Top Items:
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:
Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, Good Morning Silicon Valley, Business Week, Telegraph Blogs, Epicenter, Between the Lines, The Social Web, Tech Trader Daily, Computerworld, Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog, CNET News.com, Deep Jive Interests, Download Squad, Wired News, Mashable!, Technology Live, Master of 500 Hats, rexduffdixon.com, AppScout, TechBizMedia, Valleywag, robhyndman.com, ClickZ News Blog, Online Marketing Blog, All Facebook, Alexander van Elsas's Weblog … and Dare Obasanjo aka Carnage4Life
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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 …
Saul Hansell / Bits:
Google's OpenSocial Is Not a Facebook Killer — For the last year, Sergey Brin has been campaigning at Google with the slogan "features not products" in an attempt to reduce the sprawl of the company's eccentric creativity. — This campaign may have gone too far, at least when it comes to Google's new OpenSocial initiative.
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Facebook, Your Move — Not so fast, Mike. The anti-Facebook coalition piling onto Google's OpenSocial platform does not constitute checkmate for Google just quite yet. These are developer announcements. No actual consumers have changed their social networking habits because of OpenSocial.
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:
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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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
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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.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes / Hardware 2.0:
Audio glitching - Common under Vista, not so bad under other OSes — The Windows Vista Team blog has an interesting post by Steve Ball, Senior Program Manager for Sound in Windows Vista, on why sound in Windows sometimes glitches. I'm still left with one question though …
Discussion:
Computerworld
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Matthew Moskovciak / Crave:
HD DVD players hit $99 at Wal-Mart, Best Buy — Earlier this week it was big news that HD DVD broke the $200 price barrier. Well, in the same week it looks like HD DVD has broken the $100 price barrier as well. As previously reported, Wal-Mart is running a "Secret In-Store Specials" …
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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:
Tech Check with Jim Goldman, Christopher Null, Gizmodo, ParisLemon, Alice Hill's Real Tech News, technabob and Gadget Lab
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.
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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:
The Register, Between the Lines, Digital Daily, CNET News.com, Microsoft Watch, Engadget, Gadget Lab, PC Magazine, p2pnet, BetaNews, Channel 9, Jeremy's Blog and The Open Road
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 …
Jacqui Cheng / Infinite Loop:
Mac BU sweetens Office 2008 upgrade deal (Updated) — Microsoft has modified its special offer for potential Mac Office users. Those who are just dying for a copy of Office now but are waiting for the January release of Office 2008 can now buy any version of Office 2004 for Mac and upgrade …
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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
Matt Marshall / VentureBeat:
PurpleYogi, the 1999 personalization company, finally hits pay dirt — PurpleYogi, one of the earliest Silicon Valley companies to focus on "extreme personalization of the Internet," has finally been sold for $158 million after a dramatic series of twists in business strategy.
