Check out Mini-Techmeme for simple mobiles or Techmeme Mobile for modern smartphones.
6:20 AM ET, January 4, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Paul Buchheit:
Should Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail block Facebook?  —  Apparently Facebook will ban you (or at least Robert Scoble) if you attempt to extract your friend's email addresses from the service.  —  Automated access is a difficult issue for any web service, so I won't argue with their decision — it's their service and they own you.
Discussion: MediaVidea and VentureBeat
RELATED:
Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:
Facebook lets me back in...  I just received this email.  —  I answer Mike Arrington and several others in a video that now is up at http://www.mogulus.com/robertscoble.  —  UPDATE: In the video I cover a whole bunch of topics and take questions from the live audience that was there when filmed.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Plaxo Flubs It  —  News leaked prematurely today about a new Plaxo Pulse feature that allows users to match Facebook contacts to Pulse contacts, and then import contact data about the matches into Pulse.  —  Plaxo has been testing the feature with a number of journalists and bloggers.
Marc Canter / Marc's Voice:
Opt-in controls for allowing your info to be Exported
Nick / Rough Type:
Scoble: freedom fighter or data thief?
Om Malik / GigaOM:
A Heart-to-Heart with GigaOM Readers  —  Happy New Year.  As you may have noticed, my byline hasn't been up on the site for a few days.  That's because the holidays weren't exactly my most jolly.  —  I had a heart attack on Dec. 28.  I was able to walk into the hospital for treatment …
Scott Hillis / Reuters:
“Major Nelson” emerges as face of Xbox  —  REDMOND, Washington (Reuters) - Dressed in jeans and a T-shirt and sporting unkempt graying hair, Larry Hryb looks like just another guy in Microsoft's corporate headquarters.  —  But Xbox 360 players know Hryb by his alter ego, “Major Nelson,” …
Discussion: Open (finds, minds … and Kotaku
RELATED:
Scott Hillis / Reuters:
Microsoft touts Xbox sales but laments online woes  —  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) sold 4.3 million Xbox 360 video game consoles in the last three months of 2007, helped by hit titles such as “Halo 3” and “Mass Effect,” according to company data released on Thursday.
Discussion: WinBeta
Major Nelson / Xbox Live's Major Nelson:
Xbox LIVE Holiday Performance  —  As many of you know, I have keeping you up to date on the status of Xbox LIVE.  Here is an official message from Marc Whitten (Notwen) GM of Xbox LIVE on where we are and what we are going to do.  Again, thanks for your patience. … This has also been posted on Xbox.com
Ryan Block / Engadget:
Xbox Live outage, day 13: still up and down, still preventing fun from being had
Discussion: Hacking NetFlix
Alex Petraglia / Primotech:
Recent Xbox Live Issues May Be Result of Attack
Discussion: Engadget, Gizmodo, Kotaku and TechSpot News
Dean Takahashi / Tech Talk with Dean Takahashi:
Intel pulls out of One Laptop Per Child group  —  Here's another turn in a soap opera.  I'm sure that kids in developing countries are not going to benefit from this internecine squabble.  —  Intel has decided to pull out of the One Laptop Per Child nonprofit organization after a dispute with its chairman, Nicholas Negroponte.
RELATED:
John Markoff / New York Times:
Intel Leaves Group Backing Education PCs
Discussion: Bloomberg
Steve Stecklow / Wall Street Journal:
Intel Backs Out of Laptop Program
Discussion: Between the Lines and Channel 9
Dean Takahashi / Tech Talk with Dean Takahashi:
CES gadgets: Sling Media unveils new Slingbox PRO-HD for moving HD video around the home  —  Sling Media, the local outfit recently acquired by Echostar, is benefiting from our urge to watch videos anytime, anywhere, and to sling it around the house so we can watch it in whatever room, except maybe the bathroom.
Discussion: CNET News.com, Gizmodo and Engadget
RELATED:
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:
CES: Echostar's Sling To Offer SlingPlayer For Blackberry
Discussion: Engadget and Voices
Peter Galli / eWEEK.com:
Microsoft Takes Heat for Office 2003 SP3 File Format Blocking  —  CorelDraw .CDR files are one of the formats that have been blocked.  —  Microsoft is facing criticism from a competitor and some customers for its decision to block some older file formats with Office 2003 Service Pack 3, which it released last September.
RELATED:
Matt Asay / The Open Road:
Mac's market share growth is “nothing short of spectacular,” suggests analyst  —  Apple has been on a tear of late, but it's not just a story of iPods.  Indeed, web analyst Net Applications now puts the Mac's market share at 8%, up from 5.3% in early 2007.  That is stunning growth by any measure …
Andrew Ross Sorkin / New York Times:
Parent of Dating Sites Looks for a Match  —  Wanted: Single dot-com Yenta seeks ambitious Mr. Big with deep pockets for a long-term relationship.  —  The parent company of the popular Jewish online dating site JDate has put itself up for sale, people close to the auction said Thursday …
Discussion: paidContent.org
Business Wire:
gOS 2.0 “Rocket,” the Second Major Release of the Friendly Linux OS, Debuts at CES and Online January 7, 2008  —  LOS ANGELES—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Good OS, the open source startup that introduced gOS, a Linux operating system with Google and web applications, on a $199 Wal-Mart PC last November …
RELATED:
Darren Murph / Engadget:   gOS 2.0 “Rocket” set to debut at CES
Josh Lowensohn / Webware.com:
MORE DETAILS ABOUT THE SUPER-SECRET NETFLIX SET-TOP BOX ARE REVEALED  —  The long-anticipated set top box from Netflix is headed towards your living room this summer according to several major news providers including the Associated Press, The New York times, and Reuters.
RELATED:
Terrence Russell / Epicenter:   Netflix, LG to Bring Streaming Movies to TVs
Jesus Diaz / Gizmodo:
iSteamy Converts iPhone in Handheld Porn Powerhouse (Extremely NSFW)  —  Here's our Extremely Not Safe For Work video review of iSteamy, a software program designed to easily browse porn on your iPhone, complete with category-based picture, video and audio navigation and a “steamy room” …
Discussion: Insanely Great Mac
FortiGuard Center:
Facebook Widget Installing Spyware  —  Fortinet Global Security Research Team discovered a malicious Facebook Widget (officially, a “Platform Application") actively spreading on the social networking site which ultimately prompts users to install the infamous “Zango” adware/spyware.
Thomas Claburn / InformationWeek:
Antitrust Lawsuit Charges Apple With Monopolizing Online Music  —  The complaint takes issue with Apple's refusal to support the Windows Media Audio format.  —  An antitrust lawsuit filed against Apple on Dec. 31 charges the company with maintaining an illegal monopoly on the digital music market.
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of Techmeme at 6:20 AM ET, January 4, 2008.

View the current page or another snapshot:


 
 Techmeme Sponsor Posts: 
Meta:
Open Source AI: Available to all, not just the few  —  Meta's open source AI enables small businesses, start-ups, students, researchers and more to download and build with our models at no cost.
Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Zoho:
CIO challenge 5: Can we find an effective solution that also minimizes operational costs?  —  Welcome to the next and final installment of our CIO series!  After what feels like a thousand cups of coffee …
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy  —  Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Sponsor Techmeme
 
 See Also: 
Techmeme: site main
Techmeme River: reverse chronological Techmeme
Techmeme Mobile: for phones
Techmeme Leaderboard: Techmeme's top sources
 
 Subscribe: 
Techmeme RSS feed
Techmeme on X
Techmeme on Mastodon
 
 
 More Items: 
NPR:
Rip This, and Sue That?
Dion Hinchcliffe / Enterprise Web 2.0:
12 predictions for Enterprise Web 2.0 in 2008
Amanda Natividad / paidContent.org:
China Plans To Restrict Online Videos; Effect on Private Companies Still Unclear
Adam Ostrow / Mashable!:
Napster Raising Prices. Is it Going Out of Business?
Discussion: CenterNetworks
Chris Ziegler / Engadget:
Callpod Phoenix: conference calling the Bluetooth headset way
Discussion: SlashGear and Gizmodo
Kristin Shoemaker / Download Squad:
Flipping the Linux switch: 5 tips every new Linux user should know
 Earlier Items: 
PC World:
Lenovo Launches IdeaPad Consumer Laptops
Brad Linder / Download Squad:
Veoh adds Hulu content, has no official relationship with Hulu
Jeremy Horwitz / iLounge:
First Looks: Belkin RockStar
Ansley Berrones / Yanko Design:
Look No Further, Freedom Phone is here
NeoSmart Technologies:
Exclusive: Microsoft to Push Silverlight via Redesigned Homepage
Jonathan M. Gitlin / Ars Technica:
First Look: Microsoft Office for Mac 2008
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Analyzing Comcast's spinoff of cable networks, purposefully structured with low debt: the move might be a signal to the industry that it's time to consolidate

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
James Harding says the Tortoise-Observer deal could create a profitable media group and there isn't a guaranteed future for the Observer with the Guardian

John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Substack, very deliberately, tries to have it both ways by saying publications on their platform are independent while presenting them all as parts of Substack

 
Sister Sites:

Mediagazer
 Top news and commentary for media professionals from all around the web
memeorandum
 What US political commentators are discussing online right now
WeSmirch
 The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page