Top Items:
Fred Vogelstein / Wired News:
The Untold Story: How the iPhone Blew Up the Wireless Industry — The demo was not going well. — Again. — It was a late morning in the fall of 2006. Almost a year earlier, Steve Jobs had tasked about 200 of Apple's top engineers with creating the iPhone.
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BBC:
Americans turn to online videos — Online video sharing sites are reaping the benefits of the ongoing writers' strike in the US. — According to net measurement firm Nielsen Online, some online video sites have doubled their audience since the strike began at the end of October.
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Lee Rainie / Pew Internet:
Increased use of video-sharing sites — 48% of internet users have been to video-sharing sites such as YouTube and the daily traffic to such sites on a typical day has doubled in the past year. The basic findings in a national phone survey that ended in December show:
Peter Lauria / New York Post:
MICROSOFT DEAL KING TO LAUNCH OWN FIRM — One of Microsoft's chief deal architects is leaving the software giant to start his own firm. — Bruce Jaffe - currently vice president of corporate development for Microsoft - plans to vacate his post at the end of February.
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Doug Caverly / WebProNews:
Microsoft's Acquisition Exec Quitting — In October, Microsoft's Steve Ballmer announced that he intended to acquire 20 companies per year for the next five years. As far as anyone knows, that remains the case. Yet this task may become more difficult than Ballmer expected, as Bruce Jaffe …
Karl / DSLreports:
Network Solutions Holding Domain Names Ransom - We're domain front-running so scammers don't have to! — Network Solutions is under fire this week for domain “front running,” or for purchasing and holding certain domains after they're searched for at the company's website, thereby not letting anyone buy the domain at other registrars.
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Stephen Shankland / CNET News.com:
Network Solutions amends Net registration process — Network Solutions, a dominant registrar of Internet sites, has stepped back from some controversial elements of a new registration process. — Network Solutions had implemented some changes in an attempt to curtail “front-running,” …
Variety:
Blu-ray could win high-def battle — HD DVD backers could switch sides soon — The two remaining studios backing HD DVD could switch sides soon, ending the high-def format war instantly. — Daily Variety has confirmed that Universal's commitment to backing HD DVD exclusively has ended.
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BBC:
Facebook futures — Regular commentator Bill Thompson ruminates on the inevitability of Facebook being in the news in 2008 — The coming year is not going to be a comfortable one for Facebook. — It might just manage to avoid upsetting its users with new services such as Beacon …
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Alex Iskold / ReadWriteWeb:
Semantic Web: What Is The Killer App? — The Semantic Web has been in the making for some time and people think it is nearing maturity. We have written about this trend extensively, with our two most notable posts being an analysis of the challenges of the classic bottom-up approach and the promise of the new top-down one.
Discussion:
BlueBlog
Richard Wray / Guardian:
BT bets its future on broadband 20 times faster than now — BT is boosting Britain's attempt to remain at the top of the global broadband market with plans to install a network at Ebbsfleet in Kent that offers speeds 20 times faster than the average UK household connection.
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Chris Williams / The Register:Want faster broadband soon? Move to Kent, says BT
Discussion:
Gadget Lab
Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:
Google Maps Gaining On Market Leader Mapquest — Mapquest arguably “owns” the mapping brand online. It has been the dominant mapping site for years by a wide margin. But that dominance may now be slipping under pressure from Google. Hitwise reports that “traffic to Mapquest …
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Justin Smith / Inside Facebook:
3 Important Facebook Updates Coming Soon — Here's a quick look at some important Facebook updates that are expected to launch in 1Q 08: — 1) Friend Lists Privacy Controls — A few weeks ago, Facebook took the first step toward enabling more efficient friend management with the release of Friend Lists.
Discussion:
Mashable!
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Wizzard Media: 1 Billion Downloads in 2007, Podcasting Far from Dead — Wizzard Media, owners of the Libsyn, Switchpod and Blast Podcast networks, will announce tomorrow that it passed the 1 billion download mark in 2007. While online media consumption numbers are notoriously hard to verify, Wizzard's have some serious merit.
Stephen Shankland / CNET News.com:
What's the best Web site for geotagged photos? — Readers of this blog will have inferred I'm a fan of geotagging—in fact, I'm trying to label all my photos with the tags that show where the picture was taken, even though the geotagging process is complicated.
Discussion:
All Points Blog
Marguerite Reardon / CNET News.com:
Skype's mobile dreams — Internet-calling software provider Skype sees the mobile market as the next frontier for its service, but economic realities in the voice market—coupled with mobile operators who feel threatened by Skype—could put the kibosh on large-scale adoption for some time to come.
Discussion:
mocoNews.net
Agam Shah / New York Times:
Former OLPC C.T.O. Aims to Create $75 Laptop — A laptop under US$100 could reach desks if a new venture formed by former chief technology officer of One Laptop Per Child, Mary Lou Jepsen, can deliver on its promises. — A “spin-out” from OLPC, the company, Pixel Qi is looking to create …
