Top Items:
Google Mobile Blog:
Finding places “Near me now” is easier and faster than ever on Google.com — Last month, Vic Gundotra, VP of Engineering, demonstrated at the Computer History Museum the ability to search by using your location as the query. Starting today, you can try this yourself by going to Google.com …
Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:
Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus first hands-on (video)! — We just had a chance to play around with the new Palm Pre Plus (and Palm Pixi Plus), and we must say — they've made some solid improvements to these devices. We're going to focus on the Pre, since it's really had the bulk of the changes.
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MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Apple Seizes 16 Domain Names From A Guy In One Fell Swoop — When you own domain names associated with the trademarks of a large company, more often than not, they're going to file a complaint with the ICANN UDRP (Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy). And more often than not, they're going to win control of the name.
Avner Ronen / Boxee Blog:
Boxee Beta Goes Public, Download Now — The Boxee Beta is officially out. You can grab it here. — The Beta is available for Mac, Windows and Ubuntu (including 64bit.. ). The version is still not available for Apple TV, yet, but we are working with the atv-creator community, and look forward to having news on this front.
Discussion:
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Chris Ziegler / Engadget:
Surprise, surprise: HTC's Euro-spec Nexus One does multitouch — Alright, Google, we get it: you hate America. That's the only conclusion we can reach for why the company's last two Android version hero devices — the Droid for 2. and the Nexus One for 2.1 — have mysteriously opted …
SciTeDaily:
Google's Book Scanning Technology Revealed — Google was awarded a patent for a device to rapidly scan high-quality of images of books last March, as reported by NPR and CNet. However, no one has been able to get a glimpse of how the system works in practice, until now.
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
The Other HP Slate Runs On Android — Last night, during his keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer showed off a prototype for a new HP Slate computer running on Windows 7. It was supposed to be an Apple-stealing moment and it was Microsoft's moment …
David / Wolfire Games Blog:
Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX — Often, when we meet other game developers and say that we use OpenGL for our game Overgrowth, we're met with stares of disbelief — why would anyone use OpenGL? DirectX is the future. When we tell graphics card representatives that we use OpenGL …
Timothy B. Hurst / ecopolitology:
USGS Develops Twitter-Based Earthquake Detection System — Seismologists say Twitter is the fastest way to get information out of an earthquake area, especially in those less densely populated. — People love to tweet about what's going on around them, especially when that something is exciting or otherwise newsworthy.
Dina Bass / Bloomberg:
Microsoft: Google's Phone Plan ‘Very Difficult’ — Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) — Microsoft Corp.'s Robbie Bach, head of the division that makes mobile-phone programs, said Google Inc. will have a hard time attracting partners to its wireless software after introducing its own handset.
Agam Shah / Computerworld:
Intel CEO shows first Moorestown smartphone — IDG News Service - Intel on Thursday showed the first smartphone based on its upcoming Moorestown platform for mobile devices. — The GW990 smartphone will be made by LG Electronics and ship during the second half of the year …
Discussion:
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Tom Krazit / CNET News:
Google muses about ads in Street View — It might have been just a trial balloon, but last year Google floated the idea of putting ads in Street View. — Could virtual billboards one day show up in Google Street View? — A few months ago, Google gave a presentation to marketing …
Discussion:
Softpedia News
Brian Womack / Bloomberg:
Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz Gives Herself B-Minus Grade for First Year on Job — Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) — Carol Bartz gives herself a B-minus in her first year as chief executive officer of Yahoo! Inc., saying she could have moved faster to reorganize the company and strike a Web-search agreement with Microsoft Corp.
Devindra Hardawar / Royal Pingdom:
Why Twitter is Digg's biggest threat — The launch of the social news site Digg in 2004 was the perfect example of a good idea at the right time. That was the year the term “Web 2.0″ started being thrown about to describe the rise of new web technologies that allowed for more interactive sites …
Thanks:atul
Chris Davies / SlashGear:
Dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon 8X72 chipset due by end of 2010 — Qualcomm's Snapdragon chipset may only now be turning up in any real number of mobile devices - you'll find its 1GHz thrumming away in the HTD HD2, Google Nexus One and various Smartbooks announced at CES 2010 this week …
Mmpc / Microsoft Malware Protection Center:
Some Observations on Rootkits — Getting hit by a live rootkit infection is among the more unfortunate fates that can befall an unsuspecting computer user. A rootkit burrows deep into the system, modifying it at a low-level in order to hide itself and other malware, and from there fights off attempts at deactivation and removal.
Darren Murph / Engadget:
HP updates Envy 13 and Envy 15 laptops, lowers prices significantly — HP's Envy lineup was introduced way back in the dark ages of last decade, so it's clearly due for a significant update. In all seriousness, the refresh that popped up today for both rigs probably has a lot …
Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:
Intel announces AppUp, an app store for netbooks and beyond — It seems like the app store model popularized by Apple's iPhone is on its way from smartphones to other devices. Today at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, chip-maker Intel announced that a beta test version of the AppUpCenter …
Tyler Tschida / App Advice:
EA Reveals The Sims 3 World Adventures Details And Screenshots — It looks as if EA is going to try and ride the Sims brand all the way to the bank on the iPhone and iPod touch just as they have on the PC. The company has revealed a brand new iPhone and iPod touch Sims game titled …
John Timmer / Ars Technica:
768-bit RSA cracked, 1024-bit safe (for now) — With the increasing computing power available to even casual users, the security-conscious have had to move on to increasingly robust encryption, lest they find their information vulnerable to brute-force attacks.
Discussion:
The Register
Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:
Greenpeace ranks Apple as greenest electronics maker — After falling prey to harsh criticism from Greenpeace over its use of toxic chemicals in products for years on end, Apple was honored this week with the environmental advocacy group's top ranking as the greenest electronics maker.
Arn / MacRumors:
CES 2010: NVIDIA Tegra 2 to Power Tablets in 2010 — Amongst the tablet hype at CES, NVIDIA made a major announcement on Thursday introducing their latest Tegra 2 mobile chipset. The Tegra 2 chipset incorporates 8 independent processors to handle web browsing, HD video encoding/decoding as well as mobile gaming.
Svetlana Gladkova / Profy:
Russia Considers Banning Sex Online in the Daytime — Can you imagine going to YouTube following a link on Twitter to watch some video recommended by a friend as a funny one (though NSFW) and since you are not at work, you feel perfectly safe clicking the link to watch it as this is exactly …
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Yahoo BOSS To Survive Microsoft Deal In Some Form; Details Still Hazy — After months of silence, Yahoo's BOSS team is opening up to frustrated third party developers about the future of the powerful search platform. A few hours ago, Yahoo's Ashim Chhabra left a post on the BOSS group forum …
Matthew Casperson / ProgrammableWeb:
Napster Opens API: Puts Music on Your TV, iPhone and Web Site — Naspter is one of the most recognizable names in digital music, being one of the first music distribution platforms when it was released way back in 1999. After much controversy, and changing hands several times in the last 10 years …
Discussion:
GigaOM
Joanna Stern / Engadget:
Toshiba Satelitte E205 is first laptop with Intel Wireless Display (WiDi) technology — Toshiba seems to be the first out the door with Intel's just announced Wireless Display technology. Actually the $999 Satellite E205 seems like one big group hug between Intel, Toshiba and Best Buy.
Laura Oliver / Journalism.co.uk:
New tools for Sky journalists as social media strategy moves from one to many — Sky News is installing Twitter software across its journalists' computers, as part of plans to encourage more use of social media for newsgathering and reporting. — The Tweetdeck application …
Discussion:
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