Top Items:
Mark Zuckerberg / Facebook Blog:
Thoughts on Beacon — About a month ago, we released a new feature called Beacon to try to help people share information with their friends about things they do on the web. We've made a lot of mistakes building this feature, but we've made even more with how we've handled them.
Discussion:
GigaOM, eWEEK.com, Insider Chatter, Between the Lines, parent . thesis, VentureBeat, Webomatica, Digital Destiny, Joho the Blog and Global Neighbourhoods
RELATED:
Jason Lee Miller / WebProNews:
Zuckerberg Lives, Is Sorry For Beacon — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has finally come out from hiding after the two-week privacy donnybrook that ensued over the company's marketing program Beacon. Zuckerberg posted his response on the Facebook blog. In short, he's sorry.
Saul Hansell / Bits:
Zuckerberg Apologizes, Allows Facebook Users to Evade Beacon — Mark Zuckerberg has produced a symphony of contrition in a blog post today about Facebook's Beacon feature, which initially sent information on users' Web purchases to their friends unless they specifically blocked the disclosure of each purchase.
Discussion:
Fast Company Now
Dave McClure / Master of 500 Hats:
Facebook Beacon: Privacy Disaster or PR Blip on the Road to World Domination? Let's look at the data. — thanks to Jay Meattle at Compete for some data & a reality check. — note: i *still* think Facebook should have have stuck to their "Beacon is opt-out" guns, but they also should rollout …
Oliver Starr / StarrTrek:
AN OPEN LETTER TO SAM SETHI — Please Note: This is an open letter to Sam Sethi, Founder and CEO of Blognation. I have elected to write this letter after having been one of the principal Blognation authors since August of this year. In all that time I have not received the pay promised …
RELATED:
Mobile Jones / mobilejones:Blognation: The Blogger's Prelude and Tale
Discussion:
Global Neighbourhoods
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Google Pre-Launches New iPhone Interface — We heard a rumor that Google was going to launch a new interface for users accessing the site via an iPhone in the next few days. But an anonymous tip let us know it actually launched without any warning or announcement this evening.
Discussion:
Epicenter, Profy.Com, Insider Chatter, Search Engine Land, CrunchGear, ParisLemon, jkOnTheRun, The Intuitive Life …, IntoMobile, Engadget Mobile, Seeking Alpha, Scobleizer and Digg
RELATED:
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:Google updates iPhone interface; ties apps together
Discussion:
Computerworld
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Postal Rate Change to Wallop Netflix, Help BBI? (NFLX) — Another reason for Netflix (NFLX) to hurry up and transition to a purely digital model: A potential postal rate change could cut the company's operating income per subscriber by two-thirds, say Citi analysts Mark Mahaney and Tony Wible.
RELATED:
USA Today:
Cellphone could be boarding pass, too — Continental Airlines passengers in Houston will be able to board flights using just a cellphone or personal-digital assistant instead of a regular boarding pass in a three-month test program launched Tuesday at Bush Intercontinental Airport.
Discussion:
Gizmodo, Engadget, Gadget Lab, The Mobile Gadgeteer, Phone Scoop, Ubergizmo and jkOnTheRun
Stephanie Kang / Wall Street Journal:
Nielsen to Be Video Cop — For years, media and technology companies have been ensnarled in a battle over the rights to video posted online. Now ratings giant Nielsen wants to be the policeman. — Nielsen is rolling out a new service that aims to ensure that video is distributed and viewed …
Discussion:
IP Democracy, Silicon Alley Insider, HipMojo.com, Search Engine Land, Mashable! and Search Engine Watch Blog
StarrTrek:
Marc Orchant Updates and Information — This page is dedicated to providing information and updates concerning the status of my good friend and colleague, Marc Orchant. — As you know, Marc suffered a massive cardiac infarction on Sunday morning, December 2nd 2007. My original post is copied below.
Discussion:
GottaBeMobile, Life On the Wicked Stage, Mobility Site, jkOnTheRun, Connecting the Dots and Jeff Barr's Blog
David Chartier / Ars Technica:
Nokia's unlimited "Comes With Music" plan misses the boat due to DRM — Universal announced a promising new business model last month that will allow device manufacturers to offer an all-you-can-eat music subscription service with devices. Called Total Music by Universal …
Discussion:
paidContent.org, The Register, last100, Crave at CNET UK, zedgeHeadz, p2pnet, Gadgetell, I4U News, Gizmodo, Engadget and mocoNews.net
RELATED:
Eric Pfanner / New York Times:Free Universal Music Downloads on New Nokia Phones
Discussion:
Virtual Economics, The Globe and Mail, Digital Daily, mathewingram.com/work, hypebot, 901am, CrunchGear and Reuters
Joe Stewart / secureworks.com:
Inside the "Ron Paul" Spam Botnet — On the weekend of October 27, 2007, the Internet was suddenly bombarded with a rash of spam emails promoting U.S. presidential candidate Ron Paul. The spam run continued until Tuesday, October 30, when it stopped as suddenly as it began.
Discussion:
Jeremy Zawodny's blog
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Tech.co.uk:
Gmail messaging boost adds AIM to Google Talk — AOL's instant messenger now plays nicely with Google's — The popular Gmail service from Google is clearly a work in progress - it still carries the 'beta' tag after all - but that's mainly because it keeps getting better, rather than that it isn't finished.
RELATED:
Tim Lee / Techdirt:
Apple Wants To Make DRM Extortion Explicit — For years, DRM critics have been arguing that the technology isn't so much about stopping piracy as it is about taking away traditional fair use privileges and then selling them back to you. I've agreed with this for a while …
Discussion:
Slashdot
Digimarc (DMRC):
Nielsen and Digimarc Launch Service to Identify and Manage Internet Distribution of Media Content — Nielsen Digital Media Manager Will Allow Industry to Enforce Copyrights and Monetize Value of Online Video — The Nielsen Company and Digimarc Corporation (NASDAQ: DMRC) …
RELATED:
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:
Google AdWords Improves Target By Location Feature With Maps — I got a tip from Scott Edwards that Google has quietly improved the "target customers by location" feature in the AdWords console. You can see old screen captures of the multi-step process at the Search Engine Roundtable, but the new method is much more intuitive.
