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.
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.
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 …
Discussion:
BoomTown, L.A. Times Tech Blog, InformationWeek, Valleywag, The Register, Silicon Alley Insider, Ars Technica, Pulse2, Techland, WebProNews and Tech Confidential
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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
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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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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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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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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 …
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 …
Discussion:
Gizmodo, Computerworld, Industry Standard, Silicon Alley Insider, SC Magazine US and Computerworld Blogs
YouTube Blog:
A YouTube for All of Us — As a community, we have come to count on each other to be entertained, challenged, and moved by what we watch and share on YouTube. We've been thinking a lot lately about how to make the collective YouTube experience even better, particularly on our most visited pages.
Discussion:
Podcasting News, Digital Media Wire, GMSV, What's That Noise?!, Technologizer, VentureBeat, WebProNews, Epicenter, NewTeeVee, The Social and Startup Chatter
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
Hunter / FishBowlNY:
New Staff Cuts At Gawker, Gizmodo and Jezebel — FishbowlNY has confirmed layoffs and pay cuts for writers at the blogs Gawker, Gizmodo and Jezebel. Gawker editor Sheila McClear and Jezebel editorial assistant Maria-Mercedes Lara have been let go, Gawker weekend editor Alex Carnevale's month …
Scott Woolley / Forbes:
The Day The Web Went Dead — The heart of the Internet is utterly unregulated. Is that dangerous—or desirable? — LOS ANGELES—Imagine life without the Internet. Hard? Just ask state officials in Maine to tell you about the ugly surprise they had on Halloween.
Electronista:
iPhone soars to 16.6% of smartphone market — The iPhone is now not only the second most popular smartphone in the world but has saved the smartphone industry from a decline this past summer, according to a research note by Needham analyst Charlie Wolf. Apple's handset has represented …
Discussion:
TeleRead, Tech Confidential, CNET News, AppleInsider, Digital Daily, Between the Lines and MacBlogz
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) …
David Sarno / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Lohan clears up Ronson rumors, rips on Facebook — Lindsay Lohan was blogging a lot over the summer and into the fall but, like so many people, seems to have fallen into a postelection Internet rut. — But she did post two blog entries to her MySpace page last night.
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, OLED-TV Display/Monitor …, SlashGear, Gizmodo, Electronista and OLED-Info
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.
