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Google launched their OpenSocial initiative, their response to the huge success Facebook gained by opening their network to outside software developers. Google's OpenSocial standards work with Google's own Orkut, but also Hi5, LinkedIn, Friendster, Plaxo, and Ning. Everyone's writing about this today, with two very solid overview pieces at TechCrunch and the New York Times. And for a really in-depth analysis, check out Marc Andreessen's blog.

Google's share price broke $700 yesterday. Google passed $600 just 23 days earlier.

Earlier this week, 1.85 million Olympic tickets were made available to domestic fans, but the whole system collapsed after selling only 43,000 tickets. Something very similar to this happened when the Colorado Rockies offered World Series tickets on their site, and the compete.com blog has done some forensic work on the Colorado melt-down.

Privacy groups are lobbying for a Do Not Track list - the online equivalent of the Do Not Call list. Meanwhile AOL is upgrading the technology in its ad-targeting system to make it easier for people to opt out of being tracked. Not to be outdone, Google has launched its very own privacy channel on YouTube. The channel features Google honchos explaining Google's privacy policies, among other must-see TV.

A Macbook Pro recently nudged out a Gateway system to be the fastest laptop to run Windows Vista. Ahh, the sweet smell of irony.

In the new Leopard release of Mac OSX, the icon that represents windows computers on a network is a CRT monitor showing the blue screen of death. Fortunately, Engadget has instructions on how to turn your offensive icon into something anyone can appreciate.

The Blu-Ray copy protection looks like it's finally been cracked.