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2:40 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: TechFlash and dot.life blog
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
Discussion: GigaOM
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:
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.
RELATED:
Arik Hesseldahl / Byte of the Apple:   Mac Sales Down? Hold On Just A Minute!
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Apple Loses Market Share, November Desktop Mac Sales Plummet (AAPL)
Discussion: BloggingStocks
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 …
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Hulu Has Fewer Eyeballs, More Room for Advertisers  —  We've already noted that Hulu's audience seems to have tailed off.  Now it seems as if its advertisers are less interested in the site, too.  —  In a roundup story about the state of online advertising, The Wall Street Journal notes …
RELATED:
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 …
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.
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 …
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 …
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.
PR Newswire:
Bold Transformation of Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News Lead Nation and Industry With Expanded Digital Offerings; Launch of New Magazine; Colorful, Easy-To-Use Newsstand Editions  —  The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News announced today a sweeping set of strategic …
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
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.
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) …
Ryan Naraine / Zero Day:
‘Extremely severe’ vulnerabilities in Opera browser  —  Opera has released version 9.63 of its browser as a “recommended security upgrade” that fixes at least seven security vulnerabilities, some with serious risk implications.  —  The most serious of the flaws could lead to remote code execution …
Discussion: The Register
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, Gizmodo and PalmAddicts
Microsoft:
Microsoft adCenter Study Reveals Small Businesses Build Online Presence, but Fail to Invest in Search Marketing  —  A surprising 73 percent surveyed would rather do their taxes than start a search marketing plan.  —  Microsoft adCenter today released the results of an online survey examining …
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):
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
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: Appletell and TUAW
Michael Learmonth / AdAge:
NBC's Samberg: Still King of YouTube  —  Network Turns Blind Eye as Video Racks Up Views  —  NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — NBC is supposed to give all its hit “Saturday Night Live” clips to its online joint venture, Hulu, not YouTube, right?  Well, not always, apparently.
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider
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.
 
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 More Items: 
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:
Yahoo To Do List: 1) Pick CEO 2) Cut MSFT Search Deal
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider
Microsoft:
Microsoft Takes Concrete Steps to Foster Interoperability Among File Formats
Discussion: The Register and Coop's Corner
Matt Burns / CrunchGear:
The Sony PSP2 to come after one last PSP update
Discussion: Electronista and Engadget
Brooke Crothers / CNET News:
Toshiba, SanDisk to cut flash chip output
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:
Wuala's Social Storage Comes to the Web
Discussion: Download Squad and CenterNetworks
Sara Silver / Wall Street Journal:
Uncertainty Weighs on Nortel
 Earlier Items: 
Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:
Oxynade raises $1.33M for comprehensive European event listings
Discussion: Profy, Webware.com and paidContent
Jeremy Clarkson / Times of London:
Downloads undermine UK television and film
Discussion: TorrentFreak, p2pnet and paidContent
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
ImageMetrics raises funds to make faces look and move realistically in video games
Tarmo Virki / Reuters:
Mobile phone market to shrink in 2009
Discussion: mocoNews.net and dailywireless.org
TG Daily:
Exclusive: First look at Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 RC1
Discussion: blogs.chron.com
Josh Lowensohn / Webware.com:
Vator.tv gets a centralized, Twitter-like news feed
Discussion: VatorNews, VentureBeat and ReadWriteWeb
 

 
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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