Top Items:
Tom Neumayr / Apple:
Changes Coming to the iTunes Store — Apple® today announced several changes to the iTunes® Store (www.itunes.com). Beginning today, all four major music labels—Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI, along with thousands of independent labels …
Discussion:
Infinite Loop, L.A. Times Tech Blog, TechCrunch, Crave, Slate, Zatz Not Funny!, GigaOM, Macsimum News, CNET News, iLounge, iPhone Savior, CrunchGear, mathewingram.com/work, Pulse2, Network World, TUAW, GMSV, Boy Genius Report, ReadWriteWeb, Gallop Services Blog and Alice Hill's Real Tech News
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Brad Stone / New York Times:
Want to Copy iTunes Music? Go Ahead, Apple Says — SAN FRANCISCO — In moves that will help shape the online future of the music business, Apple said Tuesday that it would remove anticopying restrictions on all of the songs in its popular iTunes Store and allow record companies to set a range of prices for them.
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
The Price Of Going DRM-Free: Apple's Hidden $1.8 Billion Music Tax — Nearly two years ago, Steve Jobs published an open letter to the music industry calling for the death of DRM (digital rights management). He convinced EMI to ditch DRM back in April, 2007, but the three other major music labels held out.
Wilson Rothman / Gizmodo:
Apple Confirms $179 Battery Swap Cost for 17" MacBook Pro — We just confirmed with Apple that swapping out the 17" MacBook Pro's non-removable battery will cost $179. Fortunately, says Apple, the swap might not be needed for a long time: — From a spokesperson at Apple:
Discussion:
Macworld, DVICE, Network World, SlashGear, TheAppleBlog, Infinite Loop, CNET News and PC World
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Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
Sony's VAIO P ultraportable revealed — Chicklet keyboard, check. Tiny pointing nub, check. Looks like this is Sony's Vaio P series ultraportable on display at CES. By on display we mean, on display as these shots were taken off the display monitors here at CES.
Discussion:
CrunchGear, SlashGear, Liliputing, Sony Insider, DisplayBlog, Electronista, Mobility Site, techeblog.com and Obsessable
Guardian:
The shape of things to come — A self-confessed ‘pretty unlikely early adopter’, the digital guru Clay Shirky still proved to be uncannily prescient about the impact of the web - which is why Tom Teodorczuk is getting his media forecast for 2009 — Clay Shirky, with his bald head and composed manner …
Om Malik / GigaOM:
WebEx on Your iPhone, Finally — If I had to name one collaboration application that I to use on an almost daily basis, with the exception of Google Docs, my answer would be Cisco's WebEx. A lot of companies make pitches to me using WebEx. Despite its patchy performance on the Mac …
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Michael Hirschorn / The Atlantic Online:
End Times — VIRTUALLY ALL THE predictions about the death of old media have assumed a comfortingly long time frame for the end of print—the moment when, amid a panoply of flashing lights, press conferences, and elegiac reminiscences, the newspaper presses stop rolling and news goes entirely digital.
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Jack Shafer / Slate:How Newspapers Tried to Invent the Web
Discussion:
Venture Chronicles, Scripting News, BuzzMachine, Signal to Noise, Beyond Search, Susan Mernit's Blog and yelvington.com
The Boy Genius / Boy Genius Report:
T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8900 makes its way into stores, Feb. 11th release — Yes, yes, the rumors about the T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8900 release being moved up to February 11th is true. One of our T-Mobile ninjas just sent us in some pictures of the Curve 8900 in their retail store.
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Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Pandora Radio 2.0 Lands On The iPhone Tonight — Pandora Radio, the personalized internet radio service that has remained among the most popular iPhone apps on the iTunes App Store since its inception in July (and that I've previously called the iPhone's killer app), will be releasing its most significant update yet later today.
Discussion:
VentureBeat, Webware.com, Gizmodo, greg hughes, Lifehacker, iPhone Buzz, Gizmodo Australia and Edible Apple
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Here Come The 12 Inch Netbooks, And Intel Isn't Happy About It — 12 inch Netbooks are coming. Dell has the Inspiron Mini 12, Samsung will unveil its 12 inch netbook model to the U.S. shortly, and more are coming. And Intel isn't happy about this at all. — In fact, the whole Netbook market may be making them nervous.
Discussion:
CrunchGear
Reuters:
Apple disappoints-no Jobs, big news at Macworld — (Refiles to delete extraneous words in paragraphs one and three) (Adds analyst comment, product details) — Apple Inc (AAPL.O) said on Tuesday it was dropping copy protection from songs sold on the Internet and debuted its slimmest 17-inch laptop yet …
Discussion:
MacDailyNews, jkOnTheRun, Digital Daily, Technologizer, Reuters, Tech Central, The Tech Report and TUAW
RELATED:
Kim Zetter / Threat Level:
Weak Password Brings ‘Happiness’ to Twitter Hacker — An 18-year-old hacker with a history of celebrity pranks has admitted to Monday's hijacking of multiple high-profile Twitter accounts, including President-Elect Barack Obama's, and the official feed for Fox News.
Dave Zatz / Zatz Not Funny!:
TiVo Beefs Up Search Functionality — Later today, broadband-connected TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD subscribers will be treated to a revamped search experience. And, marking a first, TiVo is finally taking widescreen televisions seriously with a high-def interface utilizing that extra real estate.
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:
Google Trends Features ASCII Art Of 9/11 — A reader tipped us off to how ASCII art of an airplane is showing up in the number two position at Google Trends. When we first looked ourselves, we thought the image was that of an airplane approaching a landing strip.
Declan McCullagh / CNET News:
Obama picks RIAA's favorite lawyer for a top Justice post — As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama won applause from legal adversaries of the recording industry. Stanford law professor Larry Lessig, the doyen of the “free culture” movement, endorsed the Illinois senator, as did Google CEO Eric Schmidt and even the Pirate Party.
Discussion:
TeleRead
Jose Martinez / NY Daily News:
Model Liskula Cohen sues Google over blogger's ‘skank’ comment — A Vogue cover girl is suing Google in an attempt to unmask the blogger who trashed her as a “skank” and an “old hag.” — Liskula Cohen, a blond beauty who has modeled for Giorgio Armani and Versace, made headlines last year …
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
Stevenote? Here's Your Stevenote. Or, More Specifically, Your Woznote. — Call Steve Wozniak the anti-Steve Jobs. He's far nerdier than Jobs ever was; he's not a polished presenter; he has a zillion passions beyond Apple (Segway Polo, anyone?); and nobody's ever going to spend any time worrying that he's looking gaunt.
BBC:
Record high for videogaming sales — Sales of videogames in the UK hit an all time high of 82.8m in 2008, figures from the industry trade body show. — The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) said that consumers spent £4.03bn on video game hardware and software.
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
Report: PC makers to provide free Vista-to Win-7 upgrades starting July 1 — In yet another indicator as to the progress of Windows 7, the Tech ARP site reported that Microsoft plans to allow PC makers to offer customers who buy Windows Vista machines as of July 1 free upgrades to Windows 7 once it ships.
Discussion:
Microsoft Pri0, Computerworld, InfoWorld, OSNews, One Microsoft Way, Brier Dudley's blog and GottaBeMobile.com
Mark Wilson / Gizmodo:
Asus T91: Your 1-inch Thick Convertible Eee PC — The Asus T91 is an intriguing netbook from Asus. Just 2lbs in weight, it features an 8.9" convertible touchscreen display and Atom processor. Pricing/availability are yet unannounced.
RobK / Mobile Industry Review:
New HTC mobile gets leaked by reseller — Popular mobile phone online retailer Expansys has opened up pre-ordering on a new HTC mobile, before the High Tech Computer Corporation has even publically announced it let alone confirmed it actually exists. — Brought to our attention by Cellpassion …
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
Apple's Brilliant Video Engineer: Anonymous No More — My favorite moment at this year's Macworld Expo keynote had nothing to do with any of the products that were unveiled-it was was about the unveiling of a person. — At last year's Macworld Expo keynote, Steve Jobs waxed rhapsodic …
Ryan Kim / The Technology Chronicles:
CES09: Powermat looks to charge your gadgets wirelessly — One of my favorite items from CES last year was WildCharge's wireless charging set up, which allowed you to power up gadgets without actually plugging them in. You just plopped them on a charging pad and away you go.
