Top Items:
Business Week:
Steve Jobs' Video Dreams — His magic has not extended to visual entertainment. Hollywood and cable companies aim to keep it that way — At last year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, most of the 140,000 attendees were buzzing about the future of the cell phone—and how Apple Inc. …
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I, Cringely . The Pulpit | PBS:
End Game — With CES over and the San Francisco Macworld Expo set to begin on Monday, we pundits are turning our attention to Apple, the big technology business success of not only 2007, but of the entire decade. Steve Jobs has his Macworld keynote address coming and will no doubt deliver …
Tom Krazit / CNET News.com:
Macworld leads tech out of the desert — Apple has the third week of January all to itself this year, and although it probably won't top last year's Macworld, the company will likely make everyone forget about the Consumer Electronics Show. — Trade shows are a necessary evil in the tech industry.
CBS News:
Facebook Founder Says “Beacon” Needs Work — Also Tells 60 Minutes It's Unlikely Company Will Go Public in 2008 — (CBS) The controversial advertising device many accused of invading the privacy of Facebook users will eventually be a good tool, says Facebook founder and chief executive officer, Mark Zuckerberg.
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Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Facebook - Why Not Let Sleeping Dogs Lie? — Just as the press was getting bored with talking about the problems with Facebook's new advertising platform, Beacon (first mentioned here on November 2), founder Mark Zuckerberg goes on 60 Minutes to stir everything back up again (the show will be on air this Sunday).
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Gizmodogate: Get a sense of humor folks — Gizmodo turns off a bunch of TVs at CES to liven the joint up and you'd think that their scribes lit Bill Gates on fire for the page views. — The angst over Gizmodo's hilarious prank is borderline ridiculous: — Judie Lipsett at Gear Diary calls the prank “total and utter crap.”
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Judie Lipsett / Gear Diary:
Total and Utter Crap: Gizmodo's Stupid CES Prank on Motorola and Us Bloggers — I first found out about Gizmodo's stupidity on ValleyWag a little earlier today; the post read “What's the difference between a blogger and a journalist? … I had no idea what Owen Thomas, the post author …
Discussion:
Venture Chronicles, geeksugar, GottaBeMobile, Global Neighbourhoods, Loic Le Meur Blog and Mobility Site
Saul Hansell / Bits:
Yahoo's Core Value Is Falling — The market is taking stock of still more rumors that Microsoft is trying to buy Yahoo. (This would be a great deal, if it weren't for management, strategic and cultural differences that would probably sink any combination.)
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Kara Swisher / BoomTown:MicroHoo? YaBay? No Deal!
Discussion:
CNET News.com, Silicon Alley Insider, paidContent.org, Tech Trader Daily and HipMojo.com
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:Yahoo: Bernstein Cuts Target; MSFT Deal Unlikely; Equity Stakes …
Discussion:
Silicon Alley Insider
Peter Sayer / InfoWorld:
UK gov't report: Don't upgrade to Vista — San Francisco - British schools should not upgrade to Microsoft's Vista operating system and Office 2007 productivity suite, the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA) said in a report on the software.
Discussion:
Electronista
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Wall Street Journal:
Showdown Looms Over Pirated-Media Directory — Swedish Prosecutors Target Organizers of Pirate Bay, A Huge File-Sharing Guide — One of Hollywood's biggest foes is about to be called on the carpet. After years of steering Web surfers to free entertainment, the organizers of a massive directory …
Arn / MacRumors:
SlingPlayer for iPhone and iPod Touch? — ElectricPig.tv claims (via 9to5) they have an “extremely senior source” at Sling Media who says that an iPhone/iPod Touch version of their SlingPlayer client software is coming. — Sling Media sells the SlingBox which allows you to stream video …
Discussion:
Infinite Loop
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Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Benchmark Bets on Ruby on Rails With $3.5 Million Investment in Engine Yard — Is Ruby on Rails the next Java? Benchmark Capital thinks so. It just invested $3.5 million in Engine Yard, taking its entire series A round. Ruby on Rails is an increasingly popular Web application programming environment …
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Why Google, Yahoo and Microsoft should worry about Countrywide's takeover — Update: Countrywide Financial is being acquired by Bank of America and when the deal closes the second largest Web advertiser will disappear. It's highly unlikely that Bank of America will spend so lavishly on online advertising.
Thomas Claburn / InformationWeek:
Zero-Day Exploit For Apple's QuickTime Posted — The vulnerability affects both Windows and Mac OS X versions of Apple's QuickTime software. — An Italian security researcher has posted a proof-of-concept exploit for a zero-day vulnerability in the most current version of Apple's QuickTime media software (7.3.1).
Anne Zelenka / GigaOM:
The Big Switch Is a Good Thing — In his new book “The Big Switch,” blogger and journalist Nick Carr says, “In the YouTube economy, everyone is free to play, but only a few reap the rewards." But the reason so many people play in the new economy is because the many can reap rewards …
