Top Items:
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 …
Discussion:
Macworld, CNET News, Digits, AppleInsider, Tech Trader Daily, 9 to 5 Mac, Ars Technica, OSNews, Electronista, I4U News, Silicon Alley Insider, TUAW, Engadget, Technologizer, MacRumors, GeekSugar, Daring Fireball and Gizmodo
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:
The Next Web, Mashable!, CNET News, alarm:clock, GigaOM, paidContent, ReadWriteWeb, VentureBeat, louisgray.com, Ping.fm Blog, RotorBlog.com, GMSV 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 …
Discussion:
PC World, All Facebook, Digits, The Next Web, Softpedia News, Network World, Mashable! and Rev2.org
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Exclusive: VMware Likely to Buy Zimbra from Yahoo — Yahoo is close to selling its Zimbra unit to VMware, according to several sources close to the situation. — Sources said the deal will be announced soon, but the price for the open-source email unit was still unclear.
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 …
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 …
Discussion:
Mashable!, TechCrunch, paidContent, MediaMemo, ReadWriteWeb, Silicon Alley Insider, bub.blicio.us, /Film and The Next Web
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, Recovering Journalist, Scobleizer, Enterprise Irregulars and Romenesko
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, 24/7 Wall St., The iPhone Blog, Maximum PC, Techland, Electronista and Daily Patricia
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 …
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.
Caroline McCarthy / The Social:
Fresh legal woes for ConnectU founders — It must have been quite the unwanted holiday gift: CNET has learned that there's a new lawsuit on the table against Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the identical twins who alleged that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg stole their code and business plan …
changewaveresearch.com:
New Survey Shows Android OS Roiling the Smart Phone Market — Google's (GOOG) Android mobile operating system was released more than a year ago, midst high expectations it would change the smart phone market. But the big transformation never materialized - until now.
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
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.
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.
Discussion:
Fast Company, Engadget, CrunchGear, 901am, Zatz Not Funny!, Maximum PC, techeblog.com and ITworld.com
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.
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 …
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 …
Discussion:
PalmInfocenter, MobileCrunch, EverythingPre, Mobile Whack, PreCentral.net and PhoneDog.com
Peter Cohen / The Loop:
Device turns iPhone, iPod touch into universal remote — L5 Technology is using this week's CES trade show in Las Vegas to debut the L5 Remote, a $50 accessory (paired with a free application) that turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a universal remote control. It's coming in February.
Discussion:
App Advice, 9 to 5 Mac, Business Wire, Silicon Alley Insider, EverythingiCafe, I4U News, DVICE and Gizmodo
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 …
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 …
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 …
Discussion:
Times of India, Reuters, IntoMobile, MobileTechWorld, Electronista, Digital Daily and atmaspheric
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.
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:
Hillicon Valley, Between the Lines, Company Town, Post Tech, Technology Liberation Front, Maximum PC, DSLreports and Daily Patricia
Cecilia Kang / Post Tech:
DOJ calls for FCC to release spectrum, focus on wireless broadband — The Department of Justice said wireless broadband services may be an attractive option for users without high-speed Internet access and could provide more competition to cable, fiber and DSL services.
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.
