Top Items:
Dina Bass / Bloomberg:
Microsoft Said to Stop Releasing New Zune Models as Demand Ebbs — Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) will cease introducing new versions of the Zune music and video-player amid tepid demand, helping the company shift its focus to mobile phones, according to a person familiar with the decision.
Discussion:
GeekWire, Inquirer, PC World, Brave New World, Mashable!, Ubergizmo, FierceMobileContent, RazorianFly, PhoneArena, TUAW, Black Web 2.0, BetaNews, X-bit labs, ThinkMobile, TechSpot, GeekSmack, VG247, LiveSide.net, Appletell, Guardian, CrunchGear, Mobile Entertainment, 9 to 5 Mac, Gadgetell, Ars Technica, SAI, Gearlog, Yahoo! News, PC Magazine, hypebot, Product Reviews, @methodshop, Electricpig, Technologizer, VentureBeat, Liliputing, DailyTech, GottaBeMobile, Digital Daily, LAPTOP Magazine, Erictric, The Next Web, @dinabass, WPCentral.com, MacDailyNews, Crave, Hardware 2.0 Blog and Gadget Lab
RELATED:
Donald Melanson / Engadget:
Microsoft reportedly kills off Zune hardware, will focus on software instead
Discussion:
@dinabass, Anything But iPod, Electronista, The Mobile Gadgeteer Blog, The Next Web and WinRumors
Cade Metz / The Register:
Apple handcuffs ‘open’ web apps on iPhone home screen — Three ‘bug’ App Store ‘conspiracy’ — Exclusive Apple's iOS mobile operating system is running web applications at significantly slower speeds when they're launched from the iPhone or iPad home screen as opposed to the Apple Safari browser …
Discussion:
GigaOM, App Advice, Tim Anderson's ITWriting, iPhone Buzz, SlashGear, Mobile Entertainment, everythingiCafe, The Next Web and MobileCrunch
MSDN Blogs:
IE9 Release Globally Available for Consumers and Businesses — The final, consumer-ready Internet Explorer 9 is available for download starting at 9:00 PM PDT at www.BeautyOfTheWeb.com in 39 languages. With this set of browser releases, the best experience of the Web is on Windows.
RELATED:
Joanna Stern / Engadget:
Internet Explorer 9 launches tonight, we've got your early look (update: it's live) — Yes, we know it's PI day, but don't tell the guys and gals at Microsoft — we hear they're celebrating something a little different. That's right, the long-awaited IE9 browser is finally coming out of its beta …
Kevin Rose Blogg:
Apple's Role in Japan during the Tohoku Earthquake — Wow, this email is from a friend of mine that works for Apple in Japan... makes me happy Apple went the extra mile here, check out his story below: — Dear Alex L, David, & Kevin, — Hi this is XXXXX in Japan.
Discussion:
Geek.com, Gearlog, Pulse2, TiPb, AppleInsider, Neowin.net, Edible Apple, IntoMobile, RazorianFly, ifoAppleStore, PhoneArena, TUAW, MacStories and MacHackPC
Bloomberg:
Google Is Said to Plan Payment Test in New York, San Francisco — Google Inc. (GOOG) plans to start testing a mobile-payment service at stores in New York and San Francisco within four months, letting shoppers use their phones to ring up purchases, two people familiar with the project said.
Discussion:
Mobile Marketing Watch, Fortune, Digital Trends, Gizmodo, Engadget, DailyTech, Ubergizmo, SAI, mocoNews, Android Phone Fans, NBC Bay Area, Electronista and SlashGear
Mark Gurman / 9 to 5 Mac:
iPad 2 shortages continue: now shipping in 4-5 weeks from Apple's online store — This is already becoming insane: the iPad 2 is now shipping in 4-5 weeks from the Apple online store. That means if you order an iPad 2 from the online store right now it won't show up at your door step for over a month.
Discussion:
Digital Daily, AppleInsider, SAI, Gearlog, GottaBeMobile, Phones Review, RazorianFly, MacStories and everythingiCafe
RELATED:
Matthew Rothenberg / updates @ m.blog:
On Leaving Flickr — So uh, yeah... I know these sorts of personal departure posts are a bit trite, and I certainly have mixed feelings about posting one. However, as Yahoo-bashing is apparently quite de rigueur in the tech press these days, I wanted to make sure my reasons for leaving Flickr …
Discussion:
Thomas Hawk Digital Connection, SAI and WebProNews
RELATED:
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Flickr Burning As Yahoo Fiddles: Head Of Service Walks Away
Discussion:
@mroth, Pulse2 and ReadWriteWeb
AWS Evangelist / Amazon Web Services Blog:
A New Approach to Amazon EC2 Networking — You've been able to use the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud to construct a secure bridge between your existing IT infrastructure and the AWS cloud using an encrypted VPN connection. All communication between Amazon EC2 instances running within …
Carolyn Penner / Twitter Blog:
#numbers — Five years ago this week, a small team of people started working on a prototype of the service that we now know as Twitter. On March 21, 2006, Jack Dorsey (@jack) sent the first Tweet. — Today, on every measure of growth and engagement, Twitter is growing at a record pace.
RELATED:
Caroline McCarthy / CNET News:
Twitter: 140 million tweets per day and counting
Discussion:
Ubergizmo, ReadWriteWeb and Geek Gestalt
Jeremy Horwitz / iLounge:
An Open Letter to Jon Bon Jovi On What's Really “Killing The Music Business” — When my wife—a huge and long-time Bon Jovi fan—asked me to spend over $300 for two floor seat tickets to your Valentine's Day show in Toronto, there were two reasons that I said yes.
Discussion:
Cult of Mac, Engadget, @shawnking, Mac|Life, GMSV, Gizmodo, @gartenberg and 9 to 5 Mac, Thanks:horwitz
John Boudreau / Mercury News:
In Silicon Valley, no immediate threat to supply chains from Japan disaster — Despite the widespread devastation in Japan, experts don't see imminent dangers to global tech supply chains that Silicon Valley companies depend on. — Japan is a powerhouse in production of high-end technology commodities …
RELATED:
Miyoung Kim / Reuters:
Chip prices jump as Japan disaster hits tech supplies
Discussion:
VentureBeat, Telegraph, Product Reviews, PC Magazine and Fudzilla
Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
Feature: Ars reviews the iPad 2: big performance gains in a slimmer package — Apple's original iPad has taken off to levels none of us anticipated when it was launched one year ago. Though it has very recently gotten some competition in the tablet space, the iPad still dominates the market and mindshare of new tablet buyers.
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Report: Piracy a “global pricing problem” with only one solution — A major new report from a consortium of academic researchers concludes that media piracy can't be stopped through “three strikes” Internet disconnections, Web censorship, more police powers, higher statutory damages, or tougher criminal penalties.
Discussion:
TechEye
Matt McGee / Search Engine Land:
Google Relaunches Street View Website — Google is revealing more about its sometimes controversial Street View product with an expanded web site that just launched today. — The new site continues to show where Street View vehicles are currently active and educates people on how to use Street View's features.
Discussion:
Google LatLong, @google, The Next Web, Softpedia News and Electricpig
Macworld:
Tablet camera tests: iPad 2 vs. Motorola Xoom vs. Samsung Galaxy Tab — Odds are, if you ask anyone waiting in line for an iPad 2, they'll list plenty of reasons why they're lusting after Apple's latest camera-equipped tablet. — According to our lab tests, image quality isn't going to be one of them.
Discussion:
GottaBeMobile, eWeek, CrunchGear, PC World, Electronista, TUAW and RazorianFly
Chris Chang / M.I.C. Gadget:
Facebook Is Not Happy With The Poking Inventor Action Figure — We're the big fans of the man who makes the world more open and connected. So we introduced the “Poking Inventor” action figure. Everyone likes the social network, but we never thought Mr. Mark Zuckerberg would be unhappy …
Thanks:jeremyfranklin
Joe Mullin / paidContent:
Will Congress Push Google To Tweak Its Algorithm To Punish Pirate Sites? — Judging by today's hearings, some members of Congress are willing to consider radical measures to rid the internet of “rogue” websites accused of piracy. Among them: getting search engines like Google (NSDQ: GOOG) …
Discussion:
Techdirt, Search Engine Land, Fast Company, Music Ally, Bloomberg, Tech Daily Dose and All Headline News
Matt Rosoff / SAI: Silicon Alley Insider:
Google's 15 Biggest Acquisitions And What Happened To Them — Google has a reputation as an innovative company, but in fact it owes a lot of its success to acquisitions. — Google basically bought AdSense, the paid search platform that made it a financial powerhouse, from Applied Semantics in 2003.
Tim Chaten / App Advice:
iPad 2 Beats Out MacBook Pros In iMovie Speed Tests! — Now that iMovie has made its way onto our iPads, you may be curious to see just how well it performs. We were just as curious. The question we want to answer is this: If I am going to be shooting video on the road, what portable machine do I bring to edit/encode videos?
Discussion:
everythingiCafe and Gizmodo
