Nick Eaton / The Microsoft Blog:
Microsoft tops Google, Yahoo, Facebook in worldwide Web use  —  Windows Live Messenger led Microsoft’s Web properties in capturing 14.5 percent of total time spent online in September worldwide, handily beating Google, Yahoo, Facebook and other sites, according to analysis firm comScore.

Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Apple Retail Stores Roll Out ‘Reserve and Pick Up’ Purchasing for Holiday Season  —  Apple has rolled out a new Reserve and Pick Up purchasing program for its retail stores, allowing customers to select and reserve products for later in-store purchase and pick up ahead of the holidays.

Emil Protalinski / Ars Technica:
October 2009 OS stats: Windows 7 passes Snow Leopard, Linux  —  In less than two weeks of general availability, Windows 7 has already captured a market share that is greater than Snow Leopard and Linux.  Details inside.  —  Windows 7 arrived two weeks ago and so far it’s selling quite […]

Prince McLean / AppleInsider:
Report: Apple to launch Verizon iPhone in Q3 2010  —  A new report citing sources in the Taiwan handset supply chain says Apple has contracted to produce a UMTS/CDMA hybrid iPhone due in the third quarter of next year that will enable the company to sell a single global handset to […]

Brad Stone / Bits:
Lessons From the War Over Skype  —  The dust has settled, the ink on the deal has dried, and one of the biggest sideshows in Silicon Valley this year appears to be over.  The litigation between eBay, the buyers of Skype and its original founders has been dropped, and the deal […]

Kevin Bury / The LinkedIn Blog:
A new design for LinkedIn  —  Some of you may have noticed a new site navigation experience on LinkedIn.  We are in the process of testing a new design.  During this testing phase, some users will see the new design, while others will not.  —  What’s New

Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Boxee Beta Coming December 7  —  NYC-based Boxee will release the long-awaited beta version of its Web video-watching software on Dec. 7, MediaMemo’s Peter Kafka tweets.  —  It’ll be shown off at an event at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.  —  Boxee is basically a Web video browser designed […]

John Herrman / Gizmodo:
Giz Explains: Android, and How It Will Take Over the World  —  This week we met Motorola’s Droid, the first handset with Android 2.0.  To an outsider, it just looks like another Google smartphone, but 2.0 is more than that: it’s proof that Android is finally going to take over the […]

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Fever Pitch: It’s Droid Day, Enjoy The Moment.  —  If you are a tech lover, there is nothing quite like the launch day of a much hyped new gadget.  Expectations run high.  And since those expectations are rarely satisfied once you have the special little device in hand, it’s a moment […]

Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
Google CEO: Hopefully we won’t repeat Microsoft’s past mistakes  —  Eric Schmidt appeared on Fox Business Network tonight for an extensive interview with host Neil Cavuto, who pressed the Google CEO a couple times over whether the company has the potential to become the next Microsoft …