Top Items:
Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:
Apple tweaks App Store layout amid developer unrest — Faced with criticism over the way it's been grouping applications on the digital shelves of the App Store, Apple this week is making some changes to the store's layout aimed at showcasing a broader range of top offerings in each category.
Discussion:
Infinite Loop, CNET News, CNN, VentureBeat, PC World, TUAW, TheAppleBlog, ChannelWeb, Edible Apple, The iPhone Blog, Macintosh, Mac Apps …, TechNewsWorld, FierceDeveloper and MacBlogz
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Your New Agreement With Google, Chrome Users — When Google released its browser called Chrome this fall, there was an unusually loud controversy about its End User Licensing Agreement (EULA). The company responded quickly to those complaints. — Now the contract with users has been changed again …
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Christopher MacManus / Sony Insider:
Sony's First Touchscreen Walkman Revealed — Sony is set to debut a new 16 and 32GB drag and drop Walkman during CES 2009, according to trusted inside sources. This will be the most advanced music, video and photo Walkman music player ever released by Sony to date.
Aidan Malley / AppleInsider:
EFi-X USA to sell pre-made PCs capable of running Mac OS X — Leveraging an internal adapter that lets many generic PCs run Mac OS X, a company called EFi-X USA now plans to offer a solution that potentially allows customers to create their own Mac systems.
Discussion:
Infinite Loop, The Toybox, Electronista, Engadget, TechSpot, TUAW, Macsimum News and Insanely Great Mac
Kevin C. Tofel / jkOnTheRun:
Acer's $99 netbook can actually cost you $1,540. Should you get it? — For those of us already accustomed to the lifetime cost of a subsidized device, this isn't news. But netbooks are a relatively new market so there's bound to be many folks new to mobile tech and subsidization plans.
Discussion:
Boy Genius Report, I4U News, Alice Hill's Real Tech News, LAPTOP Magazine and Technology Questions
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Martin LaMonica / CNET News:
Andy Grove urges Intel to build car batteries — Intel CEO Andy Grove has joined other Silicon Valley elites who are advocating for an industry shift into energy technology. — In an interview with The Wall Street Journal published Friday, Grove said he is urging Intel to invest …
Discussion:
TECH.BLORGE.com
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Chris Ziegler / Engadget:
Lenovo's Android phone for China hotter than a G1 with a defective battery — What if we told you the most beautiful phone in the world was a Lenovo? Reactions to that statement are likely going to oscillate between “Lenovo doesn't make cellphones” and “impossible, considering this is the country …
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Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Apple iPod Touch, New MacBook Selling Like Crazy (AAPL) — Daring Fireball blogger John Gruber is one of the best-sourced Apple (AAPL) writers on the planet. So when he declares something, we listen. And he seems to be carrying good news for Apple, whose rivals in the PC industry aren't having the best year.
Gerald Magpily / Dealscape:
Could the stars be aligning for a Google-N.Y. Times merger? — As the New York Times Co. is negotiating with lenders over its debt, speculation has been floating around the blogosphere, pushing the premise that Google Inc. should acquire the beleaguered Gray Lady.
Discussion:
Tech Trader Daily
Rita Chang / AdAge:
Mobile Ad Rates Begin to Drop as Inventory Increases — CPMs for Some Categories Have Hit Single Digits — SAN FRANCISCO (AdAge.com) — It's getting cheaper to advertise in mobile as cost-per-impression ad rates hits single-digit pricing in some cases. — The economy isn't the only factor …
Discussion:
Epicenter, mocoNews.net, FierceMobileContent, Local Mobile Search and Silicon Alley Insider
Arn / MacRumors:
iPod Touch Gaming Ad Shakes Things Up — Adage points to a major new ad campaign from Apple which is currently running on http://games.yahoo.com/. Apple's latest web ad goes outside the usual bounds of traditional banner ads by affecting other portions of Yahoo's page (the ad must be initiated by the visitor).
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 …
Pthurrott / SuperSite Blog:
How to fix Windows Mobile — This is an interesting if misguided article and, coincidentally, I met with the Windows Mobile folks just this week, so it's good timing as well: … Yep. This is bad. Microsoft is working on a number of things before that major update, Windows Mobile 7.
Eric Eldon / VentureBeat:
A week in, Facebook Connect trying to complete the connection — Facebook Connect is a new way for other web site owners to easily access Facebook user data. Having launched last week with more than 100 partners, the service is still finding its legs. At issue is how deeply partners are willing to integrate Connect's features.
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
Gmail Preferred By Students, But Nothing Beats Texting — Today's high-school and college students got their first email account at an average age of 13. Most students have had one of their email addresses for 8 years and have an average of about 2.4 addresses each.
Discussion:
The Microsoft Blog
BBC:
Can a Russian entrepreneur really cash in on the emoticon? — A series of punctuation marks used to convey a wink in text messages - known as an emoticon - has been trademarked in Russia, says a local businessman. — Entrepreneur Oleg Teterin said the trademark for the ;-) …
Jonathan Skillings / CNET News:
Big revamp for Alcatel-Lucent, with Web 2.0 spin — Alcatel-Lucent on Friday announced a significant restructuring, including layoffs, as it tries to position itself for a post-recession future flavored with new technologies. — For both 2009 and 2010, the Paris-based telecommunications …
Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
November game market a bloodbath — Nintendo's Wii may have run away with the U.S. console hardware market for November, but two titles for Microsoft's Xbox 360 were solidly atop the NPD Group's rankings of video-game sales for the month. Yet Microsoft won't exactly be citing these results …
Matt Raymond / Library of Congress Blog:
Library Releases Report on Flickr Pilot — In January, the Library embarked on something that took the online community by storm. In conjunction with Flickr, we loaded a few thousand images from the Library of Congress' vast collections and asked the user community to get involved …
Discussion:
Valleywag
Jeff / Venture Chronicles:
Advertising in Applications — Few things elicit the visceral reaction that advertising inserted in applications does. Just the mere mention of the word brings out a stream of critics who decry the intrusion that ads impose on usability and express dismay at the treasonous behavior of the developers and companies in question.
Discussion:
Nick Bradbury
Mark Drapeau / Mashable!:
Do Brands Belong on Twitter? — Dr. Mark Drapeau is a biological scientist, government consultant, and regular contributor to Mashable.com and other venues. — Behind every Twitter account is a person. But some of these people ‘hide’ behind organizational brands, obscuring their persona …
