Top Items:
Microsoft TechNet:
Welcome to the Windows 7 Beta Customer Preview Program — Test Windows 7 Beta in your lab environment — Stay informed on updates and resources — Windows 7 is... the next release of the Windows client operating system, built on the secure foundation of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.
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Emil Protalinski / One Microsoft Way:
Windows 7 public beta is available now — As Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer promised at CES 2009 during his preshow keynote, the Windows 7 beta is now available to the public for download. It is only available to the first 2.5 million people who download it, so make sure to get your hands on it as soon as you can!
Michael Calore / Epicenter:
Windows 7 Public Beta Will Be Available at 12 Noon PST — [Update! The Microsoft Partner Program website has the official time: “Partners with a MSDN or TechNet subscription can download Windows 7 Beta now. All other partners can download Windows 7 Beta starting January 9, 2009 at 12:00 P.M. Pacific Time.”
Ina Fried / Beyond Binary:
Web site problems as Windows 7 beta hits — Microsoft's Windows Web site will be the place to go to get the Windows 7 beta later on Friday. At the moment though, many users are encountering just error messages when they try to reach the site. — This was the message I got—"HTTP Error 503.
Scott Gilbertson / Epicenter:
Chrome 2.0 Preview Means Mac, Linux Versions Coming Soon — Google has rolled out an alpha preview of the next major revision for its Chrome web browser. Those undaunted by the current alpha status of 2.0 can get an early taste of what's to come in Chrome.
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Adrian Covert / Gizmodo:
Palm Pre Preview: Simply Amazing — Hey, I just had some time to play with the Palm Pre, maybe the most important handset to be announced in two years, and here's what it was like to use it. Updates coming. — The Palm Pre is a lot smaller than I initially thought it would be.
Discussion:
jkOnTheRun, Technologizer, MediaFile, DSLreports, Gadget Lab, dailywireless.org, textually.org, Nerd World, Internet Evolution, Zef Hemel.com, InformationWeek, techblog.dallasnews.com, Wall Street Journal, PC World, MobileCrunch, techeblog.com, Paul Kedrosky's …, Mac Soda and Open Sources
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Nilay Patel / Engadget:
Dell Adamo hands-on! (Update: now with video!) — Looks like our puppy-dog eyes have served us well yet again — we just got to spend some time with Dell's ultra-hot Adamo. It's really small, less than an inch thick, we'd say — and although we didn't measure, we'd say that 13-inch screen rumor was spot on.
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Erica Ogg / Crave: The gadget blog:
Dell officially unveils Adamo, Mini 10 — A model shows off Dell's new luxury notebook called Adamo. — (Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET Networks) — LAS VEGAS—Dell trotted out a fashion model to show off the newest addition to its notebook lineup, but beyond explaining the name of Adamo, gave no further details.
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 …
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Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:Is Yahoo CEO Candidate Carol Bartz Any Good? (YHOO)
Discussion:
p2pnet
Amazon Web Services Blog:
Manage Amazon EC2 With New Web-Based AWS Management Console — Today we're announcing the availability of the Web-based AWS Management Console, which in this first release provides management of your Amazon EC2 environment via a point-and-click interface. A number of management tools already exist …
Discussion:
GigaOM, ReadWriteWeb, CloudAve, Data Center Knowledge, PC World, CNET News and Between the Lines
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 …
Discussion:
Todd Watson, Silicon Alley Insider, Unwired View, GPS Obsessed, CrunchGear and BloggingStocks
Richard Waters / Financial Times:
Microsoft's quest to beat Google — The consumer electronics and technology world is used to starting the year with a landmark presentation from one of the industry's leading figures. — That role has traditionally fallen to Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, whose annual appearances …
Discussion:
Between the Lines, 9 to 5 Mac, Silicon Alley Insider, CrunchGear, Gizmodo and MacDailyNews
Ed Sutherland / Cult of Mac:
Apple Ditching MacWorld in Favor of CES? — Apple is ditching MacWorld to instead exhibit at CES next year instead, according to one source. — The source, citing “friends who work at Apple,” insisted the company is ditching MacWorld because it will “go large” at CES, which typically runs concurrently with MacWorld in early January.
Discussion:
Infinite Loop, CNET News, Gizmodo, The Apple Core, New York Times, Obsessable and Computerworld Blogs
Matt Asay / The Open Road:
Goldman Sachs: IT-spending growth to halt — Investment bank Goldman Sachs just released its “Americas: 2009 Software Outlook” report, and it promises near-term pain for an already struggling technology industry: … (Credit: Goldman Sachs) — In other words, things are going to get worse before they get better.
Discussion:
OStatic blogs
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
YouTube Is Changing How We Think About Video — from the it's-not-just-for-presenting-a- story dept — Whenever we talk about changes impacting the movie industry or the television industry, there's always someone who chimes in with claims about “how will we be able to make $200 million movies any more?”
Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM:
Delaying DTV Could Mean Longer Wait for LTE — President-elect Barack Obama is asking Congress to delay the transition that will force the nation's TV broadcasts to switch from analog to digital signals. Depending on how long the delay is, it could affect the deployment of several services destined …
Discussion:
PC World, Consumers Union, InformationWeek, FierceWireless, DSLreports, dailywireless.org and Washington Post
The Ask.com Blog:
Semantic Search Technology Advances from Ask.com — For millions of everyday queries, there is one, simple, direct answer the user is seeking, but the current generation of search relegates consumers to sifting through links and then searching through the Websites themselves to find the answer.
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:
CES: A Chat With Cisco CEO John Chambers — Cisco (CSCO) CEO John Chambers just might be one the most careful executives in the Valley in the way he talks to the press; in a brief chat with Tech Trader Daily at a media reception last night, he didn't give away much about his views on the state of the economy or the current quarter.
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.
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
Nate Mook / BetaNews:
Dell follows Apple with LED flat panel monitors of its own — Dell on Thursday took the wraps off a new line of flat panel displays that feature LED backlighting and consume less than half the power of comparable monitors, the company claims. But the G2210 and G2410 use lower-quality screens …
Mark Ward / BBC:
Do-it-yourself 3D movies at home — BBC News technology correspondent, Las Vegas — 3D films may soon no longer be the sole province of movie studios with big budgets. — At CES, two firms have been showing off ways for home users to make and share their own 3D films.
