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1:20 PM ET, December 16, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
BBC:
Serious security flaw found in IE  —  Users of the world's most common web browser have been advised to switch to a rival until a serious security flaw has been fixed.  —  The flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer could allow criminals to take control of people's computers and steal their passwords, internet experts say.
RELATED:
Richard Wray / Guardian:
Microsoft Internet Explorer users told to switch browsers over ‘zero-day’ flaw  —  Users of Microsoft's Internet Explorer have been warned of a flaw that could let hackers gain access to their computers and steal personal data, and told them to swap to a rival browser.
Discussion: dot.life blog and Digital Trends
Brian X. Chen / Gadget Lab:
Rumor: New Mac Mini Coming to Macworld 2009  —  Apple will launch an upgrade to its low-end desktop, the Mac Mini, at January's Macworld Expo in San Francisco, according to an Apple corporate employee who contacted Wired.com.  —  The source, who wished to remain anonymous (to keep his job) …
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Apple Loses Shine as Mac Sales Slow  —  PC Maker Eschews Discounts Even as Rivals Slash Prices and Consumers Pull Back; Worries for 2009  —  Even Apple Inc. is beginning to suffer in this year's dismal holiday season, and worries are mounting the recession will weigh on its business next year.
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Apple Loses Market Share, November Desktop Mac Sales Plummet (AAPL)
Discussion: BloggingStocks
Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:
iPhone 3G finally unlocked by the Dev-Team!  —  Well this has been a long time coming.  It seems that the iPhone Dev-Team has finally done the impossible — they've gone and unlocked the iPhone 3G.  The hack isn't out yet (the team says they're shooting for a December 31st release) …
RELATED:
Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:
Apple will unveil netbooks next month, says analyst  —  Tough economic times demand a lower-priced system, but Apple won't want to cannibalize MacBook sales  —  Computerworld) Apple Inc. will introduce two netbooks at the MacWorld Conference and Expo next month that will be tied to the company's App Store …
RELATED:
Tom Reestman / TheAppleBlog:   Netbooks: The Race to the Bottom Has Begun
MG Siegler / VentureBeat:
Twitter has made Dell $1 million in revenue  —  Everyone loves talking about Twitter's business model — because there isn't one yet, and they'll keep talking about it until there is one.  But it's becoming more clear that while a business model is of course important, Twitter is perhaps …
Ronen Halevy / BerryReview.com:
HOT!  BlackBerry Virtual OS Running On Windows Mobile HTC Touch Pro ScreenCandy - AKA BlackBerry Application Suite  —  We just had some great pictures sent in to us showing a Windows Mobile HTC Touch Pro running a virtual BlackBerry OS.  This is what RIM is officially calling …
RELATED:
Zach Epstein / Boy Genius Report:
Possible images of HTC Touch Pro running BlackBerry Application Suite
Discussion: Download Squad
Wall Street Journal:
Online Video Ads Slow  —  TV networks have long hoped digital dollars would help offset declines in traditional ad spending, but now even online video is showing some signs of faltering amid the recession.  —  General Electric's NBC Universal last week at an investor conference warned …
RELATED:
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:   Hulu Has Fewer Eyeballs, More Room for Advertisers
Joanna Stern / LAPTOP Magazine:
Intel-Powered Convertible Classmate PC: The Touch Netbook to Emulate  —  CES 2009 is undoubtedly going to be the show for touch-enabled netbooks and leading the pack will be Intel's Convertible Classmate PC.  While MSI and ASUS have hinted at their respective touch-capable Winds and Eee PCs …
Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
ESPN Strives to Eject Clutter From Its Site  —  ESPN.COM is counting on less clutter and more advertising options to bolster revenue at a time when its sister cable channels are battling rare weakness.  —  ESPN, the Walt Disney Company's sports media behemoth, is unveiling Tuesday …
Chris Williams / The Register:
Virgin Media to dump neutrality and target BitTorrent users  —  It's deep packet inspection, but it's not for Phorm...  Exclusive The UK's second largest ISP, Virgin Media, will next year introduce network monitoring technology to specifically target and restrict BitTorrent traffic, its boss has told The Register.
Jenn K. Lee / Pocketables:
Mystery T-swivel device is really Compal Tabasco MID  —  Remember that unknown T-swivel device I showed you last week?  The one that all the smartphone sites swooped in on and cautiously identified as the Palm Roteo?  Well, it's not unknown anymore and contrary to its Treo keyboard, it's not the Roteo either.
Ashlee Vance / New York Times:
Dell Trails Its Rivals in the Worst of Times  —  ROUND ROCK, Tex. — Michael S. Dell has grown tired of discussing his company's reinvention.  —  “It's O.K. if everyone doesn't understand what we're doing,” Mr. Dell said in an interview at the headquarters of Dell, the computer maker.
Business Wire:
Best Buy Continues To Prepare For Difficult Economic Environment, Plans Significant Spending Reductions  —  Company reports fiscal third-quarter EPS of $0.13; adjusted quarterly EPS was $0.35, excluding investment impairment charge  —  MINNEAPOLIS—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY - News):
Matthew Miller / Smartphones and Cell Phones:
Consumer Reports picks the Samsung Blackjack II as the top smartphone  —  I enjoy checking out Consumer Reports ratings on products and in their January 2009 issue that was recently posted online they rank smartphones, cellphones, and US wireless carriers.  I have to say I was quite surprised …
Discussion: jkOnTheRun and PalmAddicts
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:
Chips: AmTech's Freedman Turns Bullish, Expects Rally; But Gartner Slashes '09 Chip Forecast To Down 16%  —  American Technology Research analyst Doug Freedman this morning turned bullish on the semiconductor sector, raising his rating on the group to Overweight from Equal Weight.
Discussion: eWeek
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Cloud computing: Think collective, not zero sum  —  To date cloud computing and its offshoots have been described in zero sum terms: Amazon's storage system over another vendor; Salesforce.com's platform over Siebel; IBM's cloud over HP's.  The reality is likely to be much more democratic.
TG Daily:
Exclusive: First look at Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 RC1  —  First Look - Microsoft quietly released the first update to its IE8 beta 2 to its closest partners last week.  This new version is marked as “Release Candidate 1” and is expected to be the final IE8 pre-release update Microsoft intends …
Discussion: blogs.chron.com
David Chartier / Infinite Loop:
Apple's holiday Get a Mac ads warm the cockles of our hearts  —  It's that time of year again, when we set aside our differences with Apple's long-running, snooty Get a Mac campaign and watch the holiday ads that... encourage us to set aside our differences.  Besides, John Hodgman and Justin Long are just so disarming in animated form.
Discussion: TUAW and 9 to 5 Mac
Rick Broida / Crave: The gadget blog:
Get a refurbished iPhone 3G for $149.99 shipped  —  Here's something you don't see every day: refurbished iPhones.  Nevertheless, over at AT&T you can score a refurbished 8GB iPhone 3G for $149.99 with free overnight shipping.  (You can get the 16GB model, in either black or white, for $249.99.)
Discussion: DailyTech and Engadget Mobile
Tarmo Virki / Reuters:
Mobile phone market to shrink in 2009  —  HELSINKI (Reuters) - Mobile phone sales will shrink next year at their fastest pace ever as consumers cut spending, a Reuters poll showed, with analysts increasingly concerned about unsold phones piling up in stores.
Discussion: dailywireless.org
Eric Eldon / VentureBeat:
Facebook recruits a new director (or two) from eBay  —  Daniel Levy is the new director of risk management at social network Facebook.  He has formerly held senior leadership positions at eBay-owned online payment company Paypal.  In his new role, Levy (pictured) will be working …
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider
 
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 More Items: 
Sara Silver / Wall Street Journal:
Uncertainty Weighs on Nortel
Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:
Oxynade raises $1.33M for comprehensive European event listings
Discussion: Webware.com, Profy and paidContent
Jeremy Clarkson / Times of London:
Downloads undermine UK television and film
Discussion: p2pnet, TorrentFreak and paidContent
Kelly Fiveash / The Register:
Hasbro drops lawsuit against Scrabulous creators
Discussion: Reuters, VentureBeat and AppScout
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
ImageMetrics raises funds to make faces look and move realistically in video games
Jeremy Kirk / PC World:
Swedish Police Warn of Tampered Credit Card Terminals
Discussion: The Raw Feed
 Earlier Items: 
Richard Wray / Guardian:
Virgin Media stands by targeted ad technology
Discussion: The Equity Kicker and Neowin.net
Josh Lowensohn / Webware.com:
Vator.tv gets a centralized, Twitter-like news feed
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, VatorNews and VentureBeat
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Gaia Online Cuts 13% Of Staff Despite Claims Of Record Earnings
Clive Thompson / Wired News:
Why We Need More Torture in Videogames
Anil Dash / Movable Type:
The Web is in Motion via Movable Type Pro
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Analyzing Comcast's spinoff of cable networks, purposefully structured with low debt: the move might be a signal to the industry that it's time to consolidate

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
James Harding says the Tortoise-Observer deal could create a profitable media group and there isn't a guaranteed future for the Observer with the Guardian

John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Substack, very deliberately, tries to have it both ways by saying publications on their platform are independent while presenting them all as parts of Substack

 
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