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10:00 PM ET, December 14, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
The Official Google Blog:
Making URLs shorter for Google Toolbar and FeedBurner  —  This morning, we launched updated versions of the Google Toolbar and FeedBurner that offer a new URL shortening service from Google called the Google URL Shortener.  We mentioned our URL shortener as a feature in both announcements …
RELATED:
Eric Eldon / Inside Facebook:
Facebook Testing New URL Shortener, fb.me  —  URL shorteners, like bit.ly, have become a popular way for people to share links on Twitter while taking up as few of the allotted 140 characters as possible.  But saving space is just one of the benefits that shorteners provide.
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Bit.ly Just Got Fu.kd: Facebook And Google Get Into The Short URL Game  —  Moments after we heard reports of Facebook's new URL shortener, Google launched its own service, aptly called goo.gl.  —  At the moment, its only being used for Google Toolbar and Feedburner.
Discussion: Mashable! and CloudAve
Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:
Exclusive: first Google Phone / Nexus One photos, Android 2.1 on-board  —  Well here you have it folks, honest-to-goodness pics of the Google Phone... AKA, the Nexus One.  As you can see by the photos, the design of the device is largely similar to those we've seen, but the graphic …
RELATED:
Reuters:
Google phone with T-Mobile contract in January: source  —  FRANKFURT/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc will sell a version of its own-branded cellphone for a reduced price to U.S. consumers who agree to a service contract from Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA, a source familiar with the matter said.
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
HTC Nexus One blessed by the FCC (updated)
AdSense for Feeds:
Socializing your feed with Twitter  —  Sometimes you reach across the hedgerow to share with your nearby neighbors.  Other times, members of the household move away and yet you can't keep from calling to remind them to wear a hat and such because it's chilly out.
RELATED:
Emma Barnett / Telegraph:
Marissa Mayer: An omnivorous Google is coming  —  Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president for search products and user experience, shares her unparalleled insights into the future of internet search engines.  —  The next big breakout area for Google is going to be language, according to Marissa Mayer.
New York Times:
Author Grants Exclusive E-Book Rights to Amazon  —  Ever since electronic books emerged as a major growth market, New York's largest publishing houses have worried that big-name authors might sign deals directly with e-book retailers or other new ventures, bypassing traditional publishers entirely.
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Facebook For Android Just Got A Big Upgrade, Is Catching Up To Its iPhone Cousin  —  For quite a while now now, one of the biggest problems with Android has been its app support.  In particular, the Facebook application has been quite limited: you could read your News Feed …
Ben Parr / Mashable!:
Twitter Starts Testing Features for Businesses  —  We know that Twitter believes that businesses are central to helping grow and monetize the microblogging service; recent integrations with Citysearch and LinkedIn have foretold its interest in the space.  —  Today though, Twitter has begun …
Jim Dalrymple / CNET News:
Apple apologizes for iMac delays  —  Apple on Sunday apologized to customers amid reports of shipping delays of its recently introduced iMac computer.  —  “The new iMac has been a huge hit and we are working hard to fulfill orders as quickly as possible,” an Apple spokesperson told CNET.
Matt Buchanan / Gizmodo:
Fuse: What Your Next Touch Phone Is Going to Feel Like  —  Fuse is what Synaptics—who probably made the trackpad you're swirling your finger on, and maybe your phone's touchscreen—says the next generation of touch phones will be like: You'll be squeezing, touching and stroking the phone, all over.
Andrew Nusca / Between the Lines:
Best Buy, Samsung, Westinghouse, 11 more named in GPL lawsuit  —  Best Buy, Samsung, Westinghouse and JVC are among 14 consumer electronics companies named in a copyright infringement lawsuit filed today in New York by the Software Freedom Law Center.  —  According to the complaint (.pdf) …
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
The Wall Opens A Bit More: Facebook To Publish User Updates To Twitter This Week  —  A lot has been said recently about Facebook's decision to re-write its privacy rulebook to encourage users to be more open about what they share.  Privacy implications aside, at least it appears that Facebook is eating its own dogfood.
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
ZumoDrive Lands $1.5 Million For Cloud Storage And Syncing Application  —  File syncing and storage startup Zumodrive has raised $1.5 million in funding led by Sherpalo Ventures with Tandem Entrepreneurs and VeriFone CEO Douglas Bergeron participating.  We initially reviewed Zumodrive here.
Discussion: paidContent, VentureBeat and VatorNews
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
The Unofficial Google Text-To-Speech API  —  Last month Google unveiled enhancements to Google Translate.  Among the new features was a simple text-to-speech function.  You can try it out, or watch this video to see how it works (skip to 0:45).  —  There's no official API for the text-to-speech service.
Sean Fallon / Gizmodo:
Boxee Beta Leaks on BitTorrent  —  Interested in trying out the latest version of Boxee with its fancy new UI?  Beta 0.9.20.9647 is now available for download from The Pirate Bay.  [TPB]
Discussion: TechSpot
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
MySpace and News Corp. Eye Flixster (But for What?)  —  Now that the digital equivalent of a super-vac, MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta, has sucked up some decent music start-ups-Imeem and iLike-for a song, to bolster the social networking site's efforts to expand into an entertainment portal, what's next?
Discussion: CNET News and Mashable!
The Official Google Blog:
Cloud apps, big city: LA goes Google  —  This fall we've seen lots of government agencies decide to make the switch to cloud computing, joining the many businesses already using Google Apps for email and collaboration at work.  Today we'd like to officially welcome another customer to the mix: the City of Los Angeles.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Brainstorm Tech:
The Mac's holiday momentum  —  A pair of analysts see an end-of-the-year uptick in Apple's computer sales  —  “Our conversations with industry contacts suggest that the Mac shipment levels have improved over the last two weeks,” writes J.P. Morgan's Mark Moskowitz in a report to clients issued Monday morning.
Dan Goodin / The Register:
Hackers declare war on international forensics tool  —  Microsoft's COFEE decaffeinated  —  Hackers have released software they say sabotages a suite of forensics utilities provided for free by Microsoft to hundreds of law enforcement agencies across the globe.
bit.ly blog:
Announcing bit.ly Pro  —  Today we're pleased to announce a new service: bit.ly Pro.  The Pro service provides custom short URLs powered by bit.ly.  Publishers and bloggers will be able to use their own short domain names to point to pages on their sites.  —  As part of our initial beta program …
Discussion: TechCrunch, Thanks:atul
BetaNews:
The case in favor of the open source enterprise database  —  Linux and open source middleware JBoss has made its mark in the enterprise, and it is just a matter of time before open source becomes mainstream in other functional parts of the IT infrastructure as well.
Discussion: internetnews.com and eWeek
Michelle Maisto / eWeek:
BlackBerry User Satisfaction on Rise, as iPhone, Droid Skirmish  —  As consumer awareness of AT&T's and Verizon's presence in the news has increased, so has consumer satisfaction with the BlackBerry brand, says daily surveyor BrandIndex.  Since the summer, BlackBerry satisfaction scores have doubled.
TeliaSonera:
TeliaSonera first in the world with 4G services  —  Today, as the first operator in the world, TeliaSonera launches 4G services commercially to customers in Stockholm, Sweden and Oslo, Norway.  —  “We are very proud to be the first operator in the world to offer our customers 4G services.
Jennifer Van Grove / Mashable!:
iPhone Users Urged to Take Down AT&T  —  Apparently, AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega's recent remarks concerning the carrier's plans to “incentivize” mobile data hogs to cut back on their usage rates aren't sitting well with AT&T customers.  Shocker.  —  Fake Steve Jobs, for one, has had enough of AT&T's excuses.
David Lenoe / Adobe Product Security Incident …:
New Adobe Reader and Acrobat Vulnerability  —  This afternoon, Adobe received reports of a vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.2 and earlier versions being exploited in the wild (CVE-2009-4324).  We are currently investigating this issue and assessing the risk to our customers.
 
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 More Items: 
Mia / YouTube Blog:
Release Notes: Find Facebook Friends, Total Video Views & More
Eric Slivka / MacRumors iPhone Blog:
Tesco Launches iPhone in UK Today
Discussion: IntoMobile and LOOPRumors
Jon Fortt / Brainstorm Tech:
How LG is getting teens to think before they text
Discussion: Between the Lines
Jessica Dolcourt / Crave: The gadget blog:
Seesmic Twitter app lands in BlackBerry store
Discussion: MobileCrunch, Thanks:loic
Wendy Davis / MediaPost:
Judge OKs Class-Action Suit For ATandT Broadband Slowdown
Brad Stone / New York Times:
Viruses That Leave Victims Red in the Facebook
Discussion: CrunchGear, Thanks:atul
Camille Ricketts / VentureBeat:
Clarizen gives companies real-time glimpses into project pipelines
Discussion: VC Cafe and TechCrunch
 Earlier Items: 
Tameka Kee / paidContent:
Paramount, Redbox Extend Rental Rev-Share Trial—With Focus On New Releases
Discussion: PR Newswire and NewTeeVee
Nielsen Wire:
U.S. Web Users Spent Just Over 66 Hours on the Computer in November
Discussion: BetaNews and ResourceShelf
The Huffington Post:
The Goracle — Al Gore, the Internet and the Future of American Politics
Yukari Iwatani Kane / Digits:
App Watch: Exploiting the iPhone Lock Screen
Todd Spangler / Multichannel News:
Can TiVo Reinvent Itself?
Discussion: NewTeeVee and DSLreports, Thanks:arjo
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:
Disney confirms pulling a transgender storyline from animated series Win or Lose, saying “many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects” with their kids

Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Sources: Disney worried that it had a flawed case in Trump's ABC lawsuit, and fighting it could hurt the Disney brand and damage press protections for others

Leo Schwartz / Fortune:
Sources: CoinDesk owner Bullish removed an article on Tron founder Justin Sun after complaints from his team; editorial chair Matt Murray resigned on Dec. 16

 
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