Apr 30

-According to GigaOM (rumor), Apple has scooped up the domain name http://www.icloud.com/ from Xcerion, the maker of a cloud-based service. The deal is said to have gone down for somewhere in the range of $4.5m. iCloud.com still points to the old owner’s website and a quick Whois search of the domain still pulls up the information for Xcerion. Apple will likely introduce their new cloud services at WWDC and the cloud will likely include a new music locker and possibly some new cloud features for iOS users. Apple recently stopped selling retail packages and discounted copies of MobileMe.

-Libraries are increasingly offering patrons the opportunity to check out ebook and audio versions of current books. And later this year that opportunity will expand with Amazon's new Kindle LIbrary Lending. Some 11,000 U.S. libraries, in partnership with OverDrive, a media distributor, will make ebooks available to local patrons. You'll be able to check out a book electronically and begin reading it immediately on Amazon's free Kindle app. Read more on Macworld.

-Al Gore has released 'Our Choice' an interactive iOS app that surveys the causes of global warming and presents solutions that can help stop the disaster.

-Jay Freeman, founder of Cydia, tells Scobleizer why you should jailbreak your iPhone.

-By now you've probably seen the latest spectacle to consume the white iPhone 4: it's thicker than the black model. The image above illustrates the point using a piece of lead from a mechanical pencil. Unfortunately, Apple's own spec page doesn't highlight the change in thickness (measured at 9.5mm by TiPb). Instead it still shows a 9.3mm depth with a tiny disclaimer stating, "Actual size and weight vary by configuration and manufacturing process."

-Microsoft's Net Income Falls Below Apple's. Revenue in Microsoft’s Windows division fell 4.4 percent to $4.45 billion, the Redmond, Washington-based company said yesterday in a statement. That missed the $4.6 billion average prediction of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Net income was $5.23 billion, eclipsed by the $5.99 billion reported by Apple last quarter.