Top Items:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Death To The Embargo — PR firms are out of control. Today we are taking a radical step towards fighting the chaos. From this point on we will break every embargo we agree to. — Background: — Tech companies are desperate for press and hammering their PR firms for coverage on blogs and major media sites.
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Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Entrepreneurs: We Will Happily Respect Your Embargoes — Michael Arrington at TechCrunch said today that his site will no longer respect press embargoes, the informal system where press outfits agree to hold back publishing until an agreed upon time so that multiple sources can cover a story well.
Katie Marsal / AppleInsider:
Piper believes leadership shift at Apple is underway — Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, one of the most outspoken figures on all things Apple, told clients on Wednesday that Steve Jobs' absence from this year's Macworld Expo signals “the beginning of a shift in leadership roles” at the company.
Discussion:
Infinite Loop, Guardian, Tech Trader Daily, PC World, GMSV, Pogue's Posts and Computerworld Blogs
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Tom Krazit / CNET News:
Apple's blind-side hit on IDG — Apple shocked Macworld organizer IDG with its decision to have Steve Jobs skip his upcoming keynote. — (Credit: Corrine Schulze/CNET) — Home - News - Apple — Apple — December 17, 2008 4:32 PM PST — Apple's blind-side hit on IDG — Posted by Tom Krazit
Arik Hesseldahl / Byte of the Apple:
Might Apple Be Ditching Macworld For CES? — Many have been the times that I attended the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and wished that I were actually at Macworld, which often coincides or overlaps on the calendar. I stopped attending CES in 2005 after going for what felt …
Discussion:
AppleInsider, Gadget Lab, Apple 2.0, Computerworld Blogs, LAPTOP Magazine, Computerworld and Lockergnome Blog Network
Jim Dalrymple / Macworld:Apple Expo Paris cancelled
Discussion:
Appletell, GigaOM, Guardian, Infinite Loop, PC World, AppleInsider, Between the Lines, Gizmodo, Guardian and MacRumors
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Apple 2.0:Behind Steve Jobs' Macworld exit
Discussion:
Guardian, CNET News, Fast Company, Silicon Alley Insider, Ars Technica, Gearlog, MacDailyNews, jkOnTheRun and Macsimum News
Jessica Guynn / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Major leadership shakeup at LinkedIn: Nye leaves, Hoffman back at the helm — After a two-year stint in which he helped propel dramatic growth, LinkedIn Corp. Chief Executive Dan Nye is handing back the reins to company founder Reid Hoffman in a major leadership shakeup at one of Silicon Valley's hottest companies.
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Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
LinkedIn's Hoffman Takes Back CEO Title, as Nye Departs and Weiner Enters — Well-known Silicon Valley entrepreneur Reid Hoffman (pictured here) will become CEO of LinkedIn again, taking on the job he had for nearly four years after founding the business networking company in 2003.
Discussion:
Valleywag
Wilson Rothman / Gizmodo:
The Definitive Coast-to-Coast 3G Data Test — After a grueling eight-city coast-to-coast test of the 3G networks run by AT&T, Sprint and Verizon, we've come up with some clear-cut test results. Think you know who has the best network? Think again. — The Test — 3G is more important now than ever before.
Microsoft:
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-078 - Critical — Security Update for Internet Explorer (960714) — Version: 1.0 — General Information — Executive Summary — This security update resolves a publicly disclosed vulnerability. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution …
Discussion:
The Register, Computerworld, Microsoft Corporation, BBC, Technologizer, InfoWorld, Guardian, All about Microsoft, Full of I.T., MSRC, InformationWeek, eWeek Security Watch, Zero Day, Ed Bott's Windows Expertise, Microsoft Subnet's blog, One Microsoft Way, theWHIR.com Blogs, Homotron.net, TechSpot, Alice Hill's Real Tech News, IEBlog, Security Fix, Microsoft News Tracker and jkOnTheRun
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Chris Foresman / Infinite Loop:
iPhone gaming is maturing as more major games join the fray — With Apple pushing iPhone game development, industry veterans quitting their jobs to focus on game programming, and some developers making record profits with their iPhone apps, it's getting harder and harder to argue that the iPhone isn't a good gaming platform.
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Ben Worthen / Business Technology:
Adobe's Other Battle: The Economy — Adobe is battling Microsoft over the future of Internet software. But its more pressing battle might be against the economy. — The San Jose, Calif., software maker on Tuesday reported that the economic downturn has hurt sales of its flagship Creative Suite …
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Don Reisinger / Webware.com:
What Gmail does better than its competitors — As someone who spends an inordinate amount of time wading through e-mails, finding the best e-mail service is paramount in my life. — Realizing that, I've done my fair share of shuffling from one e-mail program to the next …
Steve Gillmor / TechCrunchIT:
Why Track will be back - Fred Wilson says so — For those of you new to the Web since the end of May, you can be forgiven for having no clue about why Track is the s**t. Despite months of denial, an open source clone war, a VC-backed API counter offensive, and unknown secret plans …
Chris Nuttall / blogs.ft.com:
GTA maker is hit-and-run victim — Video game software sales are up 30 per cent this year in the US, but the rising tide is not floating all boats - most publishers appear to be holed below the waterline. — Take-Two, publisher of the Grand Theft Auto series, is the latest harbinger of bad news.
Brooke Crothers / CNET News:
Toshiba to show 512GB solid-state drive at CES — Toshiba said Wednesday that it will showcase a 512GB solid-state drive at the Consumer Electronics Show next month and begin shipments in the second quarter of 2009. — To date, this would be one of the largest-capacity solid-state drives …
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
Walmart iPhone on sale the 28th for a lot more than $99 — At this point, it's clear that the $99 iPhone 3G rumor was just that: rumor. We have a letter that we believe to be authentic from a source within Walmart that says the iPhone will launch in the house that Sam built at 9am December 28th.
Discussion:
PC World, Unwired View, PMP Today, ChannelWeb, VentureBeat, IntoMobile, The Register, Local Mobile Search, Insanely Great Mac, FierceWireless and Boy Genius Report
Marshall Kirkpatrick / Jobwire:
Dave McClure Joins Founders Fund — Startup aficionado Dave McClure has formally joined VC firm the Founders Fund as an angel investor, according to an update he made to his LinkedIn profile this week. The Founders Fund was created by former PayPal CEO Peter Thiel in 2005 and is described …
Eric Eldon / VentureBeat:
Facebook's platform: Rebuilding the plane in midflight — Facebook's developer platform was a watershed. It gave outside companies unprecedented access to users of a major social network. But the platform, launched in May, has come under increasing scrutiny.
Discussion:
E-Media Tidbits
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
The Difference Between Invention And Innovation In The Netbook Space — from the it's-all-about-the-tweaking dept — Business Week's Steve Hamm has a short post talking about the “sudden” success of “netbooks,” those mini-laptops that are suddenly selling like crazy.
Discussion:
Scripting News
Suzanne Tindal / CNET News:
Huawei powers up its Android plans — Australian telecommunications companies would be able to start selling Chinese vendor Huawei Technologies' Android-based phones by the third quarter of 2009 if they wanted to, the company said this week. — Huawei entered the Android open handset alliance earlier …
Discussion:
AndroidGuys
Douglas MacMillan / Business Week:
The Recession: My Facebook, My Therapist — In a time of growing unemployment, tumbling stocks, and rising foreclosures, people are finding comfort on social networking sites — When Ian Schlueter found out he'd be among the casualties of a layoff announced Dec. 11 by global shipper DHL …
Makinde Adeagbo / Facebook Blog:
Seamless Browsing — Information that gets posted on Facebook—a video, a blog post, anything from the web—is often more interesting because someone you know has expressed the desire to share it. Alongside the preview within Facebook there might also be a comment from your friend who posted …
Ross Mayfield / Socialtext blog:
Corporate Alumni Network offer for the 2009 Recession — With record layoffs in the 2009 Recession, more former coworkers are turning to each other to get jobs and start new businesses. In less turbulent times, large employers would invest in hosting Corporate Alumni Networks for sharing connections, knowledge and expertise.
Discussion:
Jobwire
Jenna Wortham / Bits:
Losing the Paper Trail With Earth Class Mail — The mail-scanning service Earth Class Mail is opening a new outpost in downtown Manhattan on Wednesday to cater to jet-setters, business travelers, expatriates, nomads and anyone else who is on the road too often to manage their snail mail.
James Flanigan / New York Times:
Software That Opens Worlds to the Disabled — ONE computer program would allow vision-impaired shoppers to point their cellphones at supermarket shelves and hear descriptions of products and prices. Another would allow a physically disabled person to guide a computer mouse using brain waves and eye movements.
