SiliconMorning: TechCrunch 2.0 Launches, Wikipedia Blackout and a "Garageband for eBooks" (1/16)

Frederic Lardinois

16 Jan 2012 — 3 min read

Good morning. Yesterday's tech news was, for the most part, overshadowed by the launch of PandoDaily, Sarah Lacy's new tech blog that will be partly staffed with ex-TechCrunch employees. Much of the discussion focused on the fact that she raised venture capital from virtually all of the major Silicon Valley funds and individual investors. This led quite a few pundits to question how independent the organization could really be.

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Top News

Here comes TechCrunch 2.0: Sarah Lacy has launched PandoDaily, which is in effect TechCrunch 2.0. The site aims to cover startup news, but is already snared in a discussion about its impartiality, as Lacy took investments from virtually every major VC fund in the Silicon Valley. (PandoDaily, Gawker)

Apple to announce a "Garageband for eBooks": Apple is holding an education-focused press event in New York on Thursday and rumor has it that the company will announce an easier way for textbook publishers (and potentially publishers in general) to create eBooks. (Ars Technica)

The English Wikipedia joins the SOPA blackout: To protest the Stop Online Piracy Act, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales today announced that the popular online encyclopedia will shut down for 24 hours on Wednesday to protest the proposed law. (Next Web, Wikipedia's announcement)

More News

Google now lets you log in with your smartphone: You can now surf to http://accounts.google.com/sesame, scan a barcode on your phone and log in to you Gmail account – no keyboard needed. This makes logging in on public computers safer, as key loggers can't capture your password. (SiliconFilter)

Apple files another lawsuit against Samsung in Germany: Once again, Apple has filed a suit against its rival Samsung in Germany. This time, the target is 10 smartphones, which, says Apple, copy its design. (Bloomberg)

Google contractors vandalize open-source mapping project: The Open Street Map project has found some evidence that users from a Google IP address in India have been vandalizing the crowdsourced project's map data. This comes just a few days after Google had to deal with a Kenyan contractor who went rogue as well. (RWW)

Protest SOPA with just one click: If you are a Cloudflare user, you can now participate in the anti-SOPA and PIPA blackout on Wednesday with just one click. Expect to see many sites that will have any word longer than 5 letters blacked out in the next few days. (TechCrunch)

What's the deal with the Windows 8 bootloader? Ars Technica clears up some of the fear, uncertainty and doubt about the Windows 8 boatloader. On ARM tablets, Windows 8 won't allow other operating systems to run on the same hardware. (Ars Technica)

Fun Read

What it's like to work at Google: "It’s almost as if you could live on campus and never leave. Google’s motto is (apparently) “Don’t be evil,” and it goes out of its way, every day, to ensure Googlers live extremely well on campus. But what is this life really like?" (Lockergnome)