Top Items:
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
How Many Bodies Exactly Is CBS Interactive Trying To Hide? Try “275-ish.” — The pink slips were passed out on Thursday throughout the various business duchies that make up CBS Interactive—CNET, CBS.com, CBSNews,com, CBSSports.com, BNET, GameSpot, TV.com, last.fm, and CHOW.
RELATED:
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
CBS Interactive/CNET Re-Org: The Complete Memo — 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.
PR Newswire:
RadioShack Introduces 3G Netbook Utilizing AT&T's Mobile Broadband Service to Help People Stay Connected — Innovative portable notebook technology for $99.99 when combined with qualifying AT&T mobile broadband service — FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec 11, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX …
RELATED:
Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:
Acer Aspire One goes official on AT&T's 3G network — Hey, remember that Acer Aspire One equipped with on-board 3G we spied in a Radio Shack ad the other day? Well guess what? It's real — and we've got the PR to prove it. Just as expected, the netbook is being offered for the teensy price of $99.99 …
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:
Alcatel's New Plan: Cut 1,000 Jobs, 5,000 Contractors — Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) has laid out a new strategic plan in which it will restructure the company and cut 1,000 jobs plus 5,000 contractors. The company said it will also seek savings in real- estate, support functions and discretionary spending.
Discussion:
The Register
RELATED:
John Markoff / New York Times:
Computing Without a Whirring Drive — SHERMAN BLACK, a senior vice president at Seagate Technology, a leader in hard drive manufacturing, lies awake at night worrying that his teenagers are part of a new generation of computer users who don't care if their data is stored locally or in the Internet “cloud.”
Discussion:
CNET News
Tarmo Virki / Reuters:
Nokia takes on Huawei in connecting laptops — HELSINKI (Reuters) - The world's top mobile phone maker Nokia plans to tap the surging market for connecting laptops to wireless networks taking on market leader Huawei Technologies, its senior official said. — Nokia will start to ship …
Dan Rayburn / The Business Of Online Video:
NFL Launches “Game Rewind”, Every Game On-Demand In HD With No Commercials — Today, the NFL launched a new video on-demand service called Game Rewind that lets you watch every NFL game in HD quality, with no commercials. The service, which costs $19.99 for the season or $4.99 for a week pass …
Jonathan Skillings / CNET News:
Report: Android phone on tap for China — Once there was just one Android phone, the T-Mobile G1. Coming soon, in Australia, is the Kogan Agora. Now reports are pointing to an emerging gadget for the China market, known for the moment as the “OPhone.” — The site ModmyGphone is showing off …
Matt Marshall / VentureBeat:
The “capital calls” crisis: separating fact from fiction — Recently, reports started circulating that Ambric, a chip company that enables high-performance computing, has shuttered after failing to raise money from its investors. — Ambric's fate was sealed by a “capital calls” problem …
Nick Heath / silicon.com:
UK police: ‘We need crime breathalysers for PCs’ — Cyber cops chase next gen digital forensics — UK police are hoping to one day develop a breathalyser-style tool for computers that could instantly flag up illegal activity on any PC it's attached to. — Detective superintendent Charlie …
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 …
Daily Yomiuri Online:
Images read from human brain — OSAKA—In a world first, a research group in Kyoto Prefecture has succeeded in processing and displaying optically received images directly from the human brain. — The group of researchers at Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International …
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Handicapping cloud computing: The big picture — Cloud computing isn't going to dominate the tech landscape, but will raise a ruckus for software vendors. Google and Amazon will be cloud computing winners, but the spoils will be relatively small. And there's a race to deliver …
Discussion:
eWeek
Bit9:
Threats in Plain Sight: Bit9 Identifies ‘The Dirty Dozen’ - 2008's Most Popular Applications with Critical Security Vulnerabilities — Reputable programs found vulnerable; Security gaps often left unaddressed — 12.11.2008 - Waltham, MA - Bit9, Inc., the pioneer and leader …
Discussion:
InformationWeek
Peter Kaplan / Federal Trade Commission:
Sony BMG Music Settles Charges Its Music Fan Websites Violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act — Company Will Pay $1 Million Civil Penalty — Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Sony Music) has agreed to pay $1 million as part of a settlement to resolve Federal Trade Commission charges …
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 …
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 …
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 …
USA Today:
The iTunes App Store is iPhone's killer app; free stuff — The killer app for the iPhone is — drum roll, please — the iTunes App Store. Five months after Apple launched its online emporium, I believe it even more, having downloaded a gaggle of programs, including some that transform …
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.
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.
Marc Ferranti / PC World:
Wall Street Beat: IT Forecasts Slashed — With CIOs reporting budget revisions, market analysts slashing expectations for tech sector growth, and companies as diverse as Yahoo, Hynix, Texas Instruments and Sony cutting sales forecasts and jobs this week, there is no bottom clearly in sight for IT.
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 …