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Search Advertising Runs into the Recession — By Jessica E. Vascellaro — On Thursday, the public will find out how online search advertising - the biggest chunk of the Internet ad market - weathered the rocky fourth quarter when Google reports its results for the period.
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Report: Search Spending Off 8 Percent In Q4 — While search engine marketing has been somewhat more durable during the recession (to date) than other media, that may not save SEM from negative growth. The Wall Street Journal is reporting on the latest Efficient Frontier search marketing report, set to be released tomorrow.
Discussion:
Beyond Search


Cisco Plans Big Push Into Server Market — SAN JOSE, Calif. — Within the next few months, Cisco Systems, the largest maker of networking equipment, plans to release a product that threatens to shake up the technology industry and put the company on a collision course with traditional partners like Hewlett-Packard and I.B.M.


Change.gov coming to the White House — WASHINGTON (AFP) — At exactly one minute after noon on Tuesday change.gov is coming to the White House. — That's the moment when whitehouse.gov — the website for the past eight years of President George W. Bush — changes hands and the savvy young …
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Belkin Employee Sheds Light On Belkin's Supposedly Dirty Practices — Belkin's alleged, and now confirmed, payola scheme may have been one of the first times we've heard about their shady practices, but an employee of Belkin says it's actually very common. — To summarize the note …


Microsoft set to unveil MobileMe competitor next month — Microsoft is planning to unveil three new mobile services at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona next month. The software giant is aiming to move your mobile data into the cloud and rival Apple's MobileMe service.
Discussion:
VentureBeat, Electronista, TechCrunch, TechCrunch UK, Silicon Alley Insider, Boy Genius Report, Gizmodo, One Microsoft Way, Engadget Mobile, Phone Arena, Mobilewhack.com, SlashGear, IntoMobile, GPS Obsessed, Mobile Tech Addicts, Obsessable, wmpoweruser.com, Technologizer, TechSpot, MobileCrunch and Boing Boing Gadgets


TechCrunch Tablet Update: Prototype B — It's time for an update on the progress we've made on the low cost touch screen tablet that I first wrote about in July 2008 when I asked for a dead simple touch screen web tablet that boots right to the browser. Here's our first post on the tablet …
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Engadget, Obsessable, Gizmodo, NEWSFACTOR, TECH.BLORGE.com, The Mobile Gadgeteer, jkOnTheRun, Guardian, VoIP & Gadgets Blog, Liliputing, SlashGear, Scobleizer, GPS Obsessed, CloudAve, last100, Boy Genius Report, TomsTechBlog.com, Ewan Spence's All New Musings, Boing Boing Gadgets, dailywireless.org, Gadgetreview, Elliott C. Back, Electronista, Zoli's Blog, Silicon Alley Insider, atmaspheric, eHomeUpgrade, Scripting News, GottaBeMobile.com and Slashdot


Amazon Drops Xbox Live Price to $30 — Make what you will of Sony's embryonic PlayStation Home, the PS3's online matchmaking service ultimately costs nothing, while Microsoft's Xbox Live equivalent reaches into your wallet and extracts $50 annually. It's all a bit strange, really …


New Features to the Pre: Oops I'm late and Automatic Calendar Context — We've already posted on this video, but it warrants another look. In the recent history of Palm, nothing has been more important to the survival of the company than the gigantic infusion of cash and brain-power …
Discussion:
The Technology Chronicles, Gizmodo, GPS Obsessed, Engadget Mobile, Pre Community, Electronista, mobilesyrup.com and Phone Scoop


What the duck? Train your iPhone to (truly) learn new words — I was chatting with some colleagues today who complained that their iPhones never seemed to learn new words properly and permanently, no matter how often they typed them. In the case of the Ars staff, I won't lie …
Discussion:
Lifehacker


Guest Blogger: Googling the Inauguration — Guest Blogger Bill Tancer is the general manager of global research at Hitwise, an online data and research unit of Experian PLC. He is also the author of “Click: What Millions of People do Online and Why it Matters.”


Zimbra Email: Thriving Under Yahoo's Ownership? — At first glance, Yahoo is struggling on multiple fronts. But take a closer look and you may discover that Zimbra — the open source email system Yahoo acquired in September 2007 — is thriving under Yahoo's ownership. Skeptical?
Discussion:
The Open Road

Apple among PC makers sued over OS permissions tech — Apple is among a dozen systems builders being sued this month for infringing on a pair of patents that cover system-wide software permissions for defining the range of operations that computer applications may or may not perform.


VC Deal Scoop: Potbelly, Geni & More... What follows are six VC deals culled from recent Regulation D filings with the SEC. They have not been otherwise disclosed: — * Ardian Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based developer of a medical device to treat congestive heart failure …


EFI-X boots US partner — ART STUDIOS ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA (ASEM), the company behind the EFI-X UEFI dongle, has severed its relationship with EFI-X USA LLC, its North American distributor. — The whole situation was triggered when EFI-X USA LLC (unrelated to ASEM as a company) …
Discussion:
AppleInsider


Blackberry Storefront Accepting App Applications — Following in the footsteps of Apple and its iTunes App store, several mobile companies have announced plans to launch their own storefronts. Research In Motion is looking to launch its store relatively soon, and it took a major step forward …
Discussion:
VentureBeat, CrackBerry.com blogs, Mobilewhack.com, Mobile Roar, tinyComb, GPS Obsessed, Gizmodo and mocoNews.net


Number of computer users affected by Windows worm is ‘skyrocketing’ — The number of computers infected by a virus that attacks unsecured networks and can be spread via memory sticks has “skyrocketed” in recent days, according to anti-virus experts. — Security analysts at F-Secure believe …


Blogging your way into the big time — Using internet contacts can lead to myriad opportunities for small firms — Soon after starting up, Scottish beer business Brewdog was struggling to sell its product until its co-founders hit on the idea of using the internet to market their distinctive beers.

Twitter Not Loved In Europe — European companies say the social-networking tool is a time waster. — “Just had a cup of our Guatemala Casi Cielo ... It means ‘almost heaven’ in Spanish,” a Starbucks manager wrote in a recent Twitter post. — The coffee giant is one of many U.S. companies using Twitter …

iGoogle Redirects iPhone Users to the Standard Mobile Interface — iGoogle continues to make mistakes. After testing the new version of iGoogle without providing an option to end the experiment, after ignoring most of the complains regarding the new interface, Google decided to redirect iPhone users …


Skydeck Puts Your Cell Phone Online — Cell phone providers hold a wealth of information about your real-world social network in their records that you can theoretically access through their cumbersome web interfaces. None of the cell phone companies we are aware of do a good job at presenting …

Win 7 testers find (and fix themselves) troublesome installer bug — A number of Windows 7 testers have succumbed to a bug that is causing them to crash randomly whenever they try to start Windows Update or install anything using Microsoft's MSI installer. But a couple of testers …

FCC Doesn't Like Comcast's New Treatment of VoIP - Hints that Digital Voice service should be regulated... While a lot was made of the FCC's investigation and Comcast's shift to a “protocol agnostic” network management system, the FCC order didn't actually punish Comcast, came with no fine …


GoodGuide raises $3.73M for ethical shopping — GoodGuide, a site that helps shoppers find healthy, sustainable, and ethical products, has raised $3.73 million in a first round of venture funding. — The concept behind GoodGuide is rather obvious, but it was also tough to pull all the necessary data together.
Discussion:
PE Hub Blog


Verizon launching Wireless Network Extender femtocell on January 25 — Sprint had the jump on this by a few months with its AIRAVE, but Verizon's not far behind in bringing femotcells to the masses with its less-elegantly-named Wireless Network Extender later this month on the 25th.

Nokia and Securitas to cooperate in bringing security services into mobile devices — Nokia and Securitas today announced a new cooperation regarding mobile services for personal security and every day safety. Mobile devices already today give increased feeling of security with friends …

Consequences of social-network parental controls — Last week I wrote about the final report of the Internet Safety Technical Task Force that dispelled some myths about predator danger, pointing out that—while predators remain a threat—teens are far more likely to be bullied, harassed …