Top Items:
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 …
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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, Gizmodo, CrunchGear, Epicenter, Tech Trader Daily, TeleRead, Voices and Boing Boing Gadgets
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.
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 …
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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 …
Discussion:
InformationWeek, VentureBeat, Startup Wire, Maximum PC all, PC World, Valleywag, TECH.BLORGE.com, Lifehacker, RotorBlog.com, WebProNews, Asiajin, Digital Inspiration and Startup Meme
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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:
Search Engine Land, Industry Standard, mv-voice.com, TG Daily, Gizmodo, The Register, InformationWeek, Valleywag, GMSV, Slashdot and SEO BlackHat
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 …
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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.
Discussion:
Android Phone Fans, Android Community, Boy Genius Report, MobileCrunch, Engadget Mobile, AndroidGuys and Phone Scoop
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 …
Discussion:
AppleInsider, MacRumors, The Technology Chronicles, L.A. Times Tech Blog, MacUser, Valleywag, MacDailyNews, Gizmodo, MacBlogz, TUAW, Obsessable and Gearlog
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.
Mark Hendrickson / TechCrunch:
Live: Yahoo Previews Its New Application Platform — I'm here at Yahoo Brickhouse in San Francisco for an event where Yahoo will preview its new Application Platform for developers, the latest effort in an ongoing strategy to be more “open” that was announced last April.
Discussion:
VentureBeat
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:
Contentinople, TechCrunch, Business Wire, Digital Media Wire, The Universal Desktop and NewTeeVee
Bryan Redemske / Omaha World-Herald:
Yahoo planning offices in La Vista, west Omaha — Yahoo is coming to Nebraska, and in a much larger way than previously anticipated. — The World-Herald reported several months ago that Yahoo planned to operate a data center in La Vista. But it's the second part of the project that has Gov. Dave Heineman excited.
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Jim Goldman / Tech Check with Jim Goldman:
What's Apple Really Worth? — That's the $150 billion question and the crux of a simmering debate between Apple fans, Apple customers, Apple investors and Wall Street. — This all hit a head earlier this week when Apple released its fourth quarter earnings and while earnings per share handily beat the Street, revenue came up light.
Discussion:
The Mac Observer
Brian Shih / Google Reader:
Reading The Guardian, full-text style — We've always used Reader to keep up to date on news and current events and today it just got a little easier: The Guardian just moved all of their RSS feeds from partial to full-text. They are the first major newspaper in the world to do so, and this is, well, great news.
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 …
Brian X. Chen / Epicenter:
Apple Is Ready to Take a Bite of Silicon Valley — Comments from Apple CEO Steve Jobs this week suggested that the cash-rich computer and phone maker might be in a good position to start snapping up struggling tech companies. — During Apple's earnings call Tuesday, Steve Jobs proudly reported …
Discussion:
Apple 2.0
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 …
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.
