Top Items:
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
Whatever Happened to the Top 15 Web Properties of April, 1999? — As I quietly lamented (or at least noted) the impending death of GeoCities today, I wanted to double-check my memory that it was once one of the very largest sites on the Web. Yup-ten years ago, in April 1999 …
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Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Yahoo Quietly Pulls The Plug On Geocities — Not with a bang, but with a whimper. Yahoo! is unceremoniously closing GeoCities, one of the original web-hosting services acquired by Yahoo! in 1999 for $2.87 billion. (Fun venture fact: Fred Wilson's Flatiron Partners was an investor).
Discussion:
...My heart's in Accra, Techdirt, Gizmodo, NEWS.com.au, CrunchGear, Technologizer, The Technology Chronicles, The Blog Herald, MediaPost, BetaNews, Mashable!, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, AppScout, The Awl, Pocket-lint.com, Obsessable and Download Squad, Thanks:atul
Microsoft:
Microsoft Reports Third-Quarter Results — Lower operating expenses narrow revenue gap in difficult economic environment. — Income Statements — Segment Revenue and Operating Income (Loss) — Third Quarter Form 10-Q — View the PowerPoint Earnings Release
Discussion:
Guardian, All about Microsoft, BoomTown, New York Times, Technologizer, VentureBeat, Gizmodo, TechFlash, paidContent.org, Joystiq, SlashGear, Edible Apple, TheStreet.com, Pocket-lint.com, Silicon Alley Insider, The Microsoft Blog, Dealscape, Edge Online, Tech Trader Daily and Between the Lines
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Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent.org:
Earnings: Microsoft Posts First Ever Drop in Revenue; Online Ad Revenue Falls 16 Percent — Hit hard by the recession, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) reported the first year-over-year revenue drop in its history Thursday—and posted revenue short of analysts' expectations.
Discussion:
Microsoft Watch, Softpedia News, The Equity Kicker, BoomTown, eWeek, Microsoft News Tracker, Electronista and All about Microsoft
Bill Gertz / Washington Times:
Obama's BlackBerry — President Obama will soon get his souped-up, high-security BlackBerry for use in and around the White House and during presidential travel, according to Obama administration officials. The top-secret BlackBerry 8830 is in the final stages of development …
The Official Google Blog:
Try out new features in Google Toolbar Labs — One of the best things about working on the Google Toolbar team is that when someone says “Wouldn't it be great if Toolbar could...,” our answer is usually “Yes! Let's build it!” And then it's just a question of when.
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Tom Krazit / CNET News:
Apple apologizes for Baby Shaker — Apple issued a statement Thursday apologizing for allowing the “Baby Shaker” application onto the App Store. — Just hours before the App Store offers up its 1 billionth download, Apple was forced to acknowledge that perhaps the most notorious iPhone …
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Antone Gonsalves / InformationWeek:
Apple Apology For Baby Shaker Criticized — The application, which depicts a crying baby, has users quiet the infant by vigorously shaking the smartphone. — Apple on Thursday apologized for offering on its App Store the “deeply offensive” Baby Shaker iPhone application that sparked protests from groups fighting infant abuse.
Ted Ullyot / Facebook Blog:
Results of the Inaugural Facebook Site Governance Vote — Today, the Facebook site governance vote ended after a week in which you were able to voice your opinions as to which documents should serve as the foundation for governing the site. On behalf of everyone at Facebook …
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Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Apple's App Store: 1 Billion Served — Well, it finally happened. Apple just delivered its 1 Billionth application download from the App Store, which currently features over 25,000 apps (35,000 by one estimate) built by thousands of developers. The significance of the milestone …
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Saul Hansell / Bits:
Undoing Meg Whitman's eBay — Before voting for Meg Whitman for governor, California residents would do well to consider what has been happening at eBay since she stepped down as chief executive. John Donahoe, her successor, has pretty much disassembled all of her major strategic moves.
Discussion:
TomsTechBlog.com
Christopher Meinck / Everything Pre:
Palm Pre In the Wild, YouTube App — Photos of the Palm Pre in the wild have cropped up today on Twitter (via lo_toney) and have since been removed. The photos show the YouTube videos application and composing an email on the Palm Pre. The YouTube videos application looks similar to the same app that appears on Palm's Treo Pro.
Discussion:
SlashGear, Engadget Mobile, Phone Arena, IntoMobile, PreCentral.net, MobileCrunch and prethinking.com
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Hiring Of New MySpace CEO Settles Many Old Scores — MySpace parent company News Corp. continues to leak, off record, that Owen Van Natta is in the final stages of becoming the new CEO of MySpace (one of the more obvious candidates on our list yesterday). Van Natta certainly has the experience …
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David Gonzales / Electronic Pulp:
Salma Hayek's Apple MobileMe account hacked, couldn't have been easier — As I write this, people are accessing the personal Apple MobileMe account of Hollywood actress Salma Hayek, after its login details were posted earlier today on Anonymous imageboard 4chan.org.
Elinor Mills / CNET News:
Conficker infected critical hospital equipment, expert says — SAN FRANCISCO — The Conficker worm infected several hundred machines and critical medical equipment in an undisclosed number of hospitals recently, a security expert said on Thursday in a panel at the RSA security conference.
Discussion:
fiercecio.comwatch
Amy Gahran / E-Media Tidbits:
INDenverTimes Troubles May Signal Difficulty of Replicating Newsrooms — Funders of INDenverTimes — the independent online-only startup founded by former employees of the Rocky Mountain News — announced today they will not move forward under the original business model but will explore …
Gmail Blog:
PowerPoint and TIFF file viewing — A few months ago, we added fast online viewing of PDFs in your browser. As of today, that same viewer now supports TIFF and Microsoft PowerPoint document formats too: you can now view TIFF and PPT files online, directly in your browser …
Brad Stone / New York Times:
Software That Copies DVDs to Players Is on Trial — SAN FRANCISCO — RealNetworks says it wants to help increase DVD sales by allowing people to copy their movie discs. Hollywood studios say that idea will only hurt their already struggling business. The two sides square off in a federal court …
Ben Charny / Digits:
Steve Jobs Spends Less Time on His Private Jet — Steve Jobs's private jet has almost been grounded over the last six months. — Getty Images — Steve Jobs at an Apple event in October — Apple says in a regulatory filing that it didn't reimburse the CEO for use of his Gulfstream during …
Joel Garreau / Washington Post:
Toys — and More — for the 21st Century Make Use of Mind Control Over Matter — What If You Could Move Objects With Your Mind? Well, That Time Has Come. — You slip the wireless headset on. It looks like something a telemarketer would wear, except the earpieces are actually sensors …
Chris Albrecht / NewTeeVee:
Netflix: Kiosks Will Be No.1 Competitor, Future of Video is Social — Netflix ended the first quarter of 2009 with a bang, meeting the high end of its guidance with 10.3 million total subscribers and $394.1 million in quarterly revenue, the company announced today.
Scott Gilbertson / webmonkey:
Slick New Ubuntu ‘Jaunty Jackalope’ Springs Onto Netbooks — The latest version of Ubuntu Linux is hot off the press and available for download. The new release, known as “Jaunty Jackalope,” continues Ubuntu's slow but steady progression with a handful of slick new features …
Eric Eldon / VentureBeat:
As VCs struggle to survive, Trinity closes new $300M fund — It's been a brutal year for venture capital firms — a non-existent IPO market, a credit crunch among limited partners, and new financial regulations are just a few of the issues making it hard for them to show results.
