An interesting beneficiary of Apple's launch of music-oriented social network Ping—social status updater Ping.fm. According to Seesmic CEO Loic Le Meur, Ping.fm saw a record number of accounts created yesterday (Seesmic acquired Ping.fm earlier this year). Could it be a coincidence? Definitely, not. When you Google "Ping," Ping.fm is the second result under the golf equipment site PING (this doesn't include News results). Apple's Ping is actually the fourth result (not including Video results). On Bing, Ping.fm is the third result, behind the golf company and the Wikipedia page for Ping. Clearly, as people starting becoming curious about Apple's Ping yesterday on search portals, they also found Ping.fm in results.

It's all hands on deck at Reddit this week. In the wake of Digg's bungled redesign, its rival is enjoying a surge in traffic and a jump in ad and subscription sales. Since Monday, the site has been averaging 900,000 uniques per day--- a 50% increase from Reddit's pre-"Digg 4" average, according to senior programmer, Chris Slowe. The six-member team does not openly celebrate the technical woes of its competitor but there is a certain giddiness in the air at Reddit's SF headquarters (a small room, tucked in the corner of Wired's expansive office). The Conde Nast owned startup is having a moment, and they know it. On Thursday, we dropped by their offices for a pulse check. While programmer David King's eyes were glued to his monitor, tweaking a feature that will hopefully improve the site's scalability, senior programmer Chris Slowe was available to take our questions, video ahead.

We hear that former Palm Vice President of Public Relations Lynn Fox has given up on her “Consult Until-I-Find-Another-Job Consulting" plans and landed a permanent gig at video streaming service Ustream. Her formal title will be VP of Corporate Communications and she will be reporting to Ustream CEO John Ham. Sources say that Fox is the first in a series of new hires at Ustream, hires which should be announced formally in the next couple of weeks. Fox's first day will be Tuesday, Sept. 7 and her primary duties will be leading all things related to PR, Events and Social Media. It looks like Ustream is taking advantage of its $75m round of funding from Softbank and other investors earlier this year in order to ramp up their recruiting efforts and attract major talent like Fox. Prior to Ustream, Fox had to honor of working in the upper echleons of communications departments at both Google and Apple. She left Palm shortly before the HP acquisition in June.

Yesterday, Apple launched iTunes Ping, their new music social network. Part of that launch was a very basic implementation of Facebook Connect, simply to hook in and find out which of your Facebook friends were also using Ping. I tried it yesterday and it worked fine. But this morning the option vanished and everyone was left wondering what happened? Well, it vanished because Facebook started blocking iTunes Ping from accessing their API, we've heard (just as AllThingsD and New York Times have as well). Obviously, there's no point in having a feature that doesn't work -- so Apple simply removed it.

Buzzfeed, the Huffington Post of Internet Memes, wins the meta-award of the decade for making "An Infographic Backlash Infographic" an infographic inspired by the tragic tale of a guy whose job it was to game Digg back when Digg had enough traffic to make it worth gaming. Okay Buzzfeed, just because you understand recursion, doesn't mean you have to rub it in our face all the time. Aside from the Greyhat SEO tricks, your anti-infographic infographic and the post that inspired it are actually just describing successful web-writing and content creation. It's like...there's a reason people are clicking on it.

Perhaps you've heard that Apple and Facebook are having a little bit of an issue at the moment. Despite launching with Facebook Connect integration yesterday, it's now nowhere to be seen on Apple's new music social network, Ping. And that's too bad because even Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg signed up to try out Ping yesterday, we hear. While Facebook Connect will no longer help you find Zuckerberg there, if you do a simple name search, there he is. Well actually, there he is twice. Hmm. Which one to choose?

On Monday, Google made a big splash with a customized Arcade Fire video page that showed off all the cool things HTML5 can do, from video, animations and 3D rendering to gorgeous fonts and choreographed windows. It's all cutting edge stuff as far as what is possible with a Web browser goes, but there is one very big problem. It doesn't work so great in all browsers, even browsers that supposedly support HTML5. If you go to the landing page that launches the video in Firefox or even the forthcoming IE9 (which isn't out yet, but is very HTML5-friendly), it detects your browser and suggests you use Chrome instead. href="http://techcrunch.com/2009/06/09/demo-firefox-35-treats-videos-like-web-pages-why-cant-flash-do-that/">supports HTML5? This isn't the first time there have been issues with HTML5 compatibility. The problem is that HTML5 is so young that the standards have not been hammered out yet across all browsers. The markup language required to produce the same effect is different for different browsers.

It's officially over. After Dell pulled out of the running this morning, HP has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire data storage company 3PAR, for $33 per share in cash, or a value of $2.35 billion. The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies. This morning, HP upped the ante with an offer worth $33 per share or $2.4 billion. 3PAR accepted HP's bid and Dell withdrew.

I feel like all I've written about the past few weeks is Facebook's need for a new social dynamic. Specifically, I want Facebook to break their social graph into two: those people who you are friends with, and those who you follow -- for sharing purposes. It seems that Facebook may be testing something like that out -- well sort of, maybe. Facebook appears to be testing out a new feature called "Subscribe." A source who supposedly has it enabled, tells All Facebook that "by subscribing you don’t miss any updates from people you subscribe to.” While on the face of it, this would seem to be a lot like the idea of "follow" it's not clear from that wording if you actually already need to be friends with a person in order to follow them.

It was only a matter of time before this app came out. The folks over at Hot or Not have launched a location-based free iPhone app that will show you the hottest ladies and gents that are close to you. If you aren't familiar with Hot or Not, the site allows you to rate pictures of girls or a guys (depending on your taste) on a scale of 1 to 10. It's a mindless site and game which has managed to gather a fairly massive user base.

As we pointed out earlier, today is Google Chrome's second birthday. Since it launched in beta on September 2, 2008, it has come a long way (it's already 6 versions deep). Back then, it was Windows-only, with official Mac and Linux support only coming late last year. But now it's on the verge of another milestone: becoming the top browser coming to this site. I've checked out our logs over the past few years to see how well Chrome has been doing compared to its rival browsers. The numbers are shockingly strong for such a new entry -- particularly in the past year. Obviously, TechCrunch has a tech-centric audience, but I don't think it's off-base to say that you're also a leading audience of early adopters that often point to where the general public will be in the future.

Prepare to get hit by a ton of Sammy marketing. The commercial embedded here is likely just the first wave of Samsung's assault on the iPad. And it seems that they're going about it the right way, too. The commercial simply shows off the Galaxy Tab's capabilities in an Apple-ish sort of way. We've said all along that if any Android tablet has a chance to steal marketshare away from the iPad, it's the Samsung Galaxy Tab and this commercial, along with our extensive hands-on, seems to confirm our thought. Now all we need is to know is its price tag and when it will hit stores.

I often point to my first post on Twitter, the day it launched in 2006. Why? Mostly because of how wrong I was. Best line: "I imagine most users are not going to want to have all of their Twttr messages published on a public website." I also love that original vowel-free logo. The first couple of comments to that post are classic as well:

There seems to be some confusion out there right now about iTunes Ping, Apple's new music social network, and Facebook. Some people seem to think it was never a part of iTunes, that Apple decided against connecting; while other reports say they think it was at one point integrated, but that it wasn't working and has since been removed. I can tell you for sure that yesterday Facebook Connect was a part of Ping -- because I used it. When I first loaded iTunes 10 yesterday and started up Ping, connecting with Facebook was the first thing I did to find friends. At first, I will say that it didn't work. I hit the Connect button, entered my credentials, and nothing happened. But I tried again and it worked perfectly. I found a handful of Facebook friends who had just started using Ping as well and connected with them.

Fora.TV has always been playing a dangerous game—trying to sell long-form online video about intellectual ideas. That’s like trying to sell sunblock to the cast of Jersey Shore. Fora calls itself Hulu for “the Thinking Man’s Web.” (There’s a Thinking Man’s Web?) Eighteen months after closing its $6 million series A round and long time magazine editor Blaise Zerega took over as CEO, Fora seems to be grinding it out. The traffic has tripled and it’s now streaming about three million videos per month, mostly captured from conferences and high-level events. Those aren’t close to YouTube numbers, but considering the intellectually demanding content-- think Timothy Geithner talking for an hour about the best ways to stimulate the economy—it’s impressive.

When Danish entrepreneur Tommy Ahlers sold his 'social phonebook' ZYB to Vodafone in 2008 for €31 million and joined the company, it didn't seem like he would stay forever at such a slow-moving corporate entity. And sure enough he has now left. But ever the restless entrepreneur he's decided against lying on a beach somewhere and careered headlong into a new startup which is poised to come out of stealth mode. Ahlers has now invested in, and become the CEO, of Podio, a hot new startup out of his home town of Copenhagen. I'd heard excited whisperings of the company when I was in the city recently, and indeed, Podio has been around for one and a half years as a boostrapped project, but with big ideas. It's now open via invitations – either from Podio or from existing users - and it's pretty awesome.

For the past two years, Fwix has been building a hyperlocal news site for cities and neighborhoods around the country in a very automated fashion. Its homepage for every city has been three columns filled with recent news and blog headlines, along with other local data like weather (see second screenshot below). Today, it is scrapping that approach to become more of a hyperlocal places directory. "We are automating Patch and building richer places pages and city pages," says CEO Darian Shirazi. With everyone on the Web crazy for Geo and trying to tap into local commerce, places directories are becoming more valuable. (They are also better for SEO). Whereas AOL's Patch is building out a directory of places in 500 small towns by hand, Fwix is creating an automated directory filled with maps, news feeds, events, photos, reviews, Tweets, status updates, and check-ins.

HipChat, a recently launched private instant messaging service for companies, has added support for voice and video chat as well as guest access. Similar to Campfire, HipChat provides a simple application for communication within businesses. HipChat offers both a web and desktop client based on Adobe AIR that lets you chat with your entire team at once, or hold more private discussions with select team members. The application includes support for quick attachment sharing, notifications when you receive a message, and a searchable web archive for past messages. It's incredibly easy to use and setup and doesn't require a company email address.

Well, as promised, here’s a handy video of the Samsung Galaxy Tab in action. Apologies if it’s gets a little hairy at times—juggling two cameras while trying to navigate a GUI touchscreen isn’t exactly the easiest trick to pull off.

Since Yammer launched as the "Twitter for businesses" at TechCrunch 50 in 2008, the startup has continued to improve on its already solid product, releasing mobile apps and new desktop clients, adding threaded conversations, hosted versions and more. The fact is that in just under two years, Yammer, which we use at TechCrunch for internal communications, is being used by more than one million users and 80,000 companies worldwide (which includes 80% of the Fortune 500). That's impressive growth for the startup, which has raised $15 million in funding and is doubling revenue every quarter. But the social enterprise arena is competitive with Salesforce Chatter, Jive, Socialcast and many others vying for a piece of the pie. However, Yammer is going to be releasing a new version of its application at TechCrunch Disrupt this fall which could be a game-changer. The new Yammer will essentially turn the microblogging application into a full fledged social network. Yammer plans to add a number of applications to its platform that will increase its functionality beyond just a communications platform. An events application will allow you to invite co-workers to company or group events and track responses. Attendees can also download the event into their calendar.

For some in Silicon Valley, Asia remains an alluring black box. A promising world with pockets of hyper growth, obscured by a tangled web of unfamiliar languages, customs, regulations and native ecosystems. Although the walls are coming down fast, the road to Asia's markets remains an intimidating one for many. Enter Dave McClure, founder of 500 Startups (a recently launched $30M super angel fund) and Geeks On A Plane, a program that takes tech entrepreneurs and investors to emerging markets. In its own small way, Geeks On A Plane is attempting to bridge that gap between the Valley and the rest of the world. Earlier this year, roughly 55 "Geeks" traveled to several key hot spots in Asia, including Shanghai, Singapore, Seoul and Beijing, to connect with the region's top entrepreneurs, to mingle with Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and to sample local tech conferences like Shanghai World Expo and CHINICT. During the journey, Ben Henretig, founder of Micro-Documentaries, followed the group and made four short videos on the trip's highlights. Jump ahead for our video interview with McClure and the official debut of episode one, Shanghai.

Washington D.C.-based startup EverFi has just raised $11 million in Series A funding from New Enterprise Associates (NEA), with participation from TomorrowVentures and independent investors including Michael Chasen, the CEO of Blackboard. EverFi has created a SaaS application for schools to help educate young adults on financial literacy, student loan default prevention, filing taxes, credit card debt and more. The application's curriculum incorporates virtual worlds, gaming, social media and videos to help teach children these life skills.

One of the challenges of running a social commerce site these days is that there is just too much demand, from both local merchants wanting to give out deals and consumers who want to try them. There are only 365 days in a year, and the daily deal format limits each city to 365 deals a year. Sites like GroupOn and LivingSocial are hitting those limits. GroupOn is expanding its inventory by "personalizing" deals, essentially showing different deals to different people. LivingSocial is handling the issue by going hyperlocal. It will now start offering deals by neighborhood and city districts.

It looks like the bidding war for 3PAR could be over. Dell has just issued a release indicating that it will not increase its most recent $2 billion proposal to acquire 3PAR, and the company's has ended acquisition talks for the data storage company. Dell is entitled to receive a $72 million break-up fee from 3PAR upon the termination of its merger agreement. This morning, HP upped the ante today with an offer worth $33 per share or $2.4 billion. 3PAR has accepted HP's bid. Dell also said that its improved offer included a proposed commercial relationship and an increased break-up fee.

Ever since it became stable enough to use on a day-to-day basis on a Mac last year, Google Chrome has been my browser of choice. Other browsers have been adding some nice features -- but Chrome keeps adding them faster. And today on its second birthday, that rate of change isn't slowing down. Google has officially rolled out Chrome 6 as the latest stable version of the browser today. This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone using the dev or beta builds of the browser, but it's nonetheless an important mark as it means it's stable enough for mass consumption.

It looks like we're back to square one again. Dell has matched HP's $2 billion offer to buy 3PAR, and HP upped the ante today with an offer worth $33 per share or $2.4 billion. 3PAR has accepted HP's bid. Dell had previously signed an agreement to acquire 3PAR for $18 per share or $1.13 billion, with a provision for matching competing bids. HP then effectively outbid the company and offered $1.6 billion, but Dell matched that offer yesterday, after which HP made a renewed bid for $1.8 billion. HP then offered $2 billion last Friday.

Cisco this morning announced its intent to acquire privately-held Arch Rock, which specializes in IP-based wireless sensor network technology with a focus on energy and environmental monitoring and Smart Grid applications. Financial terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong hinted that this was coming, but this morning Google and AOL announced a five-year renewal of the search deal between the two companies. Google will continue to power search across AOL’s content network and properties. The partnership will be expanded to include mobile search and YouTube. Armstrong said in a statement “Today is another important step in the turnaround of AOL...AOL users will be getting a better search and search ads experience from the best search company in the world – Google. After nearly a decade-long partnership in search, we’re looking forward to expanding our global relationship to mobile search and YouTube. All aspects of our partnership will be improved by this deal.”

Thanks to a partnership with Vlingo, owners of Android 2.0 or higher-equipped phones can now check in to Foursquare and update their status on Facebook and Twitter simply by speaking into their phones. To try it out, download the free Vlingo app to your Android handset. Using your voice, you can then update your location status on Foursquare by saying "check into Logan Airport", locate your friends with commands like "where are my friends?" and "who's nearby?" as well as send shout-outs to your buddies (e.g. "shout at Logan Airport waiting to board a plane to San Francisco").

The iTunes-for-apps, Allmyapps, has just announced its first round of funding with French VC fund, Elaia Partners - the same firm that has backed French all-stars like Goom Radio, Goojet and Criteo. With 1 million in the bank, the Paris-based company founded in June 2009 plans to focus on product development and emerge as the leading Microsoft-dedicated app store. Just so happens that Allmyapps, founded by Thibauld Favre and Arnaud Coulondre, is also the company that won the startup pitch competition at TechCrunch Paris in March.