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!
Discussion:
Hardware 2.0, Electronista, Computerworld, the Econsultancy blog, Lifehacker, I4U News and Maximum PC all
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.”
Discussion:
ReadWriteWeb, Intel Software Network Blogs, Full of I.T., Gizmodo Australia and Lifehacker
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
How to get the Win 7 public Beta bits — Based on all the queries I'm getting this morning, Microsoft might not have a problem getting the up-to 2.5 million public testers for the Windows 7 Beta release they are allowing. But the testers migh find themselves having a heck of a time getting the bits …
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.
Discussion:
Silicon Alley Insider, Between the Lines, AppScout, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, PC World and Asa Dotzler
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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.
Philipp Lenssen / Google Blogoscoped:
Google's New Favicon (Again) — Google changed their favicon once more (the last change happened in May 2008). Above you can see the recent history of this icon showing in the address bar and elsewhere. The new design consists of four color areas - blue, red, green and yellow - overlaid by a lowercase white “g”.
Tom Krazit / CNET News:
Apple at CES? Unlikely — A Stevenote at CES? Don't hold your breath. — (Credit: James Martin/CNET News) — A report that Apple is planning a visit to CES next year had eyes rolling Friday morning from Las Vegas to Cupertino. — Cult of Mac reports, citing a source with …
Discussion:
Electronista
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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, CloudAve, ReadWriteWeb, InfoWorld, Data Center Knowledge, Pulse2, CNET News and Between the Lines
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 …
RELATED:
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:Is Yahoo CEO Candidate Carol Bartz Any Good? (YHOO)
Discussion:
p2pnet
Clint Ecker / Ars Technica:
The pre's got Mojo: a developer speaks about Palm's new SDK — Thursday Palm announced its next-generation foray into mobile computing with a one-two hardware/software punch at CES 2009. The company talked about its new mobile phone platform called pr that combines impressive hardware …
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:
9 to 5 Mac, Between the Lines, Silicon Alley Insider, Rolling Stone, Gizmodo, Gawker, CrunchGear and MacDailyNews
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:
GMSV, Gawker, GPS Obsessed, CrunchGear, Unwired View, Todd Watson, BloggingStocks, Silicon Alley Insider and New York Times
Brooke Crothers / CNET News:
CES: Wireless USB 1.1 coming, devices appear — LAS VEGAS—At the Consumer Electronics Show, wireless USB devices made an appearance en masse. — What does that mean exactly? Wireless USB notebooks, docking stations, hard drives. And more consumer-centric devices like Wireless USB speakers, displays, and USB phones.
Discussion:
SlashGear
John Cook / TechFlash:
Business wiki AboutUs lands $2.5 million from Voyager Capital — Portland-based AboutUs, which today is announcing a $2.5 million venture round from Voyager Capital, has something going for it that many Internet startups can only dream of. Last year, the 3-year-old business wiki turned a profit …
Jemima Kiss / Guardian:
Fatal police shooting posted on YouTube — The footage is shaky and low quality, with chaotic shouts and protests from onlookers at a subway station in San Francisco's east bay. But it clearly shows three policeman roughly handling a group of young men - including one who is pinned to the ground by two officers and shot in the back.
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Google, Facebook, MySpace and More Meet to Talk Activity Streams — Last night at the offices of blogging software company Six Apart, engineers and social media specialists from a number of companies large and small met to discuss proposed standards for the future of “activity streams” …
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Skype For Android No Threat To Wireless Carriers — Yet (GOOG, EBAY) — Our first thought when we heard that eBay's (EBAY) Internet phone company Skype was making an app for Google's (GOOG) Android cellphones: Yikes, wonder what Android carrier T-Mobile (DT) thinks of that.
Discussion:
NEWSFACTOR, Boy Genius Report, Yahoo! Finance, dailywireless.org and Disruptive Telephony
Richard MacManus / ReadWriteWeb:
Report: Community Platforms Market Led by Jive Software and Telligent — Forrester released a report today about the ‘community platforms’ market. They evaluated nine vendors, concluding that Jive Software and Telligent Systems “lead the pack because of their strong administrative and platform features.”
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
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, FierceWireless, InformationWeek, dailywireless.org, DSLreports and TV Decoder
Associated Press:
Verizon Wireless completes $5.9B Alltel buyout — LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Verizon Wireless said Friday it has completed its $5.9 billion purchase of Little Rock, Ark.-based Alltel Corp., making Verizon the nation's largest mobile phone company. — Verizon said Friday it will also take on $22.2 billion in Alltel debt.
Dawn Kawamoto / CNET News:
Dell acquires Allin for $12 million — Dell has acquired Microsoft IT consulting company Allin in a $12 million stock deal. — The acquisition, announced Friday, aims to bolster Dell's consulting work in the areas of designing and implementing scalable networks and application architectures …
John Gittelsohn / OC Business News:
Broadcom billionaire loses fight to keep e-mail on drug use secret — A 2002 e-mail in which billionaire Henry T. Nicholas III says he has been on a drug binge that left him “not fully functioning” to run his company, Broadcom Corp., can be admitted as evidence in the criminal case against the Newport Coast tech mogul.
