Top Items:
San Francisco Chronicle:
Laptop thieves descend upon wireless cafes — Grab-and-run robbers find pricey computers easy to resell — A San Francisco finance manager stopped in at a Mission District cafe and was tapping on his laptop as he enjoyed his coffee just before noon on a Thursday. Suddenly, he was under siege.
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Associated Press:
Google's Wi-Fi network in San Francisco raises privacy concerns — SAN FRANCISCO - Google Inc.'s plan to provide free wireless Internet access throughout the city is raising concerns among privacy advocates worried about the prospect of "Big Brother" monitoring how and where users surf the Web.
Dean / UBC Google Scholar Blog.folio:
CRITIQUING MICROSOFT LIVE "ACADEMIC SEARCH" — I've had e-mails from readers asking me about Microsoft Academic Search, and I can at least tell you a little bit along the lines of what's reported in PC World. (A few things are confidential until Tuesday, but not because I signed an NDA).
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Dean / UBC Google Scholar Blog.folio:
WHY TITANS LIKE MICROSOFT WANT TO TALK TO LIBRARIANS — Search is a huge part of the Web's future, and Microsoft - currently the 3rd most popular search engine - knows it. Bill Gates, the world's richest man, dragged his heels on search until about fifteen months ago when he decided …
Michael / michael parekh on IT:
ON WRITING FOR HUMANS AND GOOGLE (GOOG) — The New York Times has a timely article titled "This Boring Headline is Written for Google", highlighting a reality that most web publishers large and small increasingly must deal with. And that is: … The article could also be talking …
Discussion:
Investor Relations Blog, Poynter Online, Techdirt, Google Blogoscoped and Bob Stepno's …
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Todd Bishop / Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Software Notebook: Microsoft rival turns sights toward Office — Some people might shy away from head-to-head competition with Microsoft Corp. But Michael Robertson is taking the opposite approach — making a habit of challenging the company in areas it dominates.
Discussion:
Paul Thurrott's Internet Nexus
thealarmclock.com:
Canadian Blog Network B5 Media Looking for VC Backers — It will be interesting to see if B5 succeeds in its endeavor to raise funding. Rival Creative Weblogging was able to raise funding so we suspect B5 has a shot. The blog network has managed to launch a large number of blogs that cover tech, entertainment, sports and more.
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John / SYNTAGMA:
b5media Looks for Venture Capital — After a buccaneering but bootstrapping beginning, it seems b5media has decided to go down the venture capital route after all, with a round of VC funding. But you have to read between the lines of a Toronto conference agenda to find the reference.
Discussion:
The Blog Herald
Clive Thompson / Wired News:
The Glory of the Shooter — Let us now praise insanely violent first-person-shooters. — Let us praise the joys of double-wielding a pair of Uzis with unlimited ammo; let us delight in the gorgeous fractal carnage of a rocket launcher as it slams into your target.
Discussion:
Cathode Tan
Josh / Redeye VC:
Bridge Loans vs. Preferred Equity — Over the last few years, my fund has made over 20 seed-stage investments. While we strive to be the "first money" into a company, we recognize that we typically don't provide enough capital to get a company to profitability.
Michael Liedtke / Associated Press:
Now Starring on the Internet: YouTube.com — YouTube.com Seems Like a Startup Straight Out of Silicon Valley Central Casting — SAN MATEO, Calif. (AP) — Internet video sensation YouTube.com seems like a startup straight out of Silicon Valley central casting.
Adam Sherwin / Times of London:
Three-year-olds in frame for the 'iTod' — LEGO bricks no longer cut it for hi-tech toddlers. Digital music players for three-year-olds are the new battleground in the £20 billion toy industry. — Fisher-Price will launch the "iTod", its first MP3 player aimed at infants, this summer.
Read/WriteWeb:
Structured Blogging Website Re-designed — The Structured Blogging website has been upgraded and went live tonight. I re-designed the website and did the writing for it, under the employ of Marc Canter's Broadband Mechanics and with the help of others in the Structured Blogging community such as Conor O'Neill.
BBC:
Phone firm 'plans free broadband' — Mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse is expected to announce the launch of a free broadband service later this week. — The company looks poised to provide free access for customers who sign up to its Talk Talk landline service.
Charles Piller / Los Angeles Times:
How Piracy Opens Doors for Windows — Bill Gates may not be entirely dismayed by software thieves. They seed the world market and make Microsoft a standard. — Microsoft Corp. estimates it lost about $14 billion last year to software piracy — and those may prove to be the most lucrative sales never made.
Fred / A VC:
Disney Proves Me Right and Wrong — Wow. — Disney will announce today that they are making "much of its newest and most popular programming on ABC and other channels available free anytime on the Web", according to the Wall Street Journal which does not make much ot its newest …
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Warner Crocker / Life On the Wicked Stage:
Craig Pringle: Now Is The Time For Tablets — Craig Pringle has a wonderful blog entry, Now Is The Time for Tablets. I couldn't agree more with his thesis that the cosmic forces are moving forward. Craig outlines some reasons why he thinks several key influences are aligning properly.
