Top Items:
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Did YouTube Just Turn On HD For Real? — After teasing us for a year with the option to watch “higher quality” videos that weren't quite high-def, it appears that YouTube is making the switch to HD, at least for some videos that have been uploaded in that quality.
Discussion:
NewTeeVee, Silicon Alley Insider, Lifehacker, TheNextWeb.com, SlashGear and Electronista
RELATED:
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:The Age of Grainy Web Videos Has Come to an End: YouTube Turns on HD
Discussion:
Off On A Tangent
Jim Goldman / Tech Check with Jim Goldman:
Apple Apps “Bubble” Talk Just That, As Downloads Soar — You may have seen the Apple advertisement in the New York Times this morning (back page of the Business section) extolling the virtues of the iPhone. Nothing new there. — If you made it through the fine print …
RELATED:
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
Social Network Profile Costs Woman College Degree — Forget losing your job, apparently your MySpace or Facebook profile and photos can now cause you to lose your degree. In what may be one of the most frightening rulings regarding social networks and privacy to date …
Arielle Reinstein / Gmail Blog:
Get your Gmail stickers — Not too long ago, one of the Gmail engineers broke out her vinyl cutter and made some Gmail m-velope stickers. Pretty soon, they were pasted to our desks, stuck on our laptops, and adorning the walls around the office. Then other people started asking us about them — first it was just other Googlers.
PC World:
AT&T Hopes for Single Smartphone OS (PC World) — AT&T hopes to standardize on a single operating system for AT&T-branded smartphones as part of a “dramatic consolidation” of its mobile platforms over the next few years, a company executive said Thursday.
Discussion:
Ars Technica, eWeek, AppScout, InformationWeek, Local Mobile Search, Gizmodo, Boy Genius Report, Electronista, Engadget Mobile, Phone Scoop, FierceWireless and TeleRead
DigiTimes:
Acer branded smartphones to hit the market in 1Q09, company clarifies — Yen Ting Chen, Taipei; Meiling Chen, DIGITIMES [Friday 5 December 2008] — Despite a bleak economic outlook, Acer remains optimistic about its growth opportunities for 2009. The company expects its notebook shipments …
David Rothman / TeleRead:
Gasp, MIGHT Sony have sold more e-readers than Amazon has? And has Amazon bungled the ePub-creation question? — I should have picked up on this yesterday. A CNN story says “more than a quarter million” Kindles have been sold. Whose numbers are most helpful? CNN or Forrester Research, which estimates 400,000?
Karl Bode / DSLreports:
Amazon Pirate Firefox Plugin Was Art Project - A ‘practical experiment’ Amazon lawyers didn't like much... User uid://891765 sends in a link to this Daily Tech report that claims Amazon's lawyers quickly killed a new Firefox plugin that directed Amazon shoppers to free, pirated alternatives via a link next to every book, CD, or film.
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David Kravets / Threat Level:Amazon.com Tossed Into Pirate Bay Jungle
Discussion:
Techdirt, Bits, DailyTech, TechnoLlama, Music Ally, Download.com editors, TechFlash and The Register
Paul Graham:
Could VC be a Casualty of the Recesssion? — (I originally wrote this at the request of a company producing a report about entrepreneurship. Unfortunately after reading it they decided it was too controversial to include.) — VC funding will probably dry up somewhat during the present recession, like it usually does in bad times.
Discussion:
HipMojo.com
RGS / Random Good Stuff:
DIY iPhone Airplane Holder — I saw this on an other blog couple of days ago and asked the fellow blogger if I could republish the images on RGS. — A big thank you to Hodenmumps who made this post possible. — Who doesn't like free stuff for your gadgets.
Saul Hansell / Bits:
Amazon's Team of Rivals — Not so long ago, much of my life this time of year was spent following the toy wars. From 1999 to 2001, Amazon.com, eToys and Toys ‘R’ Us battled for dominance in the online toy market. (Ultimately, Toys ‘R’ Us joined forces with Amazon, and eToys failed and changed hands several times.)
Discussion:
Silicon Alley Insider
Dave Winer / Scripting News:
Soon it will be time to start over, again — Here's how the tech industry cycle goes. — A new generation of young techies comes along, takes a look at the current stack, finds it too daunting (rightly so) and decides to start over from scratch. They find that they can make things happen …
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Mark Hendrickson / TechCrunch:Oh No You Don't, Google! Facebook Connect Now Generally Available, Too
Discussion:
Economist, VoIP & Gadgets Blog, Gear Diary, broadstuff, Profy, Google Operating System, AppScout, CNET News and Obsessable
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
SaveThePlanetAndWin: Another Social Network Hoping To Make The World A Little Greener — Save The Planet And Win, a new green social network looking to help users cut back on their carbon deficits, launches today to the public. — Beyond traditional social network features like user messaging …
John Paczkowski / Digital Daily:
If Belkin's Not Exhibiting at Macworld and CES, Who Is? — Next month's Macworld Conference & Expo show floor will be quite a bit easier to navigate than in years past. With registration down by 20 percent over last year, there are likely to be far fewer attendees at the annual marquee Apple …
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Yahoo CEO Countdown, 26 Days to Go: As Chernin Declines, Will a Dark Horse Emerge? — With Yahoo board Chairman Roy Bostock reportedly assuring investors and others that the company will have a CEO in place by the end of the year, it seems prudent for BoomTown to initiate an official Yahoo CEO Countdown.
Discussion:
Silicon Alley Insider
Michael Liedtke / E-Commerce Times:
Icahn Nearly $1B in the Hole on Yahoo Buy-In — Last summer, Carl Icahn paid $1.8 billion for a 5.5 percent stake in Yahoo. On Thursday, Yahoo shares were worth about half of what Icahn paid then. But as the beleaguered company's fortunes sink lower, the activist investor keeps buying in further …
Andy Greenberg / Forbes:
Second Life's Second Wind — Can the virtual world keep growing despite its collapsing hype? — In what tech pundits at Gartner Research call the curve of hype and gloom, Linden Lab's virtual world, Second Life, has officially entered the gloom stage. — In October, Reuters pulled …
Discussion:
Virtual Worlds News
Rafat Ali / paidContent.org:
Industry Moves: NYT Promotes Denise Warren as GM of NYTimes.com — The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) has appointed Denise Warren, SVP and chief advertising officer of the company, as the GM of NYTimes.com, adding to her current duties. She fills the position left vacant by Vivian Schiller, who joined NPR on Dec 1 as the new CEO.
Discussion:
Jobwire
Stephen Myers / Cygnet Engineering:
Iphone as a Universe Controller: Part 1 — Why have a universal remote control when you can have a universe controller? I was fortunate enough to get to beta test some of ioBridge's forthcoming hardware. Their hardware lets you connect just about anything to the internet.
Discussion:
DVICE, Core77, iPhone Buzz, Distorted-Loop.com, SlashGear, textually.org, Gizmodo, Ubergizmo and TUAW
James Falconer / IntoMobile:
Nokia 2605 Mirage Comes to Verizon — Not to be confused with the Nokia 2608 Dusan reported on earlier, the Nokia 2605 ‘Mirage’ is the latest device to hit Verizon's holiday lineup. The new clamshell is sold as a phone for younger and fashion-conscious users. Perhaps the device will appeal to the ‘metrosexuals’ in the crowd?
Michael Bettiol / Boy Genius Report:
Verizon rumored to be prepping Storm OS update for today — In case you're one of the squares who hasn't yet grabbed a leaked copy of OS 4.7.0.75 for the Verizon Storm, you're going to love this. Rumor has it that Verizon is getting its servers all set to officially unleash an OS update …
