Top Items:
Kent Walker / The Official Google Blog:
Patents and innovation — The tech world has recently seen an explosion in patent litigation, often involving low-quality software patents, which threatens to stifle innovation. Some of these lawsuits have been filed by people or companies that have never actually created anything …
Discussion:
InformationWeek, Fortune, Tom Foremski, TechCrunch, Digital Trends, PC Magazine, VentureBeat, paidContent, Ars Technica, VoIP & Gadgets Blog, SlashGear, Bloomberg, The Register, Search Engine Land, Android Phone Fans, Erictric, Profectio, Mobilized, I4U News, Geek.com, dailywireless.org, ReadWriteWeb, Washington Post, BetaNews, Silicon Valley Watcher, Search Engine Journal, Electronista, GigaOM, internetnews.com, IntoMobile, FierceWireless, Download Squad, Computerworld, 9 to 5 Mac, Engadget, The Huffington Post, CNET News, TechEye, Bits, Internet Evolution, Neowin.net, @jlanzone, Wall Street Journal and Tech Trader Daily
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Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Google bids $900M for Nortel patents, but Microsoft already has them in the bag — [Post updated at 1:45 p.m. with clarification of Microsoft's rights to these patents under a previous licensing deal with Nortel.] — An executive with bankrupt Nortel Networks calls its intellectual property holdings …
Discussion:
All about Microsoft Blog, TechNet Blogs, Financial Post, BGR, silicontap.com, Daring Fireball and Market Wire
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines Blog:
Google bids $900 million for 6,000 Nortel telecom patents
Discussion:
Mashable!, PC World, The Next Web and NBC Bay Area
Mike Swift / Mercury News:
Google: Product chief, Silicon Valley veteran Jonathan Rosenberg to step down — Larry Page's retaking the reins as Google's (GOOG) CEO Monday came with the most significant change in years in the makeup of the company's tight-knit senior management core: Jonathan Rosenberg …
Discussion:
SAI, The Register, Bits, TechCrunch, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Fortune, CNET News, Search Engine Land, Digital Daily and mocoNews
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Carolyn Penner / Twitter Blog:
Discover new accounts and search like a pro — We've made it easier to find and follow Twitter accounts based on your interests. When you search for a topic, you can now discover accounts that are relevant to that particular subject. (Previously, you would have seen accounts that have the specific term in their name or username. )
Discussion:
VentureBeat, techPresident, VatorNews, ReadWriteWeb, PC Magazine, Engadget, TechCrunch, The Next Web, WebProNews and GeekSugar
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Sarah Lacy / TechCrunch:
Milk: Kevin Rose's New Company Aims to Solve Big Problems on the Mobile Web — Well by Silicon Valley standards, that certainly wasn't a long “stealth” period. Just weeks after he quit Digg, Kevin Rose is announcing details of his new startup. Knowing Rose, I can tell why he's so excited to get started.
Discussion:
Fast Company, VentureBeat, metarand, PC Magazine, NetworkEffect and Gear Live
SuperSite for Windows:
Windows 8 Secrets: Modern Reader — Part four in a series of co-posts by Windows 8 Secrets co-authors Rafael Rivera and Paul Thurrott. — There are two big pieces of news in today's revelation. First, Microsoft will apparently be including its own PDF reader in Windows 8.
Discussion:
Gizmodo, WinRumors, Within Windows, GeekWire, istartedsomething, Neowin.net, Neowin.net, Microsoft News, Download Squad, Electronista and Gizmodo Australia
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Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:
Android is a mess, say developers — A new survey analyzes the pros and cons of writing for various mobile platforms — On the heels of the debate played out over the weekend between Union Square Ventures' Fred Wilson and Instapaper's Marco Arment about whether it's wiser to be writing apps for Apple's …
Discussion:
Electronista, SAI, Betabeat, Droid Life, CrunchGear, IntoMobile, I4U News, Ubergizmo, parislemon and 9 to 5 Mac, Thanks:hornokplease
Wall Street Journal:
Grand Jury Investigates Apps — Online music service Pandora Media Inc. said it had received a subpoena related to a federal grand-jury investigation of information-sharing practices by smartphone applications. — In a Securities and Exchange Commission related to its planned initial public offering …
Discussion:
AppleInsider, App Advice, Computerworld, 9 to 5 Mac, GigaOM, MobileCrunch, CNET News, Gizmodo, Electronista, MacDailyNews and Gizmodo Australia
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Adam Satariano / Bloomberg:
Pandora Discloses Privacy-Related Grand Jury Probe of Apps
Discussion:
BGR, Ars Technica, The Loop, mocoNews, Android Community, L.A. Times Tech Blog and TechCrunch
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Facebook For iPhone Gets Event Check-Ins, Maps, And Unfriending — A couple weeks ago, after All Facebook spotted the ability to check-in to Facebook events, the social network confirmed to us that the feature would be launching shortly on the iPhone and their mobile-based touch site. Today, here it is.
Discussion:
ReadWriteWeb, SAI, App Advice, MacStories, Inside Mobile Apps, All Facebook, GigaOM, MacNN, IntoMobile, Redmond Pie, 9 to 5 Mac, GeekSmack, GottaBeMobile, TiPb and TUAW
Georgina Prodhan / Reuters:
FT won't give up subscriber relationship to Apple — (Reuters) - The Financial Times wants to keep selling subscriptions for its digital news directly to readers rather than surrender control of new customers who sign up via Apple's iPad, the managing director of FT.com said.
Discussion:
Macworld, App Advice, Daring Fireball, MacStories, TUAW, Electronista, thinq_, MacRumors, MobileBurn.com, MacDailyNews, Gizmodo Australia and everythingiCafe, more at Mediagazer »
Christian Zibreg / 9 to 5 Mac:
After 201 days in review, Apple greenlights iPhone app that unmasks blocked calls (updated with video) — Apple's review process has gone a long way since the early days when every day would bring a new story about a controversial rejection. It's rare nowadays that an app would take longer …
Discussion:
Gizmodo, The Next Web, msnbc.com, App Advice, Softpedia News, iClarified and MacNN
Derrick Harris / GigaOM:
VMware Takes Over EMC's Mozy Cloud Storage Service — VMware is officially entering the service provider market by taking over the operations of the Mozy cloud-based storage service from parent company EMC. VMware CTO Steven Herrod announced the news on his blog today, writing that …
Discussion:
VMware Blogs, GeekWire and eWeek
John Paczkowski / Digital Daily:
The MacBook Air: A $2.2 Billion-a-Year “Quasi-Tablet” — With all the chatter over the iPad 2, the iPhone 4 and its successor, it's easy to forget that Apple has another ultra-portable device that's doing quite well at market: the MacBook Air. — Nearly six months after it launched …
Discussion:
MacRumors, AppleInsider, Fortune, GeekSmack, MacStories, TUAW, MacNN and I4U News
Jott Blog:
Jott service ending on May 3rd, 2011 — By now you probably know that we will no longer be offering the Jott service. We have included below the text of an email we sent to our active customers today. — We founded Jott in April of 2006. In the five years that have followed …
Zach Epstein / BGR:
AT&T confirms early upgrade price changes for iPhone 4, other smartphones — AT&T has confirmed to BGR that it has made changes to early upgrade pricing for its smartphones. The changes impact customers who wish to upgrade to a new smartphone but are not yet eligible for an upgrade at fully discounted two-year contract prices.
Discussion:
Electronista, AppleInsider, PC Magazine, GeekSmack, VentureBeat, MacRumors, iPhone Download Blog, O'Grady's PowerPage, TiPb, App Advice, FierceWireless, MobileCrunch, Mashable!, TUAW, Mobile Marketing Watch, BetaNews, IntoMobile, Techland, Android Phone Fans, PhoneDog.com, GottaBeMobile, Softpedia News, iLounge, Gadgetell, Gizmodo and The Huffington Post
Arik Hesseldahl / NewEnterprise:
Texas Instruments to Acquire National Semiconductor for $6.5 Billion — Two of the oldest names in the chip business are about to combine. About as long as I've known about electronics, I've known of the names Texas Instruments and National Semiconductor.
Business Insider:
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH NETFLIX CEO REED HASTINGS: Netflix's Market Opportunity Is A Lot Bigger Than You Think — Our INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK this week is with one of the most successful Founder-CEOs in the history of the online industry: Reed Hastings of Netflix.
Discussion:
The Wire and Tech Trader Daily
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
LivingSocial Files To Authorize Up To $565M In Series E Funding — Reports of daily deals site LivingSocial being in talks to raise around $500 million in Series E are now backed up by LivingSocial's amended and restated Certificate of Incorporation filed on March 31st and unearthed today by the VCExperts blog.
Discussion:
eMoney, VentureBeat and VC Experts
Tom Warren / WinRumors:
Microsoft may announce Silverlight for Xbox next week … Microsoft may be preparing to announce plans to introduce Silverlight for the Xbox 360, WinRumors has learned. — The software giant looks set to detail its plans at the MIX11 conference next week in Las Vegas.
Discussion:
The Next Web, Electronista and WMPoweruser.com, Thanks:tomwarren
Greg Sandoval / Media Maverick:
MPAA files copyright suit against Zediva — The trade group representing the six major Hollywood film studios filed a copyright suit in federal court against online video distributor Zediva today. — The suit has started the process that almost certainly will end with Zediva's demise.
Greg Bensinger / Bloomberg:
Sprint Plans Tap-and-Go Payment Service This Year to Get a Jump on Rivals — Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) plans to start a service this year that will allow customers to make purchases with their mobile phones, ahead of a similar initiative from rivals Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc. (T) and T-Mobile USA.
Discussion:
Technologizer, Engadget, Phone Scoop, CNET News, Electronista, IntoMobile, PhoneDog.com, MobileBurn.com, ReadWriteWeb and mocoNews
Matthew Lasar / Ars Technica:
It could be worse: data caps around the world — Here at Ars we spend a lot of time writing about data caps—those ceilings on how much broadband data you can use before your ISP taps you on the shoulder and tells you it's time to pay more. Depending on where you live, these can range from “inconvenient” to “ruinous.”
Discussion:
PC World, TechCrunch and msnbc.com
