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Yahoo unveiled a redesigned homepage today. The new dashboard centric Yahoo.com combines Yahoo content with third party sites and applications to give users a more engaging experience. Yahoo’s goal is to integrate the most popular web-based sites and services up into its homepage in order to create a focal center piece for web users.
European music service Spotify is planning on expanding its service to the US. CEO Daniel Ek noted that the company, which serves ad-supported music to users for free, will open a US office later this year. The news comes nearly a week after Microsoft announced that it plans to launch a similar service.
Barnes & Noble is set to get into the eBook business. Barnes & Noble will sell eBooks compatible with a variety of smartphones, eReaders and computers. While Barnes & Noble will sell more than 700,000 titles, the retailer did not announce plans to enter the eBookReader game.
RIM is finally set to give BlackBerry users software for Mac computers. The decision finds Research in Motion, which once relied on corporations as its core clientele, making a move toward consumer customers. The BlackBerry desktop software for Mac will give users the ability to sync iTunes playlists and manage backups, as well as adding and removing mobile applications.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince took in a five day total of $396.7 million worldwide. While Potter grossed $159.7 million domestically, its $237 million tally at the international box office set an opening weekend record. JK Rowling’s Harry Potter brand is estimated to be worth as much as $24 billion.