IDC: Apple passes RIM to become No. 4 global mobile phone vendor
A new IDC report shows strong iPhone sales have pushed Apple past Research in Motion, making the iPhone-maker the world's fourth-largest mobile phone seller in the third quarter of 2010. — According...
Microsoft Plans to Buy Canesta
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Prepare for Windows 8: Minority Report Edition. — Microsoft said on Friday that it was buying Canesta, a small Silicon Valley company that specializes in gesture-recognition ...
Microsoft: Our strategy with Silverlight has shifted
At Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference (PDC) this week, the future of Silverlight is one topic that has gotten short shrift. There have been no sessions about Silverlight 5 and only one me...
New Twitter, new look
We've refreshed our logos, buttons and widgets to bring the improved look and experience of the new Twitter to your website or blog. — Go to our resources page to add new Twitter widgets, buttons, a...
Get ready for Verizon's ‘Dream Phone’
The soon-to-be-unveiled Verizon iPhone is the answer to many consumers' prayers. But a deal with Apple will test the company that Ivan Seidenberg has spent his career building. — By Sarah Ellison, ...
Asustek details tablet PC plans
Asustek Computer plans to launch several tablet PCs featuring 7-, 10- or 12-inch panels and will start launching them in December 2010, according to company president Jerry Shen. — Asustek is aiming...
Google Ventures Invests in HomeAway
Google Ventures, the investment fund that Google started last year, is getting into vacation rentals. — Google has invested in HomeAway, the vacation rental site that has already raised nearly half ...
Facebook acquires file-sharing service Drop.io
Facebook has acquired most of the assets of Drop.io, a New York-based start-up that lets users privately and sporadically share files through a drag-and-drop interface with additional options like pho...
89,000 Microsoft employees will get a Windows Phone 7 handset
Steve Ballmer gives phones to every PDC attendee, and every Microsoft employee — Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer enthusiastically announced Thursday that all attendees of Microsoft's Professional Develo...
The Nook Color Might Be a Better Android Tablet Than We Thought
The Nook Color's built on top of Android, but seemed limited in its potential to be a killer Android tablet by the way it'd run apps. Well, the reality is, it could be a solid little Android tablet a...
Steve Jobs: No USB 3 ‘at this time’
Over the past few months multiple rumors emerged claiming that Apple would adopt USB 3.0 for their line of Macs. Since this is yet to happen, reader, Tom Kruk e-mailed the man in charge asking why he...
New in Google Maps for Android: Updated reviews, search filters, and Latitude real-time updating
Lately, we've been working on giving you even better ways to find nearby places with Google Maps for Android, such as the Places icon and rich Place pages. Today, we are launching Google Maps 4.6 …
Lars Rasmussen, Father Of Google Maps And Google Wave, Heads To Facebook
When Google put their faith in Wave, an ambitious new project last year, they knew it was a gamble. But a big part of it was the team behind the project. A team led by Lars Rasmussen, the engineer b...
Everest summit wired up with Internet
KATHMANDU — Climbers at the top of Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, will now be able to make video calls and surf the Internet on their mobile phones, a Nepalese telecom group claims. — Ncel...
After A Five Month Stay (And $750M Acquisition), AdMob CEO Omar Hamoui Leaves Google
Last November, Google announced that it had acquired leading mobile ad network AdMob for a whopping $750 million. Today, less than a year after the deal closed, AdMob founder and CEO Omar Hamoui is l...
AOL's Homepage Revamp Aims For TV Network Model
You don't usually hear the word “dayparts” when talking about a website's homepage, but the new AOL (NYSE: AOL) homepage that's going live Monday morning has a lot in common with the content values of...
Google's 2010 M&A Bill: $1.6 Billion and Counting
Lost track of Google's M&A binge this year? No problem: The company helpfully tallies it up for investors in its most recent quarterly filing. — The big picture: Google has spent at least $1.6 bill...
White hat or black hat? Firefox hacking tool Firesheep raises ethical concerns
Editor's Note: Was the release of the drop-dead easy hacking tool Firesheep, an extension for the Firefox browser that lets users hijack passwords from others on wireless networks, ethically sound?
Leaked DVD Screener of The Social Network A BitTorrent Hit
The Social Network tells the dramatized story of the founders of Facebook, the number one social-networking site that was launched in 2004. The film premiered nearly three weeks ago, and since then m...
Larry And Sergey Wanted Steve Jobs To Be Google's First CEO
The first guy Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin wanted to hire to be their CEO was Apple's Steve Jobs. — We learned this detail watching Bloomberg TV's “Game Changers” documentary on the ...
Is Goo.gl really the fastest URL shortener? (chart)
A few weeks ago, Google made its URL shortener, Goo.gl, open for everyone and gave it its own website, similar to Bit.ly's. Previously, Goo.gl could only be used by Google's own services. — When th...
Best Buds: Gmail Creator Joins Facebook Co-Founder, Donates 100K To Legalize Marijuana
It's pretty easy being green if you're a Silicon Valley notable apparently. We just got word that Paul Buchheit, creator of Gmail, Friendfeed and now a Facebook employee, has surpassed Facebook co …
Facebook Holding Special Mobile Event This Wednesday
Facebook has just sent us an invitation to a special event that's happening this Wednesday. The theme? Mobile. — We don't know what Facebook is planning to launch (though we'll do our best to find...
1 billion subscriptions and counting
Early on (we're talking '06 here, people!), the yellow subscribe button made its debut so the latest videos from your favorite channels could make a beeline to your inbox/eager eyes. Today, the butto...
Jay Adelson's Got a Plan, Post-Digg, to Fix Silicon Valley
Jay Adelson, the former CEO of Digg, is in the midst of a mid-life crisis. — He's an addict, you see. Hooked on the rush of entrepreneurship. — It's only been six months since he stepped down as ...
The PlayStation Phone: new photos, more details!
We've gotten our hands on some more images of the PlayStation Phone, and gleaned a few more juicy details about the handset. Firstly, as you can see in the photos, the model in question does indeed s...
Here's AOL Now-Live New Homepage (and Welcome Back to the Adorkable Lindsay Campbell)
Today, BoomTown interviewed AOL CEO Tim Armstrong, along with NPR CEO Vivian Schiller, at the Online News Association conference in Washington, D.C. about the future of journalism on the Web.
The Mac App Store isn't for today's Mac developers
Apple's recently announced App Store for the Mac is a Really Big Deal™, for reasons I'll get to in a moment. But a lot of existing Mac developers have pointed out major issues or unknowns that need t...
The Addictive Allure of Instagram
Cool photography apps for the iPhone are a dime a dozen, so what is it about Instagram that has made it capture hearts and minds of over a 100,000 users in just a week? Between Camera+, Hipstamatic a...
An Update on Facebook UIDs
As we outlined previously, we recently learned that some developers on Facebook Platform were inadvertently sharing User IDs (UIDs) due to an issue with the way that web browsers work. While we found...
Demand Media's IPO Is on Deck, With Amended Filing
Demand Media, which made its S-1 filing in August, filed an amended version today that is likely to allow it to move quickly to its initial public offering. — The new version for the online content ...
Facebook applies for ad-targeting patent
This is interesting: Earlier this month, Facebook filed for a patent to further hone its ad-targeting technology so that ads can be based on what a user's friends interests may be. The reason for thi...
Samsung's ‘Nexus Two:’ More Details Come Out
Samsung is indeed working on an unlocked Google Android phone as reported by Gizmodo this morning, but it may not be called the “Nexus Two” and it isn't coming out on November 8. — Gizmodo riled the...
The Nook Color Might Be a Better Android Tablet Than We Thought
The Nook Color's built on top of Android, but seemed limited in its potential to be a killer Android tablet by the way it'd run apps. Well, the reality is, it could be a solid little Android tablet a...
New in Google Maps for Android: Updated reviews, search filters, and Latitude real-time updating
Lately, we've been working on giving you even better ways to find nearby places with Google Maps for Android, such as the Places icon and rich Place pages. Today, we are launching Google Maps 4.6 …
Everest summit wired up with Internet
KATHMANDU — Climbers at the top of Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, will now be able to make video calls and surf the Internet on their mobile phones, a Nepalese telecom group claims. — Ncel...
1 billion subscriptions and counting
Early on (we're talking '06 here, people!), the yellow subscribe button made its debut so the latest videos from your favorite channels could make a beeline to your inbox/eager eyes. Today, the butto...
iPhone locked for early 2011 on Verizon, says Fortune
Though Verizon famously turned down the original iPhone before Apple ultimately signed a deal with AT&T, the company's outspoken CEO — Ivan Seidenberg — has been very careful over the past couple year...
Nintendo Bets Big on Social DS System
TOKYO—The headline feature of Nintendo Co.'s forthcoming 3DS portable videogame system is the ability to play 3-D games without the need for eyewear, but it is the device's ability to locate other pla...
Chart: How Newspaper E-Editions Are Faring
One circulation metric that wasn't down year-over-year for U.S. newspapers during the first half of 2010: the total number of subscribers to their e-editions, a broad category that includes digital re...
SAP Admitting Infringement In Oracle Case
The admission means SAP will likely be liable for big damages—and possible further investigation—in the suit filed against it by Oracle, which alleged that the SAP-acquired TomorrowNow operation impro...