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Announcing the Open Content Alliance — From time to time we've invited guest bloggers to write on the Yahoo! Search blog. Today we welcome Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive. We asked Brewster if he'd like to introduce the Open Content Alliance.
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Yahoo-Backed Alliance to Open Web Library — SAN FRANCISCO — Internet powerhouse Yahoo Inc. is setting out to build a vast online library of copyrighted books that pleases publishers _ something rival Google Inc. hasn't been able to achieve. — The Open Content Alliance …

On Web 2.0 Definitions — The buzz has been increasing over the past few days on what is Web 2.0, and what it is not. Om sort of initiated the movement by blogging his answer to a question asked during a dinner conversation. My own response (at the same dinner) included 3 characteristics …
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Web 2.0 != a check — It's great people are reading my blog before sending me a business plan. I've gotten a bunch of business plans, podcasts, etc, that I would have otherwise never had a shot at. I've had over 50 'no harm, no foul' meetings, participated in over 25 meetings with angels, start up groups, and various bar mitzvahs.

Digital music sales surge amid broader decline — LONDON (Reuters) - The music industry cheered a tripling of digital music sales in the first half of 2005 that was spurred by mobile phone "ringtunes" and online services and offset persistent declines in overall sales.
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Digital sales triple to 6% of industry retail revenues as global music market falls 1.9% — Booming demand for music on the internet and mobile phones nearly offset the decline in physical formats as recorded music sales fell 1.9% to a retail value of $US 13.2 billion in the first half of 2005 …
Discussion:
PaidContent.org

Fans spent $790m on digital music in H1
Discussion:
Good Morning Silicon Valley

Reading Battelle's book makes me look at the Search — I just finished reading John Battelle's The Search. First, a disclosure. He sent me the book and even signed it. So, I'm a bit biased to say something nice about it. — I did enjoy it. Even ignored West Wing, which was on TV.
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Scoble ♥ RDF — Check out Scoble's speculation on The Perfect Search: he'd like to find a hotel in New York with free WiFi, a good view, and good food, in a particular price-range. Rob, meet Tim Berners-Lee; Tim, meet Rob. Rob wants the Semantic Web.

Writeboard is live — Today we officially announce Writeboard (and here's what it looks like for those visual thinkers). It's free and available as a standalone hosted web app. It's also integrated into Backpack if you have a Backpack account. More on the Backpack integration below.
Discussion:
The Post Money Value, SiliconBeat, Mashable*, Lifehacker, The Social Software Weblog and TechCrunch
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104th Carnival of the Capitalists — 2 years ago Jay and Rob created the Carnival of the Capitalists. This edition celebrates the end of the 2nd year and looks forward to the Anniversary editions from the founders the next two weeks. In that time there has been some 3,500 hundred posts …
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BusinessPundit

All That Fizzes Is Not Soda — For those who've never tried carbonated yogurt, here's what you can expect: — It's a little tart and a little sweet, and bubbles lightly with fruity flavor as it hits your tongue. People who like regular yogurt will probably find it tasty and also slightly weird …

Windows Vista beta 2 comes in November — More polished, graphic ready — THE NEXT VERSION of the Vole's highly anticipated operating system is expected in November. It won't speed up introduction of this system but it at least means that we are one step closer to the Q4 2006 introduction.

'UnGoogleables' Hide From Search — Geri Agalia doesn't appear to leave less of a data trail than most Americans. She has a phone in her name, a bank account, utility bills, a mortgage and a credit card. But the stay-at-home mom and part-time student is among a select and ever-shrinking group …
Discussion:
Techdirt