Top Items:
Apple:
Apple Updates Consumer Desktop Line — 24-inch iMac Starts at $1,499 — Apple® today announced updates to its iMac® and Mac® mini desktop lines, including a 24-inch iMac that is priced more affordably than ever before and a Mac mini with powerful new integrated graphics.
Discussion:
Apple 2.0, MacRumors, The Technology Chronicles, Byte of the Apple, InformationWeek, Neowin.net, Digital Daily, tinyComb, VentureBeat, Technology Live, The Apple Core, The iPhone Blog, Obsessable, Alice Hill's Real Tech News, Macintosh, Mac Apps …, MacBlogz, Gizmodo, OSNews and AppleInsider
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Arn / MacRumors:
Apple Announces New iMacs, Mac Minis, AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule — Apple today announced updates to its iMac and Mac mini desktop lines, including a 24-inch iMac and a Mac mini with new NVIDIA integrated graphics. For the same $1,499 price as the previous generation 20-inch iMac …
Discussion:
NEWSFACTOR, Guardian, Engadget, dot.life blog, PC Magazine, eWeek, Bits, Ars Technica, TUAW, AppleInsider, Macworld, Pulse2, CNET News, Boy Genius Report, Gizmodo, CrunchGear, Boing Boing Gadgets, The iPhone Blog, Obsessable, Gearlog, TechCrunch and Electronista
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Apple refreshes desktop lineup: Is the Mac mini irrelevant? — Apple on Tuesday outlined a refresh of its iMac, Mac Pro and Mac mini lineups and the headliners are the Intel Nehalem-based Mac Pro and the iMac 24-inch update. However, perusing the updates you have to wonder if the Mac mini is irrelevant.
Discussion:
Hardware 2.0, Tech Check with Jim Goldman, Engadget, Boing Boing Gadgets, Computerworld Blogs and Switched
Eric Krangel / Silicon Alley Insider:
Microsoft Planning Ad-Supported Model For Office 14 — An ad-supported Microsoft Office 14? — That's what Microsoft Business Division Chief Stephen Elop said was coming at a presentation to analysts at the Morgan Stanley Technology conference today. — It's an anti-piracy initiative.
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Owen Thomas / Gawker:
Apple Layoffs Today? — One tipster tells us there are “major layoffs” at Apple. Another writes that “all sales teams have mandatory meetings today” and that “HR booked conference rooms in Cupertino.” Is Apple cutting salespeople loose? — If so, then Apple's latest product announcements seem …
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Yahoo's Bartz: Search data critical to us; I use Google Maps — Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz on Tuesday gave no indication that the company was going to punt on the search business. She said the data the search business provides is “extremely important” to Yahoo and is information the company has to have.
Paul Graham:
Why TV Lost — About twenty years ago people noticed computers and TV were on a collision course and started to speculate about what they'd produce when they converged. We now know the answer: computers. It's clear now that even by using the word “convergence” we were giving TV too much credit.
Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
Microsoft responds to Grassley, defends its use of H-1B workers — In a letter made public today, Microsoft responded to questions raised by U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley over the company's continued employment of foreign guest workers amid its layoffs. The company defended its actions …
Discussion:
Microsoft Pri0
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Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Pirate Bay: a guilty verdict is an attack on the Internet — The Pirate Bay trial wrapped up Tuesday in Sweden as the defendants claimed that their site is nothing more than a piece of Internet infrastructure. The verdict comes down in April, but for now, the defendants are off to “party.”
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Brad / Liliputing:
Asus launches Eee PC 1008HA ultra-thin netbook — Asus officially launched the Eee PC 1008HA at CeBIT today. The netbook is just 1 inch thick and weighs 2.4 pounds, which is pretty light by Asus 10 inch netbook standards. — The mini-laptop, formerly known as the Eee PC Shell almost looks …
Discussion:
SlashGear, Engadget, UMPCPortal, EEE-PC.de, The Toybox, Crave, Boing Boing Gadgets, Electricpig.co.uk and GPS Obsessed
Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
Suit over $5K netbook 3G data bill; AT&T says “read the TOS” — Oklahoma resident Billie Parks signed up for RadioShack's $100 netbook deal, but didn't think committing to a two-year AT&T data contract would leave her with a $5,000 bill for her first month of service.
Declan McCullagh / CNET News:
Obama picks Net neutrality advocate as FCC chairman — President Obama on Tuesday nominated Julius Genachowski as the nation's top telecommunications regulator, picking a campaign advisor who has divided his career between Washington, D.C., political jobs and working as an Internet executive.
Discussion:
Venture Capital Dispatch
Chris Albrecht / NewTeeVee:
Amazon VOD Launches on the Roku — After much anticipation, Amazon VOD finally landed on the Roku player this morning, expanding the capabilities of the $99 set-top box beyond Netflix. Roku owners will have access to Amazon's VOD library of more than 40,000 titles, including the ability …
Discussion:
Ars Technica, Contentinople, Tech Beat, Engadget, Gearlog, TechCrunch, Webware.com, Electronista, last100, Gizmodo, The Technology Chronicles and Technologizer
Seth Rosenblatt / Download.com editors:
Skype announces voice-to-text messaging — VoIP provider Skype plans to announce Tuesday that it will be working with SpinVox to provide its users with voice-to-SMS messaging in four languages. — This adds another option to Skype's messaging notifications for both Windows and Mac …
Rory Maher / paidContent.org:
Bad Year For Bonuses? Not For Google Execs — Bonuses on Wall Street may be getting slashed, but executives at plenty of other big companies are still getting their year-end payouts—even if, unlike in recent years, they aren't quite enough to buy that Napa winery or mansion in the Hamptons.
Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:
Apple MacBook Pro 15-inchers get quiet CPU spec bump — While poring over the metric ton of PR this morning, we didn't immediately notice that Apple has turned up the juice ever-so-slightly on MacBook Pro 15-inch models. Instead of coughing up a CPU bump from 2.4GHz to 2.53GHz …
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Socialtext Adds Twitter-like “Signals” And a Desktop AIR App — In yet another sign that this will be the year of the activity stream, Socialtext is adding a Twitter-like message stream to its enterprise wiki/workspace service, The new feature is called Socialtext Signals …
eWeek:
Video: At DEMO 09, Avaak Shows Off Easy Video System — Setting up a video monitoring system in your home, office or business can be a tedious and sometimes expensive task, often involving permanent server systems. — Avvak's Vue attempts to solve this problem through an inexpensive solution …
Discussion:
VentureBeat
Claire Cain Miller / Bits:
Khosla Ventures Goes Retro for New Blood — Pierre Lamond, a Silicon Valley veteran, was planning to retire from Sequoia Capital this year. Instead, the 78-year-old has decided to join Khosla Ventures, the venture firm founded by Vinod Khosla. — “I was really looking at phasing out …
Matthew Lasar / Ars Technica:
Broadcasters sue FCC over white space broadband decision — The National Association of Broadcasters has asked a Federal court to shut down the FCC's authorization of white space devices. No details yet on why exactly NAB thinks the decision was illegal. — They've called “white space” …
Discussion:
dailywireless.org
Mark Wilson / Gizmodo:
Eye-Fi Doubles Storage and Adds Video Support — Our beloved Eye-Fis (SD cards that add Wi-Fi to any digital camera) have finally gotten the bump from their 2GB standard. Now Eye-Fi cards hold 4GB of photos and upload videos to YouTube/Flickr. … Essentially, Eye-Fi had a limited edition 4GB card …
Reid Hoffman / Washington Post:
Let Our Start-Ups Bail Us Out — President Obama noted last week that “we have lived through an era where, too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity.” As the $787 billion stimulus is sorted out, we should consider not only what's there but also what's missing.
Tiffany Kary / Bloomberg:
Blockbuster Said to Hire Firm for Bankruptcy Advice — Blockbuster Inc., the world's largest movie-rental chain, hired legal counsel to explore a possible bankruptcy filing, a person familiar with the situation said. Blockbuster fell as much as 86 percent before trading was halted.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Apple 2.0:
Apple's new Macs: Marketing by spy shot — Here's a thrifty marketing strategy tailor-made for these troubled times. — Rather than pay for all the accoutrements of a high-profile product roll-out — promotional media, special events, keynote speeches, etc. — just leak a few spy shots …
Juha-Pekka Tikka / Xconomy:
The Greatest Internet Pioneers You Never Heard Of: The Story of Erwise and Four Finns Who Showed the Way to the Web Browser — Juha-Pekka Tikka wrote: — Three quiet and unknown Finnish engineers in their late thirties, Kim Nyberg, Kari Sydänmaanlakka, and Teemu Rantanen …
Discussion:
Venture Capital Dispatch
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
Want To Know Why Newspapers Are Going Out Of Business? Because Adding Value Never Seems To Be An Option — from the massive-failure-in-action dept — Lots of folks in the newspaper business say that Howard Owens is a guy who really gets the online news business — and recognizes the challenges and opportunities.
Google:
Google Analytics Launches Individual Qualification Program — Online Course and Test Promote Increased Understanding of Web Analytics — Google announced today the launch of a new skills qualification program, Google Analytics Individual Qualification (IQ), which allows individuals to demonstrate proficiency in Google Analytics.
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch UK & Europe:
Rob Williams of Dolphin Music dies in Alps skiing accident — Rob Williams, co-founder of one of the UK's leading online companies Dolphin Music, died in a skiing accident yesterday evening while on holiday in the Swiss Alps. Mr Williams, 29, had been part of a group break for UK entrepreneurs in the ski resort of Verbier.
