Top Items:
Yinka Adegoke / Reuters:
Microsoft in talks for new TV service: sources — (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) has held talks with media companies to license TV networks for a new online pay-television subscription service through devices such as its Xbox video game console, two people familiar with the plans told Reuters.
Discussion:
MediaPost, AppleInsider, SAI, Engadget, Microsoft Watch, Digital Trends, PC Magazine, Ars Technica, Reuters, VG247, Mashable!, Techland, I4U News, DailyTech, Pulse2, Technologizer, Eurogamer, The Seattle Times, Joystiq, dailywireless.org, ITworld.com, eHomeUpgrade, The Next Web, VentureBeat, Fast Company, FierceIPTV, BlogsDNA, WebProNews, The Microsoft Blog, TechFlash, Gizmodo, GigaOM, MediaMemo, paidContent, Electronista, Media Maverick, SlashGear, DSLreports, MTV Multiplayer, Erictric and TechSpot, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:
John Biggs / TechCrunch:
Microsoft TV: A Bold Move That May Blow Up Broadcast — From what we can tell from a brief Reuters report, Microsoft is in talks with HBO and Showtime to broadcast and sell a la carte video through the XBox. Microsoft already offers ESPN through XBox Live.
Discussion:
broadstuff and Digital Trends
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Kinect is Selling 2X as Fast as the iPad — The iPad was crowned the fastest-adopted consumer electronic device ever last month, stealing the title from the once-coveted DVD player. Records are made to be broken, though, and the Microsoft Kinect has already come out of the gate twice as fast.
RELATED:
Tiernan Ray / Tech Trader Daily:
Microsoft: Over 2.5M Kinect Sold
Microsoft: Over 2.5M Kinect Sold
Discussion:
BetaNews, Microsoft, Ars Technica, Pulse2, The Seattle Times, The Next Web, VentureBeat, LiveSide.net, BGR, WinRumors, Insights on the tech industry and Electronista
Tiernan Ray / Tech Trader Daily:
Level 3 Denounces Comcast ‘Toll’ On Internet Traffic — An interesting wrinkle today in the debate over net neutrality and broadband content accesss: Level 3 Communications (LVLT), which operates thousands of miles of fiber optic networks throughout North America, said this afternoon …
Discussion:
Techdirt, MarketWatch, Media Decoder, MediaPost, GigaOM, paidContent, Wall Street Journal, Boing Boing, DSLreports, SAI, Electronista, Techie Buzz and Reuters, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:
Joe Waz / Comcast Voices:
Comcast Comments on Level 3
Comcast Comments on Level 3
Discussion:
Data Center Knowledge, The Register, Engadget, Epicenter and Pulse2
Ben Parr / Mashable!:
Google's Secret Social Initiative Delayed Until Spring 2011 [EXCLUSIVE] — Google's big social initiative, once thought to be a full-fledged social network named “Google Me,” is experiencing delays that have pushed back the launch until spring 2011. — Mashable has learned …
Georgina Prodhan / Reuters:
Few smartphone owners are loyal to their brand: survey — (Reuters) - The booming smartphone market shows no sign of slowing but manufacturers will have to fight hard to keep their customers as smartphone owners show little loyalty to their current brands, a GfK survey shows.
Discussion:
BGR, MediaPost, Electronista, GigaOM, Pulse2, The Toybox Blog, TUAW, IntoMobile, Android Community, pocketnow.com, I4U News, Internet2Go, Examiner, PhoneArena, TechSpot, MobileBurn.com, Fortune, Inquirer, displayblog, AppleInsider, The Next Web, MacDailyNews, Phones Review and FierceMobileContent
Nathan Olivarez-Giles / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Playboy Magazine releases every issue from 1953 to 2010 on a hard drive — Playboy Magazine is on magazine racks, on the Web, on iPad, and now it's also on a hard drive. — The iconic publication, which has struggled a bit as the world goes increasingly digital, is offering every issue of Playboy …
Discussion:
Pulse2, Neowin.net, TeleRead and Boing Boing
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Facebook Now Worth $50 Billion In Secondary Trading — It was just a few weeks ago that Accel Partners sold off around half a billion dollars of Facebook shares at a company valuation of $35 billion. If you thought that was insane, and a lot of commenters did, then don't read the rest of this post.
Ingrid Lunden / mocoNews:
The Biggest iPad Subsidy Of All: Softbank Gives It Away. What's Behind It? — One more operator is offering a reduced price for the iPad if you take it on a two-year contract: Softbank in Japan is preparing to launch a deal that offers users a 16GB iPad for free.
Discussion:
MacNN, BlogsDNA, App Advice, Fortune, msnbc.com and MacStories
Larry Downes / Technology Liberation Front:
Domain Name Seizures and the “Limits” of Civil Forfeiture — I was quoted this morning in Sara Jerome's story for The Hill on the weekend seizures of domain names the government believes are selling black market, counterfeit, or copyright infringing goods. — The seizures take place …
Discussion:
DomainIncite.com, Techdirt and Post Tech
RELATED:
Sara Jerome / Hillicon Valley:
Government's Internet crackdown was timed to thwart ‘Cyber Monday’ crimes
Government's Internet crackdown was timed to thwart ‘Cyber Monday’ crimes
Discussion:
techPresident and Techdirt
Dharmesh Mehta / The Windows Blog:
Over 500,000 Windows Live Spaces blogs migrated to WordPress.com — We're very excited to be working with WordPress.com to let customers connect the fantastic blogging capabilities of WordPress.com with the leading communications and sharing services of Windows Live.
Discussion:
WordPress.com News, TechCrunch, Technologizer, LiveSide.net, Pulse2 and The Blog Herald
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Zuckerberg Interviews Former President George W. Bush At Facebook HQ [Video] — Looks like President Obama isn't the only one resorting to Facebook as a way to reach the American people. In a first for a U.S. President past or present, former President George W. Bush will hold a discussion …
Discussion:
Forbes, Gov 2.0, The Next Web and Between the Lines Blog
Sarah Lacy / TechCrunch:
John Doerr and Mary Meeker Speak about their New Partnership — Venture capital mega-firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has announced that Mary Meeker is joining the firm as a partner, in another sign that the firm is focusing more on this mobile-meets-social-meets-local-meets- global wave of Web disruption.
RELATED:
Courtney Comstock / SAI:
Morgan Stanley's Legendary Tech Analyst Mary Meeker Moving To Kleiner Perkins
Morgan Stanley's Legendary Tech Analyst Mary Meeker Moving To Kleiner Perkins
Zach Epstein / BGR:
WP7 developers complain of missing payments, broken reporting tools — Microsoft is making good progress in its efforts to woo developers to the new Windows Phone 7 platform, but we hope the company is equally devoted to keeping devs on board once they arrive.
Discussion:
eWeek, SlashGear, Know Your Cell, AppleInsider, IntoMobile, WPCentral.com, Electronista and Ubergizmo
Karol Stosiek / Gmail Blog:
Optional attendees in Google Calendar — Time is one of our most precious resources. Despite their necessity, meetings tend to vary in importance for different attendees. John might be really interested in his team's weekly meeting, whereas Jane, who is working on a unrelated project, may want to skip it.
Discussion:
Pulse2, GottaBeMobile, The Next Web, Erictric, Examiner and Softpedia News
Ina Fried / Mobilized:
Acer CEO on Why He's Waiting on Android Tablets — Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci thinks there's plenty of room to take on the iPad with an Android tablet. Just not yet. — Although Lanci is talking tough about the opportunity to rival Apple's hit, he's also the one who announced-then delayed …
Discussion:
Digital Daily, MobileCrunch, MobileTechWorld, AndroidGuys, Android Community, WMPoweruser.com, Electronista, Ubergizmo and WPCentral.com
Courtney Boyd Myers / The Next Web:
Sneak Peak: Richard Branson's iPad Magazine launches tomorrow — Billionaire entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson's iPad magazine launches tomorrow. Project's blog looks pretty cool at first glance, covering topics like design, entertainment, technology and entrepreneurs.
Discussion:
L.A. Times Tech Blog, Gizmodo, TUAW, Mashable!, MacStories, New York Observer, 9 to 5 Mac, BlogsDNA and Electronista, more at Mediagazer »
Avery Morrow / Avery's Diaspora News:
I'm Dropping Diaspora, This Site Is Now Closed — This blog was dormant for a while because I didn't want to give Diaspora bad press. There were security and licensing issues; the team claims that they have been fixed. There were issues with the very model of the code; they weren't game-enders.
Liz Gannes / NetworkEffect:
Twitter Gets a Hollywood Guy: Omid Ashtari — Twitter has hired its first official liaison to the stars, the Creative Artists Agency veteran Omid Ashtari. His first day at the company was today. — Ashtari told me he is “going to be Twitter's LA person” and will be dealing with media companies and celebrities.
Andy Greenberg / The Firewall:
WikiLeaks' Julian Assange Wants To Spill Your Corporate Secrets — In a rare interview, Assange tells Forbes that the release of Pentagon and State Department documents are just the beginning. His next target: big business. — Early next year, Julian Assange says, a major American bank will suddenly find itself turned inside out.
Tim Hirsch / BBC:
Rio favela tweets create overnight celebrity — A 17-year-old Twitter user gave Brazilians a rare insider's view of events in his favela — For the past few days, Brazilians watched transfixed as scenes more reminiscent of Iraq or Afghanistan than of their own “marvellous city”, Rio de Janeiro, unfolded live on TV screens.
Discussion:
GigaOM
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
Anti-Piracy Lawyers Sued For Fraud, Abuse and Extortion — The US Copyright Group thought it had found the ideal scheme to turn piracy into profit when it started filing lawsuits against tens of thousands of BitTorrent users this year. But the defendants in the Far Cry lawsuits have now become …
Discussion:
GigaOM, Techdirt, Ars Technica, TechSpot, Forbes and THINQ.co.uk
Bloomberg:
Apple Lawyers Up for Patent Showdowns With Nokia, Motorola, HTC — Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) — Steve Jobs made Apple Inc.'s iPhone one of the best-selling smartphones on the market with its touch screen, fast Web connection and access to more than 300,000 downloadable applications. Now he's adding lawyers to the mix.
Discussion:
PC World, GigaOM, KPCB, eWeek, AppleInsider, TechEye, Pulse2, MacNN, IntoMobile, LAPTOP Magazine, SiliconANGLE, PC Magazine, msnbc.com, Edible Apple, DailyTech, FierceWireless, iLounge, MacRumors, Xconomy and PhoneArena
Riley McDermid / VentureBeat:
Google-backed satellite provider O3b raises $1.2B to bring the world online — Google-backed Internet satellite company O3b Networks has raised $1.2 billion in what is says is its final funding round before it launches its “constellation” of fiber-quality satellites to bring the developing world online.
Discussion:
Google Public Policy Blog, Bloomberg, GigaOM, Wall Street Journal and BBC