Top Items:
Matt Richtel / New York Times:
Palm Unveils iPhone Competitor, the Pre — LAS VEGAS — Seeking to revive its sharply fallen fortunes and produce a successor to its aging Treo device, Palm on Thursday unveiled a new smartphone, the Pre, and an exclusive partnership with Sprint to distribute it.
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Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Palm Unveils Its iPhone Rival: The Pre. Don't Expect to Buy One Cheap. — Palm used to own the smartphone market, but now it's barely hanging on amid competition from Research In Motion's (RIMM) BlackBerry line and Apple's iPhone. Today the company unveils its long-awaited comeback plan …
Discussion:
Tech Beat, CNET News, BoomTown, Silicon Alley Insider, Between the Lines, Associated Press, Gizmodo, Digital Daily, Gawker, SlashGear, Gearlog, SlashPhone and IntoMobile
Nilay Patel / Engadget:
Palm announces webOS platform — Palm just got official with its new webOS platform, running on the new Palm Pre. According to the company, anyone who knows CSS, HTML and XML will be able to develop for the OS without having to learn any new languages — sounds kind of like it's a jacked …
Steve O'Hear / last100:
Have we just witnessed the second coming of Palm? — Ex-Engadget editor Ryan Block put it best when he said that Palm's much anticipated CES announcement “will either mark the beginning of the company's second coming — or the beginning of the end.” Thankfully, for those like me who were rooting for Palm …
Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:
Palm Pre in-depth impressions, video, and huge hands-on gallery — We just sat down with Palm for a more in-depth look at the device, and here are our takeaways. First off, the software and hardware they're showing right now aren't the final versions. They're updating and tweaking as we speak …
Discussion:
Silicon Alley Insider, iLounge, Ben.geek.nz, Switched, Tech Check with Jim Goldman and Beyond Binary
Alex Chitu / Google Operating System:
Google Chrome 2.0 Pre-Beta — Google Chrome's development is high-paced and version numbers are not very significant, but it's weird to see a pre-beta release of Chrome 2.0, four months after Chrome 0.2. There are many new things in Chrome 2.0: — * form autocomplete …
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Jason D. O'Grady / The Apple Core:
Four core iPhones and firmware 3.0 — One of the most interesting rumors I've been tracking here at Macworld Expo in San Francisco surrounds the mysterious four-core iPhone. While the current iPhone has (roughly) the processing power of the Sony PSP, an upgraded four core iPhone …
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Sam Diaz / Between the Lines:
Reasons to skip Microsoft's Windows 7 Beta download — As many of you know, I'm a hardcore Mac guy - but I wasn't always this way. My experiences with Windows Vista sent me over the edge, prompting me to add the “hardcore” next to my “Mac guy” title. Still, I was excited to hear …
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Caroline McCarthy / The Social:
Delete 10 Facebook friends, get a free Whopper — Facebook's developer platform has been used for a zillion marketing campaigns so far, but this one is actually dead-on hilarious. — Fast-food chain Burger King has created “Whopper Sacrifice,” a Facebook app that will give you a coupon …
Discussion:
VentureBeat, Neatorama, All Facebook, Marc's Voice, AppScout, kevinbriody.net, Maximum PC all, Computerworld and techblog.dallasnews.com
Benjamin J. Romano / Microsoft Pri0:
CES: Ford Sync, a Ford feature with lots of local hands involved — LAS VEGAS — The Sync in-vehicle information and entertainment is one thing that's gone right for Ford as automakers have struggled mightily with the recession. The company is rolling out a third generation of Sync …
Discussion:
TechFlash
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Chaim / About Skype:
Skype Launches on Android Platform and more than 100 Java-Enabled Mobile Phones — Updated Beta version of Skype offered for millions worldwide to load onto their mobile phones — LAS VEGAS (CES BOOTH: HILTON #5121), January 8, 2009 - Skype today announced the release of a lite version of Skype&trade …
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
MySpace And Wall Street Journal Partner (?) to Send One MySpacer To Davos — MySpace, like YouTube, is holding a contest to send one MySpace user to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland later this month. — MySpace has teamed with the Wall Street Journal on the contest …
Richard Waters / Financial Times:
Microsoft turns up heat on Yahoo — Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive officer, has increased the pressure on Yahoo to hand over control of its search business to his software company. — Speaking in an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Ballmer set the stage for a new showdown nearly …
Joanna Glasner / PE Hub Blog:
Startup Valuations Dropped 24% in Q4 — VCs commonly note that it takes longer for valuations to correct among private companies than among public ones. But the lag-time might not be that long, judging by fourth quarter data from Angelsoft, a software company that tracks valuation trends.
Mark Wilson / Gizmodo:
NIMble: $300 Android Desktop Phone Designed by iPhone Engineer — We've all heard about the prospects of Android in the mobile-phone market, but the NIMble is an Android phone meant for actual desktops. — By Touch Revolution, the NIMble features a 7-inch multitouch screen (800x400) …
Nate Elliott / The Forrester Blog …:
The Easiest Way to a First-Page Ranking on Google — If you're like most interactive marketers, you probably don't think much about search optimizing your online video content. Less than 20% of marketers tell us they insert keywords into the filenames of the videos on their site …
Discussion:
Music Think Tank …
David Phillip Oster / Google LatLong:
Flying Through Google Earth at Macworld — This year for Macworld I decided to create a program that allows people to “surf” any region on the Earth's surface using a Nintendo Wii Balance Board and the Google Earth API. To do this, I used the Google Earth Browser Plug-in with a Javascript API.
Open:
Announcing the Congress API — On Tuesday, members of the 111th Congress convened in Washington. Over the next two years, the 535 men and women of the House and Senate will introduce, consider and vote on a range of issues, from an economic stimulus package to confirmation of President-elect Barack Obama's cabinet nominees.
Ina Fried / Beyond Binary:
Ballmer: Google, Google, the economy, Google — LAS VEGAS—Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer arrived at the Consumer Electronics Show with his usual optimism, but he also brings a clear sense of reality: The tech industry is in for some rough times. — “The fact of the matter is, this is not a downturn, this is a bit of a reset.
Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
Obama Digs In for His BlackBerry — WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama has yet to relent, but he conceded that he might be losing the battle to keep his independent lifeline to the outside world. — “I'm still clinging to my BlackBerry,” Mr. Obama said Wednesday. “They're going to pry it out of my hands.”
Eric Eldon / VentureBeat:
Stop chatting! Meebo forced to remove Facebook IM integration — Instant message aggregator Meebo integrated MySpace's and Facebook's chat services last month. It let Meebo users chat with friends on either site from within Meebo. Now Facebook is making Meebo turn its connection of …
Discussion:
TechCrunch
Joseph Tartakoff / The Microsoft Blog:
Microsoft “actively” considering rebranding Live Search — LAS VEGAS — Microsoft is “actively” considering rebranding its Live search engine, a spokeswoman confirmed this morning. — The company has trademarked the Kumo brand name for search-related purposes and registered several Kumo domain names.
Google Watch:
Is Google Scaring Partners into Microsoft's Arms? — Is Google's hunger for more Internet users biting it in the behind? — That's the question lurking in my mind today as I mull Microsoft's win of Verizon and Dell as new distributors for Live Search, deals Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced …
Kim Hart / Washington Post:
Obama Urges Delay In Digital TV Switch — President-elect Barack Obama's transition team today asked key members of Congress to consider delaying the nation's switch to digital television scheduled for Feb. 17, saying there is “insufficient support” for the problems consumers will experience during the shut-off of analog signals.
Discussion:
Broadcasting & Cable, eWeek, CNET News, NewTeeVee, DailyTech, Techdirt, Phil Windley's Technometria and Gearlog
Matt Buchanan / Gizmodo:
Sony Cybershot G3: World's First Camera You Can Surf the Web On — The Cybershot G3 is a camera so special Sony Sir Howard Stringer himself did the honors: It's the world's first Wi-Fi camera with a built-in browser. — GALLERY — END Besides stealing your neighbor's Wi-Fi …
Discussion:
Engadget, PC World, Wi-Fi Networking News, Electronista, Gizmodo Australia, techeblog.com and Obsessable
