will the other usual suspects (Verizon, AT&T, Walmart) as well?
Discussion:
PC World, App Advice, TUAW, MacStories, Edible Apple, MacGazette.net, Gizmodo, Electronista, @bestbuy and GottaBeMobile
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Jennifer Allan / Electricpig.co.uk:
iPad price drop: Apple will refund the difference — If you recently bought an iPad, only to find that there's now a shiny new iPad 2 and a whopping great £100 reduction on the price tag of the original iPad, do not be alarmed! Apple will refund you the difference, so you could still take advantage of that iPad price drop.
Discussion:
GigaOM, 9 to 5 Mac and The Next Web
Nielsen Wire:
Who is Winning the U.S. Smartphone Battle? — The answer depends on whether you're looking at operating systems or manufacturers. — The battle for the hearts and minds of consumer smartphone owners continues to be a heated one according to data just released by The Nielsen Company.
Discussion:
GigaOM, TechCrunch, asymco, Tech Trader Daily and IntoMobile
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Chris Barth / Invested Interest:
Charlie Sheen's TwitPics Are Worth 1000 Words, But Are They Worth $1000? — Making cash off of Charlie? — Charlie Sheen has taken the public by storm in an unparalleled media blitz; his past 48 hours have been a media explosion - from daytime television to web news publications.
Discussion:
Twittercism
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Edmund Lee / AdAge:
How Charlie Sheen Got His Twitter Account Verified So Fast
Discussion:
SAI, Mashable!, Softpedia News, the Econsultancy blog, de.tech.ting, Examiner, GQ.COM, TechCrunch, WebProNews, PE Hub Blog, Local Media Watch, The Atlantic Online, NBC Bay Area, All Facebook, PopEater, SFGate, Switched, Technically Incorrect, Guardian, SFGate and L.A. Times Tech Blog, more at Mediagazer »
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Square Now Processing $1 Million In Mobile Payments Per Day — Mobile payments startup Square has reached a new milestone this week—the company is now processing $1 million in payments per day, co-founder Jack Dorsey just Tweeted. — Square was processing a few million in mobile transactions per week …
Discussion:
mocoNews, @jack, Gizmodo, MacStories, Pulse2, SAI, VatorNews, Erictric, @josh_smith and @fromedome
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
March Madness Comes to the iPad, for Free — Big sports events generally shy away from the Web, because they're still worried-with good reason-about trading analog dollars for digital dimes. — One exception to the rule has been the annual March Madness NCAA college basketball tournament …
Discussion:
The Business Insider, WPCentral.com, Switched and GigaOM, more at Mediagazer »
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch Europe:
Disney acquires gaming engine startup to build HTML5 games outside of App stores — Disney has acquired an HTML5 gaming engine startup called Rocket Pack, based out of Helsinki, Finalnd. A Disney spokesperson told us today, exclusively: “We can confirm that The Walt Disney Company has acquired Rocketpack …
Discussion:
SAI, Thanks:mikebutcher
Vlad Savov / Engadget:
iPad 2 vs. Motorola Xoom vs. HP TouchPad vs. BlackBerry PlayBook: the tale of the tape — You might recall we ran this comparison about a month back when HP's TouchPad was announced, but now we're back with a full set of 2011 devices as Apple's brand new iPad 2 has joined the fray.
Discussion:
Between the Lines Blog, @carnage4life, Computerworld, SAI, BetaNews, Gadgets DNA, Pocket-lint, GottaBeMobile, Edible Apple, Phones Review and LAPTOP Magazine
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Zach Epstein / BGR:
AT&T says iPhone users aren't fleeing to Verizon faster than expected — Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, AT&T Mobility boss Ralph de la Vega said that iPhone users aren't defecting to Verizon Wireless any faster than the carrier expected. “We haven't seen any surprises …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, DSLreports, Between the Lines Blog, SlashGear and Phones Review
Reuters:
Exclusive: Twitter's Stone says no IPO or funding talks — (Reuters) - Biz Stone, the co-founder of popular microblogging site Twitter, denied a report that the firm was in talks to sell a $450 million stake of the company to a JPMorgan fund, reiterating that it was committed to remaining independent.
Discussion:
Post Tech, Fast Company, Epicenter, The Next Web, SAI, @danprimack, PE Hub Blog and Reuters, Thanks:srikardhanakoti
Desire Athow / ITProPortal:
Exclusive : Nvidia Confirms Samsung Tegra 2 Design Win — Semiconductor giant Nvidia has confirmed to ITProPortal that Samsung will use the Nvidia Tegra 2 system on chip on some of its smartphones but, strangely enough, will not apparently differentiate between the two variants.
Discussion:
SlashGear, Android Community, Engadget, PhoneArena, Android Phone Fans, Electronista, Softpedia News, Fonehome, IntoMobile and Phones Review
Chris Alexander:
Why iPad 2 doesn't have HDMI built in — One thing struck me, other than the inexplicable absence of a “retina” display in the new iPad model, about Apple's announcement today. Why did Apple not build HDMI into the iPad 2? — It's not for the lack of space.
Discussion:
Engadget, MacStories, Zatz Not Funny!, VentureBeat and iThinkDifferent, Thanks:chris_alexander
RELATED:
Daniel Eran Dilger / AppleInsider:
Apple brings HDMI output to iPhone 4, iPad, iPad 2
Discussion:
Softpedia News, Gadget Lab, PC World, Engadget, App Advice and BetaNews
Francis Tan / The Next Web:
Beijing to track citizens with their cell phones — As if the Great Firewall is not enough, the Chinese government is now looking into monitoring the movement of 17 million cellphone users in Beijing, China by tracking the signal of their mobile devices. — Purportedly to improve Beijing's …
Discussion:
TechEye, topics.scmp.com, IntoMobile, textually.org and Slashdot
Sydney Morning Herald:
The anti-social network: boys jailed for $26m ‘Crimebook’ scam — Nick Webber pictured on a Facebook page. — Two British schoolboys have been jailed for up to five years for running a $26 million Facebook-style website for criminals dubbed “Crimebook”. — Nick Webber, 19, and Ryan Thomas …
Discussion:
Guardian, The Register, BBC, TG Daily, PC Pro, Daily Mail and TechEye
Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:
Microsoft and Google jointly sue GeoTag Inc. in order to invalidate a patent asserted against more than 300 entities — Google and Microsoft have joined forces to take down a Texas company's geotagging patent that they claim has been used in lawsuits against more than 300 entities, many of which are customers of the two companies.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Network World, Inquirer and TechEye
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Exclusive: Microsoft Mulls Legally Poking Facebook Over Ad Talent Raid — Microsoft-furious over a recent talent grab of its top advertising exec by Facebook-has been considering a wide range of options, including legal action to block the move, according to sources close to the situation.
Discussion:
Search Engine Land, TechEye, Pulse2, The Next Web and SAI
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Ashton Kutcher's Twitter Account Hacked at TED — TV star Ashton Kutcher may have more followers than all but 5 other people on Twitter (6,393,559) but he apparently has at least one snarky and politically minded adversary at the prestigious TED conference this week.
Discussion:
The Register, Gizmodo, PC World, @aplusk, Gearlog, Technically Incorrect, Twittercism, Geekosystem, @aplusk, @bill_gross, SAI, Gawker, The Huffington Post, Gizmodo Australia and The Next Web
The Scholarly Kitchen:
The Battle for Control — What People Who Worry About the Internet Are Really Worried About — Posted by Kent Anderson under Authority, Authors, Controversial Topics, Historical, Nostalgia, Social Role, Technology, Tools, World of Tomorrow — Over the past few years …
Vlad Savov / Engadget:
Opera browser gets an over-17 rating in Mac App Store, reacts in good humor — You might not yet be aware of this, but Apple's policy towards web browsers is to treat the entire internet as their content. As a result, all browsers on the iOS App Store come with a minimum age requirement …
Discussion:
Opera Press Room, SlashGear, Download Squad, Softpedia News and The Next Web
Andy Greenberg / The Firewall:
Documents Reveal TSA Research Proposal To Body-Scan Pedestrians, Train Passengers — A sample streetside scan image from American Sciences & Engineering. — Updated with the TSA's response below, which denies implementing airport-style scans in mass transit.
Discussion:
Gawker and Threat Level
Tricia Duryee / eMoney:
Daily Deal Revenues Could Soar to $6 Billion in 2015 — Spending on U.S. daily deals could soar as much as $3.9 billion in the next four years, up from only $873 million in 2010. — The estimates were released today by BIA/Kelsey, but seem conservative given some of the official figures known about the largest players in the space.
Discussion:
VatorNews, Sebastien Provencher's … and Local Media Watch
Joseph Goldstein / New York Times:
Social Media Offers Wealth of Clues for Law Enforcement — First, Facebook helped get Rodney Bradford out of jail; later, it threatened to send him back. — In 2009, the social networking site helped exonerate Mr. Bradford after prosecutors charged him with a robbery in Brooklyn.
