[Best of the Web — 20 January 2010]
Bill Gates joins Twitter: Within hours of joining Twitter, former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates had notched up more than 100 000 followers. His first tweet? “‘Hello World.’ Hard at work on my foundation letter — publishing on 1/25.” Gates plans to use Twitter to keep people updated about the work he’s doing through his charitable foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. [CNet News] [AFP]
Microsoft to flush Bing user data: Microsoft has agreed to purge all user data related to searches on its Bing search engine within six months. Until now, the software giant has been “anonymising” users’ Internet Protocol addresses after six months but has now agreed to delete the data completely. This comes as a result of pressure from European privacy regulators and other online privacy rights groups, according to The Telegraph. [The Telegraph] [InformationWeek]
Rumours swirl over Apple’s tablet: With less than a week to go until Apple CEO Steve Jobs takes to a stage at a press conference in San Francisco, the speculation machine is working overtime. It now appears virtually certain that Jobs will unveil an Apple tablet device of sort. Reports now suggest that the computer maker has reached an agreement with book publisher HarperCollins. If the iSlate — it’s rumoured name — doubles as an electronic book reader, it could set Apple on a collision course with Amazon.com, whose Kindle device has dominated the market until now. Meanwhile, hype ahead of next week’s announcement has sent Apple’s share price to an all-time record high above US$215. [The Christian Science Monitor] [BusinessWeek] [The Guardian]
- Bill Gates image credit: Jeff Sandquist
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