Top Items:
Brian Rakowski / The Official Google Blog:
Google Chrome for the holidays: Mac, Linux and extensions in beta — There was nothing more excruciating for me as a kid than seeing the presents pile up under the Christmas tree but knowing that I couldn't open them until Christmas morning. On the Google Chrome team …
Discussion:
Computerworld, InfoWorld, Chromium Blog, PC Magazine, Technologizer, Between the Lines, eWeek, PC World, Google Operating System, Google Mac Blog, The Register, CNET News, Softpedia News, SFGate, InformationWeek, IT PRO - Today, Mashable!, The Tech Report, SlashGear, ReadWriteWeb, TechCrunch, Geek.com, Webmonkey, Search Engine Journal, Maximum PC, ithinkdifferent, AdaptiveBlue Blog, 901am, jkOnTheRun, Google Code Blog, Quick Online Tips, ChannelWeb, Digital Daily and TechSpot
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Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Google Chrome For Mac Is Here! — The wait is over. Google Chrome for Mac is now available in beta. It's still missing a few features that are in the Windows version (like support for extensions), but the browser is lickety-split and more-or-less stable. — I've been holding off really using Chrome until now.
Discussion:
Mashable!, Chromium Blog, Engadget, Telegraph, PC World, NEWSFACTOR, CNET News, Ars Technica, DailyFinance, Electronista, AppleInsider, VentureBeat, TUAW, Download Squad, 9 to 5 Mac, InformationWeek and Neowin.net
Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:
New Digital Publishing Venture Boasts Access To 144 Million-Plus Audience; Squires Talks — Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith (NYSE: MDP), News Corp (NYSE: NWS). and Time Inc. are making it formal: the five publishers are equity partners in a new digital publishing venture with grand designs.
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Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Now's the Time, Finally: Publishers Announce Their “Hulu for Magazines.” Next Up: Building It. — So here you go: The magazine industry is finally ready to announce that it is forming a joint venture to distribute and sell digital versions of its products.
Discussion:
VentureBeat, eHomeUpgrade, Kindle Review, 9 to 5 Mac, MediaPost, Gizmodo, Geek.com, I4U News, dailywireless.org and metarand
The Official Google Blog:
Exploring a new, more dynamic way of reading news with Living Stories — There's been no shortage of talk recently about the “future of news.” Should publishers charge for news online? How do they replace lost sources of revenue such as classified ads? How will accountability journalism endure?
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Matt Rosoff / CNET News:
MySpace buries Imeem — Here's an interesting study in contrasts. When MySpace acquired iLike back in August, MySpace left the site mostly intact. The iLike home page is still there, you can still add iLike's music-finding and sharing application to your Facebook page …
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Owen Van Natta / MySpace:Imeem Becomes Part of MySpace Music
Discussion:
Electronista, Digital Media Wire, Digits, TechCrunch, Epicenter, paidContent, AppScout and MediaMemo
Joe Wilcox / BetaNews:
What does AT&T's ‘Mark the Spot’ app say about service quality? — Do you have AT&T as wireless carrier? Are you happy with the network service quality? I encourage Betanews readers to respond in comments to these questions, which are suddenly surreal now that AT&T has released the “Mark the Spot” app for iPhone.
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Paul Miller / Engadget:
Dell Vostro V13 hands-on impressions: ‘yes’ — What if you took an original Adamo, shaved a couple pounds off the weight and a grand off the price? You'd end up with something pretty close to the new Dell Vostro V13. We just got a quick look at the machine, and while some of the cheaper materials Dell …
Discussion:
internetnews.com, PC Magazine, eWeek, PC World, Electronista, Crave, Direct2Dell, Gizmodo, CrunchGear, Liliputing and TG Daily
Nancy Scola / techPresident:
The Open Government Directive has dropped. Here's what's in it — and why it's a big deal. — So we finally have our hands on the long-awaited Open Government Directive. In just eleven pages, it lays out the Obama Administration's vision for what transparent, participatory …
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Chris Albrecht / NewTeeVee:
Study: Redbox Will Destroy the Entertainment Industry — If you thought the movie 2012 was disaster porn, just wait for the entertainment apocalypse that Redbox's dollar-a-night movie rentals will bring about. That, in a nutshell, is the bottom line of a new report (PDF, hat tip to Video Business) …
Connie Guglielmo / Bloomberg:
Dell Rings Up $6.5 Million in Sales Using Twitter Promotions — Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) — Dell Inc., relying on social- networking sites to drum up sales of personal computers, said its promotions on Twitter have helped generate more than $6.5 million in orders for PCs, accessories and software.
Nicholas Carlson / Silicon Alley Insider:
CONFIRMED: Saul Hansell Quits The New York Times For AOL — Confirming our earlier report, AOL says it hired New York Times tech writer Saul Hansell. — Saul will be the first employee of Seed.com, AOL's platform for freelance contributors to its 80+ media sites.
Aaron Whyte / Gmail Blog:
Offline Gmail graduates from Labs — Almost a year ago, we launched Offline Gmail in Gmail Labs. By installing Offline Gmail, you're able to use the normal Gmail interface to read and write mail, search, and organize, even when there's no internet connection.
Discussion:
Technologizer, ReadWriteWeb, CNET News, eWeek, Geek.com, Softpedia News, Obsessable and jkOnTheRun
Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:
Apple reveals best-selling iTunes content, iPhone apps of 2009 — Apple this week revealed the most critically acclaimed and best selling content of the year in the iTunes Store, the world's most popular online music seller and mobile application destination.
Seth Weintraub / 9 to 5 Mac:
Apple updates Airport client software/silences loud Superdrives — Apple released Airport Client Update 2009-002 today fixing some minor issues in Snow Leopard's wireless access software. A restart is required. — Update: Apple also released MacBook Pro EFI 1.8 firmware update for MacBook Pro 5,1 and 5,2.
WindowsServer / Windows Server Division WebLog:
Windows Server and Windows Azure come together in a new STB organization: the Server & Cloud Division — Microsoft is announcing today the formation of a new organization within the Server & Tools Business that combines the Windows Server & Solutions group and the Windows Azure group …
Discussion:
CNET News, The Microsoft Blog, BetaNews, LiveSide, eWeek, All about Microsoft and Windows Azure
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
How Microsoft stacks up against Google's latest search and mobile wares — Hoping (unsuccessfully so) to head off the glowing press Google was bound to get this week for its “future of search” preview, Microsoft showed off some of its latest enhancements to Bing last week.
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Dan Abrams' Mediaite To Launch Tech News Site And Other Verticals — Dan Abram's recently launched media gossip and analysis site Mediaite, has steadily gained traction as a media news blog and today is announcing expansion to other news verticals, including technology, fashion and sports.
The Official Google Blog:
Fighting fraud online: taking “Google Money” scammers to court — “Use Google to Make 1000s of Dollars!” or “Easy Cash with Google: You Could be Making up to $978 a Day Working from Home!” You may have seen offers like these using Google's name or logo that sounded too good to be true.
Discussion:
Financial Times, eWeek, Search Engine Land, InformationWeek, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, PC World, VentureBeat and CNET News
Google LatLong:
Changing your perspective — As an avid travel planner or discerning house hunter, you might always be looking for another view of a location before you make your final decision. On the Google Maps team we're always looking for ways to make search experiences like this more useful for you.
Adam Pash / Lifehacker:
Thunderbird 3 Officially Released with New Features, Improved Look — Windows/Mac/Linux: A whopping two years at its second major release, Mozilla's popular desktop email client Thunderbird is now available as the new and improved Thunderbird 3.0, and there's a lot to love in the new Thunderbird.
David Kaplan / paidContent:
@ Vevo Launch: Google's Schmidt: The Music Industry Will Finally Make Money Selling Music Online — [In progress] The Vevo launch party has been going on for an hour and executives and stars are ready to take the stage. I spoke briefly with Google (NSDQ: GOOG) CEO Eric Schmidt …
Discussion:
Mashable!
Cory Doctorow / Guardian:
Streaming will never stop downloading — Far from being a cure for the industry's woes, substituting streams for downloads wastes bandwidth, reduces privacy and slows innovation — Someone convinced the record and movie and TV industries that there is way of letting someone listen to audio …
Discussion:
ZeroPaid.com
Mel Martin / TUAW:
Dragon Dictation comes to the iPhone. Wow. — Put this into the 'I didn't think they could ever get this to work on an iPhone' category. — I'm talking about Dragon Dictation [iTunes link] from Nuance, the developers of the very popular Dragon Naturally Speaking for the PC.
Discussion:
Nuance is a leading provider …, PC World, jkOnTheRun, Andy Ihnatko's Celestial Waste …, MobileCrunch, 9 to 5 Mac, Download Squad, Gadget Lab, MacRumors, BusinessWeek, Digital Inspiration, iLounge, The Apple Core, Phone Arena, AppScout, TechStartups.com, blogs.chron.com, Advocate's Studio, Maximum PC, Mashable!, The iPhone Blog, GottaBeMobile.com and Josh Bancroft's …
