Top Items:
Mike Cohen / The Official Google Blog:
Can we talk? Better speech technology with Phonetic Arts — In Star Trek, they don't spend a lot of time typing things on keyboards—they just speak to their computers, and the computers speak back. It's a more natural way to communicate, but getting there requires chipping away at a range of hard research problems.
Discussion:
paidContent, SAI, Erictric, Computerworld, MacNN and Pulse2
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Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Google Acquires Phonetic Arts To Make Robo-Voices Sound Human — No, Google hasn't acquired Groupon (yet). But it does have a smaller, though very interesting acquisition to announce: it's just acquired Phonetic Arts, a company based in the UK that works on speech synthesis in games.
Discussion:
ReadWriteWeb
Guardian:
WikiLeaks fights to stay online after US company withdraws domain name — Everydns.net says attack against leaks site endangered other customers' service - effectively pushing site off the web — The US was today accused of opening up a dramatic new front against WikiLeaks, effectively …
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Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
Troubled Wikileaks Moves To Pirate Party Domain — After being cut off by its nameserver provider EveryDNS, Wikileaks has moved to a domain registered by Pirate Party Switzerland. EveryDNS was forced to stop its services to Wikileaks after continued DDoS attacks, creating yet another setback …
Discussion:
VentureBeat, Inquirer, GigaOM, BGR, CNET News, Netcraft, The Next Web, Gearlog, Tech Europe, GeekSmack, Agence France Presse, Associated Press, V3.co.uk and The Seattle Times
Nick Vinocur / Reuters:
France seeks to bar hosting WikiLeaks website
Discussion:
BaltTech, Ars Technica, Guardian, Netcraft, L.A. Times Tech Blog and TechnoLlama
Mahendra Palsule / Skeptic Geek:
EveryDNS.net Terminates Wikileaks.org DNS Services, Wikileaks.ch …
Discussion:
BBC, Techdirt, New York Times, The Huffington Post, Netcraft, Wall Street Journal, ITworld.com, VentureBeat, CNN, Black Web 2.0, ITProPortal, GeekSmack, Bloomberg, The Register, techPresident, PC Pro, ReadWriteWeb, Reuters, SAI, Erictric, The Next Web, Computerworld, Pulse2, Telegraph, Boing Boing, Help Net Security and Go Rumors
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Meet Cloud Picker, Google's Stealthy New Storage Product — What is Google Cloud Picker? According to these Blogger Forums, Sites Forums, and others, Google has been testing a new online storage tool called, you guessed it, Cloud Picker. — From these accounts, it appears that the tool …
Discussion:
ReadWriteWeb, Softpedia News, NBC Bay Area, Geek.com, Pulse2, Tech Report and Ubergizmo
Emily Steel / Wall Street Journal:
Some Data-Miners Ready to Reveal What They Know — Seeking to head off escalating scrutiny over Internet privacy, a group of online tracking rivals is building a service that lets consumers see what information those companies know about them. — The project is the first of its kind …
Discussion:
GigaOM, Better Advertising's …, Adotas, AdExchanger.com and Gadgetwise
Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:
Apple won't allow demos, trials, betas on Mac App Store — Apple this week provided more information to developers regarding its forthcoming Mac App Store, and informed them that, unlike on iOS, trial versions of software will not be allowed. — Apple issued a handful of updates via …
Discussion:
VentureBeat, Computerworld, GigaOM, BGR, App Advice, MacStories, Pulse2, Notebooks.com, MacNN, MacRumors and SlashGear
Caleb Cox / The Register:
Sony sells Playstation-packing TV — All sorts of tech has been integrated into TVs from iPod docks to Blu-ray players, but now Sony has put a Playstation into one and it's available in the UK for under £200. — The Sony Bravia KDL-22PX300 is a 22in LCD TV with a built-in PS2 …
Discussion:
CNET News, Engadget, The Toybox Blog, The Escapist, Geek.com, displayblog, ITProPortal, SlashGear, CrunchGear, The Next Web, Geekosystem, Joystiq and Electronista
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
The Rise Of The Gentleman Hacker — There was a good crowd at the TechFellows event tonight in San Francisco. I ran into a lot of people I don't see all that often. Among them were two entrepreneurs that have made a ton of money by selling their companies in the last couple of years.
Discussion:
Telegraph
Sascha Segan / PC Magazine:
Verizon LTE Blows Through Monthly Data Cap in 32 Minutes — Verizon's new 4G LTE network is so fast that you can use up your entire 5GB, $50 monthly allotment in 32 minutes. — I'm in the middle of testing Verizon's new LTE network, and the 2010-era speeds are soured by the 2005-era thinking on data plans.
Connie Loizos / PE Hub Blog:
Engineering Shortage Is Real. Former Digg Engineer Gets 7 Offers, Takes One for $150K — In recent months, venture capitalists have been complaining that a shortage of talented engineers is driving up engineering salaries at their portfolio companies. — Turns out all that complaining is warranted.
Discussion:
Silicon Valley Watcher
David Kravets / Threat Level:
Prosecutors Dismiss Xbox-Modding Case Mid-Trial — LOS ANGELES — Federal authorities in the first-of-its-kind game-console-modding criminal trial abruptly dropped their prosecution here Thursday, “based on fairness and justice.” — “The government has decided to dismiss the indictment …
Discussion:
The Microsoft Blog, PC World, AfterDawn.com, Neowin.net, Yahoo! News, The Escapist, SlashGear, msnbc.com, KitGuru, Computerworld, TechEye, The Register, Gamasutra, Edge Online, PC Magazine, I4U News, Techdirt, GamePolitics News, TechSpot and Joystiq
Justin O'Beirne / 41Latitude:
Google Maps & Label Readability — Why Do Google Maps's City Labels Seem Much More “Readable” Than Those of Its Competitors? — For months, I've been trying to figure out why Google Maps's city labels seem so much more readable than the labels on other mapping sites.
Discussion:
Daring Fireball, Google Operating System, TechCrunch, Google Maps Mania and kottke.org
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
A Guided Tour of Computing History — Steve Wozniak with George Stibitz's one-bit computer from 1936 — On January 13th, the seven-year-old Computer History Museum will open its first truly full-blown permanent exhibit:, the 25,000-square-foot, $19 million “Revolution: The First 2000 Years of Computing.”
Discussion:
PC World, Scobleizer, Gizmodo, displayblog, GMSV and CNET News
Zach Epstein / BGR:
Motorola CEO talks smartphones, tablets and 4G; alludes to Q1 Verizon iPhone launch — Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha delivered a keynote yesterday at the Credit Suisse 2010 Technology Conference, and it was quite a doozy. Topics covered included the future of Motorola's smartphone business …
Discussion:
Between the Lines Blog, Geekword, Fonehome.co.uk, SlashPhone, Electronista, Electricpig.co.uk, GottaBeMobile, Droid Life and Softpedia News
Andrew Munchbach / BGR:
Gartner names Samsung top Android provider in States, 3M Galaxy S handsets shipped in U.S. — Samsung has just issued a press release pertaining to kudos it recently received from analytics firm Gartner. Gartner has named Samsung the top Android provider in the United States based on …
Discussion:
eWeek, CNET News, The Next Web, Digital Chosunilbo, GigaOM, Fortune, LaptopMemo, The Korea Times, Unwired View, Electronista, Business Wire, Gearlog, Engadget and SlashGear
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Viber is a new free VOIP app, currently available only for the iPhone. I've been trying it today, and have a few notes. — The Good — Initial setup is very easy. Your phone number is your Viber identifier. You launch the app, tell it your phone number, and a moment or two later …
Discussion:
TechCrunch
Tim Conneally / BetaNews:
In latest treatise, Level 3 says feud with Comcast like great telecom unbundling — Continuing its public feud with Comcast, Level 3 Communications Friday released its own FAQ to explain to both the public and public policy makers, why their fight is important.
Discussion:
I, Cringely, Level 3 Communications and Electronista
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Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Comcast: We bent over backwards to help Level 3! (those bastards)
Discussion:
TechCrunch and Digital Society
Kevin Poulsen / Threat Level:
Lieberman Introduces Anti-WikiLeaks Legislation — Senator Joseph Lieberman and other lawmakers on Thursday introduced legislation that would make it a federal crime for anyone to publish the name of a U.S. intelligence source, in a direct swipe at the secret-spilling website WikiLeaks.
John Paczkowski / Digital Daily:
50 Percent of Smartphones Sold in China Last Quarter Run Android — The smartphone market in China is growing at an extraordinary rate, largely thanks to Google's Android OS. Chinese consumers purchased 8 to 10 million smartphones last quarter, up from an estimated 2 to 3 million in the same period last year.
Discussion:
CrunchGear, asymco, AppleInsider, FM Blog and everythingiCafe
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
LivingSocial Confirms $175 Million Amazon Investment — The rumors are true! Amazon and daily deals site LivingSocial have just officially confirmed their partnership, with the e-tailer investing a whopping $175 million in the latter. This comes at an interesting time for both companies …
W.J. Hennigan / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Google pays Pennsylvania couple $1 in Street View lawsuit — Google Inc. will pay $1 in damages to a Pennsylvania couple who took the company to court, saying the company's Street View service was an invasion of privacy. — Street View is a feature that lets users pick a point on a map …
Discussion:
PittsburghLIVE.com, NPR, Telegraph, SlashGear, Associated Press, Vendors and Markets, PC World, Network World and Agence France Presse
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Google Toying With Naming Social Product “Google +1″ As Sergey Brin Gets Involved — Yesterday, after some digging, we were able to confirm that the internal codename for Google's upcoming social project is “Emerald Sea”. Despite some confusion that it may be called “Emerald City” …
Discussion:
Search Engine Land, Yahoo! News, SlashGear, Gizmodo and WebProNews
Chris Thompson / About Foursquare:
Foursquare revokes mayor editing rights — If a venue isn't offering a mayor special, there are very few advantages to becoming a foursquare mayor. Yesterday foursquare reduced those benefits even further by taking away the right for mayors to edit their venues, leaving bragging rights as the only positive for becoming a mayor.
