Top Items:
John Hanke / The Official Google Blog:
Dive into the new Google Earth — As you read this, I am at the beautiful California Academy of Sciences, announcing the launch of the newest version of Google Earth. This launch is particularly special to me because it marks the moment when Google Earth becomes much more complete — it now has an ocean.
Discussion:
Search Engine Land, Brier Dudley's blog, Google LatLong, VentureBeat, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Ogle Earth, GMSV, AppScout, Times of London, The Map Room, Google Blogoscoped, blogs.ft.com, Computerworld, Between the Lines, MacDailyNews, TheNextWeb.com, Tech Central, Lifehacker, Pulse2, Macworld, InformationWeek, WebProNews, ReadWriteWeb, Pocket-lint.co.uk, Neowin.net and YouTube Blog
RELATED:
Bobbie Johnson / Guardian:Google Earth, Google Ocean: mysteries of the seafloor are mapped for the first time
Discussion:
Technologizer, CNET News, Tech Beat, Digits, 9 to 5 Mac, eWeek, The Lede, Electronista, VentureBeat, Obsessable, Gizmodo, Mashable!, Search Engine Land, Google LatLong and GigaOM
Saul Hansell / Bits:
Google Executives Face Jail Time for Italian Video — Four executives of Google begin trial Tuesday in Milan on criminal charges of defamation and privacy violation in regard to a video posted on Google's Italian site. — The case involves a three-minute cellphone video …
Tom Espiner / CNET News:
IE slips further as Firefox, Safari, Chrome gain — The amount of market share commanded by Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser has dropped for the seventh consecutive month. — Internet Explorer now has 67.55 percent of global browser market share, a drop of over seven percentage points in a year …
Discussion:
PC World, Digital Daily, Computerworld, SitePoint, VentureBeat, The Toybox, The Tech Report, The Microsoft Blog, TechFlash and AppScout
RELATED:
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:Soon, Majority of Web Users Will No Longer Use IE
Discussion:
Download Squad
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Yahoo PR Head Jill Nash to Depart the Company — Jill Nash, Yahoo's chief communications officer, has told CEO Carol Bartz and other Yahoo staff this afternoon that she is leaving the company. — Yahoo has not made Nash's resignation official, but is likely to do so quickly as Bartz tries …
RELATED:
Jessica Vascellaro / Digits:
Yahoo's Bartz Vents as Exec Departs — Carol Bartz has been CEO of Yahoo for only few weeks. But she's already working through a to-do list of changes to push. (Nothing yet about Microsoft deals or asset sales or cost-cutting, we're afraid.) — In the most recent of what's shaping …
Adam Frucci / Gizmodo:
Crackulous Allows for App Store Piracy — Crackulous, a program for pirating apps from the iPhone App Store, was just released. Great for cheapskates, terrible for independent developers trying to make a living. Updated: 4:35pm — You'll need to jailbreak your phone to get in on the fun …
Alexander Wolfe / InformationWeek:
Apple Planning Video-Call iPhone — Recent stories on Apple's iPhone patent have focused on Cupertino's threatened legal action against Palm, which is launching the iPhone-like Pre smartphone. But a closer examination of the Apple patent yields much more interesting news.
Discussion:
Gizmodo, CrunchGear, The Apple Core, Gadget Lab, The iPhone Blog, Boy Genius Report, jkOnTheRun, Furrier.org, 9 to 5 Mac, Neowin.net, tinyComb, DSLreports, GMSV and TechCrunch
Michael Bolin / Gmail Blog:
Tasks: Paper vs. iPhone — Among the world's leading productivity tools is an advanced technology known as paper. Many of the world's top corporations and most active internet users have adopted paper as a method of organizing their daily lives. When they think of something they need to do …
Claire Cain Miller / Bits:
Venture Capital Returns Dip Below Zero — Like almost all investors, those who invested in venture capital funds lost money last year. Venture investments returned -1.6 percent in the year ended Sept. 30, according to new data from the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Reuters.
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
Windows XP still powering 71 percent of business PCs — More than two years after the Windows Vista launch, XP is still the dominant business PC operating system in North America and Europe. — Windows Vista “finally appears ready to dethrone XP” as the operating-system choice for enterprise PCs …
Discussion:
Technologizer, Apple Watch, The Register, Microsoft Watch, CNET News, Computerworld and TechFlash
RELATED:
Chris Gaither / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Scientists and Google create Singularity University to solve big problems — Some technologies are so complex and have so many frequent breakthroughs that few people can keep up. Now comes a new nine-week summer program in Silicon Valley for super-smart people.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
TechCrunch Interviews Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg At Davos — We saved the best for last. Below is our interview with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week. Sandberg, who says this is her first video interview since joining Facebook in March 2008 …
Discussion:
Beet.TV
Greg Kumparak / MobileCrunch:
Can't afford a G1? T-Mobile will now let you split the bill across 4 months — Whether you only upgrade once every two years or every time a new handset drops, following the latest in mobile hardware can be an expensive hobby. Lookin' to keep sales up in the face of an economic slump …
Discussion:
Gizmodo, Boy Genius Report, Between the Lines, jkOnTheRun, pocketnow.com and GPS Obsessed
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
Google: “We're Not Doing a Good Job with Structured Data” — During a talk at the New England Database Day conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Google's Alon Halevy admitted that the search giant has “not been doing a good job” presenting the structured data found on the web to its users.
Discussion:
Data Methods
Tim Arango / New York Times:
Despite iTunes Accord, Music Labels Still Fret — Last month the music industry and Apple, long uneasy partners, seemed a picture of harmony when they agreed on new terms for pricing on iTunes, Apple's online music store. — Behind the scenes, however, the relationship remains as tense and antagonistic as ever.
Discussion:
Network World, AppleInsider, iLounge, Neowin.net, Macworld, Gizmodo, Edible Apple, Insanely Great Mac, TUAW, MacNN, CrunchGear, The iPhone Blog, Apple 2.0, 9 to 5 Mac, MacRumors and MacDailyNews
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
LinkedIn's Reid Hoffman: “We Can Go Public Any Time We Want To” — Next up in my series of interviews recorded at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week is Reid Hoffman, the founder and CEO of LinkedIn. I spoke to Reid for more than twenty minutes in the lobby of our hotel …
Discussion:
Silicon Alley Insider
Moira Herbst / Business Week:
Microsoft: Layoffs for Some, Visas for Others — The software giant that has pushed for more H-1B visas faces tough questions as it lays off 5,000 — Even as the economy hemorrhages jobs, many employers continue to advocate for fewer restrictions on importing foreign workers to fill specialized jobs.
RELATED:
Pete Carey / Mercury News:Layoffs mean more than lost wages for H-1B visa holders
Discussion:
Industry Standard
Fareastgizmos.com:
While in Korea download a 120-minute film in just 12 seconds! — Korea is to acquire the world's fastest wired and wireless Internet service at 10 times the speed of the current service by 2012. The government and the communications industry plan to invest some W34 trillion over the next five years in the project.
RELATED:
Seagate Technology:
Seagate® Introduces Constellation™: All-Star Enterprise Hard Drives With The World's Highest Capacity And Power Efficiency — The Constellation family includes 2.5-inch nearline hard drive with lowest enterprise power consumption and record-setting 3.5-inch 7200-rpm 2TB hard drive for nearline Tier 2 enterprise applications
PR Newswire:
New Allio LCD TV-PC Models Available From Silicon Mountain — New Allio Lite LCD TV-PC from Silicon Mountain. (PRNewsFoto/Silicon Mountain Holdings, Inc.) — BOULDER, CO AND MENLO PARK, CA UNITED STATES — Allio Lite combines high-definition television with PC and DVD player in a single, affordable device
New York Times:
Angels Flee From Tech Start-Ups — Technology entrepreneurs are having a devil of a time finding angels. — Angel investors are the optimistic financiers who give entrepreneurs their crucial first infusion of cash to bring their ideas to life. Now, in the midst of a punishing economic downturn …
Sony Corporation:
Sony Develops Compact Sized, High Speed, High Accuracy Finger Vein Authentication Technology Dubbed “mofiria” — Tokyo, Japan - Sony Corporation today announced the development of a finger vein authentication technology called “mofiria.” The user-friendly technology offers quick response …
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:
Yahoo Shuts Down Publisher Network RSS Ads — The next Yahoo program to be discontinued are the Yahoo Publisher Network RSS ads. Here is an email I just received from Yahoo: … Yahoo launched the RSS ads back in November 2005. I assume it never took off and they have now decided to drop that portion of the overall product.
Chris Kanaracus / PC World:
Study: Certain IT Skills in Demand Despite Economy — Thirty-eight percent of U.S. companies are planning to trim IT staff this year, but certain skills remain hot, according to a new study by the IT staffing company Veritude. — The poll, taken in the fourth quarter of 2008 …
