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3:00 PM ET, December 16, 2010

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Apple:
Apple's Mac App Store to Open on January 6  —  Apple® today announced that the Mac® App Store℠ will open for business on Thursday, January 6.  By bringing the revolutionary App Store experience to Mac OS® X, the Mac App Store makes discovering, installing and updating Mac apps easier than ever.
DigiTimes:
Apple to upgrade MacBook Pro and iMac in 1H11  —  In addition to iPad, Apple is set to launch upgraded MacBook Pro and iMac models in the first half of 2011, according to sources from upstream component makers.  —  The sources noted that Apple plans to launch at least four upgraded MacBook Pros …
RELATED:
Mark Gurman / 9 to 5 Mac:
New MacBook Pros with upgraded designs, Cheaper iMacs with new screen sizes in 2011
Discussion: Fortune
Michael Siliski / The Official Google Blog:
The next generation of mobile maps  —  (Cross-posted on the Google Mobile Blog and Lat Long Blog)  —  I'm excited to announce Google Maps 5.0 for Android, with two significant new features: 3D interaction and offline reliability.  —  We launched Google Maps for mobile a little more than five years ago.
Kenzo Fong Hing / Google Mobile Blog:
The wait is over: Announcing Nexus S availability in the U.S.  —  Last week we announced Nexus S, a pure Google phone.  With a brilliant 4" Contour Display, a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, the latest Google mobile apps and Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) pre-installed, we're excited about getting this great device out there.
RELATED:
ifixit:   Nexus S Teardown  —  Nearly one year after the release …
David Pogue / New York Times:
An Android Phone That Says ‘Google’
Discussion: Tech Trader Daily
Justin Mitchell / Facebook Blog:
Making Photo Tagging Easier  —  Every day, people add more than 100 million tags to photos on Facebook.  They do it because it's an easy way to share photos and memories.  Unlike photos that get forgotten in a camera or an unshared album, tagged photos help you and your friends relive everything …
Nokia:
Nokia files patent infringement complaints against Apple in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands  —  Espoo, Finland - Nokia announced it has filed claims in the UK High Court, Dusseldorf and Mannheim District Courts in Germany and the District Court of the Hague, Netherlands …
RELATED:
Ashby Jones / Law Blog:
Nokia Takes Another Bite At Apple (13 Bites, Actually)
Discussion: Mobilized and Macworld
Carlos Pizano / Google Chrome Blog:
Safer plug-ins, faster search, and richer graphics  —  Last week, we previewed several upcoming features that will be available to users on Chrome and Chrome OS.  Today we're excited to introduce a few of these new security, speed, and open web platform features into Chrome's beta channel.
RELATED:
Dick Craddock / The Windows Blog:
Hotmail introduces interactive email using Active Views  —  Starting today, Hotmail and select partners are introducing a new type of interactive and dynamic email that runs on the Hotmail Active Views platform.  —  Beginning in the late 90s, email services evolved from supporting just plain text …
Bloomberg:
Groupon Said to Seek New Funding After Rebuffing Google's $6 Billion Offer  —  Groupon Inc., owner of a daily coupon website with 40 million subscribers, is seeking funds after rejecting a takeover offer from Google Inc., three people familiar with the matter said.
Discussion: BoomTown and SAI
Brian Womack / Bloomberg:
Facebook Sales Said Likely to Reach $2 Billion This Year, Beating Target  —  Facebook Inc., the world's most popular social-networking service, is likely to generate sales of about $2 billion this year, a faster pace than originally projected, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Google, MySpace Finally Land New Ad Deal  —  Google and MySpace have finally struck a new ad deal, replacing the three-year, $900 million pact that expired this fall.  The two companies aren't handing out details on the new pact, but have made it clear that it's not going to be anything like the old one …
Nielsen Wire:
Young and Mobile: A Global View of Cellphones and Youth  —  Nielsen's new whitepaper on Mobile Youth Around the World reveals that most young people with mobile phones chose their own device.  In fact, across all the countries surveyed, only 16 percent of young people reported that their parents selected their mobile phone.
Susie Pan / DigiTimes:
Apple reportedly adds new touch panel suppliers for iPad 2  —  Apple has reportedly added two additional touch panel makers, Chimei Innolux and Cando, to its touch panel supplier list for iPad 2 in addition to current suppliers Wintek, Sintek Photronics and TPK Touch Solutions due to expanding market …
Discussion: SAI, TUAW, Edible Apple and Softpedia News
Guardian:
Julian Assange freed on bail  —  WikiLeaks founder is wanted in Sweden for questioning over allegations of rape  —  Britain's high court today decided to grant bail to Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder who is wanted in Sweden for questioning over allegations of rape.
RELATED:
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
U.S. Tries to Build Case for Conspiracy by WikiLeaks
Discussion: Techdirt, Threat Level, AOL News and Salon
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Is Yahoo Shutting Down Del.icio.us?  —  We've been hearing rumors that part of the Yahoo layoffs included shutting down the entire Delicious team about this for a couple of days now.  Former Yahoo employee and Upcoming founder Andy Baio has just tweeted out the above Yahoo! …
Discussion: VentureBeat
Chris Ziegler / Engadget Mobile:
Best Buy getting locked out of Droid Pro and Droid 2 Global for selling them too cheaply?  —  Drama!  We're hearing from many, many tipsters right now that Best Buy has issued a stop-sale on two of Verizon's latest (and presumably more popular) models.  Officially it's a “recall” of some sort …
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Facebook to Big Media: We Like You.  We Really, Really Like You.  —  Facebook has more than 550 million users, but right now the company has its eyes on a very particular set of friends: Big media companies.  —  Mark Zuckerberg's company is working hard to win over heavyweight content distributors …
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
Apple's Best Kept Secret: Ad Hoc Installs for Testing Purposes  —  One of the major pain points in developing mobile applications for iOS devices (iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad) is testing those apps.  As we've noted before, the traditional testing method is time-consuming and cumbersome …
Chris Ziegler / Engadget:
LG Optimus 2X: first dual-core smartphone launches with Android, 4-inch display, 1080p video recording  —  That's right, it's official.  Needless to say, that LG Star we recently got our paws on is very real, though it won't go by that name at retail — just as LG's own release materials had suggested …
Julia Angwin / Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Urges Web Privacy ‘Bill Of Rights’  —  The Obama administration called Thursday for the creation of a Privacy Policy Office that would help develop an Internet “privacy bill of rights” for U.S citizens and coordinate privacy issues globally.  —  The U.S. Commerce Department's report stopped short …
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
Flipboard Adds Google Reader, Flickr and More … It has only been a couple of weeks since its last major update, but today Flipboard, the social magazine for iPad, has released yet another new version of its app into the iTunes App Store.  This time around, Flipboard has added support …
 
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 More Items: 
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:
‘At Apple you can get fired for saying K48’
Devindra Hardawar / VentureBeat:
SkyFire web browser brings Flash video and social features to iPad
Discussion: IntoMobile
Arik Hesseldahl / NewEnterprise:
Will Oracle and Microsoft Bid on Autonomy?
Discussion: SAI
Catherine Tsai / Associated Press:
New MapQuest site shows US maps for, by the people
 Earlier Items: 
Brooke Crothers / CNET News:
First Intel next-gen laptops will be quad core
Discussion: Crave, Cisco Blog and The Tech Report
Pui-Wing Tam / Wall Street Journal:
Ex-Google Chefs Cook Up a Start-Up of Their Own
Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
How Big Should We Let Google Get? Wrong Question
Discussion: Google Watch and Digital Trends, Thanks:mathewi
Chris Kanaracus / PC World:
Oracle Takes on Microsoft, Google With Cloud Office
Discussion: SAI and Between the Lines Blog
Kathryn Zickuhr / Pew Internet:
Generations 2010  —  There are still notable differences …
Walter S. Mossberg / Personal Technology:
Google Goes To the Cloud For New Idea In PC System
Discussion: Computerworld and Softpedia News
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
Tubi launches Scenes, a mobile feature that lets viewers watch 60-to-90-second trailer-style clips from its library to help with content discovery

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
James Harding says the Tortoise-Observer deal could create a profitable media group and there isn't a guaranteed future for the Observer with the Guardian

Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Analyzing Comcast's spinoff of cable networks, purposefully structured with low debt: the move might be a signal to the industry that it's time to consolidate
 
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