Top Items:
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Pinging In The New Year: Seesmic Acquires Ping.fm — Well that didn't take long. Just four days in 2010 and we already have an acquisition. Social networking application Seesmic has acquired the social status updater Ping.fm. — The move positions the various Seesmic applications …
Discussion:
Mashable!, The Next Web, CNET News, ReadWriteWeb, VentureBeat, GigaOM, alarm:clock, paidContent, Ping.fm Blog, louisgray.com, GMSV, RotorBlog.com and silicontap.com
RELATED:
Loïc Le Meur / Seesmic Blog:
We've acquired Ping.fm. Get ready to update 50 social networks from Seesmic — Your friends are not all in one social network, but we want to help you stay in touch with them anytime and from any device. That is Seesmic's vision and to deliver this faster, we have acquired Ping.fm.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Google And Spotify Dance Over U.S. Launch — Spotify. The elusive European streaming music startup that you just can't get access to in the U.S., unless you know someone or jump through a few hoops. — The U.S. launch has been delayed over aggressive negotiations with the labels …
David Colker / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Facebook fights back, disallows the Suicide Machine — Like the computer in the movie “2001,” Facebook is struggling to keep its profiles from virtual extinction at the hands of its arch enemy - the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine. — The Suicide Machine is a clever Web site out of the Netherlands …
David Carr / New York Times:
A Savior in the Form of a Tablet — Last year about this time, I was talking with an executive from Apple about e-readers and print at a conference we were both attending, much of it in the context of the mainstream media's original sin of giving away content if people happened to be reading it in digital form.
Discussion:
Brainstorm Tech, TeleRead, Scobleizer, Recovering Journalist, Enterprise Irregulars and Romenesko
Business Wire:
Flixster Inc. Acquires Rotten Tomatoes From IGN Entertainment — Combination of Top Brands Creates a Leader in the Online Movie Space, Reaching 30 Million Monthly Moviegoers; IGN to Receive Equity Stake in Flixster — SAN FRANCISCO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Flixster Inc., producer …
Brad Stone / New York Times:
Trying to Add Portability to Movie Files — It is easy to take a DVD to a friend's house and watch it on his TV. But things are more complicated when digital video downloads are involved. A movie file bought from Blockbuster.com will not work on a Sony HDTV, for example …
Discussion:
Gizmodo, The iPhone Blog, Electronista, 24/7 Wall St., Maximum PC, Techland and Daily Patricia
John Paczkowski / Digital Daily:
Major Apple Product Announcement Set for Wednesday, Jan. 27 — So, that rumored Apple event everyone has been jawing about these past few weeks? It's on and it's going to be a big deal. — Sources in a position to know tell me Apple (AAPL) is indeed planning a media event later this month …
Nilay Patel / Engadget:
Nokia asks ITC to ban iPhone, iPod, and MacBook imports, files another lawsuit against Apple — Looks like Nokia is going all-out in its patent fight with Apple: in addition to the lawsuit it's filed over GSM standards and last week's International Trade Commission complaint …
Darren Murph / Engadget:
Freescale reveals 7-inch smartbook reference design, hopes to see it ship for $200 — Freescale Semiconductor is helping to kick this year's CES off with a bang, as its latest reference smartbook design actually has somewhat of a sexy flair to it. Currently, the model is little more than a great idea …
Jonny Evans / 9 to 5 Mac:
Coming soon: Apple's $20 billion revenue explosion — Blink and you may have missed it in among the seasonal festivities and dawn of the new decade, but CNBC's December 30 Power Lunch show gave a little insight into the power behind Apple's stock advance, with Phil Cusick …
Discussion:
Between the Lines
Electronista:
Popbox hub promises 1080p anywhere, Netflix — Syabas preluded CES today with its most ambitious media hub to date. The Popbox replaces the Popcorn Hour as the flagship media hub and revolves around a major, much more polished interface overhaul designed by Moxie's inventor and former Microsoft executive Dewey Reid.
Ashlee Vance / New York Times:
Watching TV Together, Miles Apart — SAN FRANCISCO — For the lonely couch potato, help is on the way. — Simple technology, including video chatting services like Skype, is making it possible for far-flung friends to watch shows together, even if they can't share the same bowl of popcorn.
Discussion:
Gawker
Darren Murph / Engadget:
Pink Palm Pixi spotted on Sprint system, Cupid is like ‘boomshakalaka’ — You know what's in just over a month? We'll tell you: Valentine's Day. You know what's coming up this Thursday? Something “new” from Palm. Now, we won't go so far as to say that a pink Palm Pixi is definitely …
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Facebook Rolling Out Redesign To Some Users — Facebook seems to be rolling out its new site design to at least some people outside the company, although none of us at TechCrunch have yet to be graced with its presence. The new design is “exactly” like the screenshots that GigaOm posted on December 27, says one source.
Discussion:
Neowin.net
Daniel Brusilovsky / TechCrunch:
Graphic.ly Raises $1.2M For Comic Publishing — Graphic.ly, a content delivery system and community platform for the publishing world, today announced that they have raised $1.2 million in funding. Graphic.ly was originally named Take Comics, and was part of the 2009 TechStars program in Boulder, Co.
Robert Andrews / mocoNews:
Nokia's New Mobile Chief: We'll Match Apple, RIM By 2011 — If he had wanted to debunk those rumors that it might buy Palm, Nokia's new mobile phones head Rick Simonson could have picked a more outright denial. — Simonson, who in November switched from CFO to run the mobile unit …
Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
A look at Apple's love for DRM and consumer lock-ins — Apple is a company known for many things, but embracing copyright freedoms has not been one of them. The company loves creating new and innovative products that challenge the world's perception of what it thought it wanted …
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
What to watch for at the Consumer Electronics Show — The International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is the gadget industries SuperBowl. This year's CES events start Tuesday. Floor show exhibits open on Thursday and run through Sunday. VentureBeat's Anthony Ha and I will be covering lots of stories at the show.
Discussion:
MediaPost, PC World, TechCrunch, jkOnTheRun, Silicon Alley Insider, eWeek and PC Magazine
Elizabeth Woyke / Forbes:
Vonage's Second Calling — Forbes Magazine dated January 18, 2010 — The Internet telephone company wants to go from your home to your cell phone. — In 2002 Internet telephone company Vonage pioneered service that routed phone calls over the Web, cutting frequent callers' long-distance phone bills by as much as half.
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Social Network Removes 5,000 Users For Putting On Weight During Holiday Season — No doubt seeking attention by making controversial decisions and statements, elitist social networking site BeautifulPeople.com says it has kicked out 5,000 users because other members signaled that they became …
Cecilia Kang / Washington Post:
Public interest groups call for antitrust probe of TV Everywhere — Public interest groups on Monday will call for federal antitrust watchdogs to investigate an industry-wide strategy by television service providers that they say will strap users to unnecessarily high monthly subscription fees and stifle competition.
Discussion:
Between the Lines, DSLreports, Company Town, Post Tech, Technology Liberation Front, Maximum PC and Daily Patricia
Louis Gray:
Twitter Continues Hiring Spree, Adding Ten New Staffers — Twitter's pedigree is getting increasingly rich at the expense of Google and other Silicon Valley tech titans. With the holidays behind us, the microblogging powerhouse is starting the new year with more new faces at its San Francisco headquarters.
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
Microsoft offers Windows XP, Office XP users 50 percent discount to encourage upgrades — Microsoft officials are well aware that its biggest Windows 7 and Office 2010 competitors are its own previous product iterations (Windows XP and Office XP/2003). To try and wean users away from older …
Discussion:
CrunchGear
Noam Cohen / New York Times:
Link by Link: In Allowing Ad Blockers, a Test for Google — IN a manifestolike e-mail message sent last month to all Google employees, Jonathan Rosenberg, a senior vice president for product management, told them to commit to greater transparency and open industry standards.
Matt Buchanan / Gizmodo:
Synaptics Scrybe Is Like Quicksilver Plus Fingerpainting for Your Laptop (Dumb, for Now) — It sounds nice: Turning your notebook trackpad into a gesture area for shortcuts, like instantly searching, with a squiggle of your finger. But you have to learn a whole series of strokes, so it's like Palm Graffiti all over again.
