Top Items:
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Google Ends Google Video Uploads, Shutters Notebook, Catalog Search, Dodgeball & Jaiku — Google's announced they're closing or ceasing development of a variety of products as part of an already continuing move to keep efforts focused on other products with greater usage.
Discussion:
Webware.com, The Open Road, Between the Lines, Silicon Alley Insider, Network World, FierceMobileContent, TechCrunch, Boy Genius Report, Local Mobile Search, ReadWriteWeb, paidContent.org, HighTouch, Google Book Search Blog, Moonwatcher, AppScout, Twitterrati, broadstuff, CenterNetworks and /Message
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Vic Gundotra / Google Code Blog:
Changes for Jaiku and Farewell to Dodgeball and Mashup Editor — Google has long believed that thoughtful iteration is the best way to build useful products for our users. As part of that process, we are always looking for ways to better focus our teams on the products that can have the most impact.
Laszlo Bock / The Official Google Blog:
Changes to recruiting — As we made clear during our last quarterly earnings call in October, Google is still hiring but at a reduced rate. Given the state of the economy, we recognized that we needed fewer people focused on hiring. — Our first step to address this was to wind down almost …
Discussion:
The Register, MediaMemo, Silicon Alley Insider, Wall Street Journal, Search Engine Watch, PC World and ClickZ
Raj Krishnan / Notebook Blog:
Stopping development on Google Notebook — At Google, we're constantly working to innovate and improve our products so people can easily find and manage information. At times though, we have to decide where to focus our efforts and which technologies we expect will yield the most benefit to users in the long run.
MG Siegler / VentureBeat:
Google's new years revolution: Six products slashed or maimed — Well, Google picked a good day to announce layoffs and kill a bunch of products. While everyone is busy reading about Apple chief executive Steve Jobs' leave of absence for health related issues, Google has more or less killed six of its products.
Discussion:
Guardian
Bloomberg:
Tim Cook: the man in Steve Job's shoes — Apple Inc. founder and chief executive Officer Steve Jobs is prone to fits of passion, table pounding and screaming. — Tim Cook, who will oversee the company while Jobs takes medical leave, never raises his voice. Still, Cook's management style won't be a shift for employees.
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Apple:Apple Media Advisory
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ZDNet Government, Apple 2.0, Forbes, Cartoon Barry Blog, Technovia, dot.life blog, The Apple Core, Apple Watch, TUAW, Music Ally, Neowin.net, PhoneDog.com Cell …, PC World, I4U News, Gawker, Fast Company, geeksugar, Silicon Alley Insider, Digits, Computerworld, Gadget Lab, Digital Daily, The Ponderings of Woodrow, MacDailyNews, VatorNews and Contentinople
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Fake Steve Jobs Banned From CNBC* — Newsweek's Dan Lyons — “Fake Steve Jobs” — is banned from CNBC because of his appearance on the cable network earlier this evening, a source close to the situation tells us. — In a special report about Steve Jobs' stepping down from day-to-day operations at Apple …
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Matt Buchanan / Gizmodo:
On Apple Reporting: Fake Steve Rips CNBC a New One — When this rumor broke we got raked across the coals by Jimbo over sources. Wrongly. UPDATE: Video clip of Fake Steve Jobs asking Jim to apologize on CNBC. Now he's banned. — Here's Dan Lyons, AKA, Fake Steve Jobs on CNBC …
Gartner:
Gartner Says In the Fourth Quarter of 2008 the PC Industry Suffered Its Worst Shipment Growth Rate Since 2002 — In the fourth quarter of 2008, the worldwide PC industry suffered its worst growth rate since 2002 as worldwide shipments totaled 78.1 million units, a 1.1 percent increase …
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WebOS Arena:
Best Buy to be Palm Pre's exclusive retailer — We received news from a credible source that BestBuy Mobile will be getting an exclusive deal with Sprint for the Palm Pre release. For 60 days the number one consumer electronics retailer will be the only place where you can get your hands on the Palm Pre, besides Sprint of course.
Discussion:
IntoMobile, Phone Arena, Electronista, Homotron.net, Gearlog, Gizmodo, CrunchGear, SlashGear, SlashPhone, GPS Obsessed and Unwired View
Rebecca Buckman / Forbes:
The Exacting Standards Of Carol Bartz — The turnaround at automated design software firm Autodesk gives hints of how Bartz will manage Yahoo! — When Carol Bartz swept into the chief executive's suite at tech firm Autodesk in 1992, she took over a classic, chaotic engineers' paradise.
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Computerworld Blogs
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Dusan Belic / IntoMobile:
PerfectStorm theme makes your iPhone look like the BlackBerry Storm — Here's a cool theme for BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM)-to-iPhone switchers. The so called PerfectStorm brings the BlackBerry Storm look and feel to the Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iPhone. And while I don't personally like Storm's icons …
Discussion:
BerryReview.com
Nick Wingfield / Wall Street Journal:
Microsoft Is Exploring Job Cuts — Microsoft Corp. is seriously exploring significant work force reductions that could be announced as early as next week, in a sign that the weak economy is prompting tough decisions even at one of the steadiest ships in the technology industry.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
How Warner Music Killed Facebook Music — Facebook's ongoing effort to launch a free streaming music service is stalled, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation. The company was close to a deal that would bring free streaming music from three of the four big labels …
Discussion:
p2pnet
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Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
Judge Approves Public Broadcast Of RIAA Lawsuit — Harvard Law prof. Charlie Nesson has been leading a case challenging the constitutionality of a core part of the RIAA's continuing lawsuit strategy. Late last year, he asked a judge if the trial itself could be broadcast live over the internet …
Amanda Lenhart / Pew Internet:
Adults and Social Network Websites — The share of adult internet users who have a profile on an online social network site has more than quadrupled in the past four years — from 8% in 2005 to 35% now, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project's December 2008 tracking survey.
