Top Items:
The Official Google Blog:
Introducing Measurement Lab — When an Internet application doesn't work as expected or your connection seems flaky, how can you tell whether there is a problem caused by your broadband ISP, the application, your PC, or something else? It can be difficult for experts, let alone average Internet users …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, eWeek, DSLreports, Epicenter, Technologizer, Techdirt, Ars Technica, Josh Bancroft's …, Tech Daily Dose, BetaNews, InformationWeek, SitePoint, Network World, Electronic Frontier Foundation and TechSpot, Thanks:fredericl
RELATED:
Kim Dixon / Reuters:
Google begins effort to find Internet blockers — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Google Inc on Wednesday unveiled a plan aimed at eventually letting computer users determine whether providers like Comcast Corp are inappropriately blocking or slowing their work online.
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:
Google Announces Measurement Lab: New Initiative to Expose Traffic Shaping and Throttling by ISPs — A number of ISPs have lately started to clamp down on peer-to-peer networks and are actively restricting heavy usage of ‘unlimited’ connections. For users, however, there is very little transparency …
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
AOL CEO Randy Falco's Entire Memo to the Troops on Layoffs — Here is the letter AOL CEO Randy Falco (pictured here) has penned to the entire staff about layoffs of 10 percent of its workforce-or 700 people-and other cost cuts, which the online service is announcing today.
RELATED:
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Exclusive: AOL to Lay Off 10 Percent of Staff, Cutting 700, Due to Ad Meltdown and a Refocusing on New Structure — Time Warner online unit AOL is cutting 700 employees due to the weak economy and the ensuing falloff in advertising revenue, but also because of recent structural changes made to refocus the once-mighty service.
Discussion:
GigaOM, ReadWriteWeb, Silicon Alley Insider, Computerworld, Digits, paidContent.org, VentureBeat, Tech Confidential and CNET News
Peter Gumbel / Fortune:
Putin-Dell slapdown at Davos — The Russian prime minister tells the Dell CEO: 'We don't need help. We are not invalids.' — DAVOS, Switzerland (Fortune) — Ever since Vladimir Putin rose to power in 2000, his political opponents and entire countries have learned to their cost that he has a tough, demeaning streak.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Some Things Need To Change — Yesterday as I was leaving the DLD Conference in Munich, Germany someone walked up to me and quite deliberately spat in my face. Before I even understood what was happening, he veered off into the crowd, just another dark head in a dark suit.
Discussion:
Guardian, Gawker, Digits, Scobleizer, BetaNews, The Post Money Value, Industry Standard, TechFlash, Webmetricsguru and deal architect
RELATED:
Elizabeth Holmes / Digits:Blogger Infighting Played a Role, Says TechCrunch Founder
Discussion:
Communications …
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Apple 2.0:
Why AT&T loves the iPhone (again) — For much of last year, AT&T (T) Mobility's websites seemed to be promoting every cell phone in their arsenal except for the iPhone — as if the company wasn't sure the revenue coming in from iPhone users was worth the steep bounty it was paying Apple (AAPL) for each sale.
Kim Dixon / Reuters:
House fails to pass digital TV delay bill — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An effort to delay the February 17 deadline for a nationwide switch to digital television failed in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday after Republicans blocked the move. — The legislation is backed …
RELATED:
Eric Bangeman / Ars Technica:DTV delay... delayed? House votes down DTV postponement
Discussion:
The Register, Epicenter, Bits, CNET News, Wireless Week, Gearlog, eWeek and dailywireless.org
Gabe Rivera / Techmeme News:
New way to get on Techmeme: send tips to Techmeme via Twitter — Have you ever wanted to suggest news stories to Techmeme? Often there are Techmeme readers aware of great stories that have fallen through the cracks, or are taking too long to appear on Techmeme.
RELATED:
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:Uh Oh. Now You Can Suggest Stories To Techmeme Via Twitter
Thanks:erickschonfeld
Nilay Patel / Engadget:
Apple vs. Palm: the in-depth analysis — Apple and Palm kicked a lot of dirt at each other last week — acting Apple CEO Tim Cook flatly told analysts that “We will not stand for people ripping off our IP” when asked specifically about competition like the Palm Pre, and Palm responded …
Times of London:
Danger online: Perils of revealing every intimate moment — Anything goes on the web. We find out why we share personal details online and explain our obsession with social networking — So Chelsy Davy announced the end of her five-year relationship with Prince Harry via Facebook alongside a cutesy icon of a broken red heart.
Thanks:noahkagan
Cox Communications:
Congestion Management FAQs — In February, Cox will begin testing a new method of managing traffic on our high-speed Internet network in our Kansas and Arkansas markets. During the occasional times the network is congested, this new technology automatically ensures that all time-sensitive Internet traffic …
Discussion:
Ars Technica, CNET News, Electronista, The Register, Digits, TorrentFreak, PC World, DSLreports, Geek News Central, FierceVoIP, Slyck, The Precursor Blog, Lifehacker, Zeropaid File Sharing …, Obsessable, Public Knowledge, Technologizer, Broadband Politics, Light Reading, Associated Press and Free Press
Hiptop3.com:
Sidekick LX 2009 — We got the above image in our inbox. danielle says she was taking a survey about smart phones on QuizPoints and was presented with this one. Here are the specs it lists in the photo: — Social Networking Suite of Apps — Facebook — MySpace w/ video upload
Discussion:
Engadget, Gizmodo, MobileCrunch, Obsessable, TmoNews, Mobilewhack.com, Unwired View and Electronista
Stephanie Condon / CNET News:
Vista marketing draws antitrust complaints — A correction was made to this story. Read below for details. — WASHINGTON—Government antitrust attorneys said on Wednesday that they continue to receive complaints from hardware makers and other companies about Microsoft's business practices …
Discussion:
Electronista
RELATED:
Gavin Clarke / The Register:
Microsoft to act on IE8 ‘show stoppers’ — Standards committed - to a point — Microsoft's still taking feedback on Internet Explorer 8 but will only act on “show stoppers” according to browser chief Dean Hachamovitch. — Hachamovitch, IE general manager, told Microsoft's Channel 9 …
Greg Sandoval / CNET News:
Sources: AT&T, Comcast may help RIAA foil piracy — CNET staff writer Marguerite Reardon co-authored this report. — AT&T and Comcast, two of the nation's largest Internet service providers, are expected to be among a group of ISPs that will cooperate with the music industry …
Dan Rayburn / The Business Of Online Video:
Apple Moves To Dual CDN Vendor Strategy: Now Using Limelight With Akamai — For many years, Apple has relied on Akamai to deliver the vast majority, if not all, of Apple's content. But in the fourth quarter of 2008, it appears that Apple moved to a dual-vendor strategy and started using Limelight Networks …
Jon Fortt / Fortune:
Netbooks could be the next hit cell phones — AT&T looks to sell mini-laptops, bundled with wireless data contracts, for prices like $99 or less. Is the gambit brilliant or foolhardy? — (Fortune) — Glenn Lurie knows Silicon Valley better than most telecom industry types.
Prince McLean / AppleInsider:
iDVD hung out to dry as Apple pushes movies online — One of the original pillars of Apple's iLife suite, iDVD, has increasingly been given the cold shoulder to the point where it is not even depicted on the retail package anymore. How much longer will the app stick around now that the company …
Alexis Madrigal / Wired Science:
Autonomous Robots Invade Retail Warehouses — Next time you order a new pair of skinny jeans from Gap.com, you should know that you are helping welcome in the hive-mind robot overlords of retail. — Warehouses run by Gap, as well as Zappos and Staples now use autonomous robots to pluck products …
Discussion:
Brad Ideas
Amy-Mae Elliott / Pocket-lint.co.uk:
Acer smartphone launch confirmed … “Are you ready to join Acer's launch into the world of mobile communications?” — So asks an invite that's just dropped into Pocket-lint's inbox this morning, confirming rumours the company are to launch a smartphone. — Due to be unveiled on February 16 …
Discussion:
SlashGear, SlashPhone, Engadget, PC World, Boy Genius Report, Computerworld, VentureBeat, GPS Obsessed, Local Mobile Search, Electronista and Obsessable
Alex Chitu / Google Operating System:
Find Images that Have a Certain Size — Most image search engines offers an option to filter the results by size, but you can only choose between small, medium and large images. Google Image Search has an undocumented parameter that lets you specify the exact dimension of the results:
Josh Lowensohn / Webware.com:
Share MP3s as tweets with Songly — If you're looking to share an MP3 with a friend, or with a bunch of other folks on Twitter, worth checking out is Songly. The service takes the URL of any MP3 that's hosted on the Web and will both shorten it for micropublishing tools like Twitter …
Discussion:
/Message
Katherine Conrad / bizjournals:
Yahoo vacating 400,000 square feet in Santa Clara towers — Yahoo Inc. is vacating almost 400,000 square feet in two shiny eight-story towers visible from U.S. Highway 101 in Santa Clara. — The troubled search engine company is offering the prime Class A space on Mission College Boulevard …
Thanks:wesmax27
Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
Ctrl-Z: a return to the Supreme Court's software patent ban? — Few topics have roiled the normally staid field of patent law more than the expansion of patents into the software industry. As we've documented in some depth here at Ars, the last decade has seen the Patent Office grant …
Discussion:
Freedom to Tinker
Dan Moren / Macworld:
iPhone push notifications: dead and buried, or waiting in the wings? — Apple's no stranger to missing a deadline or two, nor is the company averse to pushing back products a few weeks or months when they need more time. But less common are products that disappear entirely into the world-devouring maw …
Ted Rheingold / Dogster Inc. Company Blog:
Yahoo Quietly Shutters Yahoo Pets [grin] — With no notice Yahoo quietly started directing pets.yahoo.com users to a subsection of their women's vertical Shine. — [Excuse me while I have a David vs. Goliath moment.] — The demise of pets.yahoo.com comes as no surprise …
Discussion:
The Technology Chronicles
Dan Goodin / The Register:
DDoS attack boots Kyrgyzstan from net — Russian bears blamed — The central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan was effectively knocked offline for more than a week by a Russian cybermilitia that continues to flood the country's internet providers with crippling data attacks, a security expert said.
