Rick Segal got me intrigued about Download Squad, a blog for all those computer geeks fascinated with freeware, shareware, etc. One of the featured downloads is BlogBridge, an RSS reader with a some new twists. In particular, I like BlogBridge's suggestion engine, which provides help in populating different categories. Another cool feature is the ability to select specific categories and customize feeds by providing a variety of keywords. The only downside is that Blogbridge's startup is a bit funky and needs to be made more user-friendly. All in all, Blogbridge rates pretty high as an RSS reader. Not sure I'd dump FeedDemon but you can never have too many RSS readers, right?

While Vonage gets all the attention for its marketing panache - an easy feat if you're spending millions of dollars a month on advertising - Skype's efforts should also be commended. Four times in July, the VOIP rebel is offering "Free SkypeOut Days" that let users make 10 minutes of free SkypeOut. It would be interesting to get a better idea how many people are using SkypeOut and SkypeIn on a regular basis, and how much revenue is being made. Skype, by the way, has now been downloaded more than 131 million times, and it has more than 40 million registered users. With those kind of numbers and the acquisition of DialPad by Yahoo, is it just a matter of time before someone - Microsoft, Google - makes a takeover offer for Skype?

A mini-rally in ATI Technologies shares has sparked speculation the graphics chip maker may be a takeover target. TD Securities analyst Andrew Lee believes potential suitors include Broadcom, AMD, Intel, and Texas Instruments. The speculation has been fueled by ATI's failure to introduce a new high-end chip yet. If a deal did materialize, it would be somewhat unique because struggling chip makers usually don't get acquired; they tend to fade away - i.e. S3 Inc. Of the possible buyers, Intel would be the most intriguing given its effort to get more of the graphics market in recent years. You wonder whether Intel would be willing to spend so money on an acquisition rather than continue its in-house development efforts.