Top Items:
Microsoft:
Microsoft Reports Second-Quarter Results — Modest revenue growth despite difficult economy; announces cost management initiatives. — Microsoft Corp. today announced revenue of $16.63 billion for the second quarter ended Dec. 31, 2008, a 2% increase over the same period of the prior year.
Discussion:
New York Times, CNNMoney.com, Mini-Microsoft, TechFlash, Bloomberg, Silicon Alley Insider, Xconomy, SlashGear and Neowin.net
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Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Steve Ballmer's Entire Memo to the Microsoft Troops About Layoffs and Weak Results — Here is the full memo to employees from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer (pictured here) about the 5,000 layoffs and other cost cuts just announced, due to economic slowdown, which also resulted in weak financial results for the second quarter.
Benjamin J. Romano / Microsoft Pri0:
Microsoft cutting 1,400 jobs today; up to 5,000 in next 18 months as recession hits harder — In a press release issued moments ago, Microsoft announced that it is cutting up to 5,000 jobs in research and development, marketing, sales, finance, legal, human resources and IT in the next 18 months, starting with 1,400 today.
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
Microsoft to cut 5,000 jobs — The official word on layoffs is out: Microsoft is going to cut 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months, 1,400 of them today, January 22. — From the company's Q2 earnings release: … I was predicting the Softies were going to get by simply by shuffling folks around and quietly closing groups.
Discussion:
HardwareGeeks RSS Feed …
Joseph Tartakoff / The Microsoft Blog:
Microsoft says it will slash up to 5,000 jobs — Microsoft Corp. said Thursday morning it would lay off up to 5,000 employees, or 5 percent of its work force, over the next 18 months, including 1,400 jobs today, marking the first time in its history that it has laid off workers across the company.
Anne E. Kornblut / Washington Post:
Obama Staff Arrives to White House Stuck in Dark Ages of Technology — If the Obama campaign represented a sleek, new iPhone kind of future, the first day of the Obama administration looked more like the rotary-dial past. — Two years after launching the most technologically savvy presidential campaign …
Discussion:
eWeek, PC World, Quick Online Tips, Feld Thoughts, TechFlash, Gearlog, Geek News Central and Smalltalk Tidbits …
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:
Nokia Cuts 2009 View After Grim Q4 Report; Stock Slides — Nokia (NOK) this morning reported a dismal Q4 - and forecast more grim days ahead. — The world's largest handset maker posted sales of 12.67 billion Euros, down 19.5% from 15.7 billion a year ago. Revenue was up 3% sequentially.
Stephen Hutcheon / Sydney Morning Herald:
Watch out Wikipedia, here comes Britannica 2.0 — Encyclopedia Britannica president Jorge Cauz. Inset: Wikipedia's cofounder Jimmy Wales. — In a move to take on Wikipedia, the Encyclopedia Britannica is inviting the hoi polloi to edit, enhance and contribute to its online version.
Apple:
Apple Reports First Quarter Results — Best Quarterly Revenue and Earnings in Apple History — iPod Sales Set New Record — Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2009 first quarter ended December 27, 2008. The Company posted record revenue of $10.17 billion …
Discussion:
DailyTech, PhoneReport v2.0, I4U News, Local Mobile Search, Wall Street Journal, The Register, Gearlog, Bits, Technologizer, MacBlogz, TechFlash, TECH.BLORGE.com, Infinite Loop, RCR Wireless News, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Apple Watch, Apple TV Junkie - HD, InformationWeek, Tech Central, Kevin Restivo's Tech Blog, PC World, MacDailyNews, Apple 2.0, AppleInsider, Apple, Gizmodo, Engadget, VentureBeat, TidBITS, 148AppsNews Archives, 9 to 5 Mac, paidContent, MacRumors, Insanely Great Mac, paidContent.org, Between the Lines and BloggingStocks
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Ronen Halevy / BerryReview.com:
HOT! 9500 & 9530 OS 4.7.0.90 Found Online! GSM & CDMA Storms — I was just finishing a scrumptious El Gaucho Argentinean Steak when Double Agent Anonymous sent me links to OS 4.7.0.90 for the 9500 & 9530 that they put online. No idea what is new in these but I am sure somebody will report back in the comments.
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Marc Ambinder:
Obama Will Get His Blackberry — President Barack Obama is going to get his blackberry. — On Monday, a government agency that the Obama administration — but that is probably the National Security Agency — added to a standard blackberry a super-encryption package. …
Violet Blue / San Francisco Chronicle:
A Twitter Sex Guide — Violet Blue: A Twitter Sex Guide — Do you Tweet during sex? You might moan or squeal, but even if you've never heard of the free, minimalist social networking service that allows users to write, send and post to the Internet short messages via devices ranging from phones to laptops via SMS (text).
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Skype's Growth Starts to Slow — eBay today turned in a lukewarm performance for the fourth quarter of 2008, posting sales of $2.04 billion vs. an average forecast of $2.12 billion. Earnings per share were a penny better than expected, at 40 cents a share.
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David Jolly / New York Times:
Sony Expects $3 Billion Loss for the Year — Sony, the Japanese electronics company, said Thursday that it expected to post a record annual operating loss of nearly $3 billion because of the rapid deterioration of the global economy. It also announced a major restructuring that will include layoffs and factory closings.
Discussion:
paidContent.org, Tech Trader Daily, Silicon Alley Insider, CNET News, Financial Times, Digital Daily, Bloomberg and Reuters
Wall Street Journal:
Even in Test Form, Windows 7 Leaves Vista in the Dust — This will be a big year for new operating systems. Apple plans a new version of its Macintosh operating system, to be called Snow Leopard. Palm plans an all-new smart phone operating system called Palm WebOS.
Claire Cain Miller / New York Times:
Publisher Rethinks the Daily: It's Free and Printed and Has Blogs All Over — SAN FRANCISCO — Amid the din of naysayers who insist that newspapers are on the verge of death, a new company wants to start dozens of new ones — with a twist. — The Printed Blog, a Chicago start-up …
Matt Buchanan / Gizmodo:
Giz Explains: Why the Windows 7 Taskbar Beats Mac OS X's Dock — Yeah, I said it. The Windows 7 taskbar is the most important Windows UI change since Windows 95, and it will dramatically change the way you use Windows. And it's better than the Mac's Dock.
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Exclusive: YouTube Will Soon Let Big Content Partners Bring Their Own Ads — Big media companies have always had a love-hate relationship with YouTube. They don't know whether to sue YouTube for abetting copyright infringement or get in bed with it because it is the biggest Web video game in town.
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
YAHOO=Yet Another Hiring Over and Out (Hadley Heads Back to Microsoft) — One of Yahoo's top marketing execs, Eric Hadley, who came to the company with a lot of acclaim in only November, is set to leave for a new job in working in branding and global marketing for Microsoft's MSN online service, several sources said.
HTC:
ALL NEW HTC TOUCH CRUISE WITH HTC FOOTPRINTS™ HELPS CAPTURE AND RELIVE LIFE'S JOURNEYS — Compact and Sophisticated Design Delivers an Advanced Location-Based Experience That Changes How People View Their Locations and Memories — HTC Corporation, a global leader in mobile phone innovation …
Smashing Magazine:
More Web Design Trends For 2009 — Last week we presented 10 Web Design Trends For 2009, our review of the most promising developments and techniques in web design that may become big in 2009. In the first part we covered embossing letters ("letterpress"), rich user interfaces, PNG transparency …
Ed Felten / Freedom to Tinker:
DRM In Retreat — Last week's agreement between Apple and the major record companies to eliminate DRM (copy protection) in iTunes songs marks the effective end of DRM for recorded music. The major online music stores are now all DRM-free, and CDs still lack DRM, so consumers who acquire music will now expect it without DRM.
Daniel Terdiman / CNET News:
EA shows ‘Creature Keeper,’ ‘Spore’ for kids — SAN FRANCISCO—Electronic Arts said Wednesday that it plans this summer to release an all-new, stand-alone version of Spore for kids. — The new game, which will allow multiple children to play together in a very Spore-like universe …
Discussion:
VentureBeat
Philip Stafford / Financial Times:
Bank crisis rule changes lift Autonomy — Autonomy, the Cambridge-based search software company, hailed a “momentous” year as tighter corporate regulation helped it post record results for 2008. — The group, which provides software that searches “unstructured information” such as documents …
Bill Ray / The Register:
Oprah slow to Kindle - fans left out in cold — What, no O? — Oprah fans who bought into the electronic book revolution for Christmas have been disappointed to find that less than half of Winfrey's recommended books have gone electronic, and the chat show goddess hasn't even put her own magazine O onto an e-ink screen.
Discussion:
TeleRead
