Top Items:
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 …
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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.
Discussion:
Scobleizer, Zef Hemel.com, Smartphones and Cell Phones, GottaBeMobile.com, Tech Trader Daily, Bits, MobileDevicesToday, FierceWireless, Open Sources, Ajaxian, The Toybox, techblog.dallasnews.com, GMSV, Guardian, HackingCough, Engadget, Technologizer, GPS Obsessed and Silicon Alley Insider
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 …
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 …
Discussion:
Download Squad, The Register, TECH.BLORGE.com, Google Blogoscoped, OSNews, Neowin.net, Lifehacker and ReadWriteWeb
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Wall Street Journal:
Yahoo Nears End of CEO Search — Yahoo Inc. is in the final stretch of its search for a chief executive officer, and a decision could come as soon as next week, said people close to the Internet company. — Among candidates still under consideration is Carol Bartz, the former chief executive officer …
Discussion:
Silicon Alley Insider, paidContent.org, CNET News, Between the Lines and Search Engine Journal
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 …
Datamation:
How China's ‘50 Cent Army’ Could Wreck Web 2.0 — Two years ago, Chinese President Hu Jintao called on Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members to “assert supremacy over online public opinion, raise the level and study the art of online guidance and actively use new technologies to increase the strength of positive propaganda.”
Discussion:
Beyond Search
Stephanie Clifford / New York Times:
For BlackBerry, Obama's Devotion Is Priceless — This week, Michael Phelps signed a deal worth more than $1 million to advertise Mazda in China. Jerry Seinfeld earned a reported $10 million to appear in Microsoft's recent television campaign. — But the person who may be the biggest celebrity pitchman …
Joel Hruska / Ars Technica:
AMD's Phenom II could mark company turnaround — AMD's 45nm Phenom II (codenamed Deneb) has the dubious honor of being what may be the most immediately anticipated processor, ever. Even before AMD had finished shoveling its original Phenom out the door, the company was talking up 45nm Shanghai …
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 …
Discussion:
Latest Geek Stuff, Skype Journal, GPS Obsessed, AndroidGuys, jkOnTheRun and The Tech Report
Lester Haines / The Register:
‘Kidnapped’ child tracked by mobile phone and Street View — Cops cuff grandmother following tech dragnet — A “kidnapped” nine-year-old Massachusetts girl is safely back at home after a team effort by an enterprising local cop and deputy fire chief which exploited the signal from her mobile phone …
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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Eric Eldon / VentureBeat:
Stop chatting! Facebook shuts up IM integration with Meebo — 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 off …
Jacob Schulman / Engadget:
Coby's sub-$200 netbooks handled at CES — Remember those sub-$100 Coby netbooks that we deemed a hoax? Well, it looks like they might not be as hoax-y as we originally thought. Here at CES, Coby has a bunch of base models on the show floor in a myriad of color combos.
John Timmer / Ars Technica:
Report: Gmail about one-third as expensive as hosted e-mail — What does it cost to host an e-mail account? It seems like a simple question, but a remarkable number of enterprises surveyed by Forrester had no idea of how to answer that question. A new report by the research company …
Discussion:
PC World
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.
Discussion:
CNET News
Matt Richtel / Bits:
Microsoft: Expect Fewer Phones With Windows — Microsoft says it is responding to the fierce competition in the phone market by retooling and beefing up its mobile operating system-and by putting it on fewer devices. — Todd Peters, the vice president of marketing for the Windows Mobile division …
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 …
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) …
Owen Thomas / Gawker:
Liberal Blogosphere Proves Trivially Easy to Destroy — Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one. After hackers took down SoapBlox, a one-man blog-hosting company which runs local political websites, a silenced liberal commentariat found out how true that was.
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 …
Jon Stokes / Ars Technica:
Palm strikes back with new OS, pré handset at CES — At a CES presentation today, Palm announced its next-generation smart phone platform, called webOS. “It was built with developers in mind,” said Palm CEO Ed Colligan in describing the new platform.
Discussion:
Gadget Lab
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 …
