Top Items:
Gmail Blog:
New in Labs: Tasks — Posted by Jonathan Terleski, Michael Lancaster, and Brett Lider, Tasks team — People use Gmail to get stuff done, so we've added a lightweight way to keep track of what you need to do, right from within Gmail. — Take entering a new task: just click in an empty part of your list and start typing.
Discussion:
PC World, Mark Evans, Boy Genius Report, Technologizer, ReadWriteWeb, Squash, ReviewSaurus, Search Engine Journal, /Message, CNET News, RotorBlog.com, TECH.BLORGE.com, TechBays, Profy, Google Blogoscoped, VentureBeat, Lifehacker, Google Watch, Regular Geek, Download Squad, WebProNews and InformationWeek
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Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Gmail Finally Gets A To-Do List — Someone at Google finally realized how helpful it would be to add a to-do list to Gmail. It is called “Tasks” and is now available in Gmail Labs (click on the beaker icon next to “Settings” on the upper right hand corner of Gmail).
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Google launches to-do lists; You'd think an email revolution was underway — Google launched a little Gmail addition called Tasks and judging from the blog chatter you'd think the search giant just reinvented email. — Unfortunately, Gmail's to-do list isn't exactly a big deal-although not having to save is a nice touch.
Aidan Malley / AppleInsider:
Rumor: Apple's iTunes going DRM-free starting Tuesday [u] — Apple is believed to be on the verge of an end-of-year push that would start by finally offering unprotected iTunes Store music from all major labels and would switch a special post-holiday campaign giving away music and videos to Europeans.
Discussion:
Gizmodo, Inquirer, Neowin.net, VentureBeat, Engadget, 9 to 5 Mac, The iPhone Blog, CNET News, Smalltalk Tidbits …, Mashable!, Insanely Great Mac, Technologizer, Tech Central, Edible Apple and digg.com
Sony Corporation:
Sony Announces Initiatives to Improve Profitability and Enhance Operational Efficiencies in its Electronics Businesses — Sony Corporation ("Sony") has embarked on a series of measures to strengthen its corporate structure and bolster profitability across the Sony Group.
Discussion:
Between the Lines, Bloomberg, paidContent.org, Engadget, EE Times, Electronista, Wall Street Journal, DailyTech, Financial Times and Tech Trader Daily
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Google Code Blog:
Native Client: A Technology for Running Native Code on the Web — Modern PCs can execute billions of instructions per second, but today's web applications can access only a small fraction of this computational power. If web developers could use all of this power, just imagine the rich, dynamic experiences they could create.
Rory Cellan-Jones / dot.life blog:
Kosmix - searching for optimism — What's the definition of optimism in these troubled times for the hi-tech economy? How about starting a business which plans to take on Google from a base in Mountain View, the search giant's home town? Or maybe ploughing $20m into that business …
Discussion:
Webware.com
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Wall Street Journal:
Yahoo Closer to Naming CEO — Yahoo Inc. directors steering the search for a new chief executive are moving closer to a recommendation and have authorized checking references on a few key candidates, say people familiar with the matter, although a decision is likely to be weeks away at the earliest.
Discussion:
Search Engine Land, BoomTown, Silicon Alley Insider, BloggingStocks, Guardian and TechFlash
Jeremy Kahn / New York Times:
Mumbai Terrorists Relied on New Technology for Attacks — MUMBAI, India — The terrorists who struck this city last month stunned authorities not only with their use of sophisticated weaponry but also with their comfort with modern technology. — The terrorists navigated across the Arabian Sea …
Discussion:
Communications …
Bob Walsh / Webware.com:
Appcelerator Titanium puts more Web apps on your desktop — The line between Web and desktop apps is getting fuzzier Tuesday, with the preview release of Appcelerator Titanium, platform designed to turn Web app developers into desktop and mobile phone developers.
Matt Buchanan / Gizmodo:
New MacBooks Are Cranky: They Have Insomnia and Hate Third-Party RAM — The standard “journalism” rule is that three is trend. So here's one with the new MacBooks: They've got problems! Screwy video cards, insomniatic, power-sucking sleep and not playing well with other RAM.
Scott M. Fulton, III / BetaNews:
Leaks indicate Microsoft is un-rethinking the Win7 taskbar — During last week's touring WinHEC conference in Beijing, attendees were treated to the latest Windows 7 build running in a virtual machine. Trouble is, someone apparently pilfered a copy of the VHD, and now it's loose.
Stan Schroeder / Mashable!:
TVLoop.com - Where TV Meets Social Networking — If you're an avid Facebook user and TV aficionado, you've probably heard of Watercooler's TVLoop. It's a Facebook application that brings full TV episodes of many popular shows directly to your Facebook profile; recently …
Discussion:
VentureBeat
Business Technology:
Tech Spending to Grow 1.6% in 2009 — Technology spending will grow at its lowest rate in six years in 2009, a research firm said, as businesses shift their buying habits in response to the economic downturn. — Businesses and other organizations in the U.S. will spend $573 billion on computer software …
Discussion:
Silicon Alley Insider
The Khronos Group:
The Khronos Group Releases OpenCL 1.0 Specification — New industry standard unleashes the vast computing power of modern processors — For more information: — Elizabeth Riegel, Khronos Group Marketing Director — Toll-free US: +1 (888) 222-1899 — From outside US: +1 (415) 869-8627
Discussion:
CrunchGear, The Tech Report, insideHPC, Insanely Great Mac, MacRumors, VentureBeat and Engadget
Amanda Kelly / Inside AdWords:
An update to the AdWords alcohol policy — As many of you know, we're constantly evaluating our AdWords program policies to keep them current and effective. This means making changes from time to time by either adding new policies, such as the endangered species policy, or updating existing policies, such as the Display URL policy.
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Dell, EMC expand storage partnership — Dell and EMC said Tuesday that they have extended their partnership through 2013. As part of that agreement, EMC will allow Dell to sell its Celerra NX4 storage system. — EMC and Dell formed a partnership in October 2001 as the duo focused on storage customers.
Ashlee Vance / Bits:
Dell Sees Double With Data Center in a Container — Ty Schmitt, principal thermal and mechanical architect for Dell's Data Center Solutions group, outside of Dell's double-stacked data center in Round Rock, Tex. (Credit: Erich Schlegel for The New York Times)
Eric Eldon / VentureBeat:
Friendster nabs fourth social networking patent, dozen more pending — Friendster was the first modern social network to really gain traction on the web. But it has lost ground to rivals like MySpace and Facebook over the last five years or so, due to a number of missteps.
Dan Primack / PE Hub Blog:
What Sequoia Capital Was Thinking — It's been two months since Sequoia Capital gathered its portfolio company CEOs, for an evening of tough talk about new economic realities. It has come to be known as the graveyard presentation, both by those in attendance and the thousands more who've viewed leaked copies online.
Discussion:
Startup Chatter
Tim Stevens / Engadget:
Contract-laden 3G Acer Aspire One hitting US at just $99? — These days most people wouldn't think of buying a new phone without getting a couple hundies off in exchange for their wireless free will. But netbooks? Internationally such deals aren't altogether uncommon, but we haven't seen one here yet.
Discussion:
IntoMobile, Fast Company, Electronista, Liliputing, Obsessable, UMPCPortal, LAPTOP Magazine and GottaBeMobile.com
GamesIndustry.biz:
Atari acquires Cryptic Studios — Atari has announced that it has acquired US-based MMO developer Cryptic Studios in a performance-linked deal. — The company, previously responsible for City of Heroes and City of Villains, which made over USD 100 million for NCsoft, is in production on three titles …
Joe Wilcox / Microsoft Watch:
Oxite: Just MIX and Serve — The thing is called Oxite, and Microsoft released the code to its CodePlex site on Dec. 5, but made the announcement today. Oxite is labeled an alpha, and as of this posting a whopping 344 people had downloaded the software. Let's not rush to give up Movable Type or WordPress, shall we?
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Blackbird Is A Custom Browser For African Americans Built On Top Of Mozilla — Blackbird is a new browser built on top of Mozilla technology that is supposed to make it easier for African Americans to discover relevant content on the web and to interact with other members …
Associated Press:
2 book publishers announce mobile phone plans — NEW YORK - Two major book publishers announced mobile phone initiatives Monday as a worried industry increasingly banks on a digital future. — Penguin Group (USA) has started Penguin 2.0, which includes Penguin Personalized …
Eric Eldon / VentureBeat:
Confused yet? MySpace updates data-sharing service, fighting Facebook (and Google) — MySpace' web-wide identity service is announcing that it will get some new features soon. This is the latest attack in a two-and-a-half-sided battle the company is fighting with rival Facebook and frenemy Google.
Nick Bilton / O'Reilly Radar:
The Twitter Gold Mine & Beating Google to the Semantic Web — There's always been jabs at Twitter for not having a viable business model and the chatter has increased in the current economic climate. In a recent interview Evan Williams, Twitter CEO, said “We had planned to focus on revenue …
