Prince McLean / AppleInsider:
Apple shareholder meeting dominated by politics  —  Apple’s annual shareholder meeting was dominated, as usual, by groups using the event as a soapbox for furthering their political agenda.  Apple COO Tim Cook only answered a couple real questions from individuals, and the crowd sang …

John Biggs / CrunchGear:
Kindle 2 going international  —  If this job posting by lab126.com, Amazon’s secret hardware skunkworks, is any indication there will be an International version of the Kindle sooner than later. … Note that this doesn’t specifically mention overseas implementation but it does describe Wi-Fi and 3G …

Tarmo Virki / Reuters:
Nokia considering entering laptop industry  —  HELSINKI (Reuters) - The world’s top mobile phone maker Nokia is eyeing entering the laptop business, its Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in an interview to Finnish national broadcaster YLE on Wednesday.

MG Siegler / VentureBeat:
Google says hello to Twitter with a stream of 1s and 0s  —  That was the first official tweet from Google’s official Twitter account today.  The second tweet announced the launch of its App Status Dashboard, which we just covered.  This looks to be another move in the direction of transparency […]

John Battelle / John Battelle’s Searchblog:
Twitter = YouTube.  —  What?  Is Battelle crazy?  Hear me out.  Think back when YouTube was growing like a weed, and Google snapped it up.  Most folks (including me) saw this as Google “getting into the video business,” and sure, that in fact was one part of the equation.

Juan Carlos Perez / Network World:
IDC forecasts first U.S. ad spending contraction since 2001  —  More bad news for advertising-supported Internet and media companies like Google, Yahoo, Facebook and MySpace: IDC is predicting that online ad spending in the U.S. will shrink year-on-year in the first quarter for the first time since the dot-com […]

Chris O’Brien / Mercury News:
How Twitter could be a threat to Google  —  Google’s search engine is so dominant that it’s hard to imagine how anyone could knock the Mountain View company from its pedestal.  And yet if history is any guide, such reigns never last.  IBM gave way to Microsoft, which now has […]

Bloomberg:
Apple CEO Steve Jobs Remains Deeply Involved at the Company, Director Says  —  Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs remains deeply involved in strategic decisions and the company will disclose more information about his health if warranted, a director said.

Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
Microsoft sues TomTom over Linux and other patent claims  —  Microsoft filed suit against TomTom today, alleging that the in-car navigation company’s devices violate eight of its patents — including three that relate to TomTom’s implementation of the Linux kernel.

Tim Culpan / Bloomberg:
Microsoft May Begin Shipping Windows 7 in September, Compal’s Chen Says  —  Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) — Microsoft Corp., the world’s largest software maker, may begin shipping its Windows 7 operating system as early as the third quarter, a computer-industry executive said.