Top Items:
Gabriel Madway / Reuters:
Google CEO on Obama tech czar job: No thanks — SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said Friday he would not serve as technology czar in Barack Obama's administration if he was asked. — “I love working at Google and I'm very happy to stay at Google …
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Cash Crunch At New York Times (NYT): $400 Million Due In May — The New York Times Company's 10Q (NYT) contains more details on the company's cash crunch. — Specifically, the company must deliver $400 million to lenders in May of 2009, six months from now.
Cleve Nettles / 9 to 5 Mac:
Sony rolling out iTunes plus — Let's just say we have a hunch on this one. Sony iTunes Plus high quality AAC files coming to the iTunes store in the next few weeks/months..same deal, 256kbit quality, no DRM. — Now when are they going to drop the “BMG”? We have no idea.
Tom Evslin / Fractals of Change:
Maybe We Don't Need So Much Credit — A friend of ours has started a “new economy” business; she makes delicious Vermont brownies and sells them online at vermontbrowniecompany.com. — Lots of brownies made with good Vermont ingredients are rolling out of South Hero to the brownie-starved world.
Amanda Gardner / US News:
MP3 Player Headphones May Throw Off Cardiac Devices — Study found they could cause interference when placed too closely to pacemakers, ICDs — Tucking the headphones for your iPod into your coat pocket might not be exactly heart-stopping, but it could interfere with the normal functioning of your implanted cardiac device.
GamePolitics News:
New Class-Action Suits Target EA, SecuROM, The Sims & Spore Creature Creator — GamePolitics has learned that a pair of new class-action lawsuits were lodged against Electronic Arts in October. Both suits were filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California …
Markcuban / blog maverick:
PE Obama's 1st Big Mistake — Its great to see President Elect Obama aggressively taking on the economy prior to his taking office. Unfortunately, the economic advisory team that he has put together looks more like a semester's worth of great guest speakers for an MBA class than an economic advisory team that can truly help him.
Matt Buchanan / Gizmodo:
Android Bug Reboots Phone Every Time You Type “Reboot” — The latest big bug discovered in Android has to be one of the craziest that's shipped with a phone. Basically, Android invisibly interprets every word as a command and executes it with “superuser privileges.”
Allen Stern / CenterNetworks:
SitOrSquat - Find a Clean Toilet Wherever You Are — It seems like bathroom locators are all the rage these days. We reviewed Diaroogle this past summer and there's the popular MizPee as well. Today we have learned about a new NY-based startup that is joining the toilet-finder bunch.
Discussion:
Startup Meme
Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:
Ballmer: Microsoft working on App Store-like software distribution — But he rejects the idea of using WebKit to power IE — Computerworld) Microsoft Corp. is working on a software distribution scheme along the lines of Apple's iPhone App Store, CEO Steve Ballmer said yesterday at a developer's conference in Sydney, Australia.
Richard Pérez-Peña / New York Times:
Hearst to Close Its Spinoff of O, the Oprah Magazine — The Hearst Corporation announced on Friday that it would shutter O at Home, a spinoff of its popular O, The Oprah Magazine, and word leaked of staff cuts at other Hearst magazines as the company grappled with the shrinking advertising market.
Reuters:
U.S. judge orders Apple executive to stop work — A U.S. District Court judge in New York ordered a newly hired Apple Inc (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) executive to stop work immediately because he might be violating an agreement with his former employer, IBM (IBM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).
Discussion:
Apple 2.0, Edible Apple, TG Daily, Macworld, Silicon Alley Insider, AppleInsider, MacBlogz, MacRumors, VentureBeat, techblog.dallasnews.com and Bloomberg
