Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Microsoft’s Latest Web Stumble: Kevin Johnson Out  —  Kevin Johnson (pictured here), the point person for Microsoft’s failed bid to buy Yahoo, is leaving the company to run Juniper Networks.  —  As the president of its Platform and Services Division, the smooth Johnson has been trying …

Microsoft:
Microsoft Announces Reorganization of Windows and Online Services Business  —  Platforms & Services Division to Split Into Two Groups and Report to CEO Steve Ballmer.  —  Microsoft Corp. today announced that the Platforms & Services Division (PSD) will be split into two groups …

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Liveblogging the Facebook Developer Conference  —  The TechCrunch team is on site at the Facebook Developer conference, and we’ll be live blogging the news.  Mark Zuckerberg’s Keynote starts at 1:30 pm PST.  —  Facebook’s press release is here.  —  Live Coverage

Justin Smith / Inside Facebook:
Facebook Announces “Great Apps” and “App Verification” Certification Programs for Good App Developers  —  As speculated earlier this week, Facebook is announcing two new programs today that will give greater visibility within the News Feed and possibly other communication channels for applications that …

Gavin Clarke / The Register:
Ubuntu man challenges open source to out-pretty Apple  —  OSCON Billionaire, cosmonaut and founder of the fast-growing Ubuntu Linux distro Mark Shuttleworth dreams impossible dreams.  —  No, not a return to the stars.  He believes in something that’s far harder for mortal open source engineers to achieve.

Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Google Launches Knol, The Monetizable Wikipedia  —  Today Google has launched Knol, its Wikipedia alternative that holds authors accountable for the articles they write.  Each article is created by a team of authors who receive attribution, and are allowed to take part in a rev-share for AdSense ads on their page.

Business Wire:
Amazon.com Announces Second Quarter Sales up 41% to $4.06 Billion; Sales Growth Accelerates to 31% in Media and to 58% in Electronics and Other General Merchandise  —  SEATTLE—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN - News) today announced financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2008.

Amy Schatz / Wall Street Journal:
FCC Reaches Tentative Deal To Approve XM-Sirius Merger  —  WASHINGTON - A tentative deal has been reached by a majority of commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission to approve the merger of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., a FCC source close to the review […]

Kevin Michaluk / CrackBerry.com blogs:
BlackBerry Kickstart 8220 Hands-On Hardware Review  —  The Web’s First Review of the BlackBerry KickStart 8220.  —  Grab a cup of coffee, sit back and relax!  It’s time for another hands-on review of a yet to be officially announced or released BlackBerry smartphone.

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
It’s Facebook Day!  Say Hello To The Three Tier App System  —  Today is definitely Facebook day as they hold their second annual F8 developers conference in San Francisco.  Last year they released their developer platform, which led competitors to hurriedly release their own competing offerings.