Top Items:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
AOL Acquires Personal Profile Startup About.Me — Personal profile startup About.me launched publicly, oh, all of four days ago. And, boom. Today AOL (our parent company), will announce that they've acquired the company. It will become part of the consumer applications group, led by AOL exec Brad Garlinghouse.
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Tony Conrad / Tony Conrad's Photo Blog:
Booyah! — Ryan, Tim and I are thrilled to announce that about.me has been acquired by Aol. Whereto begin, there is so much to say but we'll try to be informative, yet brief for today's ‘get it now, read it fast, tweet it’ internet reader. — We founded about.me so that any of us …
Discussion:
VentureBeat, TechCrunch, NewEnterprise and Early Stage Capital
Al Franken / The Huffington Post:
The Most Important Free Speech Issue of Our Time — This Tuesday is an important day in the fight to save the Internet. As a source of innovation, an engine of our economy, and a forum for our political discourse, the Internet can only work if it's a truly level playing field.
Discussion:
CNN, GigaOM and Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim
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Robert M. McDowell / Wall Street Journal:
The FCC's Threat to Internet Freedom
Discussion:
eWeek, NewEnterprise, Post Tech, CrunchGear, FierceWireless and SiliconANGLE, more at Mediagazer »
Cecilia Kang / Post Tech:
FCC expected to pass net neutrality rules
Discussion:
paidContent, GigaOM, CNET News, Forbes, Computerworld, PC World, DSLreports, Wall Street Journal and NewEnterprise
Robin Schriebman / Gmail Blog:
Free calling in Gmail extended through 2011 — When we launched calling in Gmail back in August, we wanted it to be easy and affordable, so we made calls to the U.S. and Canada free for the rest of 2010. In the spirit of holiday giving and to help people keep in touch in the new year, we're extending free calling for all of 2011.
Discussion:
NetworkEffect, Examiner, Faster Forward, Softpedia News, WebProNews, SocialTimes.com, Techie Buzz, Fortune, Teens in Tech, Erictric, TechCrunch, Neowin.net, TechSpot, Technologizer, The Next Web and 901am
Staska / Unwired View:
Holy crap! Nokia is in talks with Microsoft about Windows Phone devices?! — Holy crap! — I don't believe I'm writing this, especially after publicly ridiculing even idea of such a thing for a year now. But given the source of the info... Here it goes- in his weekly op-ed Mobile …
Discussion:
eWeek, MobileCrunch, BGR, PC World, Electronista, The Next Web, IntoMobile, WinRumors, WPCentral.com, Internet2Go, msnbc.com, Gadget Lab, Between the Lines Blog, SAI, Gearlog, CNET News, I4U News, SiliconANGLE, VentureBeat, 9 to 5 Mac, Geek.com, GT Mobiles, SlashGear, Neowin.net, PhoneArena, ArcticStartup Posts, Examiner, GottaBeMobile and Gizmodo, Thanks:uvstaska
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Ryan Kim / GigaOM:
Nokia and Microsoft Looks Like a Desperate Hook Up
Discussion:
mocoNews, internetnews.com, The Nokia Blog, eWeek, Forbes, Yahoo! News, Electricpig.co.uk and TechFlash
Tim Bray / Android Developers Blog:
It's not “rooting”, it's openness — [This post is by Nick Kralevich, an engineer on the Android Security Team. — Tim Bray] — “Nexus S has been rooted, let the madness commence!” proclaims Engadget. “This is only possible because Android's security is crap and it's exploited easily …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, PreCentral.net, Techie Buzz, Droid Life, pocketnow.com, Android Community, 901am, Android Phone Fans and IntoMobile
Joe Maller:
iTunes slowdowns with Google DNS — Last night we tried to rent an iTunes movie on our newish Apple TV. Instead of starting right away, the Apple TV said it would be 2+ hours before we could start watching. I've got a healthy 15-20Mb/s connection and a clean wire to the Apple TV, so this shouldn't be happening.
Discussion:
AppleInsider, TUAW, TiPb, Ultrasn0w, Macgasm and The Apple Core Blog
Oliver Chiang / SelectStart:
Facebook Should Be In China, Says Baidu — Image by Getty Images North America via @daylife — As I reported earlier, Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has begun his trip in China, with a stop by top Chinese search engine Baidu in Beijing. Though Baidu's director of international communications Kaiser Kuo …
Discussion:
Inside Facebook and WebProNews
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Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Adobe Has Its First $1 Billion Quarter, Revenue Up 33% — Software maker Adobe has once again posted record revenue results this quarter, surpassing the $1 billion milestone for the first time. Adobe revenue for the fourth quarter of 2010 was $1.008 billion versus $757.3 million reported …
Discussion:
Tech Trader Daily, Forbes, Business Wire and SAI
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Reed Hastings / Seeking Alpha:
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings Responds to Whitney Tilson: Cover Your Short Position. Now. — A great investor and a wonderful human being, Whitney Tilson recently posted an article about why he is short Netflix (NFLX). Whitney, who is a major co-donor with me to charter public schools like KIPP …
Discussion:
Digits, IR Web Report, Media Money …, TechCrunch, Digital Society, SAI, Six Kids and a Full Time Job, GigaOM and Tech Trader Daily
Royal Pingdom:
The most reliable (and unreliable) blogging services on the Web — Blogging services have been around for a long time, with pioneers like Blogger paving the way for WordPress.com and more recent arrivals like Tumblr and Posterous. There are millions upon millions of blogs out there, many of them residing on these services.
Discussion:
Techie Buzz, Network World, Data Center Knowledge, TechSpot, Softpedia News, SocialTimes.com, louisgray.com and TechCrunch
Federico Viticci / MacStories:
Apple Launches iAd Producer - HTML & CSS Layout App for iAds — A few minutes ago Apple launched a new app for the Mac called iAd Producer which is aimed at developers and designers willing to create visually rich, interactive iAds. iAd Producer “automatically manages the HTML5 …
Discussion:
PC World, AppleInsider, 9 to 5 Mac, MacRumors, ClickZ, Erictric, Download Squad and Macgasm, Thanks:viticci
Wall Street Journal:
SEC Probes Hurd Exit From H-P — The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the circumstances surrounding Mark Hurd's departure from Hewlett-Packard Co., in a broad inquiry that includes claims that the former chief executive shared inside information about an acquisition, people familiar with the matter said.
Discussion:
CNET News, Between the Lines Blog and SAI
Thomas E. Weber / The Daily Beast:
Cracking the New York Times Popularity Code — Just how many people does it take to propel a story onto the Times' influential most-emailed list? And can it be gamed? Thomas E. Weber finds the answers. — The most-emailed articles list on the New York Times website …
Andrew Wallenstein / paidContent:
Google Poaches Paramount Executive For Content Role — Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has turned to Hollywood to fill out its content team, hiring Malik Ducard, who is currently senior vice president of digital distribution at Viacom-owned film studio Paramount, according to sources.
Discussion:
Electronista, more at Mediagazer »
Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:
Targeted TV Ads Set for Takeoff — DirecTV to Pioneer Commercials Keyed to Each Household; Concerns About Privacy, Technology Linger — After years of promises and false starts, TV commercials targeted at individual homes may finally be ready for prime time.
Wall Street Journal:
Hulu Puts IPO Idea on Back Burner, Focuses on Pay Video — Online video site Hulu LLC has taken off the table the idea of going public, at least for now, and may consider other financing options, people familiar with the matter said. — Hulu also is mulling new subscription plans …
Elizabeth Weingarten / The Atlantic Online:
Forget Journalism School and Enroll in Groupon Academy — It's a Friday afternoon and Jane Flotte is getting a little tired of spa treatments. “Today I've written a lot of salon deals,” the Groupon employee said. “And I'm getting kind of sick of talking about facials.”
Discussion:
Gawker, more at Mediagazer »
Vlad Savov / Engadget:
iPhone 4 hits new low of $147 on contract at Sam's Club this week — Radio Shack's $149 price for the 16GB iPhone 4 just got undercut by a whole two bucks. We've been tipped off to Sam's Club now offering the AT&T-locked device for a $147 fee, subject to the usual two-year agreement.
Discussion:
Electronista, Yahoo! News, TUAW, MobileCrunch, PC World, Neowin.net, Macgasm, AppleInsider, SlashGear, The Toybox Blog, BGR, IntoMobile, 9 to 5 Mac, everythingiCafe, Gearlog and MacRumors
John Biggs / CrunchGear:
Motorola Teases With The New “Buzz” Tablet — CES 2011 is just around the corner and in a rare bit of intelligent marketing Motorola is showing off what appears to be a new tablet, probably called something like “Buzz,” judging by the clever bee flitting around at the end.
Discussion:
CNET News, Engadget, Mobilized, MacRumors, FierceWireless, Redmond Pie, BetaNews, 9 to 5 Mac, BGR, Eurodroid, Fortune, MacStories, Softpedia News, Electronista, GottaBeMobile and PhoneArena
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Will the FCC Approve Qualcomm's Spectrum Sale to AT&T? — Updated: FLO TV, Qualcomm's mobile video network, is on its way into becoming a footnote in the mobile history. Today it said it will sell the 700 MHz spectrum used to deliver the service to AT&T, after previously announcing …
Discussion:
Forbes, Qualcomm, Engadget, AT&T, Computerworld, CNET News, Between the Lines Blog, AppleInsider, VentureBeat, IntoMobile, ITworld.com, O'Grady's PowerPage, DailyTech, Neowin.net, BetaNews, eWeek, SlashGear, PhoneArena, BGR, Softpedia News, Post Tech and Internet Evolution
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
1 Billion Peoples' Interests Now Tracked by AddThis — AddThis, one of the leading link sharing services used by sites all around the web (including this one), announced today that it now offers publishers information about the types of interests their readers and content sharers have demonstrated on the other sites they have visited.
Discussion:
The Next Web, AddThis and SocialTimes.com
