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Techmeme News:
Guess what? Automated news doesn't quite work. — Any competent developer who tries to automate the selection of news headlines will inevitably discover that this approach always comes up a bit short. Automation does indeed bring a lot to the table — humans can't possibly discover and organize news as fast as computers can.
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Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Adobe lays off 600 workers, CS4 demand weaker than expected — Adobe said Wednesday that it will eliminate 600 full-time positions, or roughly 8 percent of its workforce, amid weaker than expected fourth quarter earnings. — The company said in a statement that it will deliver fourth …
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William M. Bulkeley / Wall Street Journal:
IBM Offers ‘Microsoft-Free’ Desktop — Applications for Thin Clients Would Operate From Back-Office Server — International Business Machines Corp. is hoping to convince corporate customers that they no longer need Microsoft Corp. — IBM says it has created a “Microsoft-free” …
Discussion:
CNET News
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Why Twitter Didn't Sell to Facebook — Really — The New York Times' Claire Miller attended a Churchill Club function to fete Twitter co-founder Evan Williams last night. In an onstage interview, Williams talked about many different aspects of his micro-blogging service, which now has 6 million subscribers.
Discussion:
SarahLacy.com
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Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Amazon Launches Public Data Sets To Ease Research — Amazon released its previously announced Public Data Sets web service this evening. The project encourages developers, researchers, universities and businesses to upload large (non-confidential) data sets to Amazon - things like census data …
Discussion:
Between the Lines
Tom Krazit / CNET News:
Apple looking for Psystar's backers — Apple has amended its lawsuit against Psystar to allow for the possibility that other parties are backing the company. — When companies file lawsuits, they'll often tack something like “John Does 1-50” onto the list of defendants …
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Inquirer
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Groklaw NewsPicks:Apple Tells Court It Believes Someone Is Behind Psystar …
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CrunchGear, Technologizer, Computerworld Blogs, AppleInsider, MacDailyNews, MacRumors and GigaLaw.com Daily News
Paul Graham:
The High-Res Society — For nearly all of history the success of a society was proportionate to its ability to assemble large and disciplined organizations. Those who bet on economies of scale generally won, which meant the largest organizations were the most successful ones.
Discussion:
The Equity Kicker
Josh Lowensohn / Webware.com:
New Firefox extension turns Amazon.com into illegal free-for-all — A new Firefox extension called Pirates of the Amazon lets users download movies, games, TV shows, and MP3s free of charge by cross referencing Amazon's product pages with torrent files from the Pirate Bay.
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Tapulous Brings Weezer And World-Class DJs To Tap Tap Revenge — iPhone development house Tapulous has announced two new premium versions of its mega-hit Tap Tap Revenge, both of which feature licensed music (still a rarity on the fledgling platform). Tap Tap Revenge is an intuitive …
Ina Fried / Beyond Binary:
Online auctions remain piracy problem for Microsoft — Attention software buyers: There's no such thing as Microsoft Office “Blue Edition.” — That's the latest ruse making the rounds on the online auctions. Allegedly it supposed to be some sort of technician version of Microsoft's software …
Matt Buchanan / Gizmodo:
Barack Obama Uses a Zune — After all of the misinformation and dirty lies spread about Obama over the course of the presidential campaign, this is the most shocking I've heard about him: He uses a Zune. This can't be possible. — Why? Because, as has been widely reported, Obama, many of his staffers and Joe Biden use a Mac.
Gavin Clarke / The Register:
Sun sneaks JavaFX Mobile into desktop FX — Any RIA in a storm — Sun Microsystems, it is generally felt, lost the desktop to Microsoft a long time ago. Aware of this, Sun in recent years evangelized mobile as Java's habitat - mobile is, after all, where Microsoft's at its weakest.
Nate Raymond / amlawdaily.typepad.com:
Hogan's Litvack Discusses Google/Yahoo — Google Inc. and Yahoo! Inc. called off their joint advertising agreement just three hours before the Department of Justice planned to file antitrust charges to block the pact, according to the lawyer who would have been lead counsel for the government.
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Meghan Keane / Epicenter:
Greystripe Brings Flash to the iPhone, Sort Of — Adobe may be hard at work creating a version of its Flash Player that works on the iPhone, but until Apple gives its OK, iPhone users must muddle along without viewing most online video content. — Except that on Monday …
Mary Jane Irwin / Forbes:
‘Games Are The Convergence Of Everything’ — “Bioshock” creator Ken Levine would rather swing from a noose than stop making games. — It is unfair to give Ken Levine all the credit for “Bioshock's” success. A team of some 70 people built the game about an underwater haven unhinged by its own unwavering objectivism.
Nick O'Neill / The Social Times:
Google Makes a Hard Push With Friend Connect — Tonight I've been seeing a lot of buzz about Friend Connect, Google's open initiative to take of Facebook Connect. The service lets you login using your Google, Orkut, or Plaxo account. Both MySpace and Facebook decided to opt-out of integrating …
Discussion:
VentureBeat
Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:
Virtually every Windows PC at risk, says Secunia — Almost all PCs scanned by patch tool have an unpatched app; 46% have 11-plus — Computerworld) More than 98% of Windows computers harbor at least one unpatched application, and nearly half contain 11 or more programs at risk from attack …
Darren Murph / Engadget:
Kogan intros world's second Android phone: Agora / Agora Pro — We'll be totally honest — we pretty much blew Ruslan Kogan off when he proclaimed that he was about to push out a $199 Android phone by the year's end. And truthfully, the guy still hasn't totally delivered …
RFA:
Chinese Authorities Enforce Switch from Microsoft — Internet cafes in China are forced to switch to a Chinese-made operating system, with steep licensing fees. … HONG KONG—Authorities in the southeastern Chinese city of Nanchang are requiring all local Internet cafes to replace …
