Top Items:
BBC:
Criminals 'target tech students' — The boom in cyber crime is forcing criminals to go to great lengths to recruit skilled hackers, says a report. — Some criminal gangs are paying students while they study to ensure they have a pool of tech-savvy workers to call on, says the report from McAfee.
BBC:
Wii shortages frustrating gamers — Shortages of Nintendo Wii consoles around Europe have left some gamers who pre-ordered the new machine frustrated. — Nintendo, which has already launched the machine in the US and Japan, said it expected to sell out of Wiis on the first day of sales.
Discussion:
Joystiq
Garett Rogers / Googling Google:
Google Checkout opens up to other countries — At least half of Google's Checkout service has been opened up to countries other than the United States. Now, regardless of where you live, you can purchase items with Google Checkout — unfortunately, finding a store that will ship internationally is quite challenging.
Lifehacker:
Download of the Day: New York Times Reader (Windows) — Windows only: The New York Times Reader lets you download full editions of the NYT to your desktop where you can browse the contents offline in a very familiar newsprint format. — On installation, the NYT Reader also installs Microsoft .NET 3.0 …
Tom Zeller Jr / The Lede:
Wii Have A Problem — Nintendo is highlighting some tips for using its Wii gaming console and its special remote. One tip for those in the same room as a Wii user: duck. — Seems customers are discovering that Nintendo's new Wii gaming console, which debuted last month …
Lessig News:
Ok, so I'm wrong — For almost 10 years now, I've been waging a war against retrospective term extension. My simple argument has been that copyright is about creative incentives, and you can't create incentives retrospectively. — I now see I am apparently wrong.
Bruno Giussani / Business Week:
Open Source at 90 MPH — Inspired by Linux, the OScar project aims to build a car by tapping the knowledge of a volunteer team. It won't be an easy ride, but their journey is important — The computer operating system Linux and the Web browser Firefox are generally considered …
Natali Del Conte / TechCrunch:
Web-based Media Player Lets You Stream Your iTunes To Any Computer — Streampad is a Web-based media player that gives users access to their digital music library from any computer. Similar to Songbird, it streams your personal library from the Internet but it runs completely inside any browser.
Discussion:
Technically Speaking
Robert Young / GigaOM:
Yahoo & Facebook: Deal or No Deal? — Now that Yahoo has announced its reorg, many are wondering and speculating as to what the ailing Internet giant might do in terms of M&A. Put another way, will Yahoo rely on acquisitions to fix its problems and plug up its holes?
Claire Atkinson / AdAge:
Time-Shifting Could Cost Broadcast TV $600 Million — The Great Commercial Ratings Debate, Round 6 — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Nielsen Media Research CEO Susan Whiting spearheaded the latest industry get-together on the great commercial-ratings debate yesterday and revealed data that underscored …
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Fiber ... now faster and cheaper — If you live in the US, probably you haven't noticed it. But fiber networks are growing in popularity, luring people with faster speeds, and now lower prices. PointTopic, the company that tracks the broadband markets says that fiber networks …
Dina Bass / Bloomberg:
Sony PlayStation 3 U.S. Sales Fall Short of Target (Update3) — Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) — Sony Corp. sold 197,000 PlayStation 3 consoles in the U.S. during November, missing its goal for initial shipments by half after parts shortages slowed production, market researcher NPD Group Inc. estimated.
Valleywag:
NEXT WEEK'S FORECAST — One management team in worse shape than Yahoo's right now: CNET's. Shelby Bonnie, the tech news company's long-time CEO, had to leave as a result of options scam which enriched him but made the company restate earnings. Of divisional heads, Suzie Reider fled to Youtube, and Vince Broady to Yahoo.
Discussion:
HipMojo.com
Lifehacker:
YouTube adds on-the-fly recording — Everyone's favorite embedded video site YouTube has unleashed a new Quick Capture feature that allows users to record video directly from your webcam. — I gave it a try this morning with my MacBook Pro's built-in iSight and it seemed to work perfectly.
Katie Fehrenbacher / GigaOM:
GPS, Back In the Day — Today a GPS chip can fit in a cell phone and can cost as little as a dollar. Thirty years ago a GPS device cost tens of thousands of dollars, was bigger than a bread box (see picture) and was used only by the military. Bob Rennard, chief technology officer …
Discussion:
Aswath Weblog