Top Items:
BBC:
Apple attacks plan to open iTunes — Apple has criticised a French law that could break the locks tying songs from the iTunes store to iPod players. — In a statement Apple said that if the law were passed it would result in "state-sponsored piracy". — The law to open up all online music stores …
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Leander Kahney / Wired News:
How France Is Saving Civilization — New legislation in France would force Apple Computer to open the iPod and iTunes to competitors — and that's a good thing for consumers, in the long run. — On Tuesday, the French parliament passed a law that would require digital content bought …
Russell Beattie Notebook:
PayPal Mobile — This is pretty huge. There's a ton online already - go to PayPal, sign in, add a new phone to your profile and mark it as mobile. The site will offer you the chance to confirm the phone so you can use it to make payments, then you enter a pin number …
Discussion:
Skype Journal
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Oliver / MobileCrunch:
PayPal Goes Mobile! — Hot on the heels of yesterday's post, comes this amazing news from PayPal that PayPal is launching a mobile product! — According the the Internet Payment Giant's website, it is now possible to send and recieve money via mobile phones as well as make purchases directly from a mobile phone.
Alec / Alec Saunders .LOG:
Paypal Mobile Debuts — Wow. I just picked up the news about PayPal mobile from Russell Beattie and MobileCrunch. Now you can use SMS to make any kind of payment to anyone who has a phone. You simply text 729725 with "SEND x to yyyyyyyyyy" where x is the amount, and yyyyyyyyyy is the recipients phone number.
Discussion:
Roland Tanglao's Weblog
Davis D. Janowski / PC Magazine:
Yahoo! Messenger is In (and Out) — We reported back in December that Yahoo! would be rolling out Phone In and Phone Out services with its Yahoo! Messenger service; the wait is finally over for those in the U.S. (it has been tested in limited international markets for some time now).
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Thomas Ricker / Engadget:Yahoo Messenger with Voice launches in US
Discussion:
The Unofficial Yahoo Weblog
Jeremy Zawodny / Jeremy Zawodny's blog:
Why Google Finance Makes Me Sad — I've had several folks ask me what I think of Google Finance. There's already a fair amount of good commentary out there on the topic (Bambi, TBAiT, Charlene, Matt, Publishing 2.0, Blodget, and others), so I'm going to answer this in a different way.
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Valleywag:
Google Finance doesn't care about black people — John W. Thompson, CEO of Symantec, according to Symantec.com — John M. Thompson, CEO of Symantec, according to Google Finance — Hooray! Silicon Valley has black people! They're just disguised as white people! — Symantec Corporation [Google Finance]
Mary Jo Foley / microsoft-watch.com:
Vista Delayed Again — Microsoft is now planning to deliver business versions in November 2006 and the consumer versions in 2007. — The unthinkable has happened: Microsoft has delayed Windows Vista yet again. — Jim Allchin, co-president of Microsoft's Platforms & Services Division …
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Mark Hachman / PC Magazine:
It's Official: Dell Beams Up Alienware — Dell Inc. confirmed Thursday that it had acquired boutique PC vendor Alienware, a move that will add some zing to the company's image. — Although Dell's acquisition was widely anticipated, Alienware chief executive Nelson Gonzalez said that his company …
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Return of Rakesh Mathur — Rakesh Mathur is someone I have known from a bubble ago. He dropped me a note today saying that he has moved back to Silicon Valley from Seattle. (That perhaps explains the torrential rains, which have followed Rakesh to the Bay Area.)
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Erick Schonfeld / Business 2.0:
5 ways to fix Time Warner — A modest proposal for saving Time Warner and the entire industry from themselves. — (Business 2.0 Magazine) - Running a media conglomerate these days is no easy task. Just ask this magazine's uberbosses at Time Warner. The audience is fragmenting …
Jordan Running / Download Squad:
Sharing feed items with Google Reader — Development on the somewhat unpopular Google Reader doesn't seem to go at a furious pace, but every couple months theydrop a new feature into it and usually it's at least marginally cool. Yesterday was such an event, and the featurethey've added lets …
Discussion:
Search Engine Watch Blog, Niall Kennedy's Weblog, The Radioactive Yak, shellen dot com and InsideGoogle
Shelleyp / Burningbird:
A Pale Moon's Shadow — Jeneane writes about lazy aggregator people, and the loss of community because of RSS aggregators. Her solution is for everyone to bring back the blogroll. Ralph agrees, stating that feed aggregators reduce every site to a dull grey lowest common denominator. …
Discussion:
ALLIED by Jeneane Sessum
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Yuki Noguchi / Washington Post:
No Bundle of Joy — Some Buyers Find Packaged Telecom Services a Tangle of Trouble — Lori Mabry thought she was getting a good deal by putting all of her home communications needs in the hands of one company. — Two years ago, the Lanham resident turned to AT&T for a package …
Discussion:
Techdirt
David Richards / smarthouse.com.au:
iPod Phone Confirmed — Insiders at Taiwanese phone maker BenQ say that Apple procurement executives have been talking to various Taiwanese phone makers during the past few months in an effort to cut a manufacturing deal on an iPod Phone — They say that Apple will launch an iPod with phone functions within the next few months.
Discussion:
PC World's Techlog, Kevin 2.0, Gizmodo, duncanriley.com, Digital Inspiration and Podcasting News
Saul Weiner / A Zulu In Silicon Valley:
Riya beta lives up to the hype — I must be honest that I've spent way too much time playing with Riya the last couple of days, and way too little doing other things. However, the flip side is that I have a really good feel for the Riya product (which is still very much in beta).
Matt Croydon / Postneo 2.0:
Backing Up Flickr Photos with Amazon S3 — I love that I now have an Amazon S3 billing page that reads like a really cheap phone or water bill. I think that they're silently changing the game (again) without telling anyone else. I really like the implications of this magepiebrain post …
Discussion:
Russell Beattie Notebook
Business Wire:
Survey of Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs Reveals Increased Confidence in Startup Venture Landscape — Leapfrog Ventures' Survey of Current Entrepreneurs Shows Startup Conditions, Valuations and Liquidity Opportunities Have Improved in Last Six Months — According to a survey …
Discussion:
Valleywag
BBC:
Charity gets cash for web clicks — Computer users who want to donate as they use the web can now use a special NSPCC website that gives cash for every search they carry out. — The NSPCC, which campaigns to end child cruelty, will receive a donation every time users carry out an MSN search via www.clickscount.co.uk.
