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Next Up: Google Office? — There's a Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times. These times must be really interesting for Steve Ballmer. — Microsoft's (Quote, Chart) CEO allegedly said he'd crush Google (Quote, Chart), his company's rival in search, and the lucrative ad business it engenders.
Discussion:
Mark Evans, PC World's Techlog, MSNBC, Om Malik's Broadband Blog, InsideGoogle, Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check, The Social Software Weblog, Neowin.net, The Stalwart, Download Squad, IP Democracy, Life On the Wicked Stage, Channel 9, Microsoft Weblog, PaidContent.org, iBLOGthere4iM, Scobleizer, SeattlePI.com Microsoft Blog and Internet Home Business
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Google, Sun plan partnership — Sun Microsystems and Google plan to announce a collaborative effort that some analysts speculate could elevate the profile of the OpenOffice.org and Java software packages. — Details won't emerge publicly until Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Sun CEO Scott McNealy …
Discussion:
Open Source, The Unofficial Google Weblog, cameron reilly, Silicon Valley Sleuth and SearchViews

Sun, Google Form Alliance — Updated: Speculation is rife regarding the new relationship to be unveiled between the computer and search companies. — Speculation is mounting ahead of Tuesday's upcoming announcement of a new relationship between Sun Microsystems and Google …

Ning launches! — Ning, also known as the official name for 24 Hour Laundry's project, just launched. I actually had to keep myself from posting early because I was excited about it. Now that I got the word from them with the approval to post, here goes the unveiling.
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Newsgator buying who? NetNewsWire? — Richard asked about who is on the menu for Newsgator? He has many guesses and one of them is right: Ranchero Software, the company behind Mac-a-licious RSS reader NetNewsWire. Sources in Silicon Valley tell me that this deal is pretty much done …
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HP to ship Netscape browser on new PCs — update In a move that harks back to the browser wars, Hewlett-Packard plans to ship Netscape's Web browser on new consumer PCs and notebooks starting early next year. — The agreement, announced Monday, is the first browser distribution deal …

OpenDocument could 'turn everything inside out' — A Sun Microsystems executive says the OpenDocument format has the potential to change the world. — Tim Bray, the director of Web technologies at Sun, said at the OpenOffice.org conference in Slovenia late last week that the file format developed …

Google faces obstacles in S.F. Wi-Fi bid — SAN FRANCISCO—Google is the celebrity runner in San Francisco's race to become the first U.S. city with affordable or free wireless access to the Internet—but any such deal faces likely lawsuits or legislation, Mayor Gavin Newsom said Monday.
Discussion:
IP Democracy
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Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005 … For this year's list of worst design mistakes, I decided to try something new: I asked readers of my newsletter to nominate the usability problems they found the most irritating. — I assumed that asking for reader input would highlight many issues that I hadn't noticed in my own user testing.

Digital music revenue 'triples' — Digital music sale revenue tripled in the first half of 2005 compared with 2004, figures have suggested. — The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) estimated 6% of record industry sales were digital, worth $790m (£450m).

Lost Underground? Check Your IPod — Site Offers Subway Maps for Download; Some Cities Claim Copyright Violation — A few months ago, New York-based Web designer William Bright came up with a simple idea: Take digital images of subway maps, slice them into pieces and make them viewable on color iPod screens.
Discussion:
Smart Mobs

Lycos, Yahoo Pushing to Put Media Online — Major Internet sites are vying to become more like traditional media companies, setting up online clearinghouses for books, television, music and more in a bid to lure viewers. — Today Lycos Inc., an early Internet search engine …

Microsoft says Office beta coming in November — Has the battle over document file formats forced Microsoft to blink? — Microsoft has been gradually opening its Office formats for years, adding support for options such as Rich Text Format and HTML. But the pressure on Redmond to open things …