Top Items:
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Google launches 800GOOG411 — Updated: Ever since Microsoft bought Tellme Networks, the big question is what would Google do in response? It became a little clearer today when Google announced a free 411 service, which is a fraction of what TellMe-Microsoft has to offer. More details here.
RELATED:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Google Launches Free 411 Service — Google threw a new product called Goog-411 into Google Labs today - a free telephone based information service that could replace toll 411 calls. About 2.6 billion 411 calls are made in the U.S. each year, and it is a $7 billion/year market.
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:Google Voice Local Search Launched
Discussion:
Kelsey Group Blogs, Roam4free, Google Operating System, Read/WriteWeb, Download Squad and Screenwerk
Bambi Francisco / MarketWatch:
Why I started Vator.tv, and why I'm leaving MarketWatch — SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The story about Vator.tv and my involvement has missed one component: my side. With that in mind, I feel it is only fair to me, to MarketWatch and to Vator.tv that I share my story.
Discussion:
Mark Evans, The Blog Herald, BloggingStocks, Epicenter, HipMojo.com, GigaOM and The Technology Chronicles
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Pete Cashmore / Mashable!:
Vator TV - Bambi Quits MarketWatch, Perfects Marketing 2.0 — Unintentionally, perhaps, but Bambi Francisco just perfected Web 2.0 marketing. The journalist from the Dow Jones-owned financial news site MarketWatch was the subject of articles this week in the WSJ and ZDNet, both of which picked up on a possible conflict of interest.
Discussion:
Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim
Valleywag:
BREAKING: Bambi orphaned — Bambi Francisco, one of the gentlest journalists in Silicon Valley, has been cast out of her job at Marketwatch. She'd been under pressure to resign when it became obvious that she'd been touting companies on the Dow Jones subsidiary's financial news site …
Discussion:
BloggingStocks
Reuters:
AOL launches search ad service with Google — NEW YORK (Reuters) - Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE:TWX - news) AOL division will introduce a paid search service on Monday backed by Google Inc.'s (Nasdaq:GOOG - news) technology to help advertisers better target AOL users.
RELATED:
Marshall Kirkpatrick / splashcastmedia.com:
YouTube Launches CitizenTube - Official Political Vlog — YouTube has formally announced a new, official channel of political videos called CitizenTube. Edited by Steve Grove, YouTube's Citizentube/YouTube News & Politics Editor, the channel appears intended to aggregate select political …
Leo Laporte / LOL: The Life of Leo:
Goodbye Twitter. Hello Jaiku. — When I talk about Twitter people think I'm crazy. Who would want to be bugged by hundreds of messages a day from your friends telling you what they're up to. Well, as it turns out, lots of us would. Twitter is positively addictive and everyone …
Terje Langeland / Bloomberg:
The maximum mileage — Some hybrid car owners go to great measures to figure out ways of getting as much as possible out of a tank of gas — Toyota Motor Corp. says its Prius gasoline-electric hybrid car gets about 55 miles to the gallon, making it one of the most fuel-efficient cars on the road.
Ina Fried / CNET News.com:
Windows XP still starring in HP ad — I was somewhat surprised to pop open yesterday's USA Today and see a nearly full page ad for an HP computer running Windows XP. The PC, a Compaq desktop, is aimed at businesses and is touted for having dual hard drives allowing for redundant backup.
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Inspectors: IRS lost 490 laptops, many with unencrypted data — Every large organization loses laptops, but when those laptops contain the personal tax information of millions of Americans, it's a big deal. Big enough that the Treasury Department's Inspector General for Tax Administration looked …
Regina Lynn / Wired News:
The 10 Real Reasons Why Geeks Make Better Lovers — Editor's note: Some links in this story lead to adult material and are not suitable for viewing at work. All links of this nature will be noted with "NSFW" after them. — I've read recently that geeks make better lovers …
Discussion:
SMS Text News
Steve Rubel / Micro Persuasion:
Three Reasons Why Twitter Will Be Sold Soon — Who will buy Twitter? That should be on every user's mind because it's going to happen fast. Let's look at the facts first. — Fact #1: According to Technology Review, Twitter had 100,000 users at the end of March.
