Top Items:

Google Wallet close to launch? — It's about time for that bi-weekly update that Google Wallet is about ready to launch (only half joking). This time there is news that Google's robots.txt file has been updated to reflect two new directories on Google: /gwt and /purchases.
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Exclusive: Google Purchases Sign-Up Page Discovered — Earlier in the week we pointed to some interesting unannounced Google sub-domains discovered by Ron Ruscoe. With much rumour of an upcoming Google Payment service (a.ka. Google Wallet) to rival PayPal, the most notable of the new sub-domains …

Palm drops Zire, Tungsten names — Palm updated its Zire and Tungsten handheld devices on Wednesday as part of a rebranding strategy that will now emphasize its Palm name over all others. — The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based PDA maker said its new handheld organizers dubbed Z22 and TX are available …
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Xbox 360 hands-on preview — Ok, technically I was just one of many journalists at yesterday's press preview event, but I did get a chance to spend a couple of hours with the Xbox 360. I wasn't exactly blown away with every title I saw, but overall I walked away impressed.
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Spyware — Over the last several years, a loosely defined collection of computer software known as "spyware" has become the subject of growing public alarm. Computer users are increasingly finding programs on their computers that they did not know were installed and that they cannot uninstall …
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Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results — Apple Concludes Best Quarter & Best Year in Company History — CUPERTINO, California—October 11, 2005—Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2005 fourth quarter ended September 24, 2005, reporting the highest revenue and earnings in the Company's history.

"Microsoft will acquire my company" — Entrepreneurs confidently tell Venture Capitalists "Microsoft will acquire my company". VCs roll their eyes...they have heard it a million times. But, Microsoft does have a rich tradition of acquisitions. The first, and most important …

Microsoft and RealNetworks Resolve Antitrust Case and Announce Digital Music and Games Partnership — New partnership brings Rhapsody® subscription service and RealNetworks' games to millions of Microsoft's MSN users. — SEATTLE — Oct. 11, 2005 — Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") …
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Dot Bomb All Over Again? — A lot of the recent news around Web 2.0 is starting to frighten me. There is just too much money flying around with too much hype and too little value. Take the Web 2.0 conference for example. This thing was way over hyped. It was fun and all but worth $2800?
Discussion:
Read/Write Web, Views, the ryan king, SiliconBeat, Paul Mooney, Mashable* and VentureBlog

Video after all? — October 11, 2005 - In recent weeks Think Secret has been deluged with conflicting information from sources regarding Apple's September 7 media event, the cancelled Apple Expo keynote, and tomorrows October 12 event. While reliable evidence has corroborated reports …

HackADay stays indie! — I'll never cease to be amazing at how fast and perceptive the blogosphere is. Right as I'm writing a blog post about HackADay not being part of the AOL deal someone picks up on it! — So, it's true HackADay wasn't part of the deal to go to AOL.

Average age of newspaper readers: 55 … Newspaper readership is down. Fewer young people are picking them up, and the average age of a newspaper reader is now 55, according to a Carnegie Corporation study. Many papers have been losing circulation at alarming rates across all age groups.

Verizon FiOS TV User Review — We reported in September that Verizon launched it's fiber optics FiOS TV service in Keller, Texas. — We asked in that story if anybody living in Keller is getting the FiOS TV service. Craig J. contacted us and answered a couple of questions about his new Verizon FiOS TV service for us.

This is why Dave Winer sold...here is a ping on Pong from developer Chris Simpkins — Dear SVW readers, I received this note recently from the developer of a new approach to pinging, I haven't tried it out yet but it looks like a novel approach that fixes a few issues. -Tom — From Chris Simpkins:

Ottawa demands greater wiretap access — Ottawa — The federal government is demanding that the telecommunications industry build a wiretapping capacity into their networks that would allow authorities to conduct round-the-clock surveillance on the e-mail, Internet or phone use of more than 8,000 people at a time, sources say.