Techmeme: Amazon, Apple, Netflix tops in customer satisfaction (Lance Whitney/CNET News)

2:15 PM ET, December 30, 2010

Top Items:

Peter Parkes / The Big Blog:

Skype for iPhone now with video calls — It's as simple as that: our iPhone app now comes with video. Download it now from the App Store, or read on to find out more. — Skype for iPhone lets you make and receive free Skype video calls on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, and works over both WiFi and 3G connections*.

Mark Gurman / 9 to 5 Mac:

Skype for iPhone gets Video Chat. Works over 3G and with Computers (data usage: 3.4MB per min.) — Skype just updated their Skype application for iOS to include video chat functionality. It works both over WiFi and 3G networks and two-way video calling is supported by the iPhone 4, iPod touch 4, and iPhone 3GS.

Discussion: Pocket-lint, App Advice, SlashGear, SAI, OS X Daily, Hardware 2.0 Blog, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Macgasm, iThinkDifferent, Download Squad, Appletell, VentureBeat, IGN Gear, Redmond Pie, Switched, Fast Company, MacStories, Insanely Great Mac and MacNN, Thanks:9to5toys

Chris Ziegler / Engadget:

Skype video calling for iPhone is official, available now (update: hands-on) — All signs have been pointing to this release for a few days now, but we'll admit: we expected Skype to wait until CES next week to pull the covers off what could become its crown jewel service over the coming months.

Peter Burrows / Business Week:

Rethinking the iPhone Threat to AT&T — Apple will soon announce a new version of the iPhone that works on Verizon's network. But it's unclear whether that will leave AT&T, Apple's once exclusive U.S. service provider, in the lurch — Very soon, maybe by Valentine's Day, Apple (AAPL) …

AppleInsider:
Apple expected to hold event by Valentine's Day to announce Verizon iPhone

Discussion: I4U News, Webomatica and TUAW

Jim Jansen / Pew Internet:

65% of internet users have paid for online content — Nearly two-thirds of internet users - 65% - have paid to download or access some kind of online content from the internet, ranging from music to games to news articles to adult material. Music, software, and apps are the most popular content …

Discussion: GigaOM, CNET News, Screenwerk, TechCrunch, Black Web 2.0, Mashable!, Joho the Blog, VatorNews, PewResearch.org, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim and msnbc.com

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

Parsing Pew: What The Latest Online Content Buying Numbers Really Say — You are about to see a host of references to a new batch of numbers from the Pew Internet & American Life project pop up all over the place. The headline is tantalizing: 65 percent of those surveyed this fall paid for online content.

Discussion: L.A. Times Tech Blog, ReadWriteWeb, TeleRead and Electronista

Electronista:

Kindle book lending quietly goes live — Amazon today quietly turned on Kindle book lending. The feature promised earlier mimics that of the Nook and lets users share a book once for two full weeks. The original owner's access to the book is temporarily revoked, but the feature works on both the Kindle reader and all apps.

Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, VentureBeat, BetaNews, Engadget, The Digital Reader, Gizmodo, SlashGear, mediabistro.com, The Next Web and New York Observer

Fred / A VC:

Mobile Economics Will Trend Toward Web Economics — I've been saying for a while now that I think mobile economics will trend toward web economics as the mobile web goes mainstream. In other words, the business models that work best on the web will ultimately work best in mobile.The corrolary …

Discussion: MarketingVOX, Podcasting News, PadGadget and Mashable!, more at Mediagazer »

Deborah Gage / Venture Capital Dispatch:

The “War” For Top Talent In Silicon Valley — The unemployment rate in Silicon Valley may be higher than the 9% national average, but that's not making it any easier for some young technology start-ups looking to hire engineers. — Todd McKinnon, the co-founder and chief executive …

Malcolm Moore / Telegraph:

China makes Skype illegal — China on Thursday announced that it had made illegal the use of Skype, the popular internet telephony service, as the country continues to shut itself off from the rest of the world. — In the latest move dashing Western internet company hopes of breaking into China …

Discussion: GigaOM, Agence France Presse, Fast Company, Geek.com and The Next Web

Eric Savitz / Tech Musings:

Research In Motion Denies PlayBook Has Battery Issues — In a statement late Wednesday, Research In Motion (RIMM) attempted to tamp down concerns that the company's new PlayBook tablet computer has a shorter battery life than the Apple (AAPL) iPad and other competitive products.

Discussion: Erictric, BGR, Digital Daily, Reuters, Engadget, SAI, AppleInsider, PhoneDog.com, SlashGear, Gearlog, GottaBeMobile, The Next Web and MacNN

Neil Hughes / AppleInsider:

Apple investigating Ping-like social networking for retail shops — Apple has shown interest in creating a social networking tool for brick-and-mortar shopping, allowing iPhone owners to share comments, opinions and recommendations about any type of product.

Discussion: Mobile Marketing Watch, MarketingVOX and SlashGear

Experian Hitwise:

Facebook was the top search term in 2010 for second straight year — Social network search term tops list for fifth straight year; Facebook top-visited Website for first year. New York, N.Y., Dec. 29, 2010 - Experian® Hitwise®, a part of Experian Marketing Services …

Florin / Unwired View:

About 4 million Nokia N8 smartphones sold until now? — Back in November, when Nokia announced that the N8 “has received the highest amount of consumer pre-orders” in its history, it didn't say how many units it sold (or expects to sell). — Now we're hearing that Nokia may have shipped …

Discussion: BGR, PhoneDog.com, MobileWhack.com, PhoneArena, SlashPhone and Pocket-lint

Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:

What The “Great Delicious Exodus” Looked Like For Pin-Sized Competitor Pinboard — When word got out two weeks ago that Yahoo is not 100% committed to Delicious, people who still use the bookmarking service started to panic and look for alternatives. One competing bookmarking site …

Discussion: Nicke's shared items …

Sean Hollister / Engadget:

Hackers obtain PS3 private cryptography key due to epic programming fail? (video) — The 27th annual Chaos Communication Conference already hacked encrypted GSM calls with a $15 cellphone, but there was a second surprise in store this morn — the souls who unlocked the Nintendo Wii's homebrew potential …

Discussion: Ars Technica, The Register and MyCE

Dan Primack / Fortune:

Big sale: Groupon discloses $500 million investment — Just weeks after spurning a takeover offer from Google, online coupon site Groupon is in the money via a giant new investment. So are many of its earliest backers. — Groupon, the online coupon site that recently turned …

Discussion: VentureBeat, SAI, TechCrunch, DealBook and Mashable!

Lance Whitney / CNET News:

Amazon, Apple, Netflix tops in customer satisfaction — Online stores scored record sales this holiday season, but it's not just low prices and a tentatively improving economy that may have brought in the buyers. — Though customer satisfaction with the top 40 online retailers dipped 1 percent this year …

Discussion: Digital Trends, CrunchGear, MarketingVOX, Web Analytics World and The Loop

Watts Martin / Coyote Tracks:

Nokia and Microsoft, not sitting in a tree — While I'm late to the party commenting on this (holidays, what can you do), you may have seen numerous news reports about Nokia considering Windows Phone 7 as an OS instead of (or in addition to) Symbian and MeeGo.

Discussion: BetaNews, SAI, BGR, GigaOM, Gadget Lab, IntoMobile, PhoneDog.com and Thoughts from the Sidelines

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