Top Items:
Justin Uberti / Gmail Blog:
Say hello to Gmail voice and video chat — I'm a big user of Gmail chat. Being able to switch from email to chat as needed, all within the same app, is really great for productivity. But people can only type so fast, and even with our new emoticons, there are still some things that just can't be expressed in a chat message.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Between the Lines, Computerworld Blogs, WebWorkerDaily, AppScout, TechBays, Macworld, Lifehacker, InformationWeek, RotorBlog.com, DVICE, MediaFile, Search Engine Journal, APC, Maximum PC all, ChannelWeb Complete Feed, Beyond Search, Google Blogoscoped, Googling Google, Download Squad, Technologizer, Silicon Alley Insider, jkOnTheRun, The Official Google Blog, BetaNews and WebProNews
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Rafe Needleman / Webware.com:
Google launches video chat for Gmail — Google is rolling out video and voice capabilities for the chat function that is embedded in the Gmail interface. It's a bare-bones voice and video-conferencing service, but it's simple to install and use and is a very good addition to Gmail.
The Official Google Blog:
Tracking flu trends — Like many Googlers, we're fascinated by trends in online search queries. Whether you're interested in U.S. elections, today's hot trends, or each year's Zeitgeist, patterns in Google search queries can be very informative. Last year, a small team of software engineers began …
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Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Who's Got The Flu? Google Flu Trends Reveal State-By-State Activity — Wondering if it's just you or if others have the flu, too? Google's announced a new tool that tells you. Google Flu Trends allows you to see flu activity across the United States. — How's Google doing this?
Chris Alden / Six Apart News & Events:
Changes at Six Apart — Earlier today, I published the following message on our internal company blog. For those members of our community who wanted to know about the changes at Six Apart today, I've reposted it here publicly for reference. — Today we are making some changes at Six Apart.
Kasper Jade / AppleInsider:
Apple may turn to carbon fiber for lighter MacBook Air — Apple enthusiastically claimed ownership to the world's thinnest notebook earlier this year with the introduction of the MacBook Air, but is rumored to be unsatisfied with the system's weight, which it now hopes to drop below 3 pounds.
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Facebook Now Worth About $4 Billion, Revenue Light — Facebook's common stock is now changing hands in private sales at about a $4 billion valuation, a source says (unconfirmed). And Facebook CFO Gideon Yu is indeed trying to raise money in Dubai, the source says (also unconfirmed).
Robert McMillan / PC World:
Microsoft Security Patch Was Seven Years in the Making — Some security patches take time. — Seven-and-a-half years, in fact, if you count the time it's taken Microsoft to patch a security issue in its SMB (Server Message Block) service, fixed Tuesday. This software is used by Windows …
Owen Thomas / Valleywag:
Digital dealmaker and a dozen others out at Wired — A quarter of the 50-something employees in Wired.com's San Francisco newsroom are gone, a source tells us — and with them, the bubbly delusion that Wired would not just report on the transformation of media by technology, but be a part of the revolution as well.
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CNET News
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Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Loopt Hires Allen & Co. For Financing Or Sale (Update: At A Half Billion Valuation) — Loopt is in the news today. In addition to getting a nice surge in iPhone downloads after being featured in an Apple TV commercial, we've heard that they've hired investment bank Allen & Co. to represent them in a sale or financing transaction.
Discussion:
Silicon Alley Insider
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Aviv / MacBlogz:
AT&T iPhone Tethering Plan Specifics, No Unlimited Plan? — AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph De La Vega has recently announced the arrival of an official iPhone tethering plan. While we already knew the plan was in development prior to his announcement, little information pertaining to specific tethering offerings has been revealed.
Discussion:
CrunchGear, VentureBeat, Mobilewhack.com, MacRumors iPhone Blog, DSLreports, The iPhone Blog, Gizmodo and MacDailyNews
Owen Thomas / Valleywag:
Obama's Twitter goes silent — @barackobama: Please update your Twitter. Since last Tuesday's historic election, Barack Obama's Twitter account hasn't sent any messages. Some Internet President-Elect! He didn't even use Twitter to announce his transition website, change.gov …
The Boy Genius / Boy Genius Report:
BlackBerry Storm hitting Verizon on November 24th, pre-launch on 20th? — We just got our hands on this document detailing the latest release dates for the Storm on Verizon. Just be careful, we have all learned that target launch dates come and go quicker than a Sprint subscriber.
Discussion:
IntoMobile, Electronista, Gizmodo, CrackBerry.com blogs, Engadget, BlackBerry Cool, CrunchGear, SlashGear, InformationWeek and I4U News
Google Mobile Blog:
New Google Search results pages for iPhone — Starting today in the U.S., when you go to google.com on your iPhone and do a search, you'll see search results that are better optimized for your phone. You'll still get the full comprehensiveness and quality of regular Google Search results …
Business Technology:
Handicapping Obama's Tech-Czar Search — Now that Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said he's not interested, speculation over the nation's chief technology officer job is becoming a nerdy guessing game. — President-elect Obama (pretty techie himself, with his Flickr page …
PC World:
Amazon to Sell OLPC's XO Laptop Starting Nov. 17 — One Laptop Per Child confirmed it will start selling the XO laptop through Amazon.com on Monday. — The XO laptop will be sold through Amazon in the same way as the G1G1 program, where a consumer donates US$400 for two laptops …
John Mahoney / Gizmodo:
Best Buy's Gift Card is a Tiny Audio Speaker — Who is the consultant that told all of the big boxers that it would be a good idea to turn this year's holiday gift cards into some sort of tangible object? They are raking it in right now. First Target made this year's gift cards into digital cameras …
Brad Stone / Bits:
A Camcorder Insurgent Goes HD — The fastest growing company in Silicon Valley over the past few years was not Facebook, VMWare, or all-mighty Google. According to Deloitte, the professional services firm, it was a company whose name you probably won't recognize but whose product you will …
Discussion:
NewTeeVee
Marguerite Reardon / CNET News:
Cisco details tech plans for new Yankee Stadium — A picture of the new Yankee stadium in the Bronx set to open in April 2009. — NEW YORK - Cisco is teaming up with the New York Yankees to offer baseball fans an interactive experience at the ballpark and eventually bring that experience to their living rooms.
Discussion:
Engadget
Claire Cain Miller / Bits:
Consumers Aren't Shopping Online, Either — It is not only retail stores that are feeling the pinch as shoppers close their wallets just ahead of the holiday season. E-commerce sales, though still growing faster than retail, are hurting, too. — E-commerce spending growth slowed …
Marc Flores / Boy Genius Report:
Full details on the Verizon Wireless Nationwide Connect Plan — Listen up, Verizon folks! Your carrier (or soon to be carrier if this news sways you) will soon be offering the Nationwide Connect Plan that has been passed around the rumor mill lately. As of November 16 …
Discussion:
IntoMobile
Microsoft:
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-069 - Critical — Vulnerabilities in Microsoft XML Core Services Could Allow Remote Code Execution (955218) — Version: 1.0 — General Information — Executive Summary — This security update resolves several vulnerabilities in Microsoft XML Core Services.
Paul Boutin / Valleywag:
Current TV's official body count: 30 gone, 30 shuffled — This just in: Current TV's director of public relations sent us an email designed to be printed in its entirety. (Thanks for that. Since Valleywag fired everyone else, I spend way too much time editing.)
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
CBS Kills CNET Music Site It Never Launched — One way for a big media company to avoid the embarrassment of shutting down a Web site-just avoid launching it altogether. That's what CBS has done with “Juke,” a music site that CNET had started assembling last spring and planned to launch this fall.
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Would You Manage Your Money Through The Newspaper? — Wesabe and the UK Telegraph Think You Might — Online money management service Wesabe and the UK newspaper giant The Telegraph have entered a partnership to offer co-branded tools on the Telegraph website. It's a daring move, we can't help but admire it.
Cade Metz / The Register:
Netizens sue NebuAd, data pimping ISPs — More woe for American Phorm — Fifteen American netizens have sued behavioral ad targeter NebuAd and several of its data pimping ISP partners, alleging wiretapping, packet forgery, and browser hijacking. — Filed Monday in a California federal court …
