Top Items:
Tim Culpan / Bloomberg:
Apple Expects to Ship 10 Million Tablets in First Year, Lee Kai-Fu Says — Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. expects to ship 10 million tablet computers in the device's first year of release, former Google Inc. Greater China president Lee Kai-fu wrote on his Web log, citing a friend familiar with the project whom he didn't name.
Discussion:
NBC Bay Area, Techie Buzz, iPhone Buzz, AppleInsider, Computerworld, Tech Trader Daily, TheAppleBlog, Gadgetmix news, MediaPost, 9 to 5 Mac and Fone Arena
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John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
The Tablet … —"Just a Touch Away, the Elusive Tablet PC", The New York Times, 4 October 2009 — Here's the thimbleful of information I have heard regarding The Tablet (none of which has changed in six months): The Tablet project is real, it has you-know-who's considerable undivided attention …
Discussion:
Paul Buchheit, MacRumors, Electronista, TeleRead, SlashGear, The iPhone Blog, DisplayBlog, CrunchGear, lalawag, Cloned In China and Silicon Alley Insider, Thanks:atul
Marco.org:
“The Tablet” and gadget portability theory — I haven't written about the supposed Apple tablet yet because nobody knows anything (including whether it even exists), so everyone's just talking out of their asses about it. — Normally, I'm perfectly willing to join in and endlessly talk …
Kim Zetter / Threat Level:
TSA Withdraws Subpoenas Against Bloggers — TSA Special Agent John Enright, left, speaks to Steven Frischling outside the blogger — In the wake of public outcry against the Transportation Security Administration for serving civil subpoenas on two bloggers, the government agency has canceled …
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Megan McCarthy / Techmeme News:
Top 10 objectively biggest tech stories of 2009 — Ignore all the other lists! As we did last year, Techmeme has distilled its very own Top 10 story list, utilizing headline ranking data archived throughout the year. While we employ a terrific team of news editors to guide our story selection …
Brad Stone / Bits:
Whoops! F.C.C. Chairman Spams Facebook Friends — Facebook scam artists have closed out 2009 by snagging a prominent victim: Julius Genachowski, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. — On Friday morning at around 10:30 a.m., Mr. Genachowski sent his Facebook friends this puzzling message …
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
The Google Countdown Reveals Its Explosively Colorful Secret — A few weeks ago we wrote about a mysterious Easter Egg on Google's homepage that we dubbed The Google Countdown. After clicking the “I'm Feeling Lucky” button with no search query entered, the page would display a countdown timer ticking …
David Richards / Smarthouse:
HTC To Launch Apple iSlate Competitor — Smartphones, tablets and netbooks are set to be high on the agenda at this year's Consumer Electronics Show as traditional PC vendors look to compete with the new Apple iSlate which is due to be released on the 26th January in the USA.
Chris Buckley / Reuters:
China says 5,394 arrested in Internet porn crackdown — Buzz up! — BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police arrested thousands in a drive against Internet pornography throughout 2009, officials said, vowing a deepening crackdown that critics say is being used to tighten overall censorship.
Nicholas Carlson / Silicon Alley Insider:
Apple COO Tim Cook Said To Be A “Top Candidate” For GM CEO Job (AAPL, GM) — Apple COO Tim Cook is executive search firm Spencer Stuart's first choice for the open CEO spot at General Motors, a reader tells us. — We have no idea whether this is true or not, but it makes sense.
Discussion:
MacDailyNews
Seth Weintraub / 9 to 5 Mac:
This is why Apple denied Google Latitude from the App Store... Another Apple patent today looks remarkably similar to the functionality of Google Latitude which Apple relegated to WebApp status earlier this year. Obviously if Apple is working on their own version of Google Latitude …
Eliot Van Buskirk / Epicenter:
MySpace Replaces Embedded Imeem Playlists With Ads — This Wired.com Listening Post article from October 2008 is one of many around the web that now features prominent ads for ringtones by various pop artists where songs and playlists used to be. — Imeem users, bloggers and web users …
The Real McCrea:
Silicon Valley: Top 10 of the 2000s — It's all too easy to view the first decade of the 21st Century as just an unmitigated series of disasters: September 11th, the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina, and the meltdown of the global financial system, to name just a few.
Discussion:
broadstuff, Tom Foremski: IMHO, Silicon Valley Watcher, CNN and dailywireless.org, Thanks:chrismessina
Sebastian Rupley / GigaOM:
Mozilla Raindrop Aims to Solve Message Glut in 2010 — As we've noted before, Mozilla's Raindrop messaging project holds a lot of promise. Like many early-stage, open-source Mozilla projects, the design of Raindrop isn't being widely publicized, but there are now more interface clues as to why it could be important.
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:
$7.5 Million: Wikipedia Reaches Fundraising Goal — In what has become a Christmas tradition, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales posted a personal appeal for donations to the Wikimedia Foundation earlier this month. On the first day alone, the nonprofit raised $430,000 from 13,000 people.
Jeff Bertolucci / PC World:
Google: Never Mind the Nexus One, How About a Cheaper Cell Plan? — Based on this week's flurry of media reports, it appears that Google will introduce its Nexus One smartphone right after the New Year. This HTC-built handset sounds like a very good Android phone, a solid effort …
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Rebecca Harper / Hulu Blog:
Live Stream: Times Square 2010 — With a bit of rain and snow in the forecast for the New Year's Eve festivities in the Big Apple, the team at Hulu HQ can't blame you for wanting to stay warm and dry inside. The good news? You can catch all the festivities at home with Hulu.
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Time Warner Cable Shows Subscribers How to Cut the Cord — The nightmare scenario for cable companies is that customers drop their TV subscriptions and grab their video directly from the Web, turning the cable guys into mere providers of “dumb pipes.” — But here's a comprehensive set …
Tim Conneally / BetaNews:
LG finally brings mobile digital TV hardware to the States — Mobile Digital TV is still about a year away from mainstream adoption, but major strides were made in 2009. Now on the last day of the year, consumer electronics company LG has announced it will finally be showing off Mobile DTV products at the Consumer Electronics Show.
Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
Microsoft patent filing: Control a computer by flexing a muscle — We've covered lots of offbeat Microsoft patent filings in 2009, and here's a doozy to round out the year. According to a newly surfaced filing, the company is seeking patents on a method of controlling computers using Electromyography …
Andy Patrizio / HardwareCentral:
The Year (and Next Year) in Semiconductors — Looking Back, Looking Ahead — This has not been one of the great years for the economy, although it ended better than it started. Semiconductor companies started out the year in full retreat as spending just stopped dead in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Discussion:
internetnews.com
Bill Ray / The Register:
Hacker rattles 21,000 iPhone unlockers — Claiming moral high ground — Hackers have mailed 21,000 customers of iPhoneUnlockUK to remind them the company uses unlicensed software, and that their details have been compromised. — E-mails were sent out to customers of the iPhone unlocking service …
Pui-Wing Tam / Wall Street Journal:
Start-Up IPOs Go Elsewhere — Not many Silicon Valley companies have gone public in recent years. And as 2009 draws to a close, the past 12 months have followed the same lackluster pattern. — Through early this week, eight venture-capital-backed companies had gone public in 2009, according to research firm VentureSource.