Top Items:
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:
Mercury News, MediaPost, VatorNews, TechCrunch, GigaOM, asymco, Digital Trends, Daring Fireball, GMSV, ReadWriteWeb, Know Your Cell, IntoMobile, SlashGear, Electronista, Android Community, Engadget and Android Phone Fans
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Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
WordPress.com Suffers Largest DDoS Attack In Its History — You have no idea how hard it was to get this post up, as WordPress.com, our blog host, is currently under a denial of service attack. It's been almost impossible to access the TechCrunch backend for the past 10 minutes …
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WordPress.com / @wordpressdotcom:
Our systems are back to normal. We'll continue to monitor them and post updates here if needed.
Discussion:
TechSpot
Jonathan S. Geller / BGR:
Exclusive: BlackBerry Messenger will launch on Android and iOS — BGR has learned from multiple trusted sources that Research In Motion is planning to bring its beloved BlackBerry Messenger app and service to Android, and eventually to iOS as well. According to our sources …
Discussion:
CNET News, PC World, GigaOM, CNNMoney.com, App Advice, LAPTOP Magazine, iGeneration Blog, SAI, MacRumors iPhone Blog, Geek.com, Digital Trends, GottaBeMobile, The Toybox Blog, CrackBerry.com blogs, msnbc.com, Gizmodo Australia, Engadget, ReadWriteWeb, Techland, Geekosystem, Redmond Pie, TechSpot, IntoMobile, Gearlog, Electronista, Neowin.net, GizmoFusion, PhoneDog.com, TUAW, Droid Life, Ubergizmo, SlashGear, TiPb, MacStories, Electricpig.co.uk, Android Phone Fans, VentureBeat, The Next Web, Techie Buzz, T3.com News, Your Daily Apple, Erictric, The Huffington Post, Download Squad, Android Community and Pocket-lint
Andy Chu / Bing:
Bing Launches Deals — Calling all bargain hunters, deal lovers, Groupon groupies and Living Social fanatics! Things just got easier. — Today we're launching Bing deals for the desktop and mobile (m.bing.com) - giving you access to more than 200,000 unique offers in over 14,000 cities …
Discussion:
BetaNews, TechCrunch, Digital Trends, TechFlash, LiveSide.net, Geek.com, SocialTimes.com, Ubergizmo, eMoney, IntoMobile, Techland and The Next Web, more at Mediagazer »
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Matt Rosoff / SAI: Silicon Alley Insider:
Microsoft Adds Daily Deals To Bing — Microsoft will incorporate daily deals and discounts into Bing search results through a partnership with The Dealmap.The move gives Microsoft another weapon against Google, who failed to acquire Groupon after bidding a reported $6 billion late last year.
Discussion:
paidContent, GigaOM, All about Microsoft Blog and Search Engine Land
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
With “Quick Bar”, Twitter Has Figured Out How To Cram Ads Into The Stream — Twitter has just rolled out a pretty substantial new update to the iOS versions of its app today. Several of the new features look nice, such as the new Tweet box design, and the easier way to find friends via phone contacts.
Discussion:
Technologizer, SAI, App Advice, ReadWriteWeb, Twitter Blog, VatorNews, SAI, Mashable!, everythingiCafe, AppScout, @eric_andersen, Electronista and @avinio
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Jay Hathaway / Download Squad:
Twitter for iOS updated with “quick bar” and new friend finder
Discussion:
MacStories, The Download Blog, Redmond Pie, TiPb, The Next Web and Shoutpedia
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:
Examiner, GigaOM, Gadget Lab, Digital Trends, AppleInsider, 9 to 5 Mac, The Next Web, Ubergizmo, TiPb, CrunchGear, MacNN, Geek.com, Apple Bitch, 9 to 5 Mac, MacRumors and iLounge
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Ditto: The Social App For What You Should Be Doing — Think about Foursquare right now. You can tell everyone what you're currently doing, but there's no good mechanism for planning something to do or for getting a recommendation for something to do. Sure, you could use “shouts” that way.
Discussion:
NetworkEffect, ArcticStartup Posts, ReadWriteWeb and Scobleizer
Garett Sloane / New York Post:
Facebook co-founder set to sell 10M shares — While deep-pocketed investors from New York to Beijing are clamoring to buy a piece of Facebook, news that a co-founder of the social networking giant is shopping around a portion of his stake is raising eyebrows on Wall Street, The Post has learned.
Discussion:
L.A. Times Tech Blog, All Facebook, SAI and Venture Capital Dispatch
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:
CNET News, VentureBeat, Mobile Marketing Watch, Geek.com, Fast Company, BloggingStocks, SAI, SlashGear and Gamasutra, Thanks:mikebutcher
Nir Ben Yona / Technologer:
Did Apple Just ‘Borrow’ The Smart Cover Idea From Incase? — Apple has really blown our minds away with their latest and greatest Smart Cover revelation, yesterday morning. Designed specifically for iPad 2 devices, the fabulous and colorful covers - soon to be offered in polyurethane or leather flavors …
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
The Twitter Story Fail — It's amazing to me how wrong The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times were on their Twitter fundraising stories last week. All claimed multiple independent sources, but everyone got the story wrong in the same way.
Discussion:
Computerworld, MediaPost, The Next Web, Epicenter, ITworld.com, Associated Press, Techland, Hillicon Valley, Reuters, GMSV, @danprimack, Post Tech, Fast Company and SAI, more at Mediagazer »
Seth Weintraub / Fortune:
Steve Jobs' reality distortion takes its toll on truth — Apple twisted facts and used an erroneous quotation to try to convince crowds that all other tablets had no shot at de-throning the iPad in 2011. — In what seems like a ritual at this point, I watched Apple's iPad 2 keynote in disbelief …
Ryan Kim / GigaOM:
Instapaper's Arment: Seek Money From Customers, Not VCs — Marco Arment, the former chief technology officer of the Tumblr blog platform, is best known these days for his time-shifting reading app Instapaper. But he could start a side-job as a financial advisor to start-ups.
Discussion:
Jeff Nolan, more at Mediagazer »
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:
Geek.com, TechCrunch, TechFlash, Inquirer, Network World and TechEye
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
And Now The True Test For Hot Beta Chat App Yobongo: Going Live — We've written about Yobongo a couple of times now. It's an interesting concept (location-centric realtime mobile chat) with great execution. But that execution has so far only had to withstand 140 or so beta testers.
Discussion:
Search Engine Land, VentureBeat, ReadWriteWeb, SAI, IntoMobile, GigaOM, SlashGear, Mashable! and louisgray.com
David Kirkpatrick / Vanity Fair:
Twitter Was Act One — Considering that he invented Twitter and is about to launch another potential game changer with his new company, Square, Jack Dorsey has one of the lowest profiles in tech. But from his childhood obsession (city maps) to his dream job (mayor of New York City) …
Discussion:
eMoney and TechCrunch
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:
MediaPost, TUAW, WPCentral.com and Switched, more at Mediagazer »
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
AT&T Introduces Postpaid Subscription Plans for Tablet Data Access — Fresh on the heels of confirmation that AT&T will support personal hotspot functionality for the iPhone 4 when the feature debuts with iOS 4.3 next week, the carrier today also announced the launch of new postpaid subscription data plans …
Discussion:
Ars Technica, PC World, Macworld, AT&T, eWeek, MacRumors, Gizmodo, MacStories and Engadget
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
‘Joint Venture’ Small Business Program Officially Launched — Earlier this week, we noted that Apple had prepped its employees for a rollout of a new support program known as “Joint Venture” targeting small businesses. The program has now officially launched and is essentially in line …
Discussion:
PC World, Macworld, TUAW and The Next Web
Horace Dediu / asymco:
Apps are 15 times more popular than ebooks … The Passion of Steve Jobs - NYTimes.com — It was almost exactly three years ago that Steve Jobs dismissed the Kindle reader as a futile attempt to change user behavior. — Yesterday, Steve Jobs announced that the iBooks store served 100 million ebooks …
Discussion:
Kindle Review
David Faber / The Faber Report:
Latest Facebook Investment Values Company at $65 Billion — General Atlantic, a $17 billion investment firm, will soon become the latest investor in Facebook, buying one tenth of one percent of the company in a deal that values the social networking giant at $65 billion, according to people with knowledge of the transaction.
Discussion:
Reuters
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Apple Seeds iOS 4.3 Golden Master to Developers — Apple today seeded the golden master version of iOS 4.3 to developers, paving the way for a public release of the update on March 11th. — The update is available in versions for the iPad, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and third- and fourth-generation iPod touch …
Discussion:
9 to 5 Mac, Gizmodo, Apple and Macworld
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:
PR Newswire, topics.scmp.com, TechEye, Gadgetell and IntoMobile
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Browser makers release standard to bring 3D graphics to web apps without plug-ins — An industry consortium including browser makers Apple, Mozilla, Opera and Google today announced it has created a final standard on how to deliver built-in 3D graphics in web pages that won't require a plug-in or add-on to the browser.
Discussion:
The Register
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, Techland, SlashGear, DailyTech, MobileBurn.com, Phones Review, Between the Lines Blog, CNET News, DSLreports and PhoneArena
