Top Items:
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
A Microsoft smartphone: No. A Microsoft phone chassis: Yes — Microsoft is not going to introduce a Microsoft-branded phone at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona later this month. Not a Microsoft-branded Zune phone. Not any kind of Microsoft-branded phone. Period.
Discussion:
VentureBeat, Microsoft Watch, DigiTimes, Engadget Mobile, MarketWatch, mocoNews.net, Obsessable, Gizmodo, Electronista, wmpoweruser.com, I4U News, GPS Obsessed, Digital Daily, ChannelWeb and CNET News
RELATED:
Chris Ziegler / Engadget Mobile:
Microsoft's SkyBox site live, branded My Phone? — It appears that Microsoft may have its SkyBox beta sign-up site up and running in preparation for a Mobile World Congress unveiling — except that it's not called SkyBox, it's called “My Phone” (even though the domain is getskybox.com — go figure).
Discussion:
InfoWorld, NEWSFACTOR, Boy Genius Report, Mobile Roar, MobileCrunch, GPS Obsessed, I4U News, wmpoweruser.com, SlashGear, Mobility Site, BetaNews, AppScout and Phone Scoop
Daniel Ionescu / PC World:
Google Makes iPhone the New eBook Reader: Watch Out, Kindle — Waiting for the new Amazon Kindle e-book reader is no fun. But if you already have an Apple iPhone or a T-Mobile G1 in your pocket, more than 1.5 million books are now at your fingertips. The Google Book Search project …
RELATED:
Kim Zetter / Epicenter:
TED: MIT Students Turn Internet Into a Sixth Human Sense — Video — LONG BEACH, California — Students at the MIT Media Lab have developed a wearable computing system that turns any surface into an interactive display screen. The wearer can summon virtual gadgets and internet data at will …
Dean Jackson / Surfin' Safari:
CSS Animation — WebKit now supports explicit animations in CSS. As a counterpart to transitions, animations provide a way to declare repeating animated effects, with keyframes, completely in CSS. — With a recent nightly build, you can see the above animation in action.
RELATED:
Eliot Van Buskirk / Epicenter:
ESPN to ISPs: Pay for Your Customers to Play Video — For some sports fans, ESPN360, the online version of ESPN's television channel, is a cornucopia of more than 3,500 sporting events each year, viewable from the convenience of a computer. For others, it's a total bust. The only difference: their ISP.
Matt Asay / The Open Road:
Marten Mickos to leave Sun in reorg — Marten Mickos, former MySQL chief executive and current senior vice president of Sun Microsystems' database group, is transitioning out of the company in a planned reorganization. — I reached Mickos this morning for confirmation: he is definitely leaving.
Discussion:
eWeek, LinuxWorld.com, CNET News, 451 CAOS Theory, Simon's Blog, Jeremy's Blog and OStatic blogs
Gmail Blog:
New in Labs: Multiple Inboxes — I'm seriously into filters and labels. All the email I get related to Flash goes under my “flash” label, everything about paragliding goes under “flying,” and they all skip my inbox because that's how I like to stay organized.
Discussion:
Epicenter, PC World, Download Squad, Boy Genius Report, InformationWeek, Gizmodo, The Register, Google Operating System, TechSpot, Mark Evans, Gadgetell, TechCrunch, Lifehacker, Google Blogoscoped, AppScout, Pulse2, ReadWriteWeb, TechBays, WebProNews, Pocket-lint.co.uk, Webware.com, CloudAve, Mashable!, VentureBeat, /Message, Drew B's take on tech PR and SEO and Tech Daily, Thanks:dreamsketcher
Chris Albrecht / GigaOM:
Why Does Everyone Heart Boxee? — The buzz has been building for Boxee lately. Mainstream news outlets like The New York Times, BusinessWeek and NPR are getting hip to the little open-source media center that could quite possibly change the way you experience TV.
Walter Isaacson / Time:
How to Save Your Newspaper — During the past few months, the crisis in journalism has reached meltdown proportions. It is now possible to contemplate a time when some major cities will no longer have a newspaper and when magazines and network-news operations will employ no more than a handful of reporters.
RELATED:
Judd Legum / Legum's New Line:
Maryland General Assembly Bans Facebook — The New Line has learned that the Maryland General Assembly, citing security concerns, has blocked Facebook and MySpace from the computers of state legislators and their staffs. — Here is the full text of the memo from Office …
Discussion:
All Facebook, GigaOM, Silicon Alley Insider, Obsessable and Maryland Politics, Thanks:juddleg
Jim Goldman / Tech Check with Jim Goldman:
Apple's Not So Quiet Rally And Why It Will Continue — On Wednesday, January 14, the day Apple [AAPL Loading... () ] CEO Steve Jobs announced he would be taking a 6-month medical leave of absence, Apple shares closed at $85.33. From the moment that news hit the tape, shares began to slide …
Discussion:
The After Mac
Jason Wilk / tinyComb:
Apple Store Bans Facebook For Life — In an effort to thwart off time-theft and loiterers, Apple has decided to add Facebook to the list of banned websites at retail locations nationwide. When I asked some of the genius' today whether or not anyone noticed the change …
Discussion:
Apple 2.0, TechCrunch, iPhone Savior, Gizmodo, Silicon Alley Insider, MacBlogz, All Facebook, AppScout, bub.blicio.us, MacRumors and Edible Apple
Greg Sandoval / CNET News:
Why Microsoft, labels cling to music subscriptions — LOS ANGELES—For anybody wondering why Microsoft and the top music labels continue to promote subscription music services, the answer was revealed Thursday. — David Ring, executive vice president of business development …
Reuters:
Three executives leave Salesforce.com — * Salesforce.com President Steve Cakebread resigns — * Company lays off 2 executive vice presidents - sources (Recasts to include president's departure, background, ) — Three senior executives left business software maker Salesforce.com Inc …
Jeremy Laird / bit-tech.net:
The Dark Side of Overdrive — Faster is always better. Thanks to that simple philosophy, LCD pixel response times have been driven down to puny proportions in recent years. — Today, even the slowest panels are rated at 16ms or better and deliver adequate response for all but the most fanatical PC gamers.
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
New York Times Nuts Not To Charge Subscription Fee (NYT) — On the News Corp conference call last night, Murdoch hammered home our point about why the New York Times (NYT) should charge an online subscription fee. — Murdoch noted that the Wall Street Journal, which charges a subscription fee …
Discussion:
Industry Standard
PC World:
Intel Now Shipping Atom N280 Processor — Intel confirmed on Thursday that it's shipping the Atom N280 processor to PC makers, which should bring more performance and improved graphics capabilities to netbooks. — The new single-core Atom processor is paired with a chipset that allows users …
Paul Schwartzman / Washington Post:
Apple Store Design Hits a Glass Wall Again — An architectural review board yesterday ordered Apple to redraw plans for a store in Georgetown, the fourth time it has rejected the company's submission. — The Old Georgetown Board told Apple's architect that it is eager for the store to open on Wisconsin Avenue.
James Sherwood / The Register:
HP UK pulls Linux from all new netbooks — Microsoft only option - unless you want an old model — HP has decided UK consumers don't want Linux-based netbooks. Actually, it appears to believe business buyers don't want the open-source OS either. — It emerged today that the company …
Josh Quittner / Time:
The Race for a Better Read — Attention, all you folks reading this on the Web: if you enjoy this piece, please send a dime to TIME magazine. — I doubt any of you will. Before old media can charge for our content, we have to figure out how to deliver it in a way the reader thinks is worth paying for.
Discussion:
New York Times
Dave Zatz / Zatz Not Funny!:
Roku's Amazon VOD in Beta. YouTube Next? — We knew Amazon Video on Demand was headed to Roku's media streamer ($99) early this year. And now, via their forums, we have word that the service has entered private beta. I had hoped Amazon VOD functionality was hidden within the recent 1.5 software update …
Discussion:
Silicon Alley Insider, Boy Genius Report, DVICE, CrunchGear, Gizmodo, SlashGear and Engadget
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
The Parent Company Auctions Off Assets, Sells Toys.com Domain For $1.25 Million — After YP.com (picked up by Yellow Pages for $3.85 million) Fly.com (bought by Travelzoo for $1.8 million), Vibrators.com ($1 million), here's another high-profile domain name that was just acquired for a 7-figure sum …
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Backup And Share Your iPhone Contacts For Free With IDrive Lite — We don't write about every iPhone application that we come across (there are other sites doing a great job at that), but sometimes we just have to. For instance, IDrive, which specializes in backup solutions …
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
Where Do Mobile Ads Work Best? On the iPhone! — The latest Mobile Advertising Report from market research agency GfK found that users of Apple's iPhone were more likely to recall and respond to ads than other mobile phone users. The reason for their higher response rates? Probably exposure.
