The battle over Flash and its role (or lack thereof) on the iPhone really came to a head today when Apple CEO Steve Jobs published an open letter expressing why his company won’t support Flash on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen spoke with the Wall Street Journal to deliver his response. Unsurprisingly, the arguments from both parties are self-serving in parts and gloss... 

Could this be the start of greener space programs? Next month, Japan is launching a spacecraft powered by solar sails into deep space. The Ikaros, as the vessel has been dubbed, will take to the skies on May 18, 2010. Ikaros stands for “Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation of the Sun.” The name is also a reference to the Greek myth of Icarus, a young man who, with his father... 

Editor’s note: The following excerpt is from Mastering The VC Game, a new book by Jeffrey Bussgang that goes on sale Thursday. It tells the backstory of Twitter from the perspective of founder Jack Dorsey, from his early obsession with couriers and his attempts to create a better dispatch system to his “Aha” moment with Twitter (“What if we simply set status, archive it on... 

This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. Name: Root Orange Quick Pitch: Root Orange helps local small businesses get more traffic and customers with premium domain names. Genius Idea: One of... 

Music streaming startup Spotify is going social. Today it unveils new features under the unpronouncable title of ‘Spotify Music Pro@ile’. Essentially it’s creating a true social network inside the Spotify service, but at the same time integrating Facebook Connect features. It is wil also now synchonise your existing music collection with your Spotify account. The update will roll out to... 

In a move that is sure to confound the cross section of vegetarian and vegan environmentalists, Amtrak has begun running its first U.S. biodiesel commuter train. The Heartland Flyer, whose biofuel is derived from beef byproducts, will connect travelers between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth during a one year trial run. The Guardian reports that the green train’s usage of B20 biofuel reduces hydrocarbon... 

With a recent public launch under its belt, OpenSky is adding $6 million in new capital. Existing investors Highland Capital and Canaan Partners invested in the series B financing. A year ago, the company raised $5 million. OpenSky is a social marketing/e-commerce startup which connects manufacturers and distributors directly with influential bloggers who recommend their products and get a cut... 

Editor’s note: The following set of excerpts is from the recently published book The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things In Motion by John Hagel III, John Seely Brown, and Lang Davison. The excerpts are taken from throughout the book. Joi Ito, Information Magnet As the number of people we can connect with expands, our ability to pull from that network the resources...