A round-up of the companies, deals, and trends that made headlines.
Every day, the Fortune staff spends hours poring over tech stories, posts, and reviews from all over the Web to keep tabs on the companies that matter. We’ve assembled the day’s most newsworthy bits below.
“Americans are somewhat self-absorbed.”
— Netflix CEO Reed Hastings on whether U.S. citizens would notice the company’s cheaper Canadian pricing. (
Gizmodo
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- Verizon Communications’ CEO Ivan Seidenberg announced Verizon Wireless will kill off its unlimited data plan and roll out new options some time over the next four to six months. As for details? All Seidenberg would say is that the new plans would differ from AT&T’s. “We’re not sure we agree yet with how they valued the data.” (The Wall Street Journal)
- Fortune Senior Writer Jessi Hempel caught an early screening of The Social Network and walked away pretty darned impressed despite the factual inaccuracies.
- The FCC approved rules for use of unused airwaves, or “white spaces,” that could make “super Wi-Fi” (ie. ubiquitous wireless broadband) more readily available. (The Los Angeles Times)
- Due to Blockbuster filing for Chapter 11, it’s expected the troubled movie rental chain will close at least 1,000 of its 3,000 U.S. stores. (Mashable)
- Dell hired Cisco Systems vet Dario Zamarian to head up the PC company’s networking business. (The New York Times)
- Microsoft’s “ambassador to Silicon Valley,” Anand Iyer, is leaving the company. Iyer, who once served as the company’s senior product manager and helped garner developer support Windows Phone 7, said Microsoft wanted him to relocate to Seattle, which he was unwilling to do. (VentureBeat)
- AMD downplayed its third-quarter earnings outlook due to “weaker-than-expected demand, particularly in the consumer notebook market in Western Europe and North America.” (Intel pretty much said the same thing last month.) (All Things Digital)
- MySpace promoted Andy Marcus, Senior VP of Business and Legal Affairs, to new content chief. (The Hollywood Reporter)
- One YouTube user took a video of HP’s Windows 7-powered Slate tablet. While the hardware seems snappy enough, it’s clear Microsoft’s latest OS wasn’t optimized for tablets.
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