High-tech hot topics in the blogs: Facebook Places, Xbox Live games, Chrome tablet

Hot topics in the tech blogs for the week ending August 20 include the introduction of Facebook's location-based service, Microsoft previews Xbox LIVE games for its Windows Phone 7 devices, rumors about a Google Chrome OS tablet, Intel's acquisition of McAfee, and the death (or rise) of the internet.

Facebook Places
Social networking site Facebook introduced Facebook Places this week, a new service that lets users share their location with others. The announcement restarted the longstanding debate about location-based privacy issues and had bloggers questioning how the service would change rival geolocation services such as Foursquare, Google Latitude and Gowalla.

Xbox Live games for Windows Phone 7 handsets
Microsoft made headlines when it showed off some of the Xbox LIVE games that will be available on Windows Phone 7 (WP7) devices in the near future. Engadget commented that Microsoft's launch strategy is "definitely looking pretty promising." Kotaku agreed saying, "it'll be launching with a surprisingly large and varied games lineup."

Google Chrome OS Tablet
The Download Squad's Lee Mathews caused a flurry of blog posts when he announced to the world Google was coming close to releasing their Chrome OS tablet in his article titled, "Google launching a Chrome OS tablet on Verizon, goes on sale November 26." Mathews latter revealed that the hardware specifics he cited were "pure speculation - my source didn't have any details for me. Launch date and carrier he did have," which lead Engadget to question the entire article.

Intel buys McAfee
On August 19 Intel announced a deal that would see the computer component manufacturer purchase computer security company McAfee for $7.68 billion. The acquisition had some bloggers scratching their heads. Market researcher Forrester's Andrew Jaquith likened the deal to a "Horseless Carriage Vendor Buy[ing] Buggy-Whips" while Ars Technica's Peter Bright said "The purchase is a reflection of the growing importance of security" in the mobile device market.

The Web is dead. Long live the Internet.
It was a headline that caused controversy across the web, and Wired knew it would. Blogs erupted with discussions about whether the web was actually dead or if it was instead just evolving. As Gawker so succinctly wrote "Wired Says ‘The Web is Dead' - On Its Increasingly Profitable Website" while others were a little more defensive of their beloved internet saying, "Reports Of The Web's Death Are Greatly Exaggerated Through Lies ..." and "Is the Web Dying? It Doesn't Look That Way."