Top Items:
Greg Kumparak / MobileCrunch:
Apple announces Top 10 iPhone App downloads of 2008 — With 2008 on the way out and right around 10,000 applications behind them, Apple has released a series of lists outlining which applications scored the most downloads since the App Store's launch back in July.
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Arn / MacRumors:
Developers Can Now Issue Free “Promotional” Copies of iPhone Apps — Apple has finally started allowing developers to issue free promotional copies of their iPhone applications. Once an application has been accepted to the App Store by Apple, developers can issue up to 50 promotional codes.
Discussion:
TUAW, Unwired View, VentureBeat, Appletell, IntoMobile, Infinite Loop, Mobile Tech Addicts, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Silicon Alley Insider, Epicenter and TechCrunch
Wall Street Journal:
Google Gears Down for Tougher Times — MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Corporate austerity is reaching one of the most extravagant spenders of the boom years. Google Inc. has begun to tighten its belt. — For much of its 10-year history, Google spent money at a pace that was the marvel of Silicon Valley.
Mike Nash / The Windows Blog:
Announcing the Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 Customer Preview Program (CPP) — Hi, Mike Nash here. In late October I announced the Beta of Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 - beginning with a small group of Technology Adoption Program customers.
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Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
Vista SP2: What's inside? — Microsoft is continuing to broaden the pool of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) testers beyond the fairly small, select group who've been working with test builds for the past few months. — Over on the jkOnTheRun blog, Kevin Tofel posted the most complete list I've seen of what's in Vista SP2.
Ouriel Ohayon / TechCrunch:
Everything you always wanted to know about Google... ...But were afraid to ask. This is the title of this very interesting 34-slide presentation on Google prepared by FaberNovel, a french consulting firm. It is hard to realize the real nature of this just 10 years old giant given the number …
Ed Bott / Ed Bott's Microsoft Report:
Windows 7 Beta 1 to arrive January 13? — At the Professional Developers Conference in late October, Windows chief Steven Sinofsky announced that Windows 7 Beta 1 would be ready “early next year.” A Microsoft insider has now confirmed the actual date, which is indeed very early next year.
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Jessica E. Vascellaro / Wall Street Journal:
Former AOL Chief Seeks Funds for Yahoo Deal — Former AOL Chief Executive Jonathan Miller is trying to raise money to purchase a portion or all of Yahoo Inc., according to people familiar with the matter. — Mr. Miller has been talking to private equity investors and sovereign wealth funds …
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Chris Albrecht / NewTeeVee:
MySpace Video Goes Mobile (But Sans Hulu & Not on iPhones) — You know it's a strange, finicky sign of the times when MySpace announces that it has launched a beta mobile video site that will stream video directly to handsets around the globe — but that news is almost immediately deflated …
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David Recordon / O'Reilly Radar:
Getting OpenID Into the Browser — Google Chrome did a smart thing: Less. They unified the search box and address bar, since that's what people do anyway. That gives us back precious pixels for the only thing that's as important to an average web user as where they're going: Who they are.
Discussion:
Webware.com
Elinor Mills / CNET News:
Apple deletes Mac antivirus suggestion — Updated 7:45 p.m. PST with expert comment, at 7:20 p.m. PST with context on previous coverage, and at 7:08 p.m. PST with background. — Apple removed an old item from its support site late Tuesday that urged Mac customers to use multiple antivirus utilities …
Rafe Needleman / Webware.com:
Twitter CEO: The revenue's coming soon, but I won't tell you how — At a Churchill Club event in San Francisco on Tuesday, Twitter co-founder and CEO Evan Williams brushed off—again—criticisms that the company is slow to turn on its revenue-generating engines.
Discussion:
TheNextWeb.com
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Windows Live Rolls Out Its New Social Network Hub, Boosts SkyDrive/Photo Storage to 25 GB — Today, Microsoft is rolling out some of the sweeping changes to Windows Live it announced two weeks ago. Windows Live seems to be gradually replacing MSN as Microsoft's central hub for everything you do on the Web.
Discussion:
Technologizer
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Danielle Belopotosky / Bits:
.Tel Them Where to Find You — On Wednesday, companies and organizations can register Web addresses with a new top-level domain, .tel. The new domain, which stores and encrypts contact information directly into the Domain Name System, has the potential to become a phone book for the Internet.
Discussion:
Digital Inspiration
whathifi.com News:
Samsung TV boss: LCD can hold off OLED for many years — While some companies are saying Organic LED (OLED) panels are the future of home TVs, Samsung remains committed to developing current technologies. — Speaking to WHFSV at Samsung's huge Suwon R&D complex here in Korea, HS Kim …
Live Search:
Battling the plague of the web — The web can be a dangerous place; there are threats around every corner. In recent years, threats coming from web pages have significantly increased, from malicious programs hosted on web pages, to downloads that manipulate your computer and steal your personal information.
Glynnis / FishBowlNY:
Flip.com to Close December 16 — Conde Nast suffered another blow today with news that Flip.com, their online social-networking/scrapbooking site aimed at teenage girls, was shutting down effective December 16. Users received an email earlier today (read after the jump) …
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
Device Designed To Annoy Young People Can Now Annoy Everyone — We've written about the Mosquito device a few times in the past. Originally launched back in 2005, the device emitted a high pitched annoying noise that could only be heard by those under 25 (or thereabouts).
Dawn Kawamoto / CNET News:
IPOs a thing of the past? — HALF MOON BAY, Calif.—When bonds are paying yields like stocks and blue-chip companies are severely undervalued, who wants to invest in equities, let alone an IPO? — Those are just some of the challenges companies face in attracting investors …
Bobbie Johnson / Guardian:
Hacker in final showdown to avoid extradition to US — The British man accused of hacking into US military computers will have his final showdown in the UK courts next month. — After almost four years of fighting extradition to the US as a result of what prosecutors have called …
Gamasutra:
Shoot to Thrill: Bio-Sensory Reactions to 3D Shooting Games — [How can you measure player reaction to games? Using games from Half-Life 2 through Gears Of War, this Gamasutra article, originally published in Game Developer magazine, shows how tech company Emsense uses brainwaves …
Jeff P Howe / Epicenter:
Crowdsourcing: Now With a Real Business Model! — Venture capital is drying up, with less money flowing in fewer deals, but at least one company managed to score a tidy sum. On Tuesday uTest — which crowdsources software testing — announced it had secured $5 million in Series B financing.
Robin Harding / Financial Times:
Canon clear to launch new type of TV — Canon, the Japanese consumer electronics group, is clear to launch a new type of television after winning a patent lawsuit that has delayed its progress for more than three years. — Nasdaq-listed Applied Nanotech, which had sued the Japanese company …
Discussion:
Digital Daily, Technologizer, SlashGear, OLED-TV Display/Monitor …, Gizmodo and Electronista
