Top Items:
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 …
RELATED:
WordPress.com / @wordpressdotcom:
Our systems are back to normal. We'll continue to monitor them and post updates here if needed.
Discussion:
TechSpot
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.
RELATED:
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:
eWeek, BetaNews, TechCrunch, Digital Trends, TechFlash, Geek.com, SocialTimes.com, eMoney, LiveSide.net, Ubergizmo, IntoMobile, Techland, The Next Web and WMPoweruser.com, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:
Matt Rosoff / SAI: Silicon Alley Insider:
Microsoft Adds Daily Deals To Bing
Discussion:
paidContent, GigaOM, Search Engine Land and All about Microsoft Blog
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, PhoneArena, LAPTOP Magazine, iGeneration Blog, Geek.com, GottaBeMobile, CrackBerry.com blogs, Engadget, SAI, msnbc.com, MacRumors iPhone Blog, GMSV, Gizmodo Australia, Techland, Digital Trends, Geekosystem, Redmond Pie, TechSpot, IntoMobile, Gearlog, Electronista, Neowin.net, GizmoFusion, PhoneDog.com, TUAW, Droid Life, Ubergizmo, SlashGear, TiPb, MacStories, Electricpig.co.uk, ReadWriteWeb, Android Phone Fans, VentureBeat, The Next Web, Techie Buzz, The Toybox Blog, Your Daily Apple, Erictric, Download Squad, T3.com News, Android Community, Pocket-lint, The Huffington Post and everythingiCafe
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, ReadWriteWeb, PC World, SAI, App Advice, SAI, VatorNews, Twitter Blog, IntoMobile, Mashable!, AppScout, @avinio, @eric_andersen, everythingiCafe and Electronista
RELATED:
Federico Viticci / MacStories:
Twitter Updates iOS App with Lots Of New Features
Discussion:
The Download Blog, The Next Web, Shoutpedia and Gizmodo Australia, Thanks:viticci
Jay Hathaway / Download Squad:
Twitter for iOS updated with “quick bar” and new friend finder
Discussion:
TiPb, Redmond Pie and GeekSugar
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:
Friending Facebook Blog, L.A. Times Tech Blog, All Facebook, SAI and Venture Capital Dispatch
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, AppleInsider, 9 to 5 Mac, everythingiCafe, The Next Web, Digital Trends, Ubergizmo, TiPb, CrunchGear, MacNN, Geek.com, Apple Bitch, MacRumors, iLounge and 9 to 5 Mac
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:
GigaOM, ArcticStartup Posts, NetworkEffect, ReadWriteWeb and Scobleizer
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:
paidContent, CNET News, VentureBeat, Fast Company, SAI, SlashGear, Geek.com, Mobile Marketing Watch, BloggingStocks, Gamasutra, Electronista and The Tech Trade, Thanks:mikebutcher
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, @tedr and TechCrunch
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 …
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:
L.A. Times Tech Blog, PC World, MediaPost, Associated Press, The Next Web, Epicenter, ITworld.com, GMSV, Reuters, Hillicon Valley, @danprimack, Techland, Post Tech, Fast Company and SAI, more at Mediagazer »
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft Blog:
A low-tech Microsoft slate for the masses — You can never be too thin or too fast ... or too pricey — if you're a slate/tablet targeted at the developed world. But if customers in the developing world are your focus, iPads, Galaxy Tabs and Windows 7 business slates are probably out of the reach of most of them.
Joe Wilcox / BetaNews:
iPad 2 wasn't Apple's big March 2nd announcement — It was the software — FaceTime, Garage Band, iMovie and Photo Booth — and the colorful Smart Covers. I kid you not. There are good reasons why so much of yesterday's launch event focused on software — hell, Apple even made a video …
Discussion:
Guardian and MacGazette.net
Cecilia Kang / Post Tech:
Free messaging apps threaten wireless carriers' cash cow — Here's the dirty secret about text messages. It costs a wireless carrier close to nothing to send and receive them — even though they charge about $10 a month for 500 to 1,000 texts. — Now, a new crop of messaging apps …
Discussion:
dailywireless.org and DSLreports
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:
DealBook, Reuters and SocialTimes.com
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:
SAI, Search Engine Land, VentureBeat, ReadWriteWeb, IntoMobile, SlashGear, Mashable!, GigaOM and louisgray.com
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:
Ars Technica, Electronista, TechCrunch, Geek.com, Network World, Inquirer, TechFlash and TechEye
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 »
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:
App Advice, MediaPost, WPCentral.com, TUAW, Switched and The Business Insider, more at Mediagazer »
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, The Next Web and TUAW
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:
PC World, Gizmodo, 9 to 5 Mac, Apple, AllNewsMac and Macworld
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, AT&T, PC World, eWeek, Macworld, MacRumors, Gizmodo, MacStories and Engadget
