Top Items:
Peter Kafka / Silicon Alley Insider:
MySpace Joining Google's OpenSocial — We hear Google is planning to announce yet another partner to its anti-Facebook coalition today — News Corp.'s MySpace. [Haven't confirmed]. Look for an announcement by the end of the day. This makes a lot of sense for both sides …
Discussion:
VentureBeat, Epicenter, Search Engine Land, CNET News.com, B.L. Ochman's weblog, Between the Lines, All Facebook, ParisLemon, FORTUNE, Mashable!, Valleywag and Scobleizer
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Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Checkmate? MySpace, Bebo and SixApart To Join Google OpenSocial (confirmed) — Google may have just come out of nowhere and checkmated Facebook in the social networking power struggle. — MySpace and Six Apart will announce that they are joining Google's OpenSocial initiative.
Discussion:
Telegraph Blogs, Tech Trader Daily, Epicenter, Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog, Between the Lines, Digital Daily, VentureBeat, Mashable!, Wired News, Master of 500 Hats, rexduffdixon.com, AppScout, ClickZ News Blog, TechBizMedia, All Facebook, Alexander van Elsas's Weblog … and Online Marketing Blog
John Biggs / New York Times:
A Computer That Works With Google, Not Microsoft — Advocates of Linux, the free open-source operating system, like to say that buying a standard-issue computer involves a Microsoft Tax, because you have no choice but to pay for Windows. New versions of Linux and inexpensive hardware …
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Ryan Block / Engadget:
Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player: $100, this Friday, Wal-Mart — Still waiting to jump into the high def disc game? Or just wanted another weaker, cheaper player for the last-gen TV you phased out to your rumpus room? Well, whatever your reasons, some (not all!)
Discussion:
Gizmodo, Alice Hill's Real Tech News, BetaNews, technabob, Gadget Lab, UNEASYsilence and Gadgetell
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Arn / MacRumors:
Apple Updates MacBooks to Santa Rosa, GMA X3100; 2.6GHz MacBook Pro — As rumored, Apple has quietly updated the MacBook tonight to the Santa Rosa architecture with mild speed bumps and the GMA X3100 integrated video. — White 13.3" — $1099.00 2.0GHz/1GB RAM/80GB/Combo/GMA X3100
Discussion:
Gizmodo, The Tech Report, BetaNews, TechSpot News, O'Grady's PowerPage, UNEASYsilence, dailywireless.org and Digg
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Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
Apple's MacBook and MacBook Pro quietly updated — The rumors were rampant about the pending upgrade; now the deal is done. The Apple MacBook has finally moved to the Santa Rosa architecture with a healthy GMA X3100 video bump from the lethargic GMA 950 of yore.
François Bancilhon / Mandriva Blog:
An open letter to Steve Ballmer — Hi, this is François, from Mandriva. — I'm sure we're way too small for you to know me. You know, we're one of these tiny Linux company working hard for our place on the market. We produce a Linux Distro, Mandriva Linux.
Discussion:
Between the Lines, The Register, CNET News.com, Digital Daily, Engadget, PC Magazine, BetaNews, p2pnet, Channel 9, Jeremy's Blog, The Open Road, WebProNews, Slashdot and Digg
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
More Ad Network Deals—Specific Media Raises $100 Million, AOL Close to Buying Quigo For $300 Million — The frenzy around online ad networks never stops (maybe because there are so many of them). This morning, Specific Media, announced a whopping $100 million investment by private equity firm Francisco Partners.
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Catherine Holahan / Business Week:
The Ad Network Spending Spree — Big Internet companies have been snapping up ad networks to boost ad revenue. Now Specific Media plans to join the M&A frenzy — The wave of dealmaking engulfing the online advertising sector isn't over yet. The most recent evidence came Nov. 1 …
Jon Swift:
Facebook Declares War on the Blogosphere — Just as in earlier times a man was only as good as his family name, today we are defined by the social networks we belong to. So imagine my horror when I learned that I have become a virtual bastard. Earlier this week I logged into Facebook …
Lev Grossman / Time:
Invention Of the Year: The iPhone — Stop. I mean, don't stop reading this, but stop thinking what you're about to think. Or, O.K., I'll think it for you:
Discussion:
Infinite Loop, Associated Press, HipMojo.com, textually.org, Engadget, TechFold, Digital Trends, PalmAddicts and IntoMobile
Rob Mead / Tech.co.uk:
Is Apple's Leopard still in beta? — Mac users are hitting problems galore in Mac OS X 10.5 — Even a casual glance across the Mac web in the last few days will reveal a litany of problems faced by users upgrading to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. — Problems range from application crashes to login problems …
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Chris Soghoian / CNET News.com:
A dangerous conflict of interest between Firefox and Google — The Firefox browser may not be as independent as previously thought. Mozilla essentially owns Firefox, and it proved so whenit flexed its muscles last year in forcing Debian to rename its browser IceWeasel.
Discussion:
Between the Lines
Google Blogoscoped:
Google's Internal Tool to Check Search Results? — Just a note : I've photoshopped the screenshot, so the numbers are real but not for "www.ffp.asso.fr" ;-) — Tom, does that include all numbers displayed alongside www.ffp.asso.fr, or just the GG Score? — the bottom lines are real, but they are not related to the results.
Traci / Burning Questions:
AdSense Integrated with FeedBurner Site Ads — There's really nothing spookier than hollow, empty ad spaces rattling around your blog and/or web site, putting no cash in your pocket nor any extra hob- in your goblin. Before you banish these underperforming idlers to some distant house upon a lonely hill …
Dan Farber / Between the Lines:
Is Facebook the next Netscape? — Marc Andreessen's Ning team has put together a screencast and screenshots of OpenSocial in action. He notes that the examples are a little light on social functionality at this point, but they are working on getting user's friends information and ctivities feed into the applications.
Mike Shields / Mediaweek:
No Joke: NBC Expected to Shutter DotComedy — NBC Universal plans to shut down its stand alone comedy venture DotComedy.com in the near future, according to sources with knowledge of the company's plans, eventually folding the site's content and traffic into NBC.com.
Discussion:
NewTeeVee, paidContent.org, MediaBytes with Shelly …, iMedia Connection, Mashable! and Lost Remote