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8:55 AM ET, December 20, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
comScore:
comScore Releases November 2008 U.S. Search Engine Rankings  —  comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace.  In November 2008, Americans conducted 12.3 billion core searches …
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Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
Google search share hits new high, as Microsoft matches its all-time low  —  Will this provide more fuel for Yahoo-Microsoft-search negotiations?  New numbers from comScore Networks show Google rising to a record 63.5 percent of U.S. search queries in November, continuing to steadily build …
Nicholas Carlson / Silicon Alley Insider:
Digg's Miserable Business  —  BusinessWeek got ahold of social news site Digg's financials.  —  For a site that gets as much traffic as Digg.com does — 22.6 million monthly uniques, according to Quantcast — the numbers are gruesome:  — Last year the company lost $2.8 million on $4.8 million of revenue
Discussion: Joe Duck, broadstuff and Business Week
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Facebook Stares Down Labels Over Project Playlist Takedown Demand  —  Earlier this afternoon MySpace scrubbed all traces of Project Playlist music widgets from the site, and users are unable to embed any further playlists.  The scrub was the result of infringement notices from the major labels …
Discussion: The Social
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Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
MySpace Puts The Hammer Down On Project Playlist  —  MySpace is getting back into the business of blocking third party widgets, it seems - today they've banned embedded music widgets from the fast growing Project Playlist.  But unlike previous 2006 and 2007 blocks of iMeem, Photobucket and many others …
Discussion: VentureBeat and hypebot
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
Why Do Undersea Cables Seem To Get Severed In Bunches?  —  There's just something about undersea internet cables that seem to have them get severed in groups.  You may recall the various conspiracy theories that cropped up, at the beginning of the year, after four such cables were broken …
Discussion: Ars Technica and BBC
Sean O'Malley / The Official Google Blog:
New search-by-style options for Google Image Search  —  Many of us use Google Image Search to find imagery of people, clip art for presentations, diagrams for reports, and of course symbols and patterns for artistic inspiration.  Unfortunately, searching for the perfect image can be challenging …
T-Marco / Cell Phone Signal:
T-Mobile G2 coming on January 26th '09  —  Yesterday we told you about the new update coming to T-Mobile G1.  This update will include new features like mms, and video capable.  Unfortunately, some features will not be including for the G1.  Instead, they will be include in feature Android devices..oops.. That's right!
Ryan Singel / Epicenter:
The Huffington Post Slammed for Content Theft  —  The Huffington Post, a venture-capital-backed new media site that mixes links to other sites content with hundreds of celebrity and volunteer blogger posts, is being accused of slimy business practices by a handful of smaller publications …
Discussion: Gawker
John Cook / TechFlash:
Mag regrets Count Me In CEO story, says it went to press before scandal  —  Talk about bad timing.  The latest issue of Seattle Business Monthly features a cover story on Count Me In Chief Executive Terry Drayton, whose Bellevue company has been at the center of a scandal for failing to pay …
MG Siegler / VentureBeat:
Google Reader quietly launches a “What's hot” area.  Where's the “most shared” area?  —  Given the number of people who use Google Reader's “Starred items” and “Shared items” features, you'd think Google would have some very good data for creating a killer “best of” area for stories across the web.
Discussion: Google Reader
Jenna Wortham / Bits:
Filtering Twitter, One Tweet at a Time  —  This is part of a series of posts this week on happenings in the sprawling but always succinct world of Twitter.  —  Here are a few that caught our eye:  —  As the San Francisco-based Twitter grows in popularity, third-party developers have jumped …
Discussion: Twist Image and TheNextWeb.com
Zach Epstein / Boy Genius Report:
iPhone 3G goes on sale for two weeks only at Best Buy Mobile  —  One of our trusty Best Buy Mobile ninjas just hit us with some good news for all you last-minute holiday shoppers out there.  Starting today (December 19) through Saturday January 3, the iPhone 3G will be available from Best Buy Mobile for the lowest price in the country.
David Kaplan / paidContent.org:
Newspapers Suddenly Adapt To Socal Media; Nearly 60 Percent Offer User-Gen Content  —  Newspapers' tough times appear to have spurred the industry to adopt the kind of social media habits that have led so many readers away from the traditional news format.  In The Bivings Group's annual look …
Discussion: PR 2.0 and Journalistopia
Eric Lai / Computerworld:
Lenovo to release ThinkPad laptop with 2 LCD screens  —  The 11-lb.  W700ds is ‘the nitro-burning drag racer’ version of the button-downed business laptop, Lenovo exec says  —  Computerworld) Lenovo Group Ltd. today announced the release of a ThinkPad laptop that takes the “desktop replacement” …
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Pandora Hits 20 Million Registered Users (Via Twitter)  —  Just in via Twitter: Pandora has registered its 20 millionth user.  The three-year old music streaming service is trying to hold its own despite tough economics and recent layoffs.  —  Its music-recommendation engine pumps …
Discussion: Online Media Cultist and digg.com
Matt Richtel / Bits:
Job Losses Hit the Tech Sector  —  In the fine print of a jobs report published today is some mixed news for Silicon Valley.  —  For the first time in this downturn, the region lost jobs; it has 4,000 fewer jobs than it did a year ago at this time, and its unemployment rate is 7 percent …
Declan McCullagh / CNET News:
After six years, Homeland Security still without ‘cybercrisis’ plan  —  When the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was created, it was supposed to find a way to respond to serious “cybercrises.”  “The department will gather and focus all our efforts to face the challenge of cyberterrorism …
David Kravets / Threat Level:
No ISP Filtering Under New RIAA Copyright Strategy  —  The Recording Industry Association of America on Friday announced a new strategy in its quest to curtail online copyright infringement — a plan that for now requires no filtering from internet service providers.
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
YouTube's Music Videos: Popular, Money-Losing.  For Now.  —  Universal Music Group officials told CNET this week that they're going to make close to $100 million from Internet videos this year-an 80 percent increase-and that most of that will come from Google's (GOOG) YouTube.
Nicholas Carlson / Silicon Alley Insider:
Google's Secret Revenue Weapon Revealed (GOOG)  —  All quarter long, Wall Street has been trying to figure out why Google has introduced a slew of new revenue-generating products and suddenly developed new religion with regard to costs.  The obvious answer is that Google is light on revenue and desperately trying to make the quarter.
Discussion: HipMojo.com
Saul Hansell / Bits:
What Xbox Wants to Be When It Grows Up  —  (Credit: David Paul Morris/Getty Images)  —  After more than four years running Microsoft's game studio, Shane Kim was given a new assignment this fall, running strategy and business development for the unit that makes the Xbox game console.
Discussion: Kotaku and Gizmodo
fibresystems.org:
3 cables cut this morning (Sea Me We3 partly + Sea Me We4 + FLAG)France Telecom Marine cable ship about to depart  —  PARIS — France Telecom observed today that 3 major underwater cables were cut: “Sea Me We 4” at 7:28am, “Sea Me We3” at 7:33am and FLAG at 8:06am.
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 More Items: 
Claudine Beaumont / Telegraph:
Gadget frustration peaks at 11.48am on Christmas Day says survey
Discussion: Sony Insider
Connie Loizos / PE Hub Blog:
FreedomPay Raises More $$  —  FreedomPay, a 9-year-old cashless …
Eric Eldon / VentureBeat:
AOL using AIM chat to boost Bebo, challenge Meebo
Discussion: Neowin.net
Rory Cellan-Jones / dot.life blog:
Five grand for Sock And Awe
Abbey Klaassen / AdAge:
Google Leads in Ad-Serving Share
Discussion: Search Engine Land
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:
Google: Is The Search Ad Business In Trouble?
Discussion: Clickety Clack
Colin Barras / New Scientist:
Fat fingers no problem with ‘see-through’ touchscreen
Discussion: Engadget and Slashdot
 Earlier Items: 
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Lloyd Braun's Not Going to Take It Anymore: “I Am Not an Umbrella …
Discussion: Valleywag
Richard Siklos / Fortune:
For media, the year that wasn't
Andy Greenberg / Forbes:
Seeking Obama's Cyber Czar
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter:
Internal memo: Hearst Magazines president announces layoffs as part of a decision to “reallocate resources” to “continue our focus on digital innovation”

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced she will leave the agency on January 20; she was the first woman to be confirmed to lead the agency

Lachlan Cartwright / The Ankler:
Sources: MSNBC renewed Rachel Maddow's contract early this fall, but with a pay cut; MSNBC bosses' plan to shake up daytime and weekend programming

 
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