Top Items:

Why we believe in Google Print — We've been asked recently why we're so determined to pursue Google Print, even though it has drawn industry opposition in the form of two lawsuits, the most recent coming today from several members of the American Association of Publishers.
RELATED ITEMS:

Throwing the Books at Google — Just weeks after a leading authors' organization sued Google for copyright infringement, the Association of American Publishers has also filed suit against the search engine giant's plans to scan and index books for the internet.

The point of Google Print — You may have read about the AAP's lawsuit announced today which objects to Google Print. We'll post our comments about that soon. Meanwhile, we offer this commentary from Eric Schmidt. It ran on the op-ed page of yesterday's Wall Street Journal …

No Head-Scratching at eBay About Skype's Potential — If up to $4.1 billion wasn't enough to prove eBay's serious about just-acquired Skype, executive comments Wednesday sure did. And executive moves: eBay Chief Financial Officer Rajiv Dutta soon will become the London-based president …

Web 2.0 Bubble — I had an enjoyable lunch with Jeff Jarvis today catching up on a number of things and brainstorming about value in the next generation web. During the conversation I vented a little frustration at the use of buzz words and bubble-like mentality with terms like Web 2.0.

INTERVIEW WITH SPHERE CEO TONY CONRAD — Last week, I contacted Tony Conrad for an interview about Sphere, a new blog search engine presently in private beta testing. Tony, who is the CEO of Sphere was gracious enough to agree, amidst a very busy schedule.

A Journey to a Thousand Maps Begins With an Open Code — A Google map is no longer just a Google map. — You can still search Google Maps to figure out how to get from here to there, but why would you, when you can use it to pinpoint kosher restaurants in Cincinnati, traffic cameras in Dublin …
Discussion:
Google Maps Mania

An iPod Worth Keeping an Eye On — CALL it the iPod Paradox: with each successive version, Apple's 30-million-selling music player gets thinner and thinner, but its feature list grows longer and longer. By next year, no doubt, the iPod will act as a radio, remote control and coffee stirrer …
RELATED ITEM:

Media Companies Go Too Far in Curbing Consumers' Activities — In some quarters of the Internet, the three most hated letters of the alphabet are DRM. They stand for Digital Rights Management, a set of technologies for limiting how people can use the music and video files they've purchased from legal downloading services.

'Cash for clips' as 3 pays customers for popular video content — The world's most democratic mobile TV channel will go live today with the launch of See Me TV, exclusively on 3. The launch sees 3 offering over 3.2 million customers cash in exchange for popular video content in a move …
Discussion:
MobHappy

Work directly with RAW files — "Until now, RAW files have taken so long to work with," said Heinz Kluetmeier, renowned sports photographer whose credits include over 100 Sports Illustrated covers. "What amazed me about Aperture is that you can work directly with RAW files …
Discussion:
Guardian Unlimited

Firefox sees 100 millionth download — Just shy of Firefox's first birthday party, the Mozilla Foundation celebrated the 100 millionth download of its Web browser Wednesday. — Mozilla has seen steady adoption of its browser since its release last November.
Discussion:
The PC Doctor

Intel Settlement Revives a Fading Chip Designer — PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 19 - Intel's agreement to pay $300 million to settle a patent dispute with a tiny chip design company is a vindication for a Silicon Valley technologist who was once considered one of the region's visionaries, then vanished from the scene.
Discussion:
SiliconBeat

Free American broadband! — In France, you can get super-fast DSL, unlimited phone service and 100 TV channels for a mere $38 a month. Why does the same thing cost so much more in the U.S.? — Next time you sit down to pay your cable-modem or DSL bill, consider this …

Furor Grows Over Internet Bugging — A recent government order mandating that voice over internet protocol services must include the same government-approved wiretapping capabilities as traditional phone companies threatens to cripple peer-to-peer telephone innovation, according to new warnings …