Top Items:
The Official Google Blog:
Lively no more — In July we launched Lively in Google Labs because we wanted users to be able to interact with their friends and express themselves online in new ways. Google has always been supportive of this kind of experimentation because we believe it's the best way to create groundbreaking products …
Discussion:
Mashable!, Profy, ReadWriteWeb, Alley Insider, paidContent.org, Kotaku, CNET News, VentureBeat, pluGGd.in and Googling Google
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Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Google Kills Lively — Even Google is getting into the downsizing spirit. It just announced that it is killing Lively, its browser-baseed virtual worlds that could be embedded into other Websites. Lively launched just last July. The death notice on the site says it will shut down on December 31 …
Discussion:
HipMojo.com
Ina Fried / Beyond Binary:
Microsoft, labels try to revive subscriptions — With fewer consumers than hoped for signing up for all-you-can-eat music subscriptions, Microsoft and the record industry are trying to make the option more appealing. — As of Wednesday, those who pay for the $14.95 a month Zune Pass subscription …
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Mitchell / Mitchell's Blog:
Sustainability in Uncertain Times — Today we are posting our audited financial statements and tax form for 2007. As in past years, I'll use this event as an opportunity to review both our financial status and our overall effectiveness in moving the mission forward. — Financial
Discussion:
The Register, Ars Technica, Computerworld, Between the Lines, Download.com editors, Outside the Lines and CNET News
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Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Google Makes Up 88 Percent Of Mozilla's Revenues, Threatens Its Non-Profit Status — Today, the (for-now) non-profit Mozilla Foundation released its financial statements for 2007 (embedded below). Revenues for the organization behind the open-source Firefox browser were up 12 percent to $75 million …
Discussion:
Lockergnome Blog Network
Apple:
Apple TV: About Apple TV software updates — Products Affected — Apple TV — Refer the table below for Apple TV Software Update 2.3 features: — How To — AirTunes Streaming from Apple TV — Music can be streamed via AirTunes to Airport Express speakers or other Apple TVs in your house.
Discussion:
TUAW, 9 to 5 Mac, TheAppleBlog, SlashGear, MacRumors, CrunchGear, AppleInsider, Engadget, Appletell, Macworld and iLounge
Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:
BlackBerry Storm review — By now most of us have heard this story in one fashion or another: when Steve Jobs and Apple were in the planning stages of the iPhone, the first carrier they brought the device to was America's largest network, Verizon. Even if you haven't heard how the tale ends …
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Greg Sandoval / CNET News:
Sources: Apple, music labels talk DRM-free songs — A year after iTunes began offering music without copy protection software from EMI, Apple is in discussions with the other three top recording companies about acquiring DRM-free songs, according to two music industry sources.
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Google Mobile Uses Private iPhone APIs — Google's just-released and much-publicized update to their Google Mobile iPhone app features some very clever interaction design for the voice search feature. There is an on-screen button you can tap to initiate a voice search manually, but …
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
SnapTell: Instant Product Lookup From The iPhone. You Want This. — If you have an iPhone, you'll probably want to check out SnapTell Explorer, a free application now available on the App Store. The premise is simple: take a photo of the cover of any CD, DVD, book, or video game …
Signal vs. Noise:
Why the Drudge Report is one of the best designed sites on the web — A couple weeks ago on Twitter I said: “I still maintain the Drudge Report is one of the best designed sites on the web. Has been for years.” A few people agreed, but most didn't. Some thought it was a joke. I wasn't kidding.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Yahoo Brings Glue To U.S.: A Plethora of Aggregated Topical Third Party Content — Yahoo Glue, a new search results page design that the company has been testing in India, is rolling out to the US market this evening. You can view it at glue.yahoo.com, although Yahoo says it is rolling out in stages, so sit tight if you don't see it.
Ina Fried / Beyond Binary:
Ballmer: ‘We are done’ with Yahoo acquisition idea — Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer threw his daily bucket of cold water on the notion that the software maker will return with a new bid for all of Yahoo. — “We are done with all acquisition discussions with Yahoo,” Ballmer said …
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Here Come The Crunchies (Again) — After a very successful debut last year, The Crunchies are returning to once again celebrate the best of entrepreneurship and new startups. With the economy being what it is, 2009 is going to be a tough year for everyone and I see events like The Crunchies …
MG Siegler / VentureBeat:
SimCity for the iPhone may ruin my life (in a good way) — No game captured my imagination when I was growing up like SimCity. Certainly, a part of it was my God complex, but more it was the open-ended nature of a game with few rules that let you build a city.
Discussion:
Touch Arcade
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Qik And Strands Each Trim 10 Percent Of Staff — The cutbacks continue, even at seemingly healthy startups. Social recommendation engine Strands let exactly 10 percent, or 14 people go (7 in the U.S. and 7 in Spain), the company confirms. Strands has raised a total of $55 million …
Brooke Crothers / CNET News:
Samsung launches 256GB solid state drive — Samsung said it has begun mass producing 256GB solid state drives. This size tops the largest-capacity SSDs found in laptops today. — Samsung currently offers 64GB and 128GB SSDs for laptops. — The new 256GB drives are faster too …
Discussion:
Engadget
IEBlog:
IE8: What's After Beta 2 — The announcement of IE8 Beta 2 started an important and public phase of the product development cycle getting broad public feedback. The team is providing detailed information and answering questions about the product in many different places.
Verne Kopytoff / San Francisco Chronicle:
Kids gain valuable skills from time online — (11-19) 18:14 PST SAN FRANCISCO — Rather than wasting their time, children who gab on Facebook or play online games are gaining valuable social skills and learning some technology basics, according to a study to be released today.
Mike Snider / USA Today:
‘Grand Theft Auto’ yields road to the ‘Lost and Damned’ — The upcoming episode of the video game Grand Theft Auto IV looks to be a wild one. — GTA IV, which was released in April for the Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3, focused on former Eastern European soldier Niko Bellic …
Steve Lohr / Bits:
Hunting for a Brainy Computer — Want a really intelligent digital assistant? — Well, it certainly won't be ready for this holiday season, but that is the long-range goal of a $4.9 million grant from the government's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to five universities and I.B.M. Research.
Discussion:
VentureBeat
Annie Chen / Gmail Blog:
Spice up your inbox with colors and themes — Gmail fans have been building unofficial extensions to spice up their inboxes for a while, but up til now themes haven't been an integral part of Gmail. We wanted to go beyond simple color customization, so out of the 30 odd themes we're launching today …
Discussion:
Profy, Webware.com, Neowin.net, Lifehacker, CyberNet, WebWorkerDaily, Mark Evans, Googling Google, Zoli's Blog, geeksugar, CloudAve, Google Watch, TechCrunch, InformationWeek, TheNextWeb.com, Google Operating System, VentureBeat, sarahintampa, Google Blogoscoped, Micro Persuasion and ReadWriteWeb
Lance Ulanoff / PC Magazine:
PC Magazine Goes 100% Digital — An Open letter to PC Magazine (Print) Readers, — The January 2009 issue (Volume 28, Issue 1) of PC Magazine will mark a monumental transition for the publication. It is the last printed edition of this venerable publication.
New York Times:
Web Retailers Are Waging Seasonal Price Wars — SAN FRANCISCO — As deserted malls and department stores struggle to court cash-short consumers with steep discounts this holiday season, a similar and even more ferocious price war is being waged online. — Internet retailers …
Scott Ferguson / eWeek:
After the Layoffs: Collecting 52,000 Laptop and Desktop Computers — Table of Contents: — The announcement this week that Citigroup will eliminate 52,000 jobs and with other large companies also looking at layoffs, IT departments are going to be forced to deal with hundreds and even thousands …
Jim Goldman / Tech Check with Jim Goldman:
Xbox Vs. PlayStation With Netflix Caught In The Middle — It's a big day for Netflix with the service going live on Microsoft's Xbox 360 platform. But there's one big thing lacking and you can thank the heated rivalry between Sony and Microsoft for it and I'm getting an earful from some of you.
Wilson Rothman / Gizmodo:
Windows 7 Touch Control Makes Media Center Interface Awesome — Windows 7 Touch Control Makes Media Center More Awesome — Visiting Microsoft's Media Center posse in Redmond, I just caught a glimpse of the Windows 7 Media Center interface with integrated touch control (no third-party software) on an HP TouchSmart.
Discussion:
One Microsoft Way
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
First Guns N' Roses Album In 17 Years Debuts Tonight On MySpace Music — Chinese Democracy, the first new Guns N' Roses album since 1991, debuts tonight at 9 PM PST exclusively on MySpace Music, where fans can listen to it for free. — Well, actually it debuted on BitTorrent a while ago, but we're not talking about that.
Michael Rose / TUAW:
MacBook Pro users getting bitten by HDCP — Yesterday, our buddy David Chartier at Ars and Sam Oliver at AppleInsider both publicized an issue that's been burning up the support boards for a while now: iTunes video rentals and purchases in HD are flagged for HDCP control …
