Top Items:
Tony Bates / The Big Blog:
A further update on Skype downtime — I'm sure by now many of you have heard about the downtime which has affected Skype around the world. Our priority has been to stabilise the problem, and then to begin to restore access to Skype functionality. — It's taken some time to do, but we're making steady progress.
Discussion:
PC Magazine, VatorNews, TechCrunch, Erictric, Electronista, eWeek and ReadWriteWeb
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Om Malik / GigaOM:
Skype CEO Tony Bates: Here Is an Update — Tony Bates, the former Cisco Systems executive, has had better days. For the past 24 hours, he has been coordinating the efforts to bring one of the world's largest communication networks back up: Skype. Bates, who recently took over as Skype's CEO …
Discussion:
The Big Blog, mocoNews, GMSV and Faster Forward, Thanks:om
Dan York / Disruptive Telephony:
Understanding Today's Skype Outage: Explaining Supernodes — For the first time in 3 years, Skype was down today - and as I write this is still in the process of slowly coming back online. A ton of articles were written today, mostly all pointing back to Skype's blog post or status update …
Discussion:
The Big Blog, Business Wire, Guardian, eWeek, SAI, GigaOM, New York Times, Computerworld, Washington Post, TechCrunch, Skype Journal, TechEye, Geek.com, ReadWriteWeb, Softpedia News, Guardian, BBC, Light Reading, VoIP & Gadgets Blog, The Register and Mobilized
Josh Ong / AppleInsider:
Apple's next-gen iPad to get iPod touch-like back, wide-range speaker - rumor — The second-generation iPad may have a smaller bezel, a flat back panel and a wide-range speaker, a new unverified report claims. — Japanese Mac blog MacOtakara published the rumor Thursday, citing an “anonymous Chinese source.”
Discussion:
MacRumors, Bits, GigaOM, Yahoo! News, Engadget, App Advice, Ars Technica, Electronista, SAI, CrunchGear, InformationWeek, Computerworld, BGR, everythingiCafe, Geek.com, SlashGear, DailyTech, Gadget Lab, THINQ.co.uk, Erictric, GottaBeMobile, Digital Trends, Gizmodo, I4U News, 9 to 5 Mac, PhoneArena, TiPb, The Huffington Post, TUAW, Phones Review, Tech Report, Go Rumors, Know Your Cell, GeekSugar, MACé" blog, iLounge and iClarified
Katherine Rosman / Wall Street Journal:
A Holiday Card From Google — Five Artists, 250 Hours, Six Months to Create the Search Engine's ‘Doodle’ — Set to be unveiled at 9 a.m. eastern time Thursday, Google's 2010 holiday doodle has 17 interactive images that approximate the logo's letters and colors.
Brooke Crothers / CNET News:
Obama cites Steve Jobs' wealth, product success — President Obama today cited Apple CEO Steve Jobs' product success as an example of a person who Americans should “expect to be rich” as an incentive for others. — Responding to a reporter's question, the president prefaced his comments …
Discussion:
MacRumors, TiPb, mocoNews, PC World, Electronista, Fudzilla, IntoMobile, AppleInsider, Digital Trends, 9 to 5 Mac, ITworld.com, Fortune, PhoneArena and Techi.com
Matt Buchanan / Gizmodo:
Oh Look, Here's Samsung's 4G LTE Android Phone for Verizon — Looks like Verizon'll have plenty of Android phones running around on 4G LTE soon enough. Here's a first look at Samsung's, running Froyo and TouchWiz (but according to our tipster, not Bing!). Aaaand a front-facing camera, Verizon's first.
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, GigaOM, Fortune, Pulse2, Android and Me, PhoneArena, SlashGear, Gadgetsteria, The Next Web, BGR, Softpedia News, pocketnow.com, Gadgetell, MobileWhack.com, Phones Review, Android Phone Fans, IntoMobile, LaptopMemo, ThinkMobile, Droid Life, PC Magazine, Erictric, Engadget, LAPTOP Magazine, GottaBeMobile and PhoneNews.com
Christian Kaiser / The Netflix Tech Blog:
HTML5 and Video Streaming — This is Christian Kaiser, VP of Engineering here at Netflix. — My colleague John Ciancutti recently posted about our use of HTML5 for user interfaces; I thought I'd add a perspective on HTML5 and video streaming. — Since HTML5 includes a facility to embed video playback …
Discussion:
ReadWriteWeb and GigaOM
Sam Gustin / Epicenter:
Google Buys Giant New York Building for $1.9 Billion — Google is down with New York City. — So down, in fact, that the web search titan just dropped $1.9 billion to acquire one of the largest and most historic buildings in all of the Big Apple. At nearly 3 million square feet …
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Facebook Appears To Be Blocking All (Bit.ly Operated) j.mp Links — William Albano checks in to tell us that Facebook is blocking all j.mp links in status and page updates (but not profiles). Sure enough, I tried to post a j.mp link in a status update just now, and I got an error notice saying:
Discussion:
Inside Facebook
Hiroko Tabuchi / Bits:
Clues About the Next PlayStation Portable — TOKYO —Sony's gaming chief, Kazuo Hirai, expected by some analysts to be Sony's next president, gave hints on Wednesday to burning questions that have fascinated the blogosphere for months: Is there a new Sony handheld gaming device in the works to succeed its PlayStation Portable?
Arik Hesseldahl / NewEnterprise:
What Tech Companies Are Spending in Washington — It's no big surprise that big companies spend a lot of money in Washington to try to influence the outcome of pending legislation and to try to talk lawmakers and agency officials out of regulating one thing or another.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online and Electronista
Dirk Dougherty / Android Developers Blog:
More Payment Options in Android Market — A key to a great purchasing experience is providing users with simple and fast payment methods. The Android Market team has been working hard to deliver more forms of payment to further reduce purchase friction. Today, I am pleased to announce …
Discussion:
VentureBeat, Computerworld, 901am, GigaOM, Download Squad, BGR, Know Your Cell, Evolver.fm, the Econsultancy blog, eWeek, Softpedia News, Android and Me, RCR Wireless News, pocketnow.com, Gizmodo, PhoneArena, PhoneNews.com, Droid Life, Android Phone Fans, Electronista, MobileCrunch, Engadget, Erictric and Android Police
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Stefan Constantinescu / IntoMobile:
Android users can now bill app purchases straight to their AT&T account
Eric Zeman / InformationWeek:
Samsung Nears 10 Million Galaxy S Sales — Samsung recently announced that sales of its Android-based Galaxy S line of smartphones has reached 9.3 million, putting it just short of Samsung's goal of 10 million. — Earlier this year, Samsung predicted that it would sell 10 million units of its Galaxy S line of Android smartphones.
Discussion:
Digital Trends, Pulse2, Techie Buzz, Fudzilla, The Next Web, Engadget, VentureBeat and PalmAddicts
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
HTC Incredible HD teased for January 6th reveal? — See that? No, not all the ambiguous 4G talk, we mean the veiled phone. If we had to guess we'd say that we're looking at a January 6th reveal of the HTC Incredible HD / Mecha — a device rumored to be headed to Verizon's new LTE network.
Discussion:
Thoughts from the Sidelines, Android Phone Fans, SlashPhone, Softpedia News, Electronista, Gizmodo, Gadgetell and FierceWireless
Monica Chen / DigiTimes:
ECS, Asustek, MSI to showcase tablet PCs at CES 2011 — Elitegroup Computer System (ECS), Asustek Computer and Micro-Star International (MSI) are all preparing to showcase their latest tablet PCs at CES 2011. — In addition to ECS' already introduced Marvell chip-based 9.7-inch e-book reader …
Discussion:
Inquirer, BGR, Engadget, Droid Life, Cellpassion, THINQ.co.uk, Softpedia News, SlashGear, Erictric, Know Your Cell, The Next Web, Android Phone Fans, PalmAddicts, PhoneArena and GottaBeMobile
Jackie Cohen / All Facebook:
Facebook Drives More Video Traffic Than All But Google — Facebook has surpassed Yahoo in the amount of traffic sent to video destinations, although Google still has the lead in this regard. — This comes from a report by Brightcove and TubeMogul based on data what the two call aggregate media sites …
Discussion:
TechCrunch
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Ryan Paul / Ars Technica:
OpenBSD code audit uncovers bugs, but no evidence of backdoor — OpenBSD project leader Theo de Raadt disclosed an e-mail earlier this month in which former NETSEC CTO Gregory Perry claimed that his company was paid by the FBI to plant a “backdoor” in the OpenBSD IPSEC stack.
Discussion:
ReadWriteWeb and InfoQ
Cecilia Kang / Post Tech:
FCC chair to approve Comcast-NBC merger with conditions for program sharing — The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission issued a draft order approving Comcast's proposed merger with NBC Universal on Thursday, putting the deal up for vote before the agency's other members.
Bruce Sterling / Webstock:
The Blast Shack — We asked Bruce Sterling (who spoke at Webstock '09) for his take on Wikileaks. — The Wikileaks Cablegate scandal is the most exciting and interesting hacker scandal ever. I rather commonly write about such things, and I'm surrounded by online acquaintances …
Discussion:
...My heart's in Accra and Infocult
Audrey Watters / ReadWriteWeb:
New CEO for Second Life as Linden Lab Names EA Gaming Vet to Head Company — Linden Lab, the maker of the virtual world Second Life, announced its new CEO today: Rod Humble, a former Electronic Arts executive. Humble will replace Philip Rosedale, who had been acting as the company's interim CEO.
Arik Hesseldahl / NewEnterprise:
Gawkergate Collateral Damage Now Includes the New York Times — It's now been at least 10 days since the Gawker group of Web sites was hacked by a group calling itself Gnosis in one of the side threads to the WikiLeaks controversy. — Within two days, sites like LinkedIn …
Discussion:
Fast Company, NYConvergence.com and FierceCIO News
Michael Kan / PC World:
Baidu's Twitter-like Service Gains 1 Million China Users — China's largest search engine Baidu reports that its new microblogging service has grabbed more than 1 million users after being launched three months ago. — Called Baidu Talk in English, the service incorporates Twitter-like features …
