Top Items:
CmdrTaco / Slashdot:
Fifth Cable Cut To Middle East — You may have noticed a number of stories recently about undersea cables getting cut around the world. Apparently the total is now up to 5, but the scariest part of this is that Iran is now offline. You can also read Schneier's comments on this coincidence.
Discussion:
mathewingram.com/work, Errata Security, SMBlog, Gizmodo, O'Reilly Radar and Threat Level
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Paul Miller / Engadget:
Cut four undersea cables, shame on you, cut a fifth, also shame on you — If you're reading Engadget today because your favorite Iranian gadget blog is offline, here's why: a fifth undersea cable has now been reported as cut, responsible for [knocking Iran] and a few other million people mostly off the interwebs.
Asma Ali Zain / Khaleej Times:Cable damage hits 1.7m Internet users in UAE
Discussion:
Business Technology, BetaNews, ...My heart's in Accra, CrunchGear, I Love Bonnie.net, DSLreports, Gizmodo, securosis.com, Boing Boing and Digg
Shane McGlaun / DailyTech:Bad to Worse: Fifth Undersea Cable Cut in Middle East
Discussion:
Good Morning Silicon Valley
Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
No spin: Ars reviews the MacBook Air with solid state drive — The MacBook Air's high-end model comes with 200 extra MHz and a solid state drive. Is it worth the extra $1,300 to upgrade? We compare the two Airs directly to find out whether the price is worth paying.
Discussion:
The Boy Genius Report, Hardware 2.0, Engadget, michael parekh on IT, Gizmodo, Forever Geek, The Mac Observer, Macsimum News, Insanely Great Mac and Digg
Peter Kafka / Silicon Alley Insider:
“BigNews”: Ask's Digg Project Revealed (IACI) — Here's the Ask.com/Digg collaboration we'd heard about earlier this week, but it may be less than we'd advertised: “BigNews” is actually more of an attempt to create a new spin on Techmeme/Google News than a ripoff of Digg's social news site.
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GigaOM:
Is BT Fusion Dead in the Water? — Written by Ken Young, whose own blog is called The UK Mobile Report. — BT has stopped marketing its Fusion handsets to consumers and is now testing a service that uses the same technology but would allow BT broadband users to access the web …
Discussion:
VoIP Blog
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Major Nelson / Xbox Live's Major Nelson:
Xbox 360 HD DVD Player price drop (now US $129.99) — This just in: The Xbox 360 HD DVD Player price has dropped from $179.99 to $129.99 (U.S. MSRP.) This new price is effective immediately in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Combine the new price with the 5 free HD DVD offer and it's a pretty good deal.
Discussion:
Engadget, DailyTech, ParisLemon, Variety, Xbox 360 Fanboy, Kotaku, CrunchGear, The Tech Report, Gizmodo, Hacking NetFlix and Opposable Thumbs
John Murrell / Good Morning Silicon Valley:
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue. — Whatever conference room Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and his lieutenants are huddling in these days must feel a lot like one of Zork's dark caverns. Down one tunnel lies Microsoft and its takeover bid. Down another, Google waits with all eight arms open.
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Nicholas Carlson / Valleywag:Leaked Yang memo calls for hard work, commitment, and anybody but Microsoft
Electronista:
Yahoo resistance costing Microsoft — Yahoo's caution in the face of an acquistion bid by Microsoft may be costing the latter company a good deal of money, one report suggests. The difficulty is that the proposed bid is half cash and half stock, with a share exchange ratio of 0.9509 Yahoo shares for each one from Microsoft.
Discussion:
CNET News.com
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Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:Microsoft Bid for Yahoo Drops To $29.50 a Share
Discussion:
HipMojo.com, Scripting News, The Tech Report, TechCrunch, Social Strategist, WebProNews, VoIP Blog and Voices
Official Google Docs Blog:
Stop sharing spreadsheets, start collecting information — Posted by: Andrew Bonventre, Spreadsheets engineer and Michelle Lee, Spreadsheets designer — Today we're asking you to do something new: stop sharing spreadsheets. — Well... only sometimes, and only in certain situations.
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Ex-Googlers Launch Instructional Video Site Howcast, Raise $8 Million A Round — A New York City startup called Howcast is launching today that wants to be the YouTube of instructional videos. In fact, the three founders—Jason Liebman, Daniel Blackman and Sanjay Raman …
Discussion:
HipMojo.com, PDA, The Technology Chronicles, Contentinople, Techland, Screenwerk, VentureBeat, paidContent.org, NewTeeVee, Rev2.org and Silicon Alley Insider
Elizabeth Woyke / Forbes:
Google Likely Out, And Happy — After dominating the U.S. wireless spectrum auction for months, from influencing the terms of the auction to bidding, it looks like Google is off the hook. — Nine days into the closely watched Federal Communications Commission auction …
Ryan Naraine / eWeek:
Apple Plugs QuickTime Malware Installation Hole — The company acknowledges the bug could lead to drive-by malware installations on Windows and Mac machines. — Apple has issued a patch for a high-profile vulnerability in its flagship QuickTime media player, acknowledging that the bug …
Greg Sandoval / CNET News.com:
Video site Revver shopping itself for a song — Revver, a YouTube competitor that made a name for itself by paying video producers, has fallen on hard times. — The company's staff has dwindled to less than half the size it was 18 months ago, according to former employees.
Josh Bernoff / Groundswell:
Why Social Applications Will Thrive In A Recession — Is a recession coming? Don't ask me — I'm not an economist, and even the economists don't really know. But if it's anything like the last recession, advertising will plummet and experimental media will crater.
Discussion:
VentureBeat, Web Strategy, broadstuff, Insider Chatter, Furrier.org, The Social Web and The Social Times
Bernard Lunn / ReadWriteWeb:
This Is Not Our Bubble — Back in early October I posted about coming economic storms and what entrepreneurs could do to prepare. Given recent news, it is now almost certain that we are in recession. The bad news from financial institutions and credit markets is like a steady drumbeat …
Discussion:
VentureBeat
Daniel Terdiman / CNET News.com:
EA unveils Spielberg's ‘Boom Blox’ for Wii — It's been a long time coming, but we finally have some actual details about the first game to emerge from the partnership between Steven Spielberg and Electronic Arts. — Known as Boom Blox, the game, which will be available in May only on the Wii, is from EA's casual games unit.
Declan McCullagh / CNET News.com:
Obama loses Silicon Valley to Clinton: Is anyone surprised? — It must have come as a surprise to the boisterous Barack Obama supporters who were flagging down commuters at light rail stations south of San Francisco after work on Tuesday, but Hillary Clinton won far more votes in Silicon Valley than did her rival from Illinois.
Brad Linder / Download Squad:
Why Windows 7 looks so much like Vista — Last month we posted a video and screenshots of what may or may not be Windows 7, the next version of Microsoft's flagship operating system. The company hasn't confirmed or denied the authenticity of these images, but many readers have been a bit... vocal about their doubts.
