Top Items:
Amy-Mae Elliott / Pocket-lint.co.uk:
Macworld2008: Steve Jobs keynote speech leaked? — Apple CEO's stage notes appear on Wikipedia — We're used to seeing the online tech world go crazy with rumours and speculation in the days before Macworld, but this year a new element has been introduced to the mix.
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John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Macworld Expo Predictions — Predictions and advance commentary for tomorrow's Macworld keynote, some based on consensus rumors, some based on no more than wishful thinking on the part of yours truly. This is all conjecture and tea-leaf-reading (well, mostly), so, please, no wagering.
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Fake Apple Keynote “Leaked” on Wikipedia — What is Macworld without rampant speculation? This year, though, someone is going the extra mile and is using Wikipedia to spread what looks to be a fake outline for the Stevenote tomorrow. Many blogs and media are biting (see here and here) …
Discussion:
Byte of the Apple, MediaShift, Portfolio.com, The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs and VoIP Blog
Matt Hickey / CrunchGear: Help-Key: How to turn the Macworld Keynote into a fun, healthy drinking game
Steve Rubel / Micro Persuasion:Purported Steve Jobs Keynote Leaked on Wikipedia
Discussion:
Gadget Lab, TechCrunch, Forbes, mathewingram.com/work, Smalltalk Tidbits … and IP Telephony, VoIP, Broadband
Brian Lam / Gizmodo:
Giz Banned For Life and Loving It: On Pranks and Civil Disobedience at CES — A Gizmodo writer has been banned from CES for a prank. But when I see some fellow press damning us for the joke, I feel sorry for them: When did journalists become the protectors of corporations?
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Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:
Gizmodo on integrity... Brian Lam of Gizmodo does a great turnaround and questions his critics and their integrity. — Oh, excuse me, I've now gotta turn off all of the Apple monitors at MacWorld to prove I'm “independent” and “not part of Apple's PR machine.”
Josh Catone / ReadWriteWeb:
Sophomoric Pranks Do Not a Journalist Make — Last week gadget blog Gizmodo admitted to pulling a prank at CES 2008 in which they used a device to turn off TVs on the exhibit floor and during company presentations. In their post about the prank Gizmodo apologized ("It was too much fun …
Rafe Needleman / Webware.com:
WHO SAID TV-B-GONE USERS ARE 'SNOTTY HOLIER-THAN-THOU TYPES'? — I'm tired of Gizmodogate. I've made my position known on the use of TV-B-Gones to play pranks on CES exhibitors. Not everyone agrees with me. I'm OK with that, and I'm ready to move on. But the story keeps getting weirder.
Danny Dumas / Gadget Lab:
Breaking: Apple Insider Leaks Ultra-Portable Details — An Apple insider told Wired today that the company's new ultraportable, expected to be seen in public for the first time tomorrow, has an extremely thin profile and is shaped like a teardrop when closed — thicker at the top behind the screen …
Eric Eldon / VentureBeat:
Facebook buying Plaxo? — Facebook is “one hundred percent” buying Plaxo, we've just heard from a source. — This follows a rumor previously published by Valleywag asserting that such a deal is underway. — While these types of rumors should be taken with more than a grain of salt …
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Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Plaxo And Facebook Merger Rumors False (So Far) — We know Plaxo is for sale, presumably looking for north of $100 million and telling people around Silicon Valley that they've had an offer for north of $200 million. Revolution Partners, an investment bank, has been pitching them to all the big potential buyers.
Discussion:
HipMojo.com
Brad Stone / Bits:
MySpace to Let Parents Block Their Kids From Joining — Representatives from MySpace and the attorneys general of 49 states are announcing a new partnership to fight sexual predators and clean up social networks. — Among the dozens of measures MySpace has agreed to take …
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Google:
Google announces faster, more customizable Google experience for iPhone Users — Today, the first day of Macworld, Google announced new improvements to the integrated Google experience on iPhone. The previous version, launched just over a month ago, brought together our suite of web applications …
Discussion:
Official Google Mobile Blog, TechCrunch, Web Analytics World, CrunchGear, Good Morning Silicon Valley, ParisLemon, CNET News.com, Seeking Alpha, Download Squad, The Apple Phone Show, CyberNet, Between the Lines, Google Blogoscoped, jkOnTheRun, Compiler, Paul Kedrosky's …, rexblog.com, dailywireless.org, Gizmodo, Search Engine Land, localmobilesearch.net and Google Operating System
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Chris Silver Smith / Search Engine Land:
20 Awesome Images Found In Google Maps — The introduction of satellite images into map search interfaces has excited both virtual sightseers and local app developers. Further innovations like Google's Street View have caused consternation from privacy advocates while further pumping up the buzz about online mapping.
Richard Lawler / Engadget:
HD DVD fires back, slashes hardware & software prices — HD DVD's response to being unceremoniously jilted by Warner going into CES was ... nothing. A canceled press conference, downtrodden Toshiba press conference and rumors of further losses left great doubt that red had anything left in 2008, but now HD DVD is firing back.
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Jeremy Reimer / Ars Technica:
The ocean as watercooler: floating data centers stay cool — A new Silicon Valley startup called International Data Security (IDS) has sent some big waves through the data storage industry by announcing (PDF) its intent to set up a fleet of data-serving cargo ships.
Discussion:
dailytechrag.com/news …
eMarketer:
3 Hidden Trends in 2008 — Business statistics can often reveal a great deal of information about a market or trend. A single number, like a picture, can be worth a thousand words. Take 9.3%. That figure represents eMarketer's prediction for the share of total US media spending …
