Top Items:
Randall Stross / New York Times:
From 10 Hours a Week, $10 Million a Year — MARKUS FRIND, a 29-year-old Web entrepreneur, has not read the best seller “The 4-Hour Workweek” — in fact, he had not heard of it when asked last week — but his face could go on the book's cover. He developed software for his online dating site …
Discussion:
HipMojo.com, WebMetricsGuru, Silicon Alley Insider, mathewingram.com/work, Mashable!, Mark Evans and The Paradigm Shift
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
“U.S. Economy Screwed” — The recession-deniers having been muzzled by a horrendous last two weeks of December, the gloom-and-doomers are now out in force. Their key arguments: — Plummeting housing will now drag down the rest of the economy. — The “bad debt” problem is not just …
Jon Mooallem / New York Times:
The Afterlife of Cellphones — 1. Cellphones in Hell — Americans threw out just shy of three million tons of household electronics in 2006. This so-called e-waste is the fastest-growing part of the municipal waste stream and, depending on your outlook, either an enormous problem or a bonanza.
Chris Ziegler / Engadget:
Firm shows off functional Android build on ancient HTC hardware — California-based a la Mobile has crafted a somewhat complete set of phone apps in prototype form — you know, the most basic kinds of things you'd need on a smartphone to make it usable — on top of Android …
Discussion:
Mashable!
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USA Today:
Introducing the first Android prototype — NEW YORK — A small software developer today plans to unveil a suite of applications — browser, camera, games and more — based on the new Google-endorsed operating system, Android. — A La Mobile, based in San Ramon, Calif. …
David Kravets / Wired News:
DRM Is Dead, But Watermarks Rise From Its Ashes — With all of the Big Four record labels now jettisoning digital rights management, music fans have every reason to rejoice. But consumer advocates are singing a note of caution, as the music industry experiments with digital-watermarking technology as a DRM substitute.
Discussion:
mathewingram.com/work, Rough Type, TECH.BLORGE.com, Life On the Wicked Stage, TeleRead and Mashable!
Allen Salkin / New York Times:
Has Gawker Jumped the Snark? — “THE ideal Gawker item,” Nick Denton, the owner of Gawker Media, wrote in an instant message last month to a prospective hire, “is something triggered by a quote at a party, or an incident, or a story somewhere else and serves to expose hypocrisy, or turn conventional wisdom on its head.
Chris Sorensen / Toronto Star:
Telus considers dumping its ‘Betamax’ of wireless networks — With more wireless competition looming, executives at Telus Corp. are believed to be mulling a pricey swap of the firm's network technology in a bid to offer subscribers a bigger selection of mobile devices and grab a larger slice of lucrative international roaming fees.
John Siracusa / Ars Technica:
Great. Expectations. — There's a delicate balance to Stevenote expectations. The hype drives us all to pursue every shred of information leaking out about the big day, right up to mere moments before Jobs takes the stage. The rumors, the patent filing, the retail store stock levels …
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BBC NEWS
Duncan Riley / TechCrunch:
Chinese Blogger Beaten To Death By Government Officials — A Chinese blogger has been beaten to death by Government authorities for the crime of attempting to record a protest on his mobile phone. — When Wei was present at some sort of confrontation or protest by local villages …
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Joe Wilcox / Microsoft Watch:
Is Seven Renegade, Guerrilla Marketer or Fake? … Anonymous blog “Shipping Seven: Random thoughts from somebody working on the next Windows OS” is supposed to be the insider's view about the new operating system's development. — Right now, the posts are quite benign, which suggests the blog could be:
Liz Gannes / NewTeeVee:
Striking Writers to Launch Online Video Co., Seeking $30M+ — Out of work and newly wise to the state of content being distributed online, a group of professional writers is looking to start their own production and distribution company. Aaron Mendelsohn, writer of the Disney film Air Bud …
Howard Owens:
Five easy things journalists can do to help their web sites — Hey, Mr. Reporter, you like your job, right? — You do realize, don't you, that its advertising that pays your salary, right? — And newspaper advertising is getting hammered. — Online news sites, however, well …
Jens Alfke / Thought Palace:
Gone Indie — OK, by popular complaint I've cracked open the stylesheet and (a) darkened both comments and body text; and (b) fixed the problem with magnified text. — My apologies. I actually do like web design, but my patience with it is more limited than at regular programming …