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9:20 PM ET, January 15, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Devin Coldewey / CrunchGear:
MacBook AirHead: why Apple's new laptop is basically useless  —  First, let me just say that the Air is an extremely impressive piece of technology.  The miniaturization, the optimization of space, the blatant disregard for current standards — it's everything a revolutionary machine should be.
Discussion: Venture Chronicles
RELATED:
Jason Chen / Gizmodo:
MacBook Air Hands-on  —  Here's our take on the MacBook Air.  It's super light, super fragile, and super small.  If you just tap the screen lightly, the whole thing closes because it's so light.  The keyboard looks a little weird because it's black on the aluminum, but the keyboard feels great.
Nilay Patel / Engadget:
MacBook Air doesn't have a user-replaceable battery  —  We sort of understood it with iPods, and we grudgingly accepted it with the iPhone, but the MacBook Air has a sealed, non-user-replaceable battery, and that means we're suddenly a lot less in love.  We're digging for details …
Arn / MacRumors:
First Look at the MacBook Air
Discussion: Gizmodo and Engadget
Mathew / mathewingram.com/work:
Hey, Steve — you broke the Internet  —  Thanks for all the great toys, Uncle Steve, but did you have to go and break the Internet?  I and about 7,000 other people were all signed up to get Twitter updates from MacRumors, but I never saw a single one — and in fact the entire Twitter.com network …
RELATED:
Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed:
Steve Jobs Proves the Interweb Can't Beat TV ... Yet  —  Live media events are great, when they work.  But watching live services like Twitter collapse around the Steve Jobs keynote this morning provides more great examples (if needed) why the Interweb isn't yet TV.
Nicholas Carlson / Valleywag:
Now we know what Twitter's good for: not much
Discussion: CenterNetworks
Duncan Riley / TechCrunch:
Twitter Fails Macworld Keynote Test
Discussion: Mashable! and Tech Ticker
Tom Neumayr / Apple:
Apple Premieres iTunes Movie Rentals With All Major Film Studios  —  New Apple TV Software Lets You Rent Movies Directly from Your Widescreen TV  —  Apple® today announced iTunes® Movie Rentals featuring movies from all the major movie studios including 20th Century Fox …
RELATED:
Matt Buchanan / Gizmodo:
Apple TV Take 2: $229, No Computer Required, Direct Rentals (Netflix Screwed)  —  Holy crap, Jobs admitted Apple TV failed at getting computer content to the square screen.  Apple TV Take 2 requires no computer, you can rent from iTunes directly from the box—movies and music—and it's only $229.
Michael Gartenberg / JupiterResearch:
iTunes Does Movie Rentals & Apple TV Update - First Take
Discussion: Guardian Unlimited
Saul Hansell / Bits:
Video Podcasts: The Sleeping Giant on AppleTV
Discussion: TechCrunch and MacUser
Josh Jones / DreamHost Blog:
Um, Whoops.  —  Hello.. how's your morning going?  —  I hope it's been a little better than mine.  —  We had a teensy eensy weensy little billing error last night... my first clue something was up when I saw this morning's daily billing report (so far): $7,500,000.
RELATED:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:   Dreamhost Overbills Customers $7.5 Million; Uses Homer Simpson To Deliver Apology
Apple:
Apple Enhances Revolutionary iPhone with Software Update  —  Apple® today announced a free software update for its revolutionary iPhone™ that allows users to automatically find their location using the redesigned Maps application*; text message multiple people in one message …
RELATED:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Breaking: Samwer Brothers Invest In Facebook  —  Serial German entrepreneurs Alexander, Marc and Oliver Samwer have invested in Facebook, we've heard from a very reliable source - presumably as part of Facebook's recent $15 billion valuation round with Microsoft.  We are still trying to nail down the size of the investment.
RELATED:
Ryan Block / Engadget:
Live from Macworld 2008: Steve Jobs keynote  —  Thanks for joining us for our live Macworld 2008 keynote coverage!  We're in, so click on, all our real-time updates are posted just after the break.  —  Note: this time we're updating from bottom to top, with the latest updates below.
Miguel Helft / Bits:
Another Media Exec Leaves Yahoo  —  As Yahoo narrows its focus on a few key priorities, it's not surprising to see those whose projects fall outside those areas leave the company.  And Yahoo's media group, whose once lofty mission to produce original, Hollywood-style content has been scaled …
Discussion: paidContent.org and Mashable!
Wilson Rothman / Gizmodo:
Apple Announces Time Capsule Server for Wireless Time Machine Backup  —  At Macworld 2008, Apple just announced Time Capsule, a full Airport Extreme base station with 802.11n wireless and four Ethernet ports, plus server grade hard drives to back up all of the Leopard Macs in the house.
Discussion: Engadget and Hardware 2.0
Nicole Maestri / Reuters:
Borders readies to take over Web site  —  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Borders Group Inc views the launch of its new Web site as a chance to control its own destiny and help spur a turnaround at the book retailer, executives said in an interview on Tuesday.  —  Borders has been running its site in an alliance with Amazon.com.
Discussion: paidContent.org
 
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 More Items: 
Steve / The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs:
Macworld party report
GigaOM:
700 MHz Auction Update
MG Siegler / ParisLemon:
Spore To Come Simultaneously To the Mac and PC
Discussion: CNET News.com
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Meebo Widget Strategy Paying Off
Discussion: VentureBeat
Light Reading:
AT&T Begins Massive Battery Replacement
Greg Sandoval / CNET News.com:
Move over Netflix, VOD services; here comes Apple
Eric Pfanner / New York Times:
Shake-Up at EMI Clouds Future of Its Artists
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Breaking: Mozilla Hires Humanized Founders
 Earlier Items: 
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Intel: Fourth quarter falls short of estimates; outlook light
Mark Hendrickson / TechCrunch:
Listen to Pandora Internationally with Global Pandora
GigaOM:
Google's Achilles Heel
Erica Ogg / CNET News.com:
Moxi maker cuts staff by half, loses CEO
Josh / Redeye VC:
The earlier the better...  Most VC's typically “pass” …
Alex Serpo / CNET News.com:
A tenfold improvement in battery life?
Discussion: last100
Victoria Shannon / International Herald Tribune:
Amazon.com is challenging French competition law
Patrik / F-Secure Antivirus Research Weblog:
First Rogue Cleaning Tool for Mac
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Lachlan Cartwright / The Ankler:
Sources: MSNBC renewed Rachel Maddow's contract early this fall, but with a pay cut; MSNBC bosses' plan to shake up daytime and weekend programming

Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter:
Internal memo: Hearst Magazines president announces layoffs as part of a decision to “reallocate resources” to “continue our focus on digital innovation”

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced she will leave the agency on January 20; she was the first woman to be confirmed to lead the agency

 
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