Top Items:
USA Today:
AT&T flings cellphone network wide open — NEW YORK — Starting immediately, AT&T (T) customers can ditch their AT&T phones and use any wireless phone, device and software application from any maker — think smartphones, e-mail and music downloading. And they don't have to sign a contract.
RELATED:
Ryan Block / Engadget:
AT&T claims completely open network, too — "the most open," even! — Who'd have thought the end of 2007 would see US cellphone carrier heavyweights duking it out with PR one-upsmanship to be... open? Seriously, someone pinch us, it's as amazing as it is farcical.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Facebook Messages: Small Change, Big Impact. — Dear Facebook: Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. — In August Facebook opened up their messaging system to allow people to add normal email addresses. I wrote a post praising the change, but I specifically asked for more:
IEBlog:
Internet Explorer 8 — Just as he was the first to talk about IE7, Bill Gates kept the tradition alive and discussed IE8 at the Mix 'n Mash event here on campus yesterday. Bill was talking to some bloggers about IE.Next and called it IE8, the same way we do here in the IE team hallway.
Discussion:
molly.com, Asa Dotzler, ParisLemon, istartedsomething, SitePoint Blogs, Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog, Webware.com and Ajaxian
RELATED:
Kip Kniskern / LiveSide:LiveSide asks Bill Gates a question (how cool is that?) - Read the full transcript
Discussion:
Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:IE team shares ... a version number
Discussion:
Windows Connected
Robert A. Guth / Wall Street Journal:
Microsoft to Field Test PC For Developing Countries — Microsoft Corp. said that it will field test an inexpensive laptop PC for developing nations being championed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nicholas Negroponte. — Microsoft's plans mark a step closer …
RELATED:
Jamesu / Inside UP:OLPC in the News (Part 2)
Discussion:
Microsoft Watch, ZDNet.com.au, BetaNews, Compiler, CNET News.com and Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog
Yahoo! Messenger Blog:
Yahoo! Messenger for Vista: Preview Release Available! — It's here! It's really here! We're thrilled to bring you the preview version of Yahoo! Messenger for Vista, the first Yahoo! Messenger built from the ground up for the Windows Vista operating system.
RELATED:
Chris Gilmer / Download Squad:
Yahoo! Messenger for Vista Preview is live — We broke the news the beginning of this year that Yahoo! was busy preparing a complete rebuild of Messenger made exclusively for Windows Vista users. The ground up rebuild has taken quite a long time (11 months), but it's finally here.
Discussion:
TechCrunch
Declan McCullagh / CNET News.com:
House vote on illegal images sweeps in Wi-Fi, Web sites — The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a bill saying that anyone offering an open Wi-Fi connection to the public must report illegal images including "obscene" cartoons and drawings—or face fines of up to $300,000.
Discussion:
Techdirt, DSLreports, Engadget, Wi-Fi Networking News, Slashdot, RSS and The Last Podcast
Vauhini Vara / Wall Street Journal:
Facebook Rethinks Tracking — Site Apologizes, — Makes It Easier — To Retain Privacy — After weeks of criticism over a new advertising program that was perceived as a privacy threat, Facebook Inc. has tweaked its privacy settings and offered a public apology from its chief executive — but advertisers remain wary.
RELATED:
Steve / The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs:Faceberg: We're sorry. Really. Okay, not really.
Discussion:
robhyndman.com, New York Times, Bubblegeneration Strategy Lab, BoomTown and The Register
Om Malik / GigaOM:Zuckerberg's Mea Culpa, Not Enough
Discussion:
Salon, CrunchGear, IP Telephony, VoIP, Broadband, A VC, Valleywag, BoomTown, Digital Destiny, WinExtra, Ars Technica, Wired News, Chris Heuer's Idea Engine, broadstuff, The Last Podcast, Darren Herman, Joe Duck, FoundRead, paidContent.org, ParisLemon, CenterNetworks, Digital Daily and PR 2.0
Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:
IBM creates a chip-sized supercomputer — Good news, everybody! Those super-geniuses over at IBM have whipped up a new form of CPU transfer which utilizes pulses of light instead of electricity to move data between cores on a chip. The new technology — which is one-hundred times faster …
RELATED:
Duncan Riley / TechCrunch:
Online travel organization startup (and TechCrunch 40 finalist) TripIt will today release some new features that aim to further simplify booking travel online. — TripIt is a travel organizer that helps do-it-yourself travelers manage their travel plans. Travelers manage their travel itinerary …
Discussion:
CenterNetworks
Duncan Riley / TechCrunch:
Google Books Adds Hand Scans — The often controversial Google Books program, Google's effort to scan and digitize every book ever printed has an interesting new addition: hand scans. — It appears that the Google employees scanning 3000 books a day may be under a bit too much pressure …
InfoWorld:
Lenovo will pass Olympic torch to Acer after Beijing — Acer will take over from Lenovo as a sponsor of the Olympic Games after 2008, a move that could help to elevate Acer's profile as a worldwide PC brand. — Acer's sponsorship deal covers the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver …
Discussion:
The Register
Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins / Mashable!:
Twitter is Banned in the United Arab Emirates — You know you've really made it as an online entity when an entire country bans your site. In terms of a rite of passage, it's just after the wide-spread adoption and critical mass stages (which of course is followed by random companies banning you …
Discussion:
franticindustries
Declan McCullagh / CNET News.com:
Major copyright bill boosts penalties, creates new agency — In the aftermath of the $222,000 jury verdict that the Recording Industry Association of America recently won against a Minnesota woman who shared 24 songs on Kazaa, the U.S. Congress is preparing to amend copyright law.
Discussion:
Techdirt
