Techmeme: Is Google Getting Back Into The Gaming Business? (Leena Rao/TechCrunch)

10:20 AM ET, May 12, 2010

Top Items:

BBC:

Microsoft Office 2010 takes aim at Google Docs — Microsoft is preparing to launch its latest weapon in its ongoing battle with Google. — The software giant will launch its flagship product Office 2010 to businesses on 12 May. — The latest version of the software has a free online component - called Office Web Apps.

Discussion: Telegraph, ZDNet and T3.com News

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:

Forrester: Google still a distant Office competitor — For all the noise about — and from — Google giving Microsoft a run for its money in the office/productivity market, the reality is rather different, according to Forrester Research. — New Forrester data, released on May 11 …

Discussion: Docs Blog, Digital Daily, Google Watch, Information Management, Forrester Research, CloudAve, eWeek, the Econsultancy blog, Mashable!, Bink.nu, Zoho Blogs, TechFlash and CNET News

Dina Bass / Bloomberg:

Microsoft Predicts Fastest-Ever Adoption of New Office Software — Microsoft Corp. expects customers to adopt the new version of Office at the fastest pace in the software's 20-year history, helping reverse a sales slump and fend off competition from Google Inc.'s Web-based programs.

Discussion: CNET News and Fudzilla

Jeff Bertolucci / PC World:

Google: Skip Office 2010, Use Docs Instead — As Microsoft prepares to launch Office 2010, the latest version of its venerable productivity suite, Google is persuading longtime Office users to ditch Redmond's apps and upgrade to Google Docs instead. — A pitch posted Tuesday …

Discussion: The Register, ZDNet and Fortune

Thomas Ricker / Engadget:

Next generation iPhone unscrewed from Vietnam (update: video!) — The kids at Taoviet have really outdone themselves. From the looks of these images, the Vietnamese site has nabbed an honest to goodness 4th generation iPhone — a 16GB model to be exact. It's clearly pre-production judging …

Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
Fourth generation iPhone teardown reveals A4 microprocessor

Discussion: Digital Daily, Phone Arena, EverythingiCafe, Softpedia News, SlashGear and Phones Review

Niraj Sheth / Wall Street Journal:

Verizon, Google Developing iPad Rival — Verizon Wireless is working with Google Inc. on a tablet computer, the carrier's chief executive, Lowell McAdam, said Tuesday, as the company endeavors to catch up with iPad host AT&T Inc. in devices that connect to wireless networks.

Bloomberg:

Verizon in Talks With Google About an iPad Rival — Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. mobile carrier, is in talks with Google Inc. to develop a tablet computer that would rival Apple Inc.'s iPad. — The computer will run on Google's Android operating system, Marquett Smith …

Discussion: Boy Genius Report, eWeek, SlashGear, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Maximum PC, Erictric and Android Community

Matthew Miller / ZDNet:
Will HTC make the rumored Verizon Android tablet?

Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider

Greg Kumparak / MobileCrunch:

Early adopters, rejoice: AT&T begins rolling back upgrade eligibility dates for the next iPhone — Okay, I've got big news. Really - you're going to want to sit down for this one. Ready? Apple.. is going to release a new iPhone this year. Probably next month. — Why is your jaw not dropping?

Discussion: Softpedia News, SlashGear, the last place on the net, Erictric, Appletell, TiPb, Redmond Pie, Phones Review, TUAW, Obsessable, Gizmodo, MacRumors, Insanely Great Mac and Electronista

Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
How Much are iPhone 3GS Owners Going to Pay For the Next iPhone?

Discussion: SlashGear

Gmail Blog:

Drag images into messages — Recently, we launched a feature that allows you to drag an attachment from your computer right onto Gmail. — I've always been a fan of the inserting image lab, so I naturally wondered if it would be possible to combine the two.

Discussion: Mashable!, Download Squad, TechCrunch, CNET News, Erictric, Softpedia News and Gizmodo

Jason Calacanis / The Jason Calacanis Weblog:

The Big Game, Zuckerberg and Overplaying your Hand — Important TechCrunch50 Message: At the bottom — Rights: Please do not post on the web (it's dead) — Last Wednesday, 10AM, Las Vegas. — The South Point Hotel and Casino, a couple of miles off the strip. The

Discussion: Computerworld and ReadWriteWeb, Thanks:atul

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:

Digg's Biggest Problem Is Its Users And Their Constant Opinions On Things — There's a saying I love: “a camel is a horse designed by committee.” A variation is “a volvo is a porsche designed by committee.” Some of the best product advice I've ever heard goes something like “damn what the users want, charge towards your dream.”

Artem Russakovskii / Android Police:

EXCLUSIVE: AndroidPolice.com's Nexus One Is Running Android 2.2 Froyo. How Fast Is It Compared To 2.1? Oh, Only About 450% Faster — Folks, we have a Nexus One. We also have Froyo. In fact, we have the two mixed together in the most delicious frozen-yogurty Android 2.2 kind of way you can imagine.

Discussion: iandouglas.com, Android and Me, Android Central, Google Android Blog, AndroidGuys, Fonehome.co.uk, Neowin.net, Android Phone Fans, Android Community, MobileCrunch, Ubergizmo and Gizmodo, Thanks:artemr

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:

Exclusive: Mozilla CEO John Lilly to Step Down and Head to Greylock (Plus Departure Email!) — John Lilly, the well-regarded CEO of Mozilla, is preparing to give up his post at the open-source software nonprofit foundation, which is also a for-profit start-up.

Jessica Guynn / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Mozilla CEO John Lilly speaks about his future and the future of Firefox

Discussion: Associated Press

Jim Dwyer / New York Times:

Creating a Network Like Facebook, Only Private — How angry is the world at Facebook for devouring every morsel of personal information we are willing to feed it? — A few months back, four geeky college students, living on pizza in a computer lab downtown on Mercer Street …

Discussion: Venture Capital Dispatch, Epicenter and broadstuff

New York Times:

Facebook Executive Answers Reader Questions — Last week we asked readers to submit questions about Facebook and its approach to privacy, which Elliot Schrage, vice president for public policy at the company, had agreed to answer. — We sifted through roughly 300 questions left by readers …

Discussion: Post Tech, Telegraph, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, All Facebook and Silicon Alley Insider

Eric Eldon / Inside Facebook:
Analysis: Some Facebook Privacy Issues Are Real, Some Are Not

Discussion: TechCrunch, CloudAve, Technologizer and Maximum PC, Thanks:atul

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:

Jason Calacanis To Speak At TechCrunch Disrupt, And He Wants To Buy You A Ticket — We have parted ways with our long time TechCrunch50 business partner, Mahalo CEO Jason Calacanis. Sometimes, having more than one bull in the china shop can get a little messy.

Discussion: The Launch Conference, 1938, The Next Web, L.A. Times Tech Blog and VentureBeat

Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:
TechCrunch50 off as founders part ways

Discussion: VentureBeat

Valve / Steam:

Steam For Mac Launch Details Revealed — May 11, 2010 - Valve announced that Steam will launch on the Mac platform this Wednesday, May 12. — On subsequent Wednesdays, additional collections of Mac titles will become available, each designed to highlight specific functionalities of Steam on the Mac.

Discussion: Telegraph, Guardian, Neowin.net, TUAW, Geek.com, Macworld, Joystiq and Ubergizmo

Michelle Chen / Google Mobile Blog:

Google Maps for Android Gets Biking Directions, Navigation Shortcut, Sharing, and More — Starting today, Google Maps for mobile has a few new ways to help you and your friends quickly get to where you're going whether you're on 4 wheels or 2 (or maybe even 3).

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

Is Google Getting Back Into The Gaming Business? — Google has tended to stay away from the gaming world for the most part. The search giant did have Lively, a browser-based virtual world that could be embedded into other websites, but that was deadpooled in 2008.

Discussion: Download Squad and Softpedia News

Cade Metz / The Register:

Yahoo! to open source floating Google-Amazon crossbreed — Our cloud is your cloud — Early next year, Yahoo! intends to open source its internal “cloud serving” platform, described as something halfway between Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud and Google's App Engine.

Discussion: Network World

Johnathan Nightingale / Mozilla Security Blog:

Plugin Check for Everyone — It's been a few months since I wrote about the work our plugin check team has been doing, but there are a couple of pretty excellent pieces of news I'd like to share, most notably: the Mozilla plugin check now works for users of other browsers as well. — Plugin Check: A Refresher

Discussion: InfoWorld, Softpedia News, The Next Web, The Register, AppScout and eWeek Security Watch

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