Top Items:
Andy Palay / Gmail Blog:
New in Labs: Offline Gmail — Web-based email is great because you can check it from any computer, but there's one little catch: it's inherently limited by your internet connection. From public WiFi to smartphones equipped with 3G, from mobile broadband cards to fledgling in-flight wireless on airplanes …
Discussion:
Google Enterprise Blog, Google Operating System, Network World, Software as Services, Geek.com, Regular Geek, TECH.BLORGE.com, Gizmodo, ReadWriteWeb, GottaBeMobile.com, Newlaunches.com, Lifehacker, WebWorkerDaily, Between the Lines, eWeek, TechSpot, Electricpig.co.uk, TechBays, BetaNews, Zef.me, jkOnTheRun, Technologizer, PC World, Zoho Blogs, Mashable!, TheNextWeb.com, Neowin.net and Slashdot
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Stephen Shankland / Webware.com:
Gmail grows up with offline e-mail access — Significantly increasing the utility and competitiveness of its Web-based e-mail service, Google is enabling an experimental ability to read, write, and search Gmail messages even while not connected to the network.
Kelly Fiveash / The Register:
Gmail goes offline to avoid flatline online — Google goes back to the future with PC-based Office — Google has finally added offline support to Gmail, allowing US and Blighty-based users to read and write email while unconnected to the interwebs. — The firm said it was rolling out an …
Discussion:
Network World
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Some Things Need To Change — Yesterday as I was leaving the DLD Conference in Munich, Germany someone walked up to me and quite deliberately spat in my face. Before I even understood what was happening, he veered off into the crowd, just another dark head in a dark suit.
Amy-Mae Elliott / Pocket-lint.co.uk:
Acer smartphone launch confirmed … “Are you ready to join Acer's launch into the world of mobile communications?” — So asks an invite that's just dropped into Pocket-lint's inbox this morning, confirming rumours the company are to launch a smartphone. — Due to be unveiled on February 16 …
Discussion:
wmpoweruser.com, Boy Genius Report, SlashGear, Electronista, Gizmodo, Engadget, Phone Scoop and I4U News
Roberto Baldwin / Mac|Life all:
iPhoto's Faces Recognizes Cats — A huge disappointment for pet owners, was word that iPhoto's newest feature, Faces, wouldn't recognize animals according to Apple employees on the show floor. We even did a few tests at Macworld Expo with images they had of the dog Luce.
Discussion:
Webomatica, TUAW, Gizmodo, Boing Boing Gadgets, Zef.me, TheNextWeb.com, The Raw Feed and ParisLemon
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Boobs And Booty Banned From The App Store — Breasts and the iPhone have had a tumultuous relationship. Last month, an application that allowed users to shake a pair (possibly NSFW) of 3D breasts was banned from the App Store for being apparently too risque for its audience.
Josh Lowensohn / Webware.com:
Which HD video Web service is the best? — Around this time last year we put together a comparison of various video sites to determine which ones had the best overall quality and user experience. Since then, high-definition-capable digital cameras and camcorders have taken off …
Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
Florida firm stakes out Microsoft, offering jobs to worried workers — At the Automated HealthCare Solutions offices in Florida last Thursday morning, chief operating officer Donnie Reynolds was talking with fellow executive Veer Hossain about their hiring needs.
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
AT&T: 1.9 million iPhones activated — AT&T said Wednesday that it activated 1.9 million iPhone 3Gs in the fourth quarter with 40 percent of those activations representing new customers. — In the back half of 2008, AT&T activated more than 4.3 million iPhones (statement).
Tameka Kee / paidContent.org:
Search Ad Firm WordStream Gets $4 Million First Round; New CEO — WordStream has picked up $4 million in a first round of financing led by Sigma Partners; the investment also comes with a new President and CEO, Rob Adler. Adler previously served as co-founder and president of CCBN …
Discussion:
VentureBeat
Nick Summers / Newsweek:
What Would Google Do? — According to author Jeff Jarvis, taking a page out of the company's playbook could put the economy back on track. … “Google is an avalanche and it has only just begun to tumble down the mountain,” Jeff Jarvis writes in a new book called “What Would Google Do?” …
Discussion:
broadstuff
Brad Stone / Bits:
Amazon's Kindle 2 Will Debut Feb. 9 — UPDATED 3:08 p.m.: Clarified description of Broadsheet technology. — Mark your calendars, e-book fans: Amazon.com will introduce the next generation of its popular Kindle reader in New York City on Feb. 9. — The company sent out e-mail messages …
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Markcuban / blog maverick:
The Great Internet Video Lie — Internet Video. Its the salvation for content creators everywhere. Its the end to dependence on the big bad meanies, the cable and satellite companies. Right ? Hell no. The concept that “over the top” video creates a valid business alternative …
Discussion:
Epeus' epigone
Claire Cain Miller / Bits:
Maybe We Should Call Them Venture Pessimists — Venture capitalists need a healthy dose of optimism to do their jobs — betting millions of dollars on young ideas and hoping they turn in to the next big thing. — These days, though, that optimism is in short supply.
Discussion:
Industry Standard
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Online Health Consolidation Continues: HealthCentral Buys Wellsphere — Three months ago Steve Case's Revolution Health sold for $100 million or so to Waterfront Media (after raising $200 million in venture capital). Consolidation continues today with the HealthCentral acquisition of Wellsphere, which we first covered in early 2007.
Steve Dowling / Apple:
Mark Papermaster to Begin at Apple as Senior Vice President of Devices Hardware Engineering on April 24 — Apple® today announced that Mark Papermaster will be coming to Apple as senior vice president of Devices Hardware Engineering, reporting to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, on April 24.
Discussion:
Music Ally, I4U News, Computerworld, internetnews.com, Digital Daily, The Register, VentureBeat, mocoNews.net, PC World, Apple Watch, Apple 2.0, MacDailyNews, Electronista, Industry Standard, Gearlog, paidContent.org, TUAW, AppleInsider, Engadget, MacBlogz, GMSV, MacRumors, TechCrunch, World of Apple and Silicon Alley Insider
BBC:
UK will not legislate on piracy — The UK's Intellectual Property minister David Lammy has said the government will not force internet service providers to pursue file sharers. — There had been mounting speculation about government legislation on the issue as the music industry steps up its fight against the pirates.
Discussion:
bit-tech.net
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
2006 AOL search data snafu spawns “I Love Alaska” short films — Who knew that AOL search logs would prove such a muse to artists? Two Dutch filmmakers follow the odd search engine entries of user 711391 as she tries to find love, escape from Houston, and kill those annoying birds in her yard.
Discussion:
minimovies.stage.submarine.nl
Matt Buchanan / Gizmodo:
T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8900 First Impressions — After the BlackBerry Bold's epically delayed launch on AT&T and the Storm's epically borked launch everywhere, RIM needs 2009 to be better than 2008. The T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8900 is a good way to start.
Discussion:
Crave
Peter Svensson / Associated Press:
Cox to test new way to handle Internet congestion — NEW YORK (AP) — Cox Communications, the third-largest cable company in the U.S., stepped on to battleground of the “Net Neutrality” issue Tuesday, saying it will be trying out a new way to keep its subscribers' Internet traffic from jamming up.
Chris Ziegler / Engadget:
i465 to be first Motorola iDEN phone with QWERTY — A year ago, “innovation” and “iDEN” were two words we wouldn't dare use in the same sentence — but in the age of i9s and 8350is, the landscape has changed just a bit. That's not to say we'd dare consider switching from CDMA or GSM …
Dan Moren / Macworld:
iPhone push notifications: dead and buried, or waiting in the wings? — Apple's no stranger to missing a deadline or two, nor is the company averse to pushing back products a few weeks or months when they need more time. But less common are products that disappear entirely into the world-devouring maw …
Discussion:
Macworld
Steven Musil / CNET News:
Movie channel to go live on Web before TV debut — A premium movie channel backed by a trio of studios is expected to debut as an on-demand Web site months before its traditional TV launch. — The consortium of MGM, Paramount Pictures, and Lions Gate announced Tuesday at the NATPE television conference …
Harry Wallop / Telegraph:
Sony launches world's thinnest OLED TV — The Sony Bravia XEL features an OLED screen, measure 3mm thick, and will cost £3,489. — The world's thinnest television goes on sale today in Britain, measuring a mere 3mm, no thicker than a pound coin but costing 3,489 of them.
Jennifer Van Grove / Mashable!:
Radar on iPhone: Sleek Microblogging for Photos — Radar has been serving up real-time mobile photo and videos for some time now, but tonight marks the release of their new iPhone app which brings easy uploading and Radar's fantastic content-centric social features to your phone.
