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Google Base Is The Merchant of Record, Now That's Interesting — I wrote a short post today on Google Base now intermediating payments between buyers and sellers. One point that I feel compelled to elaborate on a bit more is that Google is apparently the merchant of record in these purchases.
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Uh oh EBay: Google Base is now facilitating payments — Some very significant, if not predictable, news out of Google today. Google Base is going to start beta-testing payment intermediation in which buyers can buy items off of Google Base using their Google Account, while sellers can register …


Microsoft's Origami project — So today Microsoft officially flippedthe switch on the buzz machine for their Origami Project — an atypical viral marketing manuveur for a company whoseproducts are usually known about years ahead of time. Scoble says its a device, theInternet's lighting up with rumors — is it the Xboxportable?

Blogging for newbies — When I encourage people to start a blog here's what I suggest they do. — First, create a new weblog on one of the free services, like Blogger or MSN Spaces. It takes about five minutes, and is about as hard as creating an email address on Yahoo or Hotmail, and represents less of a commitment.
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ben barren

BlackBerry Hearing Ends With No Ruling on U.S. Service Shutdown — Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) — A judge considering a halt in U.S. BlackBerry e-mail service criticized both sides in the case for not settling their patent dispute and said he will rule later on a shutdown.
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Engadget

AOpen MiniPC Revealed … PCs recently have taken on a new look when it comes to small form factors giving compliment to Apple — As the PC market continues to show its age, many manufacturers are changing focus and research to reflect niche markets - with or without the help of the channel partners.

How Watermarks Fail — I wrote Wednesday about Randy Picker's suggestion of using digital watermarks to embed users' personal financial information into media files, to discourage users from sharing the files. Today, I want to talk more generally about watermarks and how they tend to fail.
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Boing Boing

iPod "Hi-Fi" Boombox arriving next week — February 24, 2006 - Among the products Apple will debut at next Tuesday's media event will be the iPod "Hi-Fi" boombox, reliable sources have informed Think Secret. Details are scarce but sources have indicated the product will deliver unique capabilities beyond …

Huge Anti-Piracy Push By MPAA — The MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) is steamrolling across the great indexing plains. Tuesday brought news the eDonkey2000 indexing server Razorback2 was taken offline by Belgian Police, in conjunction with the MPAA.
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Good Morning Silicon Valley

Half-Life 2 will not be required to run Episode 1 — Half-Life 2: Episode 1 won't actually require Half-Life 2 to play, Valve's explained, and although the game will be "four to six hours" long, marketing director Doug Lombardi reckons it's "markedly richer" in terms of content quality.
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Joystiq

US National Archives video available worldwide over Internet — SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Online search giant Google has teamed with the US National Archives to make historic films viewable worldwide via the Internet, they announced. — The archives' holdings can be seen for free online at its website …
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The Future of the Blog — Six Apart's Mena Trott helped start the stampede by co-designing user-friendly software. But she thinks the blogging trend is only just beginning — It's hard to imagine the world without blogs. The publishing technology has become a cultural and political force.

TREO IS HOT ON THE HEELS OF BLACKBERRY — While many white-knuckled BlackBerry users await a key court decision today that could shut down their wireless systems, others may have simply fled to the competition. — Palm's Treo, above, leads the BlackBerry in a customer-satisfaction survey, and its sales are closing the gap.
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InfoWorld TechWatch

carnival of the mobilists XVI (sweet sixteen) — Spending time in Barcelona post 3GSM feels comparable to being in New Orleans after an annual Mardi Gras party (which, BTW they went ahead with this year as their first sign of normality post Katrina last week). Kind of the quiet calm after a storm.

Space Invaders wall decals — Cool wall graphics company Blik sells a line of big space invader decals in assorted colors. The starter pack includes eight 13" diameter aliens and the missile base for $45. — Link (via Daddy Types)