Om Malik / GigaOM:
GigaOM Acquires jkOnTheRun  —  In the life of every company, there comes a time when it is faced with the choice of how to extend its reach: Either build a new product or service, or acquire the one that’s already established itself as the best in its class.

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Some Facebook Apps Are Actually More Equal Than Others  —  Tomorrow, when it rolls out its new platform, one of the more interesting pieces of news from Facebook will be its initiative to dub certain of its third-party app developers more special than others.

Sam Diaz / Between the Lines:
VMWare looks ahead at Microsoft, year-end financials and morale  —  updated: VMWare, whose recent headlines have included an ousted CEO and a re-pricing of its employee stock options, reported second-quarter earnings of $92 million, or 23 cents per share, up from $52 million, or 16 cents per share, for […]

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Google In Final Negotiations To Acquire Digg For “Around $200 Million”  —  Google’s on and off negotiations with Digg have been back on in a big way for the last six weeks, we’ve heard from multiple sources inside of Google, and the two companies are close to a deal that will […]

Arik Hesseldahl / Business Week:
Steve Jobs’ Health: The Real Issue  —  After the earnings call last night I talked with a source who is close to Apple and who who has in the past proven very well informed on the concerns of Apple senior management.  This source told me with near-certainty that Jobs’ cancer […]

Arik Hesseldahl / Byte of the Apple:
The Real Issue About Steve’s Health  —  After the earnings call last night I talked with a source who is close to Apple and who who has in the past proven very well informed on the concerns of Apple senior management.  This source told me with near-certainty that […]

Stephen Shankland / CNET News.com:
Yahoo earnings decline, miss estimates  —  Yahoo’s earnings for its second quarter came in 1 cent lower than expectations, with net income declining 19 percent and revenue a bit light as well, but the company called the quarter “strong.”  —  Using generally accepted accounting principles …

Karl Bode / DSLreports:
AT&T Hints That Usage-Based Billing Is Coming - New, more specific speed tiers may come with a catch…  At the FCC’s hearing on broadband yesterday in Pittsburgh, AT&T Senior Federal Regulatory Vice President Robert Quinn said the company would be changing the way way they advertise their broadband tiers …

Chad Dickerson:
Leaving Yahoo!  —  I’ve thought a lot about how to begin this post, but it’s best to get right to the point (especially in light of the speed of Techcrunch).  I’m leaving Yahoo! to pursue another very exciting opportunity: joining the Etsy team as CTO.  I’ll save my thoughts on Etsy for later […]

Joseph Weisenthal / paidContent.org:
Coming Tonight: Yahoo Reports Q2; Expectations Low  —  It’s a good thing the fight with Icahn is over and the back-and-forth with Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has gone on the back burner, so we don’t have to overdramatize Yahoo’s (NSDQ: YHOO) earnings report tonight (e.g. “Yahoo is fighting …