Techmeme: Microsoft's New Windows Phone 7: Novel But Lacking (Walter S. Mossberg/Personal Technology)

5:15 AM ET, October 21, 2010

Top Items:

Walter S. Mossberg / Personal Technology:

Microsoft's New Windows Phone 7: Novel But Lacking — Nearly four years after Apple unveiled the iPhone, and more than two years after Google introduced its first Android smartphone, Microsoft is launching its effort to catch up. On Nov. 8, AT&T and T-Mobile will begin selling …

Discussion: Telegraph, PC Magazine, IntoMobile, Engadget, Electricpig.co.uk, msnbc.com, Technologizer, Pocket-lint, I4U News, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Gizmodo, Silicon Alley Insider, VentureBeat, MacDailyNews, The Seattle Times, Electronista, Digital Trends and SlashGear

Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:

Windows Phone 7 review — Have you been looking for the definitive review of Windows Phone 7? Well look no further. Microsoft's next (and perhaps final) opportunity to break back into the smartphone race has officially begun, and Engadget has been cranking on a variety …

Discussion: AppleInsider, AnandTech, MobileCrunch, istartedsomething, WMPoweruser.com, Neowin.net, Gizmodo, Phones Review, Electronista and Crave

Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft Blog:

A Windows Phone 7 ‘review’ from a non-reviewer — I am not a reviewer. I am a news reporter. I've never written a product review in my life. (And I don't intend to start now.) — But I did — by a stroke of luck plus a little persistence — talk my way into Microsoft's Windows Phone …

Discussion: Windows Phone Thoughts.com, Smartphones …, GottaBeMobile and paidContent

Brian Barrett / Gizmodo:

New MacBook Airs: Faster, Lighter, Instant On, 30 Day Standby Power — It's been two years since the last MacBook Air refresh, but Apple's made up for lost time: the redesigned MacBook Air weighs 2.9 pounds, lasts 30 days on standby power, and rocks complete unibody construction. And a storage secret.

Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:

MacBook Air (11.6-inch) first hands-on! (update: video!) — Look, all we can tell you is that this is one of the tiniest, thinnest, most lust-worthy laptops we've ever seen. We're taking a deeper look at the device right now, but for the time being, enjoy the gallery below! — Update: Video after the break!

Discussion: SlashGear, Gizmodo, Computerworld, Electronista, Macworld, The Register, AppleInsider, Digits, blogs.ft.com and DailyTech

Arn / MacRumors:

New MacBook Air Doesn't Ship with Adobe Flash — Engadget revealed today that Apple's new MacBook Air doesn't ship with Adobe's Flash plug-in. … It seems Apple is continuing to distance itself from Adobe's Flash plug-in. The omission appears to be no accident with Engadget Editor Joshua …

Discussion: AppleInsider, Engadget, 9 to 5 Mac, InfoQ, I4U News, Erictric and App Advice

Marco Arment / Marco.org:

The new MacBook Air was released today, and it's a hell of an upgrade. It got much better and it's at an extremely compelling price. — It's a great computer, but it's not for everyone. It's like a two-seater car. Read on if you think it might be for you. — The Air's limitations

Discussion: Apple, Softpedia News, CNET News, CrunchGear, Salon, MacStories, ThinkMobile, TidBITS, PC World, The Next Web, Appletell, iPhone Hacks, Geek.com, The Apple Core Blog, iClarified, TechCrunch, The Toybox Blog, Electronista and displayblog

Donald Melanson / Engadget:
New MacBook Airs come with Software Reinstall USB drive

Discussion: AppleInsider, Bits, displayblog, 9 to 5 Mac, TUAW and jkOnTheRun

MG Siegler / TechCrunch:

Yep, Apple Killed The CD Today — Stop. Take a deep breath. Before my headline gets you all worked up, consider what I'm saying here. The CD and other optical discs, like DVDs and Blu-rays, are obviously going to live on for a while as a way to transport media.

Discussion: Ben Metcalfe Blog, Fortune, The Mozilla Blog and BetaNews

Jesus Diaz / Gizmodo:

Mac OS X Lion: Sneak Peek Analysis — Mac OS X 10.7 Lion is here. As we predicted, Apple's operating system is going in the same direction as the iPad—and for good reason. Here is a visual guide to the main features unveiled today. Updating live — Mac OS X Lion is another step …

Nicholas Deleon / CrunchGear:
Say Hello To The Mac App Store: Like The iOS App Store, But For Your Mac

Discussion: TechEye, Engadget, Gizmodo, All about Microsoft Blog, TechCrunch, InformationWeek, Appletell, Download Squad, MacNN, Bits, Boy Genius Report, mocoNews, VentureBeat, AppleInsider, MacRumors, TUAW, Digital Daily and Fortune

Louis Gray:
Apple, Google Agree Web is Future of Software Delivery

Discussion: MacStories

Joe Hewitt:

Android and Open Source — Yesterday I made some comments on Twitter that were critical of Android's claims of openness. As many have learned the hard way, it can be challenging to discuss a complex subject in 140 character chunks without omitting important parts of your opinions, so I want to clarify some things.

Discussion: Computerworld, Silicon Alley Insider, GMSV, p2pnet and TechCrunch

Tom Whitehead / Telegraph:

Every email and website to be stored — Every email, phone call and website visit is to be recorded and stored after the Coalition Government revived controversial Big Brother snooping plans. — It will allow security services and the police to spy on the activities of every Briton who uses a phone or the internet.

Discussion: CrunchGear, Guardian, V3.co.uk and Neowin.net

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:

EA Buys ‘Angry Birds’ Publisher Chillingo For $20 Million, Doesn't Get ‘Angry Birds’ — According to Reuters, Electronic Arts just bought Angry Birds publishers Chillingo for $20 million in cash. Apparently early reports caused some confusion as to who actually owned Angry Birds …

Discussion: Telegraph, Crave, ReadWriteWeb, Digits, TUAW, VG247 and Mobile Entertainment

Reuters:
Electronic Arts to buy Chillingo for $20 mln-source

Kevin Murphy / The Register:

Sex.com sells for $13m — You don't get many of them to the pound, eh — The storied domain name sex.com is set to be sold for $13m, The Register has learned. — Bankrupt Escom LLC sex.com's current owner, has sealed a deal to hand over the domain to a company called Clover Holdings Ltd …

Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider, socalTECH.com, Neowin.net, Domain Name News, DomainIncite.com and Gawker

Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:

Is Kleiner Perkins about to announce a Facebook fund? — Famous venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers will be holding a press conference tomorrow morning at Facebook headquarters, where partner John Doerr will supposedly discuss “social web developments.”

Discussion: San Francisco Chronicle and Tech Trader Daily

Bruce Eckel / Bruce Eckel's Weblog:

Google Groups Data To Be Destroyed! … I find Google Groups to be very useful; it solves an important problem. I rely on it and I don't assume that it's going to go away like, say, the great social experiment of Google Wave (conclusion: if a product isn't pretty obvious to the users in a short time, they'll probably never get it).

Christopher Steiner / Forbes:

The Disruptor In The Valley — Paul Graham's Y Combinator has stormed Silicon Valley and pioneered a better way to build a company.Justin Kan and Emmett Shear watched their first startup, an online calendar called Kiko, implode when Google decided to do the same thing in 2006.

Liz Gannes / GigaOM:

What's Next for Posterous: Geo, Groups, Premium — Posterous, the email-based blogging platform, emphasizes simplicity and ease of use, yet it keeps adding new features. Unlike, say, Twitter, the company isn't so dogmatic about simplicity that it forgoes functionality like media hosting and mobile clients.

Sean Hollister / Engadget:

Apple quietly updates MacBook Pro with optional 2.8GHz Core i7 processor — Sure, Apple's “Back to the Mac” press conference was all about software and a manila envelope or two, but Cupertino also sent out a silent love letter to its MacBook Pro lineup. Specifically, the 15-inch …

Discussion: Boy Genius Report, 9 to 5 Mac, Electronista and techeblog.com

Andreas Türk / European Public Policy Blog:

How many German households have opted-out of Street View? — Since April 2009, people in Germany have been able to ask for their house to be blurred on Street View ahead of the product being launched. At first they could ‘opt-out’ by writing us a letter and a few months ago we launched …

Discussion: Reuters and The Next Web

Todd Spangler / Multichannel News:

Netflix Accounts For 20% Of Peak U.S. Internet Bandwidth: Study — Sandvine Report Finds Median Monthly Data Usage in North America is 4 GB — Netflix represents more than 20% of downstream Internet traffic during peak times in the U.S. — and is heaviest in the primetime hours of 8 to 10 p.m. …

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