Top Items:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
OMG Britney! On Twitter! — This is perhaps the most exciting news since the May launch of TomCruise.com: I'd like to welcome Britney Spears to our world. She (or rather her people) have launched both a Twitter account and a bloggy sort of site with near constant updates on her fascinating life.
Discussion:
Webware.com, I4U News, GO2WEB20 Blog, MediaFuturist, Brian Alvey and OFFICIAL BRITNEY SPEARS SITE
Randall Stross / New York Times:
Why This Storm May Stay Away From Apple — VIOLENT waves are tossing about the world's largest financial institutions like toys made of balsa. The dark skies ahead can't be anything but a recession. Sheets of cold rain have already been smacking the retail sector.
Discussion:
Pulse 2.0
Daniel Lyons / Newsweek:
Why Is Jerry Yang Still in Charge? — Lately, Yahoo seems to stumble from one idea to the next, with no grand vision or plan for the company. — From the magazine issue dated Oct 27, 2008 — Eight months ago, Yahoo!CEO Jerry Yang had a chance to sell his company to Microsoft for $43 billion.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Apple 2.0:
Apple Q4 earnings smackdown — Andy Zaky has a bone to pick with Wall Street — or rather, with the professional analysts who cover Apple (AAPL) at Morgan Stanley (MS), Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC), and the rest. — “I could write a book on what Wall Street analysts don't know,” he says.
Discussion:
Silicon Alley Insider
David Leppard / Times of London:
Passports will be needed to buy mobile phones — Everyone who buys a mobile telephone will be forced to register their identity on a national database under government plans to extend massively the powers of state surveillance. — Phone buyers would have to present a passport …
Miguel Helft / New York Times:
Changing That Home Page? Take Baby Steps — A FEW weeks ago, Yahoo began what may be its biggest overhaul of its home page. But if you are among the roughly 100 million Americans who stop by Yahoo.com every month, the odds are that you haven't noticed any changes.
Melissa / yprofileblog.com:
Managing your alias and profile — Many of you have expressed your concern with the newest version of profiles, and believe me, we're reading and hearing your comments and are committed to helping you maximize your experience with the new profiles. — First off, we want to apologize straight away …
Discussion:
Yahoo! Messenger Blog, Beyond Search, TechCrunch, Slashdot, BetaNews and Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim
Jai Molloy / Technician's Blog:
BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 (Code name: Kickstart)... So I haven't posted anything in a while but rest assured I am alive and well. — Today I have a little surprise for everyone (unless you read before you click). I managed to get my mitts on a BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 …
Frank Washburn / GigaOM:
Where's the Money In Casual Web Game Development? — For years, developing web-based casual games was little more than a hobby, a means of creative expression for game enthusiasts. Then advertising revenue started to reshape the casual gaming landscape — now, multimillion-dollar deals …
Discussion:
Clickety Clack
David Chartier / Ars Technica:
Google monetizes start page, vocal minority gets vocal — If you love something, set it free. Then, if you're lucky, maybe you can figure out a way to make money with it. Despite what appears to be a vocal minority that is unhappy with the changes, that's what Google may have finally …
Ryan Block:
New MacBook Pro: now with 20% less battery power — Apple touted some pretty decent battery life numbers at the new MacBook / MacBook Pro press event this week: up to five hours on the Pro with discrete graphics off, and four hours with it on (both surely assuming ideal low-power conditions).
Fred / A VC:
The Stupidest Answer In The World — There's a great article in the NY Times Magazine section today about Obama's quest to win the white male vote which was written by Matt Bai. In it Obama addresses the “bitter quote”: … I made a boneheaded move this week as well with this quote …
RELATED:
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:Twitter: We'll Announce Our Secret Business Model Early Next Year
Discussion:
Smalltalk Tidbits …, Business Week, Scripting News, mathewingram.com/work, VoIP Watch and Epicenter
Steve Gillmor / TechCrunchIT:
FriendFeed to add Realtime APIs next week — Play in Popup | Download — Twitter appears to have an unassailable lead in users and their resultant Follow clouds. Though Track is dead and IM is postponed indefinitely, the service has added a political track page with a company-selected keyword cluster around the political race.
