Top Items:
Gmail Blog:
A picture is worth a thousand words — Here on the Gmail team, we're always thinking of ways to help you communicate. Back in the day, we put chat right inside Gmail. Then along came group chat and more emoticons. And when we realized that late night communication had its downsides …
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Chris Nuttall / blogs.ft.com:
Oprah likely to kindle big interest in digital books — Kindle sales appear likely to get a significant boost on Friday, with talk-show megastar Oprah Winfrey apparently about to endorse Amazon's digital book reader. — Amazon is featuring a trailer of her Friday show on its site …
Discussion:
Guardian, TECH.BLORGE.com, Epicenter, Tech Trader Daily, CrunchGear, Gizmodo, TeleRead, Boing Boing Gadgets and Voices
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Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM:
Will the Kindle Get an Oprah Bump? — Update: Oprah Winfrey doesn't really strike me as a gadget girl. Of course, I've never even watched her show, so maybe she is. One way or another, when I saw the Financial Times reporting that the cultural icon looked ready to endorse the Amazon Kindle today, I made a point of setting my DVR.
Oprah.com:
Oprah's Favorite New Gadget — This page requires Flash 9. Download it here. — This summer, Oprah received a gift that she says changed her life. “I'm telling you, it is absolutely my new favorite thing in the world,” she says. — Meet the Amazon Kindle&trade …
Miguel Helft / Bits:
A New (Fighter) Jet for Google's Founders? — A company controlled by Google's top executives, including billionaire founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, appears to have added a new plane to its well-equipped fleet: a fighter jet, or more precisely a Dornier Alpha Jet.
Discussion:
Industry Standard, Search Engine Land, TG Daily, Gizmodo, InformationWeek, Silicon Alley Insider, GMSV and SEO BlackHat
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Danny Coleman / International Business Times:
Hop-on Will Launch Its Google Android Alliance Phone at 2009 International CES — Hop-on(Pink Sheets: HPNN) will be launching its new open “Android Platform” deviceat the Consumer Electronic Show, in Las Vegas January 2009. This phone willbe sold for under $200.
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Electronista:
Hop-on readying Android phone — Small-scale phone maker Hop-on on Friday said it would develop a phone based on Google's Android platform. The open-source mobile operating system is pitched as giving the company a boost in competing in the high-end phone business, where it has little presence …
Michael Learmonth / AdAge:
Sarah Palin ‘SNL’ Online Clips Soon to Eclipse TV — Among the Top ‘Most Popular’ Shorts on Hulu.com — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's appearance was very good for “Saturday Night Live,” bringing the show its best ratings in 14 years.
Tom Krazit / CNET News:
Apple to oppose anti-gay marriage ballot question — Apple has joined Google in publicly opposing a California ballot initiative that would deny marriage rights to same-sex couples. — The company announced Friday that it would donate $100,000 to the No on Prop 8 campaign …
Mike Nash / Windows Vista Team Blog:
Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Beta — Hi there, Mike Nash here. — As you know we are getting ready to talk about Windows 7 at the PDC next week. Before we do that, I thought I would give you an update on our latest work for Windows Vista. — We are committed to continually improving Windows …
Discussion:
All about Microsoft, The Microsoft Blog, Springboard Series, jkOnTheRun, Gizmodo and Neowin.net
Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:
The New York Times Readies HD Online Video Channel As Part of New Brightcove Implementation — The New York Times has launched a new HD-format video player with a 16:9 wide-screen frame. Other new features include a redesigned video library, a “Most Viewed” rank, and tools to share videos to social sites like Facebook and Digg.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, The Universal Desktop, Digital Media Wire, Business Wire, NewTeeVee and Silicon Alley Insider
Ryan Paul / Ars Technica:
Study: Sequoia e-voting machines disturbingly easy to hack — The Princeton University Center for Information Technology Policy has published a report disclosing security vulnerabilities that researchers have detected in Sequoia's AVC Advantage voting machine.
Tony Smith / The Register:
Dell readies small, cheap computer for small biz — Dell is preparing an all-black version of its Inspiron Mini 9 netbook, this one aimed at small businesses and set to ship as the Vostro A90. — Dell's Vostro A90: rebranded Inspiron Mini 9 — The PC giant launched the machine in Japan today …
Ben Fritz / Variety:
Legendary to acquire Epic Games — Talks underway for ‘Gears of War’ developer — Legendary Pictures is in talks to acquire Epic Games, developer of vidgames including ‘Gears of War.’ — Legendary may be getting Epic. — Private equity-backed film financier Legendary Pictures …
Don Reisinger / Webware.com:
Microsoft, Telefonica dial up Live Messenger VoIP — Telefonica, the largest telecommunications provider in Latin America, announced on Friday that it has officially been chosen by Microsoft to provide voice over Internet Protocol services to Windows Live Messenger customers in Argentina …
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
Russia Realizes That Free Software Beats Sending Principals To Siberia For Piracy — You may recall the story last year of a Russian school principal who was arrested for buying computers for his school that had counterfeit versions of Windows. Even though he had no idea that the software …
Discussion:
Slashdot
Newsosaur / Reflections of a Newsosaur:
Voodoo newspaper economics — The formidable problems of the newspaper industry won't get solved if industry leaders substitute voodoo economics for rational discourse. So, let's dispense with some of the bad juju we have heard in the last couple of days. — Voodoo Economics 101
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Just In Time For The Election, Politics.com (re)Launches — It might be too little, too late to launch a political news site. The U.S. election is only 11 days away, and interest in politics will taper off from the fever-high pitch we see now. But that's not stopping Politics.com …
Discussion:
The Social
Associated Press:
Source: Yahoo to announce plans for Neb. facility — LA VISTA, Neb. - Yahoo Inc. is expected to unveil plans to build a new facility in Nebraska on Friday, just days after the California-based Internet company announced it will cut at least 1,500 workers as it deals with the economic downturn.
Noah Shachtman / Danger Room:
Spy Fears: Twitter Terrorists, Cell Phone Jihadists — Could Twitter become terrorists' newest killer app? A draft Army intelligence report, making its way through spy circles, thinks the miniature messaging software could be used as an effective tool for coordinating militant attacks.
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
RIM's BlackBerry Growth Guidance ‘At Risk’, Says AmTech (RIMM) — RIM's new $299 BlackBerry Bold will launch on Nov. 4 at AT&T (T) and its touchscreen Storm is expected to go on sale next month at Verizon and Vodafone. But that doesn't mean RIM's November quarter subscriber growth numbers are safe …
Discussion:
Electronista
Harris Lin / DigiTimes:
Skype sees WiMAX as business opportunity, says COO — During his visit to Taiwan, Skype COO Scott Durchslag noted that Skype is looking to extend its business operations from PCs to mobile communication devices, with WiMAX being one technology that afford the company potential business opportunities for Skype VoIP services.
