Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
Microsoft calling on thousands to host their own Windows 7 parties  —  Microsoft is putting a Tupperware-style twist on the upcoming Windows 7 rollout — launching a new initiative to encourage thousands of employees, partners and technology enthusiasts to throw parties in their homes …

Ryan Tate / Gawker:
Google Patents World’s Simplest Home Page  —  After a five-and-a-half-year fight, Google and its attorneys have managed to convince federal bureaucrats to bestow a patent on the company’s iconic home page.  We always thought the page was brain-dead simple, but apparently it’s an innovative “graphical user interface.”

Jim Dalrymple / The Loop:
Sources confirm no Apple TV at Apple’s September event  —  Piper Jaffray Senior Research Analyst, Gene Munster, on Tuesday said he feels an Apple TV may be introduced at next week’s Apple event.  However, that is not going to happen.  —  The Loop has learned through very reliable sources … […]

Erin Pettigrew / Gawker Advertising:
Then and Now, Seven Years of Blogging as Business  —  When Nick Denton launched the proto gadget blog Gizmodo in August 2002, it arrived on scene to a milieu of early web confusion.  Until then, blogs were low traffic outlets for personal thought-flinging to be visited by friends …

Steve Perlman / OnLive Blog:
OnLive Opens the Beta Program  —  Hey there…  It’s been a very busy and productive few months for OnLive.  We’ve been focused on evolving the OnLive technology, installing lots of servers in our data centers and tuning the OnLive® Game Service based on feedback from our internal Beta testers.

Rachel Gordon / San Francisco Chronicle:
SFO boarding passes go paperless  —  San Francisco International Airport has become the first airport in the Bay Area to allow paperless boarding passes on a limited basis.  —  The experiment may go a long way to reducing the anxiety for air travelers who fear losing their boarding passes.

Wall Street Journal:
YouTube in Talks to Stream Rental Movies  —  Google Inc.’s YouTube is in discussions with major movie studios about allowing users to stream movies on a rental basis, according to people familiar with the company’s plans, marking one of the video giant’s first moves towards charging …

Nilay Patel / Engadget:
Sony announces VAIO X ultraportable  —  Sony just announced the VAIO X at IFA 2009, a half-inch thin ultraportable with an 11.1-inch screen and a new all-day battery that “will set the new standard for stamina.”  The machine’s built of carbon fiber, so it weighs just a pound and a half […]

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Oh, RSS Is Definitely Dead Now: Feedburner CEO Dick Costolo To Become Twitter COO  —  Former Google exec and the cofounder/CEO of RSS service Feedburner Dick Costolo is Twitter’s new chief operating officer, we’ve heard from multiple sources.  Costolo, who sold Feedburner to Google for $100 million in 2007, left Google […]

Nicholas Carlson / Silicon Alley Insider:
Google’s Most Profitable Business Gets New Leadership  —  Google (GOOG) exec David Fischer is moving on as the search leader’s quiet sales shake-up continues.  —  David is an exec who, from 2002 on, helped build Google’s self-service advertising business into a 4,000 employee-strong powerhouse …