Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Kanye West Loves Twitter, And We Love Twitter For Kanye West's Tweets  —  You'll forgive me for sneaking in some pop culture in the mix because it's Saturday and all, right?  Rapper Kanye West is having a bit of a moment on Twitter the past few hours, apologizing for the Taylor Swift incident …

Economist:
Untangling the social web  —  Software: From retailing to counterterrorism, the ability to analyse social connections is proving increasingly useful  —  TELECOMS operators naturally prize mobile-phone subscribers who spend a lot, but some thriftier customers, it turns out, are actually more valuable.

Christopher Mims / Technology Review:
MapRejuice Is SETI@Home on Steroids  —  Millions of Web surfers have spare computer cycles—why not use browsers to tap them?  —  Unless a flash ad in one of your open browser tabs has gone rogue, it's likely you've got a few spare processor cycles available on the PC you're using to read this.

Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:
Can Ping be saved?  —  10 things Apple can do to rescue its experiment in social networking  —  Apple (AAPL) announced Friday that less than 48 hours after its launch more than 1 million people had signed up for Ping, its new social network for music.  —  That's not necessarily a good thing …

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Want To Use Gmail Priority Inbox With IMAP?  Tough Luck  —  Curious what Google's Gmail Priority Inbox means for those of us that use an IMAP or POP client like Mac Mail or the Mail function on an iPhone?  Well as of yet the feature is not fully enabled on either IMAP or POP-compatible third party …

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Eminem Wins Appeal Over Universal Music: iTunes Downloads Should Be Accounted Differently Than CD Sales  —  Well, well, well.  A few years back, we noted that Eminem's publisher was upset about the royalty cut they were getting from sales on iTunes, and they eventually sued both Apple …

Claire Cain Miller / New York Times:
Texas Probes Google on Ranking of Search Results  —  The Texas attorney general has opened an antitrust investigation into how Google ranks search results, the first United States case to strike at the heart of the company's main search business.  —  The issue at hand …

Joe Nocera / New York Times:
The Struggle for What We Already Have  —  For something that seems so simple and straightforward, “net neutrality” has sure created one big mess.  —  Net neutrality, of course, is the principle that Internet service providers should not be allowed to favor some Internet content over other content by delivering it faster.

Devindra Hardawar / VentureBeat:
Apple's Ping tops 1M users in two days, but it's no Google Buzz  —  Apple announced just a few hours ago that its new music-centered social network Ping has surpassed 1 million users in a mere two days.  —  While the announcement may seem impressive, if you consider that iTunes …

Laura June / Engadget:
iOS 4.1 confirmed for September 8th on Apple's UK website  —  According to Apple's UK website, iOS 4.1 will hit on Wednesday, September 8th.  The US website still displays the non-commital “Coming Soon” message, so we'll have to keep our eyes peeled.  We're going to go ahead and guess …

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Craigslist Censored: Adult Section Comes Down  —  Bad news for Craigslist users who like to peruse the [Erotic Services] Adult Services section of their site.  It's gone, replaced by a large black and white “censored” logo.  —  I've reached out to Craigslist for comment and await their reply.

Brian X. Chen / Gadget Lab:
Steve Jobs: iTunes 10 Icon Does Not ‘Suck’  —  While winding down from Wednesday's iPod announcements, Apple CEO Steve Jobs appears to have taken some time to respond to an e-mail criticizing the new look of the iTunes icon.  —  Joshua Kopac, who oversees design work for advertising firm ValuLeads …

Josh Constine / Inside Facebook:
Facebook Prevents Users From Sending Suspicious Friend Requests To Strangers  —  Facebook has begun implementing new security measures to prevent friend request spamming.  Some users are being shown a “This Request Can't Be Sent” pop-up if their request is deemed suspicious.

Therese Poletti / Wall Street Journal:
New York's Tech Start-Up Scene Comes of Age  —  Just stop calling it ‘Silicon Alley’  —  In the late 1990s, as Silicon Valley's tech industry headed into boom-land, so too did New York City.  —  A slew of startups formed, many focused on “new media,” or advertising on the Internet.

Erica Naone / Technology Review:
How Websites Make You Spill Your Secrets  —  People divulge more sensitive information on sites that look less safe.  —  Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have found that the appearance of website has a big effect on how honestly people answer personal questions put to them by the site.

Bloomberg:
Coinstar Builds Apple Ties as It Seeks Online Partner  —  Sept. 3 (Bloomberg) — Coinstar Inc., owner of the Redbox DVD rental kiosks, is expanding ties with Apple Inc. as it searches for a partner to build an online viewing service.  —  The company added 1.8 million Internet users in the second quarter …

Apple:
Ping Users Top One Million in First 48 Hours  —  Apple® today announced that in less than 48 hours since its launch on Wednesday, more than one million users have joined Ping, its new social network for music which lets users follow their favorite artists and friends to discover …

Adam Dachis / Lifehacker:
iPhone 3G Speed Test: iOS 4.0 versus iOS 4.1  —  iOS 4.0 was so slow on our 3G, we promptly downgraded after updating.  Earlier this week, Apple announced, among other things, that iOS 4.1 fixed performance on the iPhone 3G.  We put their claim to the test.

Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Google Announces Can't Be Missed Press Event On Search - What's Up?  —  Google's announced a special press event for next Wednesday on search that “you won't want to miss.” What big news could there be?  Let's speculate — but I wouldn't get too excited.  —  Here's what the invite says:

Matt McGee / Search Engine Land:
German Court Finds YouTube Liable In Copyright Case  —  A German court has found YouTube liable for copyright damages after one of its users uploaded copyrighted music videos.  A Google spokesperson tells the AP that it's evaluating the court's decision and will appeal.