Top Items:
Gmail Blog:
Millions of Buzz users, and improvements based on your feedback — Posted by Todd Jackson, Product Manager, Gmail and Google Buzz — It's been just two days since we first launched Google Buzz. Since then, tens of millions of people have checked Buzz out, creating over 9 million posts and comments.
Discussion:
Computerworld, A VC, Silicon Alley Insider, Search Engine Watch, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, MediaFile, CNET News, GMSV, eWeek, Umair Haque, Mashable!, VatorNews, Between the Lines, Search Engine Journal, AccMan, The Register, Scripting News, Shelly Palmer, Softpedia News, thinq.co.uk, Erictric, ResearchBuzz, Boy Genius Report, Pocket-lint, Geekword, Electricpig, ZDNET.com.au, Security Watch, ReadWriteWeb, Foreign Policy, TechCrunch, GigaOM, The Progress & …, Lifehacker, The Next Web, Download Squad, VentureBeat and broadstuff, Thanks:chrismessina
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Harriet Jacobs / Fugitivus:
F**k you, Google — I use my private Gmail account to email my boyfriend and my mother. — There's a BIG drop-off between them and my other “most frequent” contacts. — You know who my third most frequent contact is? — My abusive ex-husband. — Which is why it's SO EXCITING …
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Google Buzz Privacy Issues Have Real Life Implications — Merging something designed for public broadcasting (Buzz) with something inherently private (Gmail) was just looking for trouble. — Google is -deservedly - getting a lot of heat for the fact that its latest social product has a number …
Philipp Lenssen / Google Blogoscoped:
5 Reasons Why Gmail Buzz Privacy Isn't All That Bad — Google released Buzz for Gmail and there are issues if you're not careful with your settings as well as possibly unwanted group overlaps (I wouldn't be too surprised if in the future, a less tech savvy family member posts a meant …
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Amazon Wants To Give A Free Kindle To All Amazon Prime Subscribers — In January Amazon offered select customers a free Kindle of sorts - they had to pay for it, but if they didn't like it they could get a full refund and keep the device. It turns out that was just a test run for a much more ambitious program.
Discussion:
CNET News, TechFlash, VentureBeat, Tech Trader Daily, Erictric, Geek.com, Engadget, Gadgetell, 9 to 5 Mac, GottaBeMobile.com, Technologizer, Gizmodo and Seeking Alpha
Philipp Lenssen / Google Blogoscoped:
New: Google Maps Labs — When Google wants to test new features, they call them Lab experiments, and make them opt-in. Now, following many other services, Google Maps received a Lab icon. Click the green flask at the top of Google Maps and you get a chance to enable features like the following:
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Stan Schroeder / Mashable!:
Google Maps Get Labs With 9 Cool New Features — Here's a nice surprise from Google's Maps team: Just like Gmail, Google Maps now also has the Labs feature (it's the little green vial in the top right menu), which introduces experimental new features for you to try out.
Discussion:
All Points Blog
Peter Farago / blog.flurry.com:
Flurry Smartphone Industry Pulse, January 2010 — Each month, Flurry leverages its data set collected from iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and J2ME applications to identify, study and share industry trends. Flurry tracks over 20,000 live applications and over 2 billion user sessions each month.
Discussion:
VentureBeat, 9 to 5 Mac, MacRumors, Silicon Alley Insider, Gizmodo, Mashable!, FierceMobileContent and SlashGear
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Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Brainstorm Tech:
The iPad that launched a thousand apps — Data gathered in January show a rush of new projects on the iPhone operating system — Click to enlarge. Source: Flurry Analytics — Measured by the number of applications available for each type of device, Google's (GOOG) …
Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:
Bing Demos StreetSide With Flickr Photos, Live Video & “Bing Sky” — Today at the TED conference in Southern California, Microsoft demonstrated its enhanced, Silverlight version of Bing Maps, with StreetSide imagery, Photosynth and Map Apps, which allow third party data and content to be placed within the map.
Discussion:
Bing Maps Blog, Search Engine Watch, Screenwerk, Softpedia News, LiveSide.net and Epicenter
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Eric Zeman / InformationWeek:
Windows Mobile 7 Being Announced Monday Feb. 15 — Considering the sheer volume of Windows Mobile-related reports that have flooded the Internet the last few weeks, it is no surprise at all to learn that Microsoft is indeed introducing Windows Mobile 7 during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Tech Trader Daily, Tech Eye, Silicon Alley Insider, eWeek, Phone Scoop and Electronista
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Nicholas Kolakowski / eWeek:Microsoft Acquiring RIM May Be Bad Idea, Says Analyst
Discussion:
Business Week
Google Code Blog:
Announcing Google Chart Tools — A good chart can tell a story, such as depicting when you get home on Saturday night by plotting your tweet patterns along the week. — A good chart can take an elusive concept and clarify it in a visually appealing manner.
Neil Hughes / AppleInsider:
Strong Mac, iPhone sales projected to propel Apple stock to $280 — Stronger-than-expected Mac and iPhone sales in the last two quarters and the impending launch of the iPad have led Needham & Company to raise its price target on Apple stock to $280. — Analyst Charlie Wolf said in a note …
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Richard Lai / Engadget:
Dell Mini 5: we have it (update: new pics and video!) — That's right! After all those quick and dirty appearances, we've finally got our own Dell Mini 5 (aka “Streak” or “M01M") prototype for a more in-depth look. Got a question about this mysterious beast?
Discussion:
Android Central, MobileContentToday, These are the Droids, AndroidGuys, Ubergizmo, AndroidSPIN and Pocketables
Dmitry Shapiro / Chief Disruptor:
Veoh Letter — Veoh launched in September of 2005 with a bold goal: To make it possible for anyone with a video camera and a computer to broadcast video to the world. While others were working on helping people share short video clips, Veoh created technologies that made it possible …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, VideoNuze, Venture Capital Dispatch, PC World, Softpedia News, AppScout, MediaMemo, NewTeeVee and Xconomy, Thanks:atul
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New York Times:
China Alarmed by Security Threat From Internet — BEIJING — Deep inside a Chinese military engineering institute in September 2008, a researcher took a break from his duties and decided — against official policy — to check his private e-mail messages. Among the new arrivals …
Thanks:mrinaldesai
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Brainstorm Tech:
Meet the guys behind Pocket God — Their pygmy-killing iPhone game is the unlikely winner of this year's “Best App Ever” award — Dave Castelnuovo and Allan Dye. Photo: Spencer Brown — It started as a week-long “sprint project” — a bit of bare-bones entertainment for Apple's (AAPL) …
Discussion:
TUAW
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Microsoft And Partners Are About To Add A Big Fat Social Layer To Outlook — In November 2009, when Microsoft announced the release of the public beta of Microsoft Office 2010, the company also introduced an entirely new add-on for its Outlook product that we haven't heard a peep about since.
Discussion:
Between the Lines
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
Microsoft halts Windows Update distribution of security fix after blue-screen reports — Microsoft has removed one group of patches it released as part of this week's Patch Tuesday — MS10-015 (KB977165) - from its Windows Update service until it can investigate reports by some users that it is causing havoc with their PCs.
Sam Dillon / New York Times:
Wi-Fi Turns Rowdy Bus Into Rolling Study Hall — VAIL, Ariz. — Students endure hundreds of hours on yellow buses each year getting to and from school in this desert exurb of Tucson, and stir-crazy teenagers break the monotony by teasing, texting, flirting, shouting, climbing (over seats) and sometimes punching (seats or seatmates).
Cory Doctorow / Boing Boing:
Chip-and-PIN is broken — Noted security researcher Ross Anderson and colleagues have published a paper showing how “Chip-and-PIN” (the European system for verifying credit- and debit-card transactions) has been thoroughly broken and cannot be considered secure any longer.
Discussion:
Computerworld, Newsnight, Digital Trends, Stake Ventures Inc., The Register and Light Blue Touchpaper
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Foursquare Gets Lucky (Magazine) And A Deal With Conde Nast — Foursquare's partnerships with media companies continue to add up. The location-based social network just inked a deal with restaurant rating guide Zagat, The New York Times, HBO, Warner Brothers, and the History Channel.
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Marvell seeks to enable the iPhone-like $99 smartphone — Marvell is announcing today new chip designs that will enable fully functional, iPhone-like smart phones at mass market prices of $99 or less. — The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip maker is announcing Pantheon …
