Top Items:
Wall Street Journal:
Yahoo to Name Bartz as CEO — Yahoo Inc. is expected to announce that Carol Bartz, former chief executive of software company Autodesk Inc., has accepted an offer to become the Internet company's next CEO, according to people familiar with the situation. — A spokesman for Yahoo, Sunnyvale, Calif., declined to comment.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Digits, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Search Engine Land, The Register, CNET News, Between the Lines, paidContent.org, Technologizer, TechFlash, Search Engine Journal, Boy Genius Report, InformationWeek, Tech Trader Daily, TheNextWeb.com, Microsoft Pri0, Alice Hill's Real Tech News, WebProNews, Mashable!, AppScout, John Battelle's Searchblog and Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim
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Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Bartz to Be Named Yahoo CEO: Now What's Next? — It looks like Carol Bartz will be taking on the thankless role as new Yahoo CEO. — Sources close to the situation told BoomTown-which had first named the former Autodesk CEO the top pick last week-that Bartz (pictured here) …
Discussion:
Tech Beat, Digital Daily, MediaMemo, Silicon Alley Insider, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Jobwire, SarahLacy.com, Furrier.org, Scobleizer and /Message
Fred / A VC:
This News Made Me Smile A Mile Wide — Like I do every morning, I logged into Techmeme to find this news: — That's an image, sorry about that, here's the link to the WSJ story, but I wanted you all to see how I heard the news. — This is so great on so many levels. Let's start with the first reason.
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DigiTimes:
TSMC and UMC likely to receive orders for iPhone nano, says paper — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) will likely land chip orders for Apple's low-cost entry-level iPhone nano, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) reported today.
Discussion:
VentureBeat, Infinite Loop, Electronista, The Apple Core, IntoMobile, MacRumors, CrunchGear, Crave, iLounge, International Business Times, Tech Trader Daily, iPhone Buzz, GPS Obsessed, The iPhone Blog, TUAW, iPhone-Hacks.com, The Tech Report, Edible Apple, Insanely Great Mac, Pocket-lint.co.uk, MobileCrunch, The Toybox and Unwired View
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Microsoft:
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-001 - Critical — Vulnerabilities in SMB Could Allow Remote Code Execution (958687) — Version: 1.0 — General Information — Executive Summary — This security update resolves several privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Server Message Block (SMB) Protocol.
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Reuters:
Sony may suffer first loss in 14 years — Slumping sales, strong yen expected to weigh on electronics giant's annual results. Stock sinks 9%. — TOKYO (Reuters) — Japan's Sony Corp will likely suffer an annual operating loss of about $1.1 billion, its first such loss in 14 years …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Between the Lines, Electronista, Joystiq, Boy Genius Report, CrunchGear, Engadget, Game|Life and Gearlog
Brian Mastenbrook:
Disclosure of information vulnerability in Safari — I have discovered that Apple's Safari browser is vulnerable to an attack that allows a malicious web site to read files on a user's hard drive without user intervention. This can be used to gain access to sensitive information stored …
Discussion:
Infinite Loop, MacRumors, Obsessable, AppleInsider, MacBlogz, The Mac Observer and jkOnTheRun
Declan McCullagh / CNET News:
Obama's new BlackBerry: The NSA's secure PDA? — President-elect Barack Obama checks his BlackBerry while riding on his campaign bus in Pennsylvania last March. — (Credit: Pete Souza/ Rapport Press ) — Bill Clinton sent only two e-mail messages as president and has yet to pick up the habit.
Raphael Leiteritz / Google LatLong:
New ways to get around with the Transit Layer — I'm pleased to announce the launch of the Transit Layer on Google Maps in more than 50 cities around the world making it easier for citizens and tourists around the globe to access public transportation line information in their cities.
John Cook / TechFlash:
Marchex, Microsoft criticized on mobile advertising techniques — Seattle online advertising company Marchex is among those criticized in a 52-page complaint [PDF] today brought by the Center for Digital Democracy and U.S. Public Interest Research Group that says mobile marketers are using “unfair and deceptive practices.”
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Nate Lanxon / CNET News:
iTunes Plus: Everything you need to know — Apple's iTunes Store is almost completely DRM-free, and will be entirely DRM-free from spring. This means files downloaded from iTunes work on heaps of devices that aren't from Apple. What better way to celebrate the final bullet to the living corpse …
Discussion:
Gizmodo, TeleRead, The Apple Core, blogs.chron.com, CrunchGear, Lifehacker, Slashdot and AppScout
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
New York Court Dismisses Amazon's Objections To Paying State Taxes — Remember the Amazon Tax? Back in April, the New York State legislature passed a bill requiring Amazon to collect taxes from New York State residents even though it doesn't have a physical presence in the state (the normal requirement for retailers).
Discussion:
Ars Technica, Webware.com, TechFlash, Channel Register, WebProNews, Silicon Alley Insider and Gothamist
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Social Networking: Will Facebook Overtake MySpace In The U.S. In 2009? — Year end Comscore numbers for the U.S. audience are out. The first thing we checked? How the major social networks are doing. — Facebook, which became the largest worldwide social network in mid 2008 …
Google Mac Blog:
Search Without Effort: The Quick Search Box — One of our goals at Google is to make your search experience as fluid as possible. While much of our work is focused on Google.com, we're trying to make it just as easy to search outside your browser. — For the last year, we have been working on a new, open-source quick search box.
John C. Dvorak / PC Magazine:
The 30th Anniversary of the (No Good) Spreadsheet App — Spreadsheets have elevated the once lowly bean counter to the executive suite—and enabled him to make some truly horrible decisions. — 2009 marks the 30-year anniversary of the now-ubiquitous spreadsheet program.
Electronista:
Dell said nearing smartphone launch — Dell is getting closer to releasing its long-rumored first smartphone, according to a research note by Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu. Investigations within Dell's supply chain point reportedly indicate that a Dell smartphone is “closer to reality” …
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:
Nvidia Cuts Q4 View; Sees 40%-50% Sequential Rev Drop — Nvidia (NVDA) this morning warned that it now expects revenue for its fiscal fourth quarter ending January 25 to be down 40%-50% sequentially from the fiscal third quarter, due to “further weakness in end-user demand and inventory reductions …
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Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Cable modems to hit 300Mbps with 8-channel bonding — Cable modem speeds are about to zoom a whole lot higher. Thanks to the magic of channel bonding, DOCSIS 3.0 modems will soon be able to reach 300+Mbps—though cable users won't see Internet speeds in that range anytime soon.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
No More Free Jott For You — In August voice-to-text service Jott moved out of beta and added a premium feature for $4/month. Since then, the company says, about 30% of Jott's active users have opted for the premium, no-ads version of the service. — People use it to send voice …
Saul Hansell / Bits:
Can Microsoft Make Windows For a Small World? — The biggest question facing Windows 7 is whether Microsoft can really think small. — When designing Windows Vista, Microsoft put a lot of effort into taking advantage of sophisticated computer hardware, with fancy graphics on the surface and lots of new processing tricks inside.
Discussion:
eWeek
Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:
Mac clone maker claims it bought OS X from Apple — Embattled Psystar says Apple can't tell it what to do with legit copies of the OS — Computerworld) The Mac clone maker being sued by Apple Inc. because it installs Mac OS X on generic Intel-based systems said it bought copies …
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Apple 2.0:
Tracking the iPhone's jagged growth — The rise of the iPhone, like the course of true love, never did run smooth. — Quarterly sales last year varied widely, from a low of 720,000 in June to a high of 6,890,000 in September following the release of the iPhone 3G.
