Top Items:
InfoWorld:
Google settles copyright lawsuits with publishers, authors — Google has settled lawsuits brought against it by major publishers and authors that argued that Google's wholesale scanning and indexing of in-copyright books without permission amounted to massive copyright violations.
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BBC:
Google strikes book search deal — Google's reach into the world's libraries looks more assured following a deal struck today. — The agreement with the Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers will resolve a number of lawsuits from the last three years.
Miguel Helft / New York Times:
Google Settles Suit Over Book-Scanning Project — Google said Tuesday that it had agreed to pay $125 million to settle two copyright lawsuits brought by book authors and publishers over the company's plan to digitize and show snippets of in-copyright books and to share digital copies with libraries without the explicit permission.
Peter Bright / Ars Technica:
First look at Windows 7's User Interface — At PDC today, Microsoft gave the first public demonstration of Windows 7. Until now, the company has been uncharacteristically secretive about its new OS; over the past few months MS has let on that the taskbar will undergo a number of changes …
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Benjamin J. Romano / Microsoft Pri0:
PDC: Windows 7 on tap — LOS ANGELES — It's Day 2 of Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference and the next version of the company's flagship operating system software, Windows 7, is on tap. — Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president of Windows and Windows Live engineering …
Discussion:
Tech Beat, Microsoft Watch, Beyond Binary, The Register, Windows-Now.com, TechFlash and eWeek
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:Microsoft's Azure cloud platform: A guide for the perplexed
Discussion:
GigaOM, InfoWorld, ReadWriteWeb, CloudAve, Broadband Developments, TomsTechBlog.com, Profy, Irregular Enterprise, Beyond Binary, Zoho Blogs, Mashable!, SEO and Tech Daily, Beyond Search, New York Times, istartedsomething, TechCrunchIT, Software as Services, Microsoft, Google Blogoscoped, TG Daily, Virtualization.com and Windows-Now.com
Jessica E. Vascellaro / Wall Street Journal:
Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Set Common Voice Abroad — Principles Aim to Define Conduct With Nations That Restrict Speech, Lack Privacy Protections and Censor Search Results — Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. will announce Tuesday that they have agreed to a common set of principles …
Discussion:
ZDNet Government, TechCrunch, Mashable!, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim and The Blog known …
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Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Agree To Guidelines On Doing Business …
Discussion:
Reuters
Gmail Blog:
New in Labs: Calendar and Docs gadgets — Gmail Labs has been a really fun way to easily try out new ideas and get some of our pet feature requests implemented quickly. We wanted to take this to the next level and let you start adding your own stuff to Gmail.
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Rick Turoczy / ReadWriteWeb:Google Labs Adds More Gmail Goodness: Gadgets for Calendar, Docs
Discussion:
TG Daily
Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
Microsoft taking Office to the browser — LOS ANGELES - After dragging its feet for years, Microsoft says it plans to offer Web-based versions of its Office programs that let people create and edit documents inside a browser. — The surprise move, announced here this morning …
Discussion:
The Microsoft Blog
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Darryl K. Taft / eWeek:
Microsoft to Deliver Office Web Applications — As part of a strategic shift toward embracing web-based solutions, Microsoft plans to deliver Office Web applications. Microsoft will deliver Office Web applications to consumers through Office Live which is a consumer service with both ad-funded and subscription offers.
Peter Ha / TechCrunch:
Sonos Launches Free iPhone, iPod Touch App [Update] — Those of you with Sonos equipment already filling your abode with the sweet tunes of your music library and an iPhone or iPod Touch should promptly hit up Apple's App Store and download their free app now.
Discussion:
Music Ally, Technologizer, 9 to 5 Mac, Gizmodo, Gearlog, Gadget Lab, MacRumors iPhone Blog, Electronista, Engadget, CNET News, Brier Dudley's blog and Obsessable
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Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Ten Comments You Think Are Cool And Insightful But Aren't — Comments are the lifeblood of TechCrunch, and we love 'em. But we also get our share of the freaks, conspiracy theorists and jerks out there who have something to say and believe they have a constitutional or God given right to say it, right here.
Dawn Kawamoto / CNET News:
Microsoft, Akamai team up on high-def video streams — Microsoft and Akamai Technologies are teaming up on high-definition video streaming efforts for PCs, the companies said Tuesday. — Akamai plans to release a beta service, AdaptiveEdge Streaming for Microsoft Silverlight, early next year to select media customers.
Discussion:
fierceonlinevideo.com …
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Kelsey Blodget / Beet.TV:Microsoft Teams up with Akamai for High-Def Video Solution
Discussion:
Contentinople
Chris Morrison / VentureBeat:
AdaptiveBlue takes a fresh tack with Glue, a semantic social network — AdaptiveBlue's latest version of its browser plug-in is a complete revamp of its BlueOrganizer product. Now called Glue, it aims to synthesize semantic technology that connects information about books, music …
Nick Gonzalez / TechCrunch:
Playfish Gets $17 Million More For Social Games — Over the past year video games have begun invading every computing platform, from social networks to mobile devices. They've also been picked up in the portfolios of a number of firms. — London based Playfish has just raised …
Discussion:
TechCrunch UK, VentureBeat, Silicon Alley Insider, All Facebook, PE Hub News, PE Hub Blog, TheNextWeb.org and Mashable!
Emily Steel / Wall Street Journal:
Shakeout Threatens to Thin Out Web-Ad Brokers — As the Economy Sours and Venture Funding Grows Scarcer, Some Networks Have Begun to Exit a Crowded Niche on the Internet — More than 300 online-ad networks have cropped up over the past couple of years, making the business of brokering ads …
Miguel Bustillo / Wall Street Journal:
Retailers Slash Blu-Ray Player Prices — Electronics manufacturers and retail chains are slashing prices of Blu-ray players in a bid to boost adoption of the high-definition movie format, which has yet to catch on with American consumers. — Entry-level Blu-ray players have dropped …
Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:
Zimbra offers hosted collaboration tools for universities — There's a growing trend towards “hosted” software — saving money on hardware and IT expenses by letting someone else host your software on their servers. Now, Yahoo-owned Zimbra is getting into the act.
David Kravets / Threat Level:
10 Years Later, Misunderstood DMCA is the Law That Saved the Web — If you're wondering whom to thank for the Web 2.0 explosion in interactive websites, consider sending a bouquet to Congress. Today's internet is largely an outgrowth of the much-reviled Digital Millennium Copyright Act …
Eric Krangel / Silicon Alley Insider:
Real Estate Crashes In Second Life, Too: Linden Lab's Bailout Plan — Linden Lab's new-ish CEO Mark Kingdon has been fond of telling reporters “there's no credit crunch in Second Life.” We'll see about that. Last night Linden announced it was jacking the prices on its “Openspaces” …
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
SlideRocket's Impressive Online Presentation App Hits General Release — SlideRocket, an online presentation application that produces slideshows that rival (and in many cases, better) PowerPoint, has launched to the general public. The site had previously been available under a public beta …
Dan Goodin / The Register:
Student charged after alerting principal to server hack — ‘Intentional criminal act’? — A 15-year-old high school student in New York State has been charged with three felonies after he allegedly accessed personnel information on his school's poorly configured computer network …
Elinor Mills / CNET News:
Microsoft, Yahoo team up against lottery hoax e-mails — You know all those hoax e-mails that arrive in your in box saying that you've won a lottery? You don't click on them, obviously, but many people do, enough to prompt Microsoft and Yahoo to form a coalition to warn consumers about the scam.
