Top Items:
The Boy Genius / Boy Genius Report:
Apple to sell a $99 4GB iPhone at Walmart? — We just got a tip that in addition to the iPhone 3G actually making its way to Walmart, as we exclusively told you, there will be a 4GB model priced at $99 with a 2-year agreement. We're not putting our stamp of approval behind this one just yet …
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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” …
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Paula Rooney / Open Source:
IBM launches first Linux-OpenOffice desktop with virtualization features — IBM has added a Linux desktop with new virtualization capabilities to its portfolio. — The Virtual Desktop, which bundles Canonical's Ubuntu Linux, Virtual Bridges' KVM-based desktop virtualization software …
AT&T:
AT&T Announces Job Reductions — AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) today announced a planned reduction of approximately 12,000 jobs, or about 4 percent of the company's total workforce, citing economic pressures, a changing business mix and a more streamlined organizational structure.
Discussion:
GigaOM, DSLreports, The Register, Digital Daily, paidContent.org, Telecompetitor, BloggingStocks and Unwired View
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Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
AT&T cuts 12,000 jobs, will cut capital spending — AT&T said Thursday that it will cut about 12,000 jobs, or 4 percent of its workforce, due largely to “economic pressures.” — The layoffs are beginning to sound like a broken record (or MP3). AT&T said it wants to streamline its operations …
Rick Turoczy / ReadWriteWeb:
Times Extra: The New York Times Opens Web Front Page to Outside Content — New York TimesAt a time when the online world is continually seen as a more trusted source of news, mainstream media outlets find themselves forced into the position of becoming more and more open to keep their readers coming back.
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Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:
The Dreaded Viacom Layoffs: 850 People — The long-feared Viacom pre-post holiday layoffs are here, and they're not pretty. We heard earlier that as many as 300 layoffs might be coming at MTV today, but the total, Viacom-wide numbers are even worse: 850 people are being cut, about 7% of the company's global staff.
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Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Viacom Lays Off 850, Takes $450 Million Charge — Viacom's long-rumored cuts are here. The media conglomerate is firing 850 people — 7% of its workforce — and will take a charge of up to $450 million. Viacom (VIA.B) says the cuts will save it up to $250 million next year.
Neal Santos / The Clog:
Zunegate — OK. So let's get things straight. — I want to correct what I said yesterday about Obama using a Zune. I claimed that it was his Zune. I don't know for sure that it was his. It could belong to one of the many Secret Service dudes that were at the gym, Michelle, or even one of his daughters.
Discussion:
Podcasting News
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Alex Zaharov-Reutt / iTWire:
World's second Google Android gPhone launches! — Kogan, the Australian company that has electronics custom manufactured in China to sell direct to Australians, has pulled off a cool scoop in the world's second Android phone to launch and the very first in Australia, starting at AUD $299 and not locked to any network.
Discussion:
www.kogan.com.au, AndroidGuys, Gadget Lab, Android Community, Mobile Tech Addicts, CrunchGear, Android Phone Fans and Phone Arena
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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 online auctions. It feigns to be some sort of technician version of Microsoft's software that happens …
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
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.
Business Wire:
AMD Updates Fourth Quarter Outlook — SUNNYVALE, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—AMD (NYSE: AMD - News) today announced that it expects revenue from continuing operations for the fourth quarter ended December 27, 2008 to be approximately 25 percent lower than third quarter 2008 revenue of $1.585 billion …
Jeremy Kirk / LinuxWorld.com:
Firefox users targeted by rare piece of malware — Researchers at BitDefender have discovered a new type of malicious software that collects passwords for banking sites but targets only Firefox users. — The malware, which BitDefender dubbed “Trojan.PWS.ChromeInject.A” sits in Firefox's add-ons folder …
Discussion:
Zero Day
Arkansas IMC:
Forget Cyber Monday: COBY Plans “Moore's Law” MIDGET PC for $100 in March — Sales of 100 million, worldwide, in five years? — Coby Electronics, a leading international manufacturer and distributor of electronics consumer-packaged goods for discount stores, plans to introduce the first under-$100 laptop by March 2009.
Discussion:
Technologizer, Engadget, GottaBeMobile.com, Out of the Box, jkOnTheRun, Gizmodo, Liliputing, UMPCPortal, thegadgetsite, CrunchGear and LAPTOP Magazine
Jose Fermoso / Gadget Lab:
Nintendo Thinking About Changing the Accelerometer in Wiimote — At the heart of the success of the Wii is the accelerometer chip inside the Wiimote that detects motion in three dimensional space. — Now, the company that provided that first chip, STMicroelectronics …
Yahoo! Search Blog:
Look Before You Click: Search Assist for Image Search — We just took a look back at the progress we've made over the last year with Search Assist and a look forward to our goals of continuing to improve the usefulness of our assistance technology. — With this objective in mind …
PC World:
Yahoo Technology Will Offer Abstracts of Search Results (PC World) — Yahoo's lab in India is developing technology that will summarize information about web search results rather than simply offer links as search engines currently do. — “When you type in a search today, you get a list of URLs …
Discussion:
WebProNews
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
Bobbie Johnson / Guardian:
Startups seek more dignified exit than a belly flop into the dead pool — Remember the dead pool? No, not Clint Eastwood's fifth and final Dirty Harry movie, but the internet graveyard that became a byword for failure during the last dotcom crash. In the lowest days of 2000 and 2001 …
