Top Items:


Why Microsoft bought Skype — There is so much to write about but I'll begin with Microsoft buying Skype for $8.5 billion. The pundits are debating whether this move by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer makes good business sense, but that's the wrong way to look at it.
Discussion:
@jason, Telegraph, Launch, Scotland on Sunday and Guardian
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Ballmer's latest acquisition — In a bold move, Microsoft acquires Nokia and catapults itself to the top of the smartphone world. The full integration of Windows Phone 7 software into Nokia hardware will result in a better user experience for customers, a zero-fragmentation platform for developers …


Honeycomb Has A Fighting Chance Against The iPad — If you'd asked me a week ago what I thought about Honeycomb, the tablet version of Android, I would have said that it was in very bad shape and that it would be several months before it could even hold a candle to the iPad 2.
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Nvidia CEO: Next wave of Android tablets address first-gen shortcomings — Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said concerns about the first wave of Android tablets “have been largely addressed” and the next generation of Honeycomb 3.1 devices will be vastly improved.
Discussion:
Engadget, CNET News and The Mobile Gadgeteer Blog


L019: Bitcoin P2P Currency: The Most Dangerous Project We've Ever Seen — by Jason Calacanis and the LAUNCH team — A month ago I heard folks talking online about a virtual currency called bitcoin that is untraceable and un-hackable. Folks were using it to buy and sell drugs online …
Discussion:
gd0t.com, Thanks:hunterowens


Bing Maps To Be Powered (Replaced) By Nokia? — I had a chance lunch with a person with close connections to Nokia about a week ago. Naturally we began talking about the outlook for the Microsoft-Nokia Windows Phone deal. He was hopeful but mindful of the risks for both companies.
Discussion:
WMPoweruser.com


New Privacy Laws in India and China Could Make IT Outsourcing Ugly — Think privacy issues are a pain when they affect consumers? Get ready for the grandfather of all corporate computing headaches. Big privacy-law changes in India and China are about to turn data-processing outsourcing …
Discussion:
Slashdot


RIM recalls 900 faulty BlackBerry PlayBooks, here are the serial numbers (update) — We found the BlackBerry PlayBook to be a pretty solid piece of hardware, but it seems there was a problem batch — an inside source tells us that nearly 1,000 faulty tablets were shipped to Staples, and now they're being recalled.
Discussion:
CrackBerry.com blogs, SAI, It's All Tech, IntoMobile, MobileWhack, Yahoo! News, PhoneArena, Gadgetell, Electronista and The Loop


Social-networking sites face new privacy battle — (05-15) 04:00 PDT Sacramento — California could force Facebook and other social-networking sites to change their privacy protection policies under a first-of-its-kind proposal at the state Capitol that is opposed by much of the Internet industry.
Discussion:
PR Newswire and SocialTimes.com


Another Milestone For Twitter As @LadyGaga Becomes First User To Reach 10 Million Followers — Last month I wrote about how Justin Bieber had become the second Twitter user to reach 9 million followers, with Lady Gaga being the first. — I speculated on which of them would be the first to reach 10 million.
Discussion:
BBC, Neon Limelight, Examiner, Digital Spy and Metro.co.uk


More Windows Phone 7.5 features leak, Facebook chat built-in — Additional Windows Phone 7.5 features leaked on Sunday. — Ryan and Travis Lowdermilk from the Windows Phone Dev Podcast revealed some new features from “Mango” on Sunday. Mango, known to be Windows Phone 7.5 …


Countries That Adopted Facebook Early See Lower Traffic Growth Rates, Occasionally Negative — Many of the largest, earliest-established countries on Facebook have seen odd traffic fluctuations in the last months, according to our Inside Facebook Gold data.

Sony PSN Back Online, Just Not Everywhere — Sony Online Entertainment brought its PlayStation Network back online in parts of Europe and the U.S. Saturday, but some 12 hours after the announcement many PSN customers were left wondering when it would be their turn.
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Green Light is On — Sony PlayStation Network Returns in US
Discussion:
Ars Technica, Geekosystem, PC Magazine and PlayStation Blog