Around the Web 10.28.08: Cloud computing and blimp flights

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

-- Microsoft unveils Azure, its cloud computing program, which delivers software over the Internet. Wash Post

-- Google settles a lawsuit with authors over its plan to scan books and post them online. AP via LAT

-- Google’s green investments are looking pretty smart right about now. NYT

-- Third time’s the charm: Google adds calendar and gadget features to Gmail. The sample user calls his mother ‘Mum’ and is afraid of bears. Gmail blog

-- An anti-piracy feature in Windows is really annoying some users of bootlegged software in China. LAT

-- Ad networks are consolidating as business slows. WSJ

-- In case you thought Ted Stevens, the senator recently convicted on corruption charges, had nothing to do with tech, you’re wrong: He was the one who called the Internet a ‘series of tubes.’ CNet

-- The 2000s are getting to seem more and more like the 1920s: A commercial blimp takes flight in Northern California on Friday. Wired

-- Venture capitalists are earning less money than they used to. Wah, wah, wah. Mercury News

-- Verizon said earnings were up 31% in the last quarter. Guess the company didn’t need the iPhone after all. AP via Mercury News

-- Walmart.com is rolling back prices on some music downloads to 74 cents, making a song less expensive than a Coke, a bagel and a pound of gummy worms. Engadget

-- Alana Semuels