Top Items:
Philip Su / Facebook Blog:
Call Your Friends Right From Facebook — Over the last year, the messages team has been working to make it easier to have one on one conversations with your friends. In November, we launched the new messages, which brings together your chats, texts, emails and messages all in one place.
Discussion:
USA Today, PC World, The Business Insider, 9to5Mac, Inside Facebook, Engadget, AppleInsider, CNET News, GeekWire, Ars Technica, Search Engine Land, dailywireless.org, ITworld.com, Wall Street Journal, Search Engine Land, msnbc.com, WinRumors, ZDNet, VR-Zone, @maggieshiels, Daily Patricia, 9to5Google, Off On A Tangent, @thepeterha, Techland, @rhodri, LiveSide.net, Friending Facebook Blog, The Digital Home, @maggieshiels, @dancosta, Mobilized, @larrymagid, App Advice, BGR, SiliconFilter and Gizmodo
RELATED:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Facebook Video Chat v. Google Hangouts: It's No Contest — One of the questions I had when I broke the news last week about the Facebook/Skype partnership: Would group video chat be part of the product, and if so would it be free? — The answer is no, there's no group chat.
Discussion:
Mashable!, Reuters, MediaFile, ReadWriteWeb and lalawag
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Facebook Launches Skype-Powered Video Calling
Discussion:
The Big Blog, AllThingsD, Engadget, Telegraph, PC Magazine, Guardian, PSFK, WebProNews, Mashable!, Gadget Lab, The Next Web and mocoNews
Matt Rosoff / The Business Insider:
Next For Facebook And Skype: Calls To Outside Phones
Discussion:
SplatF
Lorraine Luk / Wall Street Journal:
Apple Preparing For New iPhone in Third Quarter — TAIPEI—Apple Inc. has placed orders for key components used in a next-generation iPhone it is preparing to launch sometime in the third quarter, according to people familiar with the situation. — According to some suppliers of components to Apple …
RELATED:
Tiernan Ray / Tech Trader Daily:
Sprint iPhone Deal Appears Likely, Says Citadel — Citadel Securities analyst Shing Yin this morning writes that it is increasingly likely that there will be an iPhone from Apple (AAPL) for Sprint-Nextel (S), especially considering that with the inauguration of Verizon Communications (VZ) …
Discussion:
MacRumors, PhoneArena, PC World, The Tech Trade, 9to5Mac, The Toybox Blog, CNET News, Redmond Pie, PhoneDog.com, Neowin.net, Mac Post, VentureBeat, TiPb and iPhone Download Blog
Tom Anderson / Google+:
Mark Zuckerberg's first public response to Google+ - — Today at the Facebook news conference, +Ben Parr had the stones to ask Mark what he thought of Google+. (He was polite about it. I approve.) Zuckerberg responded by saying that lots of companies are going to build things like video chat …
Discussion:
TechCrunch
RELATED:
Ben Parr / Mashable!:
Zuckerberg on Google+: It's a Validation of Facebook's Vision — What does Mark Zuckerberg think of Google+, the search giant's new social network? — We were curious, so we asked Zuckerberg two questions at Facebook's video chat event in Palo Alto, California: Will there be group video chat in the future?
Discussion:
The Business Insider, AllThingsD and Redmond Pie
Chris Van Der Westhuizen / The Official Google Blog:
Google Maps 5.7 for Android introduces Transit Navigation (Beta) and more — (Cross-posted on the Google Lat Long Blog and the Google Mobile Blog) — Today we're releasing Google Maps 5.7 for Android. From Bangkok to Baltimore, we've added Transit Navigation (Beta), updated access to directions …
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Remember When Twitter Was A Joke? No One Is Laughing Anymore. — I recall a time a few years ago when Twitter was scoffed at. It was the blogosphere's punching-bag. It was the stupid little service that no one in their right mind would ever use. It was for people who wanted to share …
RELATED:
Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
So was the Twitter Town Hall better than a regular one?
Discussion:
AllThingsD, Bloomberg, PC Magazine, Media Decoder, The Atlantic Online and The Caucus
NielsenWire:
Play Before Work: Games Most Popular Mobile App Category in US — Games continue to be the most popular app category, and according to Nielsen research, 93 percent of app downloaders — those who have downloaded an app within the past 30 days - are willing to pay for the games they play.
Discussion:
Computerworld, BetaNews, Ars Technica, USA Today, PadGadget, BlackBerry Cool, TechFlash, IntoMobile, Hardware 2.0 Blog, Marketing Pilgrim, iPhone, WebProNews, CNET News, Mobile Marketing Watch, Communications …, BGR, MarketingVox News & Trends, mocoNews, FierceMobileContent and PhoneArena
Chris Ziegler / This is my next:
Exclusive: redesigned Motorola Droid Bionic looks confirmed in Best Buy leak — “With the ferocious force of Verizon 4G LTE, the Droid Bionic is an all-powerful, unstoppable machine.” Pretty graphic language, isn't it? That's the opening line in this leaked Best Buy Mobile promo material …
Bianca Bosker / The Huffington Post:
Google Exec Marissa Mayer Explains Why There Aren't More Girl Geeks … Google , Marissa Mayer , Marissa Mayer Google , Marissa Mayer Women In Tech , Women In Tech , Marissa Mayer Gmail , Marissa Mayer Google News , Technology News — In 1999, Marissa Mayer, then a recent Stanford University graduate …
Discussion:
Search Engine Journal
Zach Epstein / BGR:
Apple to launch ‘iPad 2 Plus’ with better display this year, analyst claims — Apple is gearing up to launch an updated version of its popular iPad 2 tablet with a high-resolution display later this year, according to FBR Capital Markets analyst Craig Berger.
Discussion:
International Business Times, MacRumors, CrunchGear, @lessien, TiPb, PC Magazine, Tablets Planet, PC World and CNET News
Todd Haselton / BGR:
Amazon updates Cloud Drive and Cloud Player with unlimited music space, free storage for Amazon MP3s, iPad web player — Moments ago Amazon announced that it has made a number of enhancements to its Amazon Cloud Drive and Cloud Player services. First — for a limited time — anyone who signs up will get unlimited space for music.
Discussion:
Mashable!, CNET News, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, TechCrunch, PC World, Amazon.com, TechCrunch, Engadget, AllThingsD, eHomeUpgrade, SlashGear, The Next Web and TiPb
Susan Decker / Bloomberg:
Apple Escalates Samsung Fight With ITC Case — Apple Inc. (AAPL) filed a U.S. trade complaint that seeks to block imports of Samsung Electronics Co. smartphones and tablet computers, days after asking a federal court to halt sales of the devices. — The complaint submitted yesterday …
Discussion:
AppleInsider, IntoMobile, Android Phone Fans, Phone Scoop, VentureBeat, PhoneDog.com, InfoWorld, BGR, SlashGear, PC Magazine and Electronista
RELATED:
Miyoung Kim / Reuters:
Microsoft wants Samsung to pay smartphone license: report — Microsoft Corp has demanded that Samsung Electronics Co Ltd pay $15 for each smartphone handset it makes based on Google Inc's Android operating system as the software giant has a wide range of patents used in the mobile platform, local media reported on Wednesday.
Discussion:
Nicke's shared items …, ZDNet, Network World, mocoNews, CNET News, BetaNews, X-bit labs, PC Magazine, TechFlash, L.A. Times Tech Blog, The Business Insider, The Register, The Next Web, Android Phone Fans, Techland, PhoneDog.com, Appolicious Advisor, Techie Buzz, Redmond Pie, The Microsoft Blog, Digital Trends, GMSV, MobileSyrup.com, TechSpot and AndroidOS.in
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
One Week In, Google+ Users Are Growing Followers, Getting Traffic — Just over a week old, how's Google+ doing? Comprehensive stats are hard to come by. But from our own experience, along with some other stats out there such as a new top Google+ accounts list, it seems to easily be eclipsing its Google Buzz predecessor.
Discussion:
Dave Besbris, Google Watch and Communications …
Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Who owns your social graph — you or Facebook? — Facebook's control over the information in your social graph is in the news again. The company recently blocked a Google Chrome extension that scraped your contact info so that you could export it somewhere else, such as into Google's new Google+ social network.
Thanks:jasonhiner
Dan Levine / Reuters:
Judge rejects Apple bid for injunction against Amazon — (Reuters) - A U.S. judge denied Apple Inc's attempt to quickly stop online retailer Amazon.com Inc from using the “App Store” name, according to a court document. — Apple, the maker of best-selling iPhones and iPad tablets …
Discussion:
MacRumors and AppleInsider
Eric Friedman / Foursquare Blog:
Over 500,000 businesses are on foursquare! That's a lot of Specials! — Two weeks ago, we passed a pretty big milestone on foursquare, with over 10,000,000 people in the foursquare community. Last week, we hit another one that excites us just as much: we now have over half a million merchants on foursquare.
Discussion:
VentureBeat, Mashable!, Local Media Watch and Screenwerk
Greg Finn / Search Engine Land:
Google: Hold Off On Creating Business Profiles On Google+, “Non-User Profiles” Will Be Shut Down — Tonight Christian Oestlien, the Ads Leads for the Google+ Project, posted a message along with a brief YouTube video about future Google+ plans on his Google+ account.
Discussion:
Christian Oestlien and The Next Web
