Top Items:
Steve Cheney / steve's blog:
How Facebook is Killing Your Authenticity — We all know that the delineation between public and private was eroded by Facebook a long time ago. Over. Done. But now Facebook's sheer scale is pushing it in a new direction, one that encroaches on your authenticity. — Facebook is no longer a social network.
Discussion:
zenroll.com, Howard Lindzon, broadstuff, @stevecheney and @loic
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Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:
The Real “Authenticity Killer” (and an aside about how bad the Yahoo brand has gotten) — Steve Cheney has never written something that so pissed me off than the blog he wrote today stating that Techcrunch's switch to Facebook comments has killed authenticity. — Here's the rub. He used his real name.
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Facebook Comments Have Silenced The Trolls — But Is It Too Quiet? — As you've noticed by now, we're about a week into our latest experiment in troll-slaying with Facebook Comments. So far, the reactions have been very mixed and very interesting. Publicly, many of the reactions were initially negative.
Discussion:
@sbmiller5, @parislemon, The Next Web, @ed, @mattcutts, @loic and @stevecheney, more at Mediagazer »
Lucas Atkins / N4BB:
Exclusive: BlackBerry 2011 Software Roadmap - OS 7, BIS 4.1, and more! — In the beginning of the year we learned the 2011 BlackBerry lineup through various leaks and roadmaps surfacing. It looks like an exciting year to see RIM release the Dakota/Montana, Malibu, Apollo/Sedona, Monaco …
Discussion:
TechEye, iGeneration Blog, Softpedia News, Electronista, GottaBeMobile, IntoMobile, Life On My Mobile, BlackBerry Cool, MobileWhack and SlashGear
Matt Brian / The Next Web:
Google buys UK comparison website BeatThatQuote.com for £37.7 million — Google has bought UK price comparison website BeatThatQuote.com, acquiring the web property for £37.7 million earlier today. — John Paleomylites, Managing Director of the newly acquired company, took to the website to announce the deal, posting:
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Martin Lane / money.co.uk:
Google to Buy UK Finance Comparison Site BeatThatQuote.com — Google will announce later today the purchase of price comparison site BeatThatQuote.com - a contact at Google informed us this afternoon. — Google have been showing a growing interest in the financial price comparison sector in recent months …
Discussion:
Search Engine Land, TechCrunch, @ashleyjfletcher and Blogstorm, Thanks:aaronwall
Doug Bewsher / The Big Blog:
Advertising in Skype — Today we announce something new - the launch of advertising in Skype, which will appear in the Home tab in Skype starting this week. — The Skype experience is our first priority, which is why we we've taken a lot of time working through and testing what kind …
Discussion:
mocoNews, TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb, The Next Web, BW: GUEST HOME, AdAge, 901am, WebProNews and Download Squad
Chris Ziegler / Engadget:
Sprint's Nexus website is ‘coming soon’ — Just to throw a little more fuel on the fire, it turns out that directing your browser to now.sprint.com/nexus takes you to an landing site where you're told that “this page will be ready soon.” Certainly sounds more likely than ever that Sprint's preparing …
Discussion:
Crave, @dannysullivan, Android Phone Fans, GottaBeMobile, Softpedia News, BlogsDNA, The Next Web, Electronista and Phones Review
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Ryan Paul / Ars Technica:
Feature: Ars reviews the Motorola Xoom — Motorola's Xoom tablet is the first device to ship with Android 3.0, codenamed Honeycomb, a highly anticipated new version of Google's mobile operating system. Honeycomb introduces a sophisticated new user interface that was designed for the tablet form factor …
Discussion:
MacDailyNews and Edible Apple
Jonathan I Ezor / PreCentral.net:
HP lists TouchPad on Amazon (but not for preorder) — HP has taken one more step toward actually selling the TouchPad to customers: it has listed it on Amazon.com. Although the TouchPad shows as “currently not available,” and there's no pricing either, the page allows Amazon customers …
Discussion:
Engadget, ZDNet, Unwired View, MobileBurn.com, Liliputing and Gadgetell
Darren Murph / Engadget:
Western Digital drops $4.3 billion to acquire Hitachi GST, enter staring contest with Seagate — Yow. Western Digital — the company responsible for shipping the planet's first 1TB 2.5-inch hard drive way back in 2009 — just announced a monstrous deal to acquire one of its primary competitors, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies.
Discussion:
VentureBeat, Mashable!, Computerworld, Tech Trader Daily, Digital Trends, CNET News, NewEnterprise, TechEye, DealBook, The Register, Deal Journal, wdc.com, Geek.com, Electronista, TechSpot, Softpedia News and silicontap.com
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Mobile Messaging Startup Kik Raises $8M; Launches Group Chat And Photo Sharing — Mobile messaging startup Kik Interactive has raised $8 million in Series A funding from RRE Ventures, Spark Capital, and Union Square Ventures. Kik also announced that Union Square Ventures' Fred Wilson …
Discussion:
VentureBeat, VatorNews, alarm:clock, A VC and bijan sabet
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
AOL-HuffPo Deal Officially Closes Today-More Big Media Hires Signal New Content Direction Under Arianna — AOL will officially close its $315 million acquisition of the Huffington Post today, according to several sources close to the situation. — The culmination of the deal-which has already …
Discussion:
CNET News, BW: GUEST HOME, TechCrunch, Black Web 2.0, Fortune, GMSV, Softpedia News, SAI and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »
Jessica E. Vascellaro / Wall Street Journal:
TV's Next Wave: Tuning In to You — The television is channeling you. — Data-gathering firms and technology companies are aggressively matching people's TV-viewing behavior with other personal data—in some cases, prescription-drug records obtained from insurers—and using …
Jay Bhatti / SAI: Silicon Alley Insider:
Ex-Microsoft Employee: 5 Things The Kayak Deal Tells Us About Bing — On Friday, Microsoft announced a partnership with Kayak to provide travel results. Jay Bhatti is a former Microsoft employee who founded the people-search engine Spock. Here's what he sees in the deal:
Discussion:
Search Engine Journal, LiveSide.net, Search Engine Roundtable and All about Microsoft Blog
Surur / WMPoweruser.com:
More pictures of the Sony Ericsson Windows Phone 7 prototype — More pictures of the supposed Sony Ericsson Windows Phone 7 prototype handset has popped up on a Chinese blog, clearly taken at the same session as the first leaked picture. These show a device clearly labelled as a prototype not for sale …
Discussion:
SlashGear, Engadget, GottaBeMobile, Techie Buzz, Esato, Softpedia News, Pocket-lint, Fonehome, Phones Review, Electricpig.co.uk, SlashPhone, Gadgetell, Windows 8 Beta, Neowin.net and WinRumors
Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:
Google Controls 97 Percent Of Mobile Paid Search: Report — Almost 5 percent of paid search spending in the US is now in mobile, according to a report released last week from banking and investment firm Macquarie Group, using Efficient Frontier data. That mobile search spend could double …
Discussion:
MediaMemo, Softpedia News and FierceMobileContent
Sylvia Chind / The Three Blog:
Samsung Galaxy Pro coming soon to Three. — Samsung has just announced their Samsung Galaxy Pro and I'm happy to confirm that it'll be coming soon to Three. — The Galaxy Pro is a great smartphone, it features a 2.8" touch screen and a Qwerty keypad and runs on Google's Android 2.2.
Discussion:
The Toybox Blog, GigaOM, Inquirer, BGR, Samsung Hub, IntoMobile, AndroidGuys, Engadget, Android Community, MobileWhack, PhoneArena, The Next Web, SlashGear, IntoMobile, Pocket-lint and Android Phone Fans
BBC:
Cyber attack on France targeted Paris G20 files — It appears that somebody was trying to sneak a look at documents ahead of the G20 summit in Paris — The French finance ministry has confirmed it came under a cyber attack in December that targeted files on the G20 summit held in Paris in February.
Discussion:
CNET News, Fox News, Help Net Security, The Atlantic Online, Computerworld, GigaOM, TechSpot, The Register, Agence France Presse and Neowin.net
Dan Frommer / SAI: Silicon Alley Insider:
iPad 2 Extends Apple's Lead: Apple Will Dominate The Tablet Market For Years — Apple's iPad 2 isn't a massive advance over the first iPad, but with hardware, software, apps, distribution, and pricing combined, it is still by far the best tablet on the market.
Discussion:
MacGazette.net, Appolicious Advisor and The Orange View
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Security experts decipher malware that attacked Android phones — Lookout Mobile Security has deciphered the DroidDream malware that managed to infect numerous apps on the Android Market. Google has taken action to deal with DroidDream, but the risk of infection is still there given the wide diversity of the Android ecosystem.
Discussion:
PC World, ReadWriteWeb, The Official Lookout Blog, Android Tapp, Inquirer and Computerworld