Introducing Windows 8 Consumer Preview  —  Moments ago in Barcelona, we announced the release of Windows 8 Consumer Preview, available to download now for anyone interested in trying it out.  We've been hard at work for many months now, and while we still have lots more to do …

Facebook introduces Premium: A marketer's dream, a user's nightmare?  —  “People worry that technology will disconnect us, but study after study...has shown that it strengthens us,” said Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg today in New York City.  —  What Facebook's technology is doing, is connecting brands with human beings.

Lytro review  —  You've never seen a camera like this before There are a few easy ways to make a digital camera better: make the sensor bigger, improve the quality of the lens, speed up the processor.  But those are incremental improvements on a basic technology that hasn't changed much in a long time.

foursquare is joining the OpenStreetMap movement!  Say hi to pretty new maps!  —  We usually use this blog for big product announcements, but, as a startup, we also often think about how we can make life easier for other startups.  Today, we're doing both - a little announcement …

Who decides what gets sold in the bookstore?  —  We can probably agree that the local supermarket has no moral or ethical or business obligation to sell cherry-flavored Cap'n Crunch.  If the owner doesn't like cherries, she doesn't have to sell them.  —  And the cereal maker shouldn't work under …

With SeaMicro buy, AMD to double down on servers  —  SeaMicro's SM10000-64 server.  —  Updated: AMD just confirmed the deal and said it would pay approximately $334 million, of which approximately $281 million will be paid in cash.  —  Chipmaker AMD plans to announce its acquisition …

Apple reportedly considering 14-inch MacBook Air  —  Apple is reportedly considering launching a 14-inch MacBook Air and may start mass production in the near future to fully enter the Asia PC market, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.  —  Currently, 14-inch panels …

I'm Being Followed: How Google—and 104 Other Companies—Are Tracking Me on the Web  —  Who are these companies and what do they want from me?  A voyage into the invisible business that funds the web.  —  This morning, if you opened your browser and went to NYTimes.com …

“Spreading Santorum” Drops At Google; New Site Keeps Anal Sex Definition At Number One  —  As Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum loses two primary races to rival Mitt Romney, perhaps he can console himself with, ironically, another loss.  Spreading Santorum, the page defining …

Enterprise Social Networking Platform Yammer Raises $85M From DFJ Growth, Khosla, And Others  —  Enterprise social network and communications platform Yammer has finally closed that big round we and PandoDaily heard about earlier this year.  The company has raised $85 million in new funding …

Blizzard lays off 600, likely primarily in customer service  —  Blizzard Entertainment is eliminating 600 positions from its global workforce, the publisher announced earlier today.  The layoffs came as a result of reviews of the company's organizational structure, with a press release announcement specifying …

Microsoft's Windows Azure has a meltdown  —  Summary: Customers on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform are reporting they've been down for hours.  —  Customers are reporting that Microsoft's Windows Azure cloud platform has been experiencing a major meltdown in geographies across the world.