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Banks and WikiLeaks — The whistle-blowing Web site WikiLeaks has not been convicted of a crime. The Justice Department has not even pressed charges over its disclosure of confidential State Department communications. Nonetheless, the financial industry is trying to shut it down.
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Can we use S3 and EC2 to host free speech?
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online


2011 will be the year Android explodes — (Not this kind of smartphone growth.) Image by @boetter via Flickr — Ever-improving networks and a big hardware announcement that will send handset prices plummeting both point to smartphone growth in 2011 that could totally eclipse anything we've seen before.


Flickr Should Have Built Instagram. But They Didn't. Here's Why. — Back in June, we reported on the departure of Kellan Elliott-McCrea from Yahoo. While not hugely known outside the developer community, we had received several tips indicating just how important Elliott-McCrea was to the Flickr team …
Discussion:
SAI

Mossberg's Best and Worst Products of 2010 — This week on WSJ Digits, Walt shared his thoughts on his best and worst reviewed products for 2010. Taking Walt's top spot this year was none other than Apple's iPad. For a 1.0 product, the iPad was amazing.
Discussion:
AppleInsider, Edible Apple, Electronista, MacDailyNews and 9 to 5 Mac


Score A Kindle This Morning? Here's How To Load It With Free Google Books — E-Readers like the Nook and the Sony Reader automatically give you access to the thousands of books in Google's online library. But for devices like the Kindle, you need to work around a few obstacles before you can gain access.
Discussion:
Mashable!


IBM Expects to See Holographic Phone Calls, Air-Powered Batteries by 2015 — By 2015, your mobile phone will project a 3-D image of anyone who calls and your laptop will be powered by kinetic energy. At least that's what International Business Machines Corp. sees in its crystal ball.
Discussion:
IntoMobile, Examiner, PC Magazine, textually.org, AfterDawn.com and eWeek


What Facebook Can Give Back To The Web — Editor's note: Guest author Adam Rifkin is a Silicon Valley veteran who organizes a networking group for entrepreneurial engineers called 106 Miles. You can read his previous guest posts for TechCrunch here and follow him on Twitter @ifindkarma.


What Happens When You Steal a Hacker's Computer — Meet Melvin Guzman. He somehow ended up with a Mac stolen from Zoz, a rather crafty hacker who happens to love that computer “like his firstborn.” Here's a hilarious account of what happened—complete with some poorly censored nudity.
Discussion:
Hack a Day, Pulse2, Cult of Mac and Fudzilla


Nokia Looks to Recover the ‘Magic Dust’ — For years, Nokia effortlessly dominated the cell phone market. But then Apple and Google muscled in on its turf and changed the game forever. The Finnish company is pinning its hopes on a new operating system, but it might be too little, too late.
Discussion:
parislemon


Theopeninter.net, A Visual Guide To Net Neutrality — With Theopeninter.net, web designer Michael Ciarlo has given you the holiday gift of being able to explain to the less web savvy members of your friends and family what net neutrality means (simply, and with visuals) …


Dell drops ultrathin Adamo 13 to $899 — A lower-priced Adamo 13 has popped up on Dell's Web site. The Adamo page is now showing the price of the aluminum-clad ultrathin laptop at $899—and this discount comes with an unexpected bonus, too. — The Adamo is a slick …
Discussion:
Engadget, Electronista and Examiner

Logitech requires Gigabyte to suspend Revue shipments — Logitech has reportedly informed Gigabyte Technology to temporarily suspend shipments of Revue set-top boxes (STBs) for the period from December 2010 to January 2011 waiting for Google to complete updates or to launch a new version …
Discussion:
Gearlog, PC Magazine, eWeek, Engadget, Technabob, AfterDawn.com, DailyTech, MediaMemo, Gadgetell, Electronista, AppleInsider, Go Rumors, SlashGear and Crave