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:
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.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Global Neighbourhoods, Valleywag, FactoryCity, rexblog.com, Between the Lines, Techmamas and Facebook Applications …
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.
Scott Karp / Publishing 2.0:
The Coming War Over Data On The Web — If you dig beneath the surface of the brouhaha over Robert Scoble getting his Facebook account suspended for testing a new Plaxo Facebook app that mines user email addresses in violation of Facebook's terms of service, you'll find evidence …
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 …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Master of 500 Hats, VentureBeat, THE BLOGGING JOURNALIST, Loic Le Meur Blog, Geek Speaker, WebProNews, WebMetricsGuru, Between the Lines, FoundRead, IP Democracy, Valleywag, BoomTown, Epicenter, Silicon Alley Insider, The Jason Calacanis Weblog, atmaspheric, Digital Common Sense, Scripting News, bub.blicio.us, Paul Kedrosky's …, Disruptive Telephony, Venture Chronicles and Marketing.fm
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,” …
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
Ryan Block / Engadget:Xbox Live outage, day 13: still up and down, still preventing fun from being had
Discussion:
Hacking NetFlix
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.
RELATED:
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:
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:
Brian Heater / AppScout:Microsoft Office 2003 Abandons Support for Older File Formats
Discussion:
Security Watch, Christopher Null, Download Squad, One Microsoft Way, Blackfriars' Marketing and Zoli's Blog
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 …
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
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.
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
Jonathan M. Gitlin / Ars Technica:
First Look: Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 — Introduction — The subject of Microsoft Office for Mac has the potential to be a touchy one with Apple fans. There is a contingent of Mac users for whom Microsoft is the enemy, and any alternative to their products is the right choice.
