Top Items:
David / weblog.rubyonrails.org:
Merb gets merged into Rails 3! — It's christmas, baby, and do we have a present for you. We're ending the bickering between Merb and Rails with a this bombshell: Merb is being merged into Rails 3! — We all realized that working together for a common good would be much more productive …
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MG Siegler / VentureBeat:
iPhone fart app pulls in nearly $10,000 a day — Apple's App Store is currently experiencing a plague of fart applications. Last week, I detailed one day in which at least 14 new fart apps were accepted into the store. And now, just in a quick search, it looks like there are about 50 apps …
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Arn / MacRumors:iPhone App Store Sales for #1 Spot Revealed
Discussion:
Apple 2.0, Profy, TECH.BLORGE.com, Mashable!, JoelComm.com, 9 to 5 Mac and Life On the Wicked Stage
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Adult FriendFinder Files To Go Public — Florida-based FriendFinder Networks (formerly Penthouse Media Group), a group of sites that includes Penthouse and Adult FriendFinder, has filed a registration statement with the SEC to go public. — Little known Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital is representing them in the deal.
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Facebook Bails on Project Playlist, Too — Four days after MySpace cut the legs out from under Project Playlist by disabling the music streaming service's app, Facebook is following suit. Here's the official statement from Facebook PR: … The only surprise here is that it took Facebook …
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Ashlee Vance / Bits:
Dell's MacBook Air Rival Confirmed by . . . Dell — CLARIFICATION 5:55 p.m. - The story below references a Dell ad placed in UptownLife magazine. The online version of that ad, which has since been removed, appeared to include both an image from Dell and text.
Discussion:
GottaBeMobile.com, SlashGear, Gizmodo, Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check, Engadget and PC World
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Telecom Giant Vodafone Gets Into Location Based Social Networking With Pocket Life — Pocket Life, a geo-aware social network backed by mobile network giant Vodafone, has launched to the public. The service allows users to update their friends on their current locations automatically …
Sean Fallon / Gizmodo:
9 Year Old Girl Becomes the Youngest Microsoft Certified Professional — Today's crushing blow to our self confidence comes to us from India, where a 9 year old girl has become the youngest person to ever pass a Microsoft Certified Professional examination.
CyberCrime & Doing Time:
More than 1 Million Ways to Infect Your Computer — An unknown hacker has been on a Search Engine Optimization rampage to flood search engines with more than a million ways to infect yourself with his virus. This is the first major “Scareware” infection we've seen since writing …
New York Times:
After Slow Start, E-Books Turn Page and Find Fans — Could book lovers finally be willing to switch from paper to pixels? — For a decade, consumers mostly ignored electronic book devices, which were often hard to use and offered few popular items to read.
Discussion:
Marketing Nirvana, Xconomy, TechCrunch, L.A. Times Tech Blog, TeleRead, Obsessable, GottaBeMobile.com and CostPerNews
Ajay Kamalakaran / Reuters:
RIM accuses Motorola of blocking job offers: report — (Reuters) - BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd sued Motorola Inc over claims the mobile-phone maker is improperly blocking it from offering jobs to laid-off Motorola workers, Bloomberg said. — RIM, in a complaint filed in state court …
Khowell / University of Florida News:
Engineers: Efficient organic LEDs a step toward better lights — GAINESVILLE, Fla. — For those who love “green” compact fluorescent bulbs but hate their cold light, here's some good news: Researchers are closer to flipping the switch on cheaper, richer LED-type room lighting.
Keith Rabois / VentureBeat:
The plight of branded apps and the future of social marketing — [Editor's note: So it turns out branded apps are a bust — even if you're Nike or Coca-Cola. Below, Keith Rabois, vice president of strategy and business development at app maker Slide, explains why and gives big-name advertisers some much-needed advice.]
Chris DannenTue / Fast Company:
What Ever Happened To Garmin's NuviFone? [video] — It looked like it could be the ultimate iPhone-killer, but delay after delay has kept it from market. Some reports say it will be ready soon, while others suggest it's been abandoned all together. Will we ever see Garmin's [GRMN] nuvifone?
James Kendrick / jkOnTheRun:
Netbook enthusiast web sites getting C & D using term “netbook” — This is very preliminary but we are hearing that some netbook enthusiast sites are getting “cease & desist” letters from a firm in the UK ordering the sites to stop using the term “netbook”.
Lawrence Lessig / Newsweek:
Reboot the FCC — We'll stifle the Skypes and YouTubes of the future if we don't demolish the regulators that oversee our digital pipelines. — Economic growth requires innovation. Trouble is, Washington is practically designed to resist it. Built into the DNA of the most important agencies created …
Discussion:
Ars Technica
Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
Will Microsoft throw in the towels? — Google, Microsoft and other big tech companies spent the past few years ramping up employee perks as they battled each other for top talent. Now, as the tech industry tries to weather the economic storm, the fate of those extras will be an interesting barometer …
iSuppli:
Notebook PC Shipments Exceed Desktops for First Time in Q3 — Global notebook PC shipments exceeded those of desktops on a quarterly basis for the first time ever in the third quarter, marking a watershed event in the history of the industry, according to iSuppli Corp.
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Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Tweet A Last-Minute Gift To Charity — It's micro-messaging meets micro-funding. Marketing consultant Laura Fitton is trying to raise money $2 at a time through Twitter. She is using Tipjoy, which allows people to turn Tweets into payments (via PayPal). Help her raise $25,000 for Charity:Water by Christmas.
