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12:00 AM ET, December 12, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
The Official Google Blog:
Google Chrome (BETA)  —  Since we first released Google Chrome, the development team has been hard at work improving the stability and overall performance of the browser.  In just 100 days, we have reached more than 10 million active users around the world (on all seven continents, no less) and released 14 updates to the product.
RELATED:
MG Siegler / VentureBeat:
As Chrome leaves beta, here's an update on the Mac version  —  Google officially announced that its web browser, Google Chrome, has left beta testing status behind today.  That's great news, the browser is amazing.  But there's a problem — it still only runs on Windows.
Slash Lane / AppleInsider:
Apple working on 3D Mac OS X user interface (images)  —  A series of Apple patent filings published this week reveal the Mac maker has spent a considerable amount of time outlining a new multi-dimensional interface for Mac OS X that would make better use of screen real estate by increasing …
RELATED:
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
CBS Interactive/CNET Re-Org: The Complete Memo  —  CBS (CBS) paid $1.8 billion for CNET last summer, and today it is dealing with the consequences: A re-org and layoffs.  CBS execs won't release specifics on the firings and wont't say how many people were let go altogether.
Discussion: GigaOM, paidContent.org and Valleywag
RELATED:
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Layoffs At Last.FM Confirmed.  Where Else Are Heads Rolling At CBS?  —  Today, CBS Interactive is laying off people across several of its properties, I've confirmed with the company.  CBS is not saying which divisions or how many people are affected.  It is positioning the layoffs as part …
Katie Marsal / AppleInsider:
Apple's Mac OS X 10.5.6 Update may be around the corner  —  Apple this week is believed throwing the finishing touches on Mac OS X 10.5.6, the last planned maintenance and security update for Leopard during the 2008 calendar year.  —  Developers on Wednesday were reportedly equipped …
Alex Pham / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Santa visits Nintendo early: Wii sales more than doubled in November  —  Nintendo sold more than 2 million Wii game consoles in the U.S. last month, more than double the number it sold in November 2007, according to Reggie Fils-Aime, president of the Japanese company's North American division.
RELATED:
Yi-Wyn Yen / Techland:
Nintendo Wii officially recession-proof
Discussion: TechFlash
Michael Young / Redfin Corporate Blog:
Our Maps Are Googley Now  —  Redfin just released a new version of the site.  In addition to improving our short sale detection in Orange County and parts of LA and making our neighborhood pages a little more discoverable from the map page, we switched to using Google Maps exclusively instead …
Discussion: TechFlash and Computerworld
RELATED:
Lalitesh Katragadda / Google LatLong:
Map making in new worlds
Discussion: WebProNews and Google Maps Mania
Bobbie Johnson / Guardian:
Now Flickr is hit by Yahoo layoffs  —  Thought the Yahoo layoffs were over?  Not quite... today it seems that George Oates, a high-profile member of the Flickr team and one of the site's early employees, was told that she was being given the chop too.  She's recently been in Australia …
Discussion: CNET News and Susan Mernit's Blog
JG Mason / Gadgetell:
Breaking: Apple left out?  AT&T brings back iPhone online and at-home activation  —  Yes!  AT&T is now offering the iPhone online with home activation.  I found this by looking for info on another phone, but found this advert when landing on their site.  At first, I figured I was reading it wrong …
RELATED:
Kelly Hodgkins / Boy Genius Report:
AT&T now offers iPhone 3G home activation, for real this time
Mike Eckel / Associated Press:
OMG: Russia entrepreneur looks for $$$ from ;-)  —  How much would you pay for a ;-)?  A Russian businessman has trademarked the emoticon — or combination of punctuation marks — used to convey a wink in text messages and e-mail.  —  Oleg Teterin, president of the mobile ad company Superfone …
Discussion: TECH.BLORGE.com
Nick Heath / silicon.com:
Jobless techies turning to crime  —  Impoverished techies and IT workers who have been made redundant will go rogue in 2009, selling corporate data and using crimeware, reports predict.  —  The credit crunch will drive IT workers to increasingly use their skills to steal credit card data …
Alex Pham / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Video game sales continue ‘blistering’ pace in November, NPD says  —  Shrugging off the effects of a downbeat economy, the video game industry posted a 10% sales increase in the U.S. last month to $2.91 billion, up from $2.64 billion in November 2007, according to market research firm NPD Group …
RELATED:
Matt Richtel / Bits:
Growth Slows for Video Game Market
Discussion: VentureBeat and CNET News
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
The Facebook Virus Spreads: No Social Network is Safe  —  “Koobface” is the name of the Trojan worm that's been making its way through the social networking site Facebook lately, but to the site's users, it's been simply known as “the Facebook virus.”  That name will soon become a misnomer …
Discussion: digg.com
David Berkowitz / AdAge:
Facebook, Google and MySpace Represent the Future of Web Registrations  —  We have the browser wars, the search engine wars and the social network wars — so where will the next digital battle take place?  It's among services that offer third-party logins for publishers, which sounds as unsexy as it gets …
Dave Zatz / Zatz Not Funny!:
Digeo Unveils New Moxi HD DVR  —  11 months after blowing up their prior destined-for-retail DVR(s), Digeo's web site and Amazon have spilled the beans on the for-real model that'll be available for sale... shortly?  While they've published all sorts of specs (500GB hard drive …
Discussion: Engadget HD
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Lady Blog Network BlogHer Gives Bloggers a Pay Cut  —  BlogHer, a women's ad network/publishing network and conference organizer, is cutting the amount it pays to its blog partners by 10 percent.  That's really sort of a double cut, since the blog owners/writers in its network get paid based …
Discussion: Valleywag
Josh Babetski / MapQuest Blog:
MapQuest Local Gets More Social with Twitter; Adds Jobs  —  Twitter  —  When our team set out to build MapQuest Local, we wanted it to be very different than the “local experience” found historically online.  One of our early objectives was to make MapQuest Local more social - connect people and ideas in a local area together.
Sunshine / LiveSide:
Windows Live Sync Is Now Available For Windows And Mac [updated]  —  Windows Live Sync is now Live at http://sync.live.com.  The team just announced it on their new blog: … The old FolderShare blog and newsgroup will retire, but the team is not leaving you in the cold.
PC Magazine:
Palm Expected to Launch Next-Gen OS at CES  — According to one analyst, Palm finally seems prepared to launch its next-generation operating system in January, at the Consumer Electronics Show.  —  On Wednesday, Palm sent out an invitation to journalists.
Discussion: mocoNews.net
Erica Sadun / Infinite Loop:
App Store Lessons: Creative uses of promotional codes  —  With App Store becoming more and more crowded, building attention for your application has increasingly been difficult, so it's time to get clever.  Fifth Ace Productions decided to use some of its 50 free promo codes in a rather creative way …
Discussion: NEWSFACTOR
Amy Schatz / Wall Street Journal:
White House Opposes FCC Free Wireless Internet Plan  —  WASHINGTON - Bush administration officials are trying to put the brakes on the Federal Communications Commission's plan to encourage a free, national wireless Internet plan, which the agency could approve next week.
Loïc Le Meur / Loic Le Meur Blog:
Apologies for organizational issues at LeWeb  —  I will write a longer post as I do every year to recap what went well and what did not go well at LeWeb this year.  Many things went well fortunately and I am still reading the huge feedback from the participants in the room and thousands of people who watched the live online stream.
Don Clark / Business Technology:
Not Tonight Dear, I'd Rather Blog  —  Men have always faced challenges when it comes to romance.  Here's a sign that technology may have raised another hurdle.  —  An online survey commissioned by Intel has found, among other things, that 46% of women would rather go without sex for two weeks than give up the Internet for that long.
Darren Murph / Engadget:
Addonics' USB-to-NAS adapter: all your external HDDs, now network accessible  —  Storage junkies, your dreams have just been made into reality.  Addonics has just introduced a marvelous new piece of kit, the simple-yet-useful Network Attached Storage Adapter.
Discussion: Business Wire and 9 to 5 Mac
 
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 More Items: 
Lucas Mearian / Computerworld:
Which operating system is best for solid-state drives?
Meraiah Foley / New York Times:
Proposed Web Filter Criticized in Australia
Brad / Liliputing:
How to change Firefox's full screen hotkey
Darryl K. Taft / eWeek:
JetBrains Delivers Meta Programming System Beta
Discussion: InfoWorld
Olga Kharif / Business Week:
Windows Mobile: What Microsoft Needs to Fix
Discussion: PalmAddicts
PC World:
HP, Symantec Warn Employees After Laptop Thefts
Jim Duffy / Network World:
Cisco is big tease about ‘Big Bang’ switch upgrade
 Earlier Items: 
Financial Times:
Lenovo in talks over possible acquisition
Discussion: PC World and The Register
Tony Smith / The Register:
Netbook SSD usage to fall under 10% in 2009
Discussion: jkOnTheRun and LAPTOP Magazine