Top Items:
Brad Stone / Bits:
E-Commerce Shrinks for First Time, Research Firm Says — Just as many Web retailers feared, online shoppers are being unusually frugal this holiday season. — During the first 23 days of November, according to a report to be released later on Tuesday by the research firm comScore …
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CNET News, MarketingVOX, Tech Trader Daily, Alley Insider, Voices and Search Engine Guide
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Business Technology:
Online Retail: Dead or Just Resting? — Online retailers are hoping that the United States is a nation of procrastinators. — Because the holiday season will be rough if current trends continue. The amount of money consumers spent online on retail goods between November 1 and November 23 fell 4% …
Michael Gartenberg / MobileDevicesToday:
Microsoft will NOT do their own phone anytime soon — Rumors persist and folks believe that there will be a Zune or some other Microsoft branded phone. I've talked about this in the past but it's worth saying again. — Sorry Joe and David, there won't be a Microsoft phone. I say this for a simple reason.
Discussion:
Alley Insider, TechFlash, VentureBeat, Smartphones and Cell Phones, GigaOM, Pocket PC Thoughts.com, Microsoft Watch, Technologizer and TeleRead
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Jim Goldman / Tech Check with Jim Goldman:
Microsoft's Zune To Evolve Into New “Pink” Smart Phone? — I'm hearing from a good source that Microsoft is ready to give a major facelift to the company's Zune music player that could mean its evolution into a new smart phone from the company. — My source says that the new device falls under …
Google LatLong:
Happier travels through Street View with Pegman — Today we're happy to announce some big improvements to the Street View feature in Google Maps! Thanks to feedback from our users, we've now made Street View even better and easier to use. — For one thing, Pegman, our plucky mascot, is now close at hand wherever you go.
Tim Arango / New York Times:
Digital Sales Surpass CDs at Atlantic — Since MP3s first became popular a decade ago, music industry executives have obsessed over this question: when would digital music revenue finally surpass compact disc sales? — For Atlantic Records, the label that in years past has delivered artists …
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Henry Blodget / Alley Insider:
eBay Traffic Plummeting (EBAY) — eBay's (EBAY) core business continues to fall apart. Some of the decline is likely the result of the declining economy. The rest of it is likely the result of the trends that have been clobbering eBay for the past two years: competition, overpricing …
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
YCombinator Startup Creates A Better Download App Store For Windows (BaseShield) — When Microsoft opened up its own online store for software downloads earlier this month, it signaled that packaged software is not long for this world. The problem is that the store offers only Microsoft products.
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Scott Duke Harris / Mercury News:
Will undone deals be the next Big Thing in Silicon Valley? — Consider two discussion topics recently submitted to ExpertCEO, a new online community with Silicon Valley roots that allows chief executives to anonymously kvetch, commiserate and seek advice among their peers.
Chris Evans / Google Online Security Blog:
Gmail security and recent phishing activity — We've seen some speculation recently about a purported security vulnerability in Gmail and the theft of several website owners' domains by unauthorized third parties. At Google we're committed to providing secure products, and we mounted an immediate investigation.
Arn / MacRumors:
QuickTime 7.5.7 for DisplayPort Allows Standard Definition Playback — Apple has issued a new QuickTime update for the new MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air which come equipped with the mini DisplayPort. The update addresses the issue of standard definition playback through the DisplayPort:
Stephen Shankland / Webware.com:
Why I switched from Firefox to Chrome — Sorry if it sounds like I'm drinking the Google Kool-Aid here, but I switched from Mozilla Firefox to Google Chrome as my default browser for the very reason Google's executives said we should: speed. (Get Google Chrome from Download.com.)
Mike Shields / Mediaweek:
Social Networking Traffic Up as Advertising Falls Flat — More than half the country actively uses social networking sites, but so far advertising on these properties is nothing short of anemic — More than half the country actively uses social networking sites, but so far advertising …
ifoAppleStore:
Apple Store Will Now Match Competitors' Prices — Apple has apparently fired the first shot in the holiday shopping battle, by announcing internally that retail store employees have the authority to match the prices of other authorized retailers. The stores have also cancelled …
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
It's Official: MTV Exec Courtney Holt Leaves To Run MySpace Music — MySpace Music's long awaited leader has arrived. As expected, MTV Networks' EVP Digital Music and Media Courtney Holt has taken the job, says the LA Times. — Until today Holt was EVP of Digital Music for the MTV Networks Music and Logo Group.
AppleInsider:
Piper Jaffray addresses 12 more ‘unanswered Apple questions’ — Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster on Tuesday issued one of his trademark reports to address a number ‘unanswered questions surrounding the Apple story,’ such as when the company plans to next update its iPhone and the prospects for an Apple netbook.
Electronic Frontier Foundation:
Apple Confuses Speech with a DMCA Violation — Slashdot reports that Apple has sent a “cease and desist” email to bluwiki, a public wiki site, demanding the removal of postings there by those who are trying to figure out how to write software that can sync media to the latest versions of the iPhone and iPod Touch.
ExtremeTech:
Which Web Browser is King? — Testing Methodology — In this comprehensive browser speed test, I pulled out all of the stops. First, I found just about every speed test site around. Google offers a V8 test that tests JavaScript speed for Web apps. I also found test sites for SVG …
Zachary M. Seward / Nieman Journalism Lab:
NYT sees success in Facebook push — The New York Times is happy to be your Facebook friend. An internal memo yesterday from Times president Scott Heekin-Canedy touted the newspaper's “successful” advertising campaign on Facebook in the days following the presidential election.
Discussion:
paidContent.org
Mike Blumenthal / Search Engine Land:
MapQuest: “We've Come Out Of Hibernation” — I recently had the opportunity to interview two senior level executives from Mapquest to find out what the longtime provider of online mapping services is up to. Despite perceptions, MapQuest is actually a more popular mapping destination …
Richard Jalichandra / Technorati:
Changes and Tough Decisions at Technorati — Changes and Tough Decisions at Technorati — There's not much I can say about the economy that hasn't been said a hundred times already. We're facing the worst crisis of our lifetimes, and no one can say with certainty what lies ahead or how long it will last.
Murad Ahmed / Tech Central:
10 celebrities who play World of Warcraft — First of all, I should come clean about something. — I'm not really a Warcraft player or fan. Over the past few weeks I've had to report on a number of World of Warcraft events (see here and here). This has allowed me to meet and befriend …
Discussion:
digg.com
ongoing:
What Sun Should Do — Sun is going through a lousy spell right now. Well, so is the world's economy in general and the IT business in particular, but this is about Sun. This is my opinion about what my employer should do about it. … Our Advantages — As I look at Sun's portfolio …
Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:
Apple's new VP could cause ‘irreparable harm’ to IBM, says judge — Unsealed opinion spells out concerns over former IBM exec's role — Computerworld) A federal judge ordered Apple Inc.'s newest executive to leave the company just five days after starting work because he might cause …
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
Move over, Ajax. Here comes Microsoft's ‘Kojax’ — Let me start out by saying I don't know whether Microsoft will finally decide to sell a Microsoft-branded Windows Mobile phone. (Company officials have gone back and forth over that idea for more than a year.)
eMarketer:
Economy Deals Online Ad Spending a Hit — Digital still stronger than traditional — There seems to be more bad news about the economy every day, and falling ad spending numbers are part of the mix. Although online advertising is still on a positive growth curve, that growth is slowing …
Discussion:
NewTeeVee, VentureBeat, Search Engine Land, TechFlash, WebProNews, Epicenter, HipMojo.com, paidContent.org and Adweek
Don Dodge / Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing:
New England Venture Summit - VCs are still investing — The New England Venture Summit started with a VC panel “Bridging the Capital Gap”. VCs are still investing but only in high quality companies, with proven revenue models, focused on a growing market segment.
Gregg Keizer / LinuxWorld.com:
Mozilla eyes extra beta for Firefox 3.1 — Mozilla will probably add a third beta to the development schedule for Firefox 3.1 to get a better handle on remaining bugs and give several new features, including a faster JavaScript engine and a private browsing mode, more testing time, the company's browser director said Tuesday.
Discussion:
Open Source
Tom Yager / Ahead of the Curve:
Is the BlackBerry Storm doomed for lack of Wi-Fi? — RIM's design-out of Wi-Fi dooms the BlackBerry Storm in the same way that lacking essentials have buried the iPhone 3G and Wii — not at all. — I had already filed my review of the BlackBerry Storm, a.k.a. BlackBerry 9530, when Galen Gruman …
