Top Items:
IEBlog:
Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate Now Available — We're excited to make the IE8 Release Candidate available today for public download today in 25 languages for Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server customers. You can find it at http://www.microsoft.com/ie8. Please download it now and try it out.
Discussion:
Computerworld, Channel 9, the Econsultancy blog, Electronic Pulp, BetaNews, eWeek Security Watch, ExtremeTech, blogs.ft.com, GottaBeMobile.com, ReadWriteWeb, Epicenter, TechSpot, Channel 10, PC World, Microsoft Watch, ChannelWeb, blogs.chron.com, The Windows Blog, LiveSide, Obsessable, Microsoft News Tracker, The Tech Report, TechCrunch and SuperSite Blog
RELATED:
Maggie Shiels / BBC:
Microsoft steps up browser battle — Microsoft has stepped up the battle to win back users with the latest release of its Internet Explorer browser. — The US software giant says IE 8 is faster, easier to use and more secure than its competitors. — “We have made IE 8 the best browser …
Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:
New Internet Explorer 8 accelerates browsing — Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8, the latest version of the most commonly used web browser in the world, has left beta testing and is now available as “Release Candidate 1.” This isn't the final release version per se, but it's close enough …
Discussion:
TECH.BLORGE.com, AppScout, TechFlash, Alice Hill's Real Tech News, jkOnTheRun, Download.com editors and Microsoft Pri0
Alex Brooks / World of Apple:
Apple Awarded Multi-Touch Patent — According to the US Patent Office Apple was awarded patent number 7,479,949 on January 20, 2009. The patent which was filed on April 11, 2008 covers multi-touch and all associated gestures such as pinch, swipe and rotation. — The patent is titled:
Discussion:
Apple 2.0, AppleInsider, Crave, PalmAddicts, Mobile Tech Addicts, GPS Obsessed, SlashGear, VentureBeat, Neowin.net, MacBlogz and Slashdot
RELATED:
Owen Thomas / Gawker:
Steve Jobs Reportedly Under the Knife at Stanford Hospital Today — Ailing Apple CEO Steve Jobs checked into Stanford Hospital over the weekend and was scheduled for surgery this morning, we hear. — At a party in Silicon Valley last night, a Stanford staffer who had just come …
Discussion:
MacBlogz, Silicon Alley Insider, ForbesOnTech, Apple Watch, 9 to 5 Mac, Computerworld Blogs, CNET News and Industry Standard
RELATED:
Christopher Blizzard:
why open video? — [ Note: Mike Shaver gives the short version of this post. I have done a great job of burying the lead here. There's a post from the Wikimedia Foundation on the topic and a post in the Mozilla Blog as well. ] — Everyone agrees that the open web is becoming more important in our shared human experience.
RELATED:
Dan Goodin / The Register:
Kanye West blames Gmail hijack for bisexual porn hoax — Hey, world: Let him be great — Kanye West says someone has taken control of his Twitter. Not to mention his Gmail and MySpace accounts. — The rap star says that someone is using all three services to spread false reports …
Discussion:
Music Ally
Amy Thomson / Bloomberg:
Verizon Profit Rises 15% After Customers Spend More on Data-Service Plans — Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) — Verizon Communications Inc., the largest U.S. mobile-phone company, reported a 15 percent rise in fourth-quarter profit after owners of the BlackBerry Storm and other Web-surfing phones spent more on data-service plans.
Discussion:
Reuters
securitylabs.websense.com:
Barack Obama's Site Leading to Trojan — Change has finally arrived in the United States of America, marking the dawn of a new era. The US Presidential campaign has shown the world how governments can leverage Web 2.0 to better understand and garner support from their citizens.
Discussion:
Computerworld, Technosailor.com, Network World, Technologizer, Security Watch, Serendipity35 and ReadWriteWeb
Priya Ganapati / Gadget Lab:
New Bill Asks For Cameraphones To Go Clickety Clack — Smile, say cheese and hold that pose till you hear the ‘click’. A new bill introduced in the Congress by New York Republican Rep. Peter King requires mobile phones with digital cameras “to make a sound” when a photograph is taken.
Discussion:
Guardian
Emily Steel / Digits:
Layoffs at Fox Interactive Media — News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media digital division is laying off about 5% of its work force, or about 100 people, amid continued cost-cutting efforts, according to a person familiar with the situation. — The cuts, which started in the last month …
Owen Thomas / Gawker:
Cheney's Veil Lifted on Vice President's Residence — Hope and change has come to Google Maps. The official residence of the vice president, obscured until Dick Cheney's last days in office and residence, now shines in satellite sunlight. — A reader tipped us off that Google Maps …
LAW.com:
Wilson Sonsini Cuts 45 Lawyers, 68 Staff — Blaming a down economy, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati axed 45 lawyers and 68 staff Monday. — The 660-lawyer firm laid off associates and of counsel accounting for 6.5 percent of its attorney work force. About 9 percent of the firm's staff …
Discussion:
Tech Trader Daily
Patrick Thibodeau / Computerworld:
Microsoft: H-1B workers among those losing jobs — No legal obligation to keep U.S. workers over visa holders in layoff, says attorney — Microsoft Corp. says it is cutting a “significant number” of foreign workers as part of the layoff of 1,400 employees last week, a number that is due to reach 5,000 over the next 18 months.
MG Siegler / VentureBeat:
Notebooks now make up over 70 percent of Mac sales — Four years ago, sales of desktop machines made up 60 percent of Apple's computer sales, while notebooks made up 40 percent. Not only have those numbers now reversed, they've skyrocketed in the direction of the notebook for Apple.
Discussion:
TeleRead
Scott Lowe / IGN:
Rumor: PSP 2 Coming Soon — Sources suggest that the PSP 2 is real, touch screen-enabled, and coming soon. — The evolution of the PSP has been one of small incremental updates rather than drastic aesthetic and hardware reconfigurations. Since its debut in 2005 the PSP has undergone …
John Murrell / GMSV:
Aggregation, confrontation, negotiation, placation — Additional review of the legal questions surrounding headline aggregation on the Web will have to come another day. GateHouse Media has reached a pre-trial settlement with the New York Times Co., owner of the Boston Globe …
Paul Boutin / Industry Standard:
Just how much is Twitter's burn rate? — Relentless biz-blogger Kara Swisher is pushing again for Facebook to acquire Twitter. Twitter will never IPO on its own, she says, and Facebook is Twitter's most natural fit as a parent company. — But there's an important number missing …
PR Newswire:
Netflix Announces Q4 2008 Financial Results — Subscribers - 9.4 million Revenue - $359.6 million GAAP Net Income - $22.7 million GAAP EPS - $0.38 per diluted share — Netflix, Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX - News) today reported results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2008.
Michael Learmonth / AdAge:
Web Series Still Struggle to Hold on to Audiences — Survey of 50 Top Web Series Finds Loss Of 64% From First Episode To Second — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — MyDamnChannel's “You Suck at Photoshop” is a near-perfect series for the web: short, funny and low-budget, it both doesn't require viewers …
Discussion:
NewTeeVee
Arundhati Parmar / Finance-Commerce:
Best Buy seeks to expand its reach online — Electronics retailer hopes ‘API’ technology will boost sales and branding — The walls are coming down at bestbuy.com. — Convinced that customers' online-shopping behavior is now deeply colored by social-media experiences …
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
These Speakers Sound Great. And They're...Invisible! — I had two hands-down favorites at this year's Consumer Electronics Show. One of them was the one that was everybody's favorite: Palm's upcoming Pre phone. The other was a little-known technology which I saw demoed in a private preview.
Discussion:
Engadget
Phil Nickinson / WMExperts:
Firefox Mobile may be on Touch Pro next week — Despite a previous update from the Mozilla team, it now looks like the Firefox Mobile browser, codenamed Fennec, could be ready for a Windows Mobile beta as soon as next week, and they've chosen a phone to do the honors. — From this week's meeting:
