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1:45 AM ET, January 16, 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.
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 …
Charles Arthur / Guardian Unlimited:
Apple offers you MacBook Air, Time Capsule, but not movies (here)  —  Bobbie may well leap in here later, but the Stevenote is over and Apple has indeed unveiled the MacBook Air (60GB spinning hard drive or 64GB Flash drive, 1.6GHz or 1.8GHz 45nm Core Duo, 13-inch screen, 3lbs; slogan …
Ryan Block / Engadget:
MacBook Air battery replacements: $129, free install!  —  We've got word back from Apple on MacBook Air battery replacement.  The good news is a new MBA battery is the same as a new MacBook Pro battery: $129.  And hey, installation is even free!  The bad news hasn't changed though …
Duncan Riley / TechCrunch:
Air: The Only Thing Left In Your Wallet After You Buy Apple's New Laptop
Discussion: Elliott C. Back and eWeek
Ryan Block / Engadget:
MacBook Air: plenty more details
Discussion: Valleywag
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.
RELATED:
Forbes:
Jobs Fails To Wow At Macworld  —  SAN FRANCISCO -  —  You could hear the collective sigh from the crowd.  When Steve Jobs unveiled the newest member of the Macintosh fold, the skinny MacBook Air laptop, the Mac-faithful sighed with pleasure.  But it was just a momentary exhale.
Eliot Van Buskirk / Wired News:   Apple Reinvents Film Biz With iTunes Movie Rentals
John Markoff / Bits:
The Passion of Steve Jobs
Discussion: CNET News.com and Cult of Mac
Saul Hansell / Bits:
Video Podcasts: The Sleeping Giant on AppleTV
Discussion: MacUser
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:
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:
Matt Marshall / VentureBeat:
Samwer Brothers invest in Facebook
Discussion: FaceReviews and Reuters
RELATED:
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
Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:
Robert Scoble to Launch Online Video Network At Fast Company  —  Robert Scoble, who pioneered tech videoblogging at Microsoft with Channel 9 and produced hundreds of segments during his tenure at PodTech, is launching a new business television network for Fast Company.
Discussion: CenterNetworks and Mashable!
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 …
GigaOM:
700 MHz Auction Update  —  So 214 bidders have been approved for the forthcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction, which starts on Jan. 24.  The big bidders include AT&T, Verizon and Google.  These bidders will go after 1,200 licenses.  —  The bidding will conclude on March 24; down payments will be due by April 11.
Garett Rogers / Googling Google:
New iPhone update will confuse and upset many Gmail users  —  For people using POP access in their iPhone, the new update for the device will automatically convert your email to IMAP without you knowing.  Why does that matter?  Well, if you are in the habit of deleting messages from your iPhone …
Scott Karp / Publishing 2.0:
Future Of Digital Media: Perfecting Existing Technologies For People On The Web  —  A post by Steve Yelvington contemplating the secret of Apple's success got me thinking again about principles that will drive the next wave off successful digital media companies, in addition to the five principles I wrote about to kick off the year:
 
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 More Items: 
Oracle:
Oracle Critical Patch Update Advisory - January 2008
Allen Stern / CenterNetworks:
TubesNow Service to be Discontinued on January 31
Discussion: Mashable!
Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:
Nick Denton Runs a “Slave Shop,” Oxford Chum Jason Pontin Declares
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 and Beet.TV
 Earlier Items: 
Light Reading:
AT&T Begins Massive Battery Replacement
GigaOM:
Google's Achilles Heel
Josh / Redeye VC:
The earlier the better...  Most VC's typically “pass” …
Alex Serpo / CNET News.com:
A tenfold improvement in battery life?
Discussion: Ars Technica and last100
 

 
From Mediagazer:

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

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

 
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