Top Items:
Leahculver / The Pownce Blog:
Goodbye Pownce, Hello Six Apart — We have some very big news today at Pownce. We will be closing the service and Mike and I, along with the Pownce technology, have joined Six Apart, the company behind such great blogging software as Movable Type, TypePad and Vox.
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Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:
Six Apart acquires and shuts down Pownce — Blogging company Six Apart has acquired micro-blogging startup Pownce for undisclosed financial terms. It looks like one of those acquisitions where the buyer was more interested in the people than the product — the Pownce service will shut down in two weeks.
Chris Alden / Six Apart News & Events:
Welcome Pownce team! — I am pleased to announce that today we are welcoming the Pownce team and technology to Six Apart. Pownce launched in June of 2007 and opened to the public earlier this year, but, as mentioned on the Pownce blog, Pownce.com will be closing in the next few weeks.
Ryan Naraine / Zero Day:
Apple: Mac users should run multiple anti-virus — One of Apple's better Mac vs PC ads features a strong message that Windows computers are a magnet for viruses (malware) but Macs are automatically protected. As PC “ah-choos” his way through an infection, Mac offers a tissue and smugly infers …
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Aidan Malley / AppleInsider:
Apple now “encourages” antivirus use for Mac OS X — After years of jabbing Microsoft for the seeming need to run antivirus software on Windows, Apple has quietly posted its own recommendation for similar security with its own operating system. — The knowledge base article …
Discussion:
CNET News
Richard Bennett / The Register:
Bittorrent declares war on VoIP, gamers — The next internet meltdown — Gamers, VoIP and video conference users beware. The leading BitTorrent software authors have declared war on you - and any users wanting to wring high performance out of their networks.
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Microsoft:
Xbox 360 Registers Biggest Black Friday in Its History — Xbox 360 consoles and games sell at record levels; outsells PlayStation 3 by three-to-one ratio. — Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system kicked off the holidays with record-breaking console sales …
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Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:
Apple a ‘bright spot’ during lackluster Black Friday kick-off — Although this year's holiday shopping season is expected to present challenges for many consumer-oriented hardware companies, Apple is already showing signs of bucking the trend with Black Friday Mac sales reported to be better than expected.
Discussion:
Associated Press, VentureBeat, CNET News, Alley Insider, Ars Technica, Digital Daily, NEWSFACTOR, Macsimum News and Infinite Loop
Brad Linder / Download Squad:
gOS Cloud - From zero to web browser in just a few seconds — gOS is a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu that's designed to make it easy to interface with web-based applications like Gmail, YouTube, and Meebo. It uses the slightly OS X-like Enlightenment desktop environment …
Discussion:
jkOnTheRun, SitePoint, Webware.com, Electronista, SlashGear, Computerworld, Liliputing, Gizmodo and Incremental Blogger
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Henry Blodget / Alley Insider:
Michael Wolff: MySpace And Its Braindead Users Are Going To Zero — BusinessWeek's Jon Fine takes Rupert Murdoch tell-all author Michael Wolff out for dinner. Michael then reveals the secret he didn't put into the book: why Murdoch's News Corp (NWS) is trying so hard to ditch MySpace:
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Live Search:
You asked for it: instant cashback! — When we asked users about the improvements they'd like us make to Live Search cashback, many said they want to receive cashback instantly instead of waiting for 60 days. Well, I'm happy to announce that we've just released the Instant cashback feature with eBay.
Discussion:
PC World, TechFlash, AppScout, Bruce Clay, Inc. Blog, Microsoft Pri0 and Search Engine Land
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Leslie Cauley / USA Today:
FCC to vote on free broadband Internet across USA — Free broadband for America has inched closer to reality: The plan, after two years of debate, is finally on the calendar for a full vote by the Federal Communications Commission. — Assuming the plan is approved at the FCC's Dec. 18 meeting …
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Chris Foresman / Infinite Loop:
Apple offers free licensing for Mini DisplayPort spec — When Apple recently introduced its revamped notebook line, it also introduced the world to the Mini DisplayPort. It turns out that the company is offering no-fee licenses to anyone interested in developing products that use the Mini DisplayPort specification.
Andrew D. Smith / Dallas Morning News:
Blockbuster, Microsoft team up on mobile services — asmith@dallasnews.com — Blockbuster Inc. caught up to the competition last week by introducing a set-top box that brings rentals from the Internet to the television. — Now, the Dallas-based company hopes to pass the pack by teaming …
Jack Schofield / Guardian:
Memeorandum runs rings around Google News — If you want to know what's happening in the world, then Memorandum will tell you - at least in a couple of areas. It's an automated news clipping service, known in the trade as a “news aggregator”. It provides headlines and short texts updated every few minutes …
Discussion:
Glass House
Brian Caulfield / Forbes:
Why Carl Icahn Didn't Buy Enough Yahoo! — Yang is heading out, the stock is crazy cheap and the company is profitable. What gives, Carl? — You can say a lot of bad things about Yahoo!. The boys at Google stole the Internet out from under them. Chief Executive Jerry Yang choked …
Discussion:
BoomTown
Andrew LaVallee / Business Technology:
Reviving F—ed Company — Now that we can officially say we're in a recession, it makes sense that there's a resurgence of sites devoted to floundering companies. — We have to bleep out some names, but they include LayoffBlog.com, Screwdd F—edStartups, It Died, Timely Demise and web2.0f …
Discussion:
Ask Pud
Elizabeth Woyke / Forbes:
Nokia's Next Move — The device maker is expected to announce a major new product Tuesday. — At Nokia, the clock is ticking. — The Finnish mobile communications giant is poised to make a major announcement Tuesday at its Nokia (nyse: NOK - news - people ) World conference …
Discussion:
SlashPhone
Brad Stone / Bits:
PayPal Brings Allowances Into the 21st Century — PayPal, the online payment division of eBay, wants to help parents put a financial leash on their teenage children. — Last month, the company quietly began testing a new system called PayPal Student Account, a flexible way for parents …
Discussion:
TECH.BLORGE.com
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / CNN:
Mac Internet share hits record 8.87%; Windows drops below 90% — Apple's (AAPL) slice of the Internet pie grew measurably in November as both the Mac and the iPhone hit record numbers in a Net Applications Web survey issued overnight Monday and updated Monday morning.
Discussion:
Computerworld, Electronista, The Register, eWeek, Maximum PC all, SitePoint, Insanely Great Mac, Macsimum News, MacRumors, Between the Lines, MacBlogz and TUAW
John Markoff / Bits:
A Microsoft Veteran Embraces Open Source — Keith Curtis has just written a book about the future of software. — That in itself isn't unique. More unusual is that Mr. Curtis, an 11-year veteran of Microsoft, the world's largest software company, believes deeply that open source is the future of software.
Amazon Web Services Blog:
Amazon SimpleDB Grows Up — The private beta test of Amazon SimpleDB has gone really well. We've learned a lot during the beta and have fine-tuned the feature set in order to make sure that we are meeting the needs of current and future users. — Before I delve into the details, let me get one important fact out of the way.
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
FCC leaks tiny VAIO with WWAN — Sony's first netbook? — They might not like it, but Sony looks ripe to enter the netbook market in the US. Unveiled today is the backside of this tiny “notebook PC” as described by the FCC under the model numbers PCG-1P1L and PCG-1P2L (PCG synonymous with Sony's VAIO laptop brand).
Discussion:
LAPTOP Magazine, Liliputing, SlashGear, Boy Genius Report, jkOnTheRun, Sony Insider, Electronista, Gadgetell and CrunchGear
Kathrin Hille / Financial Times:
Legal challenge mounts against Baidu's online business model — Baidu, China's largest internet search engine, looks set to face a wave of legal challenges as a group of lawyers is organising a mass complaint against the company's business practices. — Led by Li Changqing …
Dave Zatz / Zatz Not Funny!:
Blockbuster OnDemand Unboxing & Setup — So much for a day of vacation recovery... UPS just arrived with the new Blockbuster OnDemand movie rental box, by 2Wire. If you recall, $99 gets you the box and 25 video rental credits. Once those have been consumed, content begins at $1.99 a pop.
