Top Items:
DealBook:
Groupon I.P.O. Said to Value the Company at $15 Billion — Updated — Groupon, the social buying site that spurned a $6 billion offer from Google, is pushing ahead with plans for its initial public offering, a debut that could value the company at $15 billion or more.
Discussion:
paidContent, CNBC, TechCrunch, VatorNews, ReadWriteWeb, The Next Web, Mashable! and The Blog Herald, Thanks:davidjamesdiaz
RELATED:
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
A Delay for the Daily: Apple, News Corp. Push Back Launch Date — Turns out you'll have to wait a bit longer to see the Daily, Rupert Murdoch's long-awaited iPad news service. — Apple and News Corp. have made a joint decision to push back next week's planned launch, according to sources familiar with the companies' plans.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, AppleInsider, The Apple Core Blog, The Next Web, MacStories, Erictric, Apple Headlines, 9 to 5 Mac, PhoneArena, Electronista and iClarified
RELATED:
Damon Kiesow / Poynter:
The first look at The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's iPad newspaper — An official introduction to The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's new iPad newspaper, is expected on Jan. 19, possibly at an event with Apple's Steve Jobs. — But peeking inside the source code of its recently-launched companion website …
Discussion:
MediaPost, CNET News, MacStories, Electronista, 9 to 5 Mac, App Advice, The Next Web, The Atlantic Online, everythingiCafe, CrunchGear and Epicenter, more at Mediagazer »
Jonathan S. Geller / BGR:
Exclusive: BlackBerry Dakota gets pictured; the touch and type BlackBerry you've been waiting for — We just got our hands on a crystal clear photo of the BlackBerry Dakota — you know, the device that's going to sit right at the head of the BlackBerry family dinner table.
Discussion:
Appmodo, Computerworld, Electricpig.co.uk, Neowin.net, Yahoo! News, Digital Trends, eWeek, Electronista, Network World, BerryReview.com, Newlaunches.com, GottaBeMobile, Mobile phones, Life On My Mobile, MobileCrunch, IntoMobile, Techie Buzz, Techland, Mashable!, LAPTOP Magazine, Geek.com, Tracy and Matt's Blog, SlashGear, PhoneArena, MobileWhack.com, The Toybox Blog, Gizmodo, Softpedia News, Erictric, Black Web 2.0, Engadget, Ars Technica, Pocket-lint, CrackBerry.com blogs, CrunchGear, InformationWeek, The Next Web, Phones Review and Know Your Cell
RELATED:
Jonathan S. Geller / BGR:
Exclusive: BlackBerry Torch 2 gets detailed — Research In Motion's “best BlackBerry ever” — the BlackBerry Torch — definitely wasn't the most competitive device to hit the smartphone market place. But it looks like RIM is trying to change all that with a new take on its QWERTY, horizontal-slider: the BlackBerry Torch 2.
Jonathan S. Geller / BGR:
Exclusive: Next-generation BlackBerry Curve appears, brings specs with it — That BlackBerry 8520 feeling a bit outdated? Well, we might have just what you've been waiting for — the next generation BlackBerry Curve. Codenamed “Apollo,” the new BlackBerry Curve finally brings …
Discussion:
Gadget Lab, BlackBerry Cool, Pulse2, Electricpig.co.uk, Electronista, IntoMobile, PhoneArena, Thoughts from the Sidelines, GottaBeMobile, BerryReview.com, BB Geeks, CrackBerry.com blogs, Mobile Magazine, Erictric, Thoughts from the Sidelines, Techie Buzz, BerryReview.com, pocketnow.com, Softpedia News, Pocket-lint, Engadget, Electronista, MobileBurn.com, Life On My Mobile, Tracy and Matt's Blog, Know Your Cell, Near Field Communications … and Phones Review
Marco Arment / Marco.org:
Too much hardware choice — From my Verizon iPhone post: Even the gadget blogs have a hard time feigning enthusiasm for this week's hot Android phone because they still haven't taken the shrinkwrap off of last week's. Not enough Nick's response: Wait, the stream of high-quality …
Discussion:
Daring Fireball
RELATED:
JR Raphael / JR Raphael's blog:
Android upgrades: Which manufacturers can you trust? — For most smartphone users, Google's Android upgrades are both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, each upgrade opens the door to exciting new features and functions for a phone. On the other hand, the updates don't arrive instantly …
Discussion:
IntoMobile, Electronista, Digital Trends, Engadget, PC World, Droid Life, Android Phone Fans, Crave, JR Raphael and HowardForums, Thanks:jr_raphael
Dan Frommer / SAI: Silicon Alley Insider:
Only Now Are We About To See The Real Battle Between iPhone And Android
Discussion:
BetaNews
Joe Wilcox / BetaNews:
Steve Ballmer finally shows who's in charge of Microsoft — In his 11th year as chief executive and third outside the shadow of Chairman Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer is asserting surprising control over Microsoft. There were signs in 2010, but events over just the last week …
Discussion:
All about Microsoft Blog, TechFlash, SAI, The Register and The Microsoft Blog
RELATED:
Steve Gillmor / TechCrunch:
Ship or Get Off the Pot — On Tuesday Steve Ballmer fired Bob Muglia, and Google fired H.264 from Chrome. The tubes are heated up with analysis of these two seemingly unassociated events, and I figure I'll mash them together into a counter-intuitive scenario.
Paul Carton / InvestorPlace:
New Survey Shows Verizon iPhone Will Have Major Impact on U.S. Wireless Service Providers — Can AT&T Forestall Large-Scale Defections? — The details of a Verizon iPhone have finally been released, but what impact will this long expected move actually have on U.S. wireless service providers and their subscribers?
Siobhan Ambrose / WPMU.org:
Why You Should Never Search For Free WordPress Themes in Google or Anywhere Else — A few months ago I wrote about WordPress Security. Now, armed only with the words “free WordPress themes,” builtBackwards' Theme Authenticity Checker Plugin and Donncha O Caoimh's Exploit Scanner …
Discussion:
ReadWriteWeb and Techie Buzz
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
The Practical vs. Idealistic Scenarios for the Near-Term Future of Online Video — Or: How Google's decision to drop native H.264 playback from Chrome serves to prop up Flash Player — Stefan Richter, of FlashComGuru (a Flash developer site) tries answering my five simple questions.
Discussion:
ConceivablyTech, counternotions, Digital Society and Hardware 2.0 Blog
RELATED:
Haavard / My Opera:
Is the removal of H.264 from Chrome a step backward for openness?
Discussion:
USA Today, techno.blog, parislemon, OSNews, ZDNet, L.A. Times Tech Blog and rc3.org
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Intel showering employees with 4X bonuses — Intel is giving four times the usual bonuses for its employees thanks to its record year with $43 billion in revenues. The company is also paying its workers the equivalent of 3 extra days of work on top of that.
Discussion:
Electronista and The Next Web
RELATED:
Arik Hesseldahl / NewEnterprise:
Intel Beats Earnings Expectations Despite Slower PC Market
Discussion:
Intel, Engadget, Computerworld, eWeek, ITworld.com, The Register, VentureBeat, Datamation, CNET News, Between the Lines Blog, SAI and TechFlash
Robin Sloan / Twitter Media:
The science of the hashtag — So last week I talked about the art of the hashtag: the power of mad libs, universal particulars, and feedback loops. The day after I posted it, the #LessAmbitiousMovies hashtag took off on Twitter—you might have seen it in your timeline.
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Call Of Duty Invades The Mac App Store; How It Does Should Be Telling — It has now been a week since the launch of the Mac App Store. So far, the reviews have seemed fairly mixed. While nearly everyone praises the simplicity of the store, and Apple touted 1 million app downloads in the first 24 hours …
Discussion:
Computerworld
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines Blog:
IBM's Watson wins Jeopardy practice round: Can humans hang? — IBM's Watson supercomputer won a practice round against Jeopardy champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter and raised a lot of questions about the capabilities of artificial intelligence. — Watson, a four-year effort by IBM …
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Mr. Cutts Goes To Washington, Testifies Google Has Integrity — The head of Google's search spam fighting team, Matt Cutts, is in Washington DC this week, doing an “educational tour” to explain to US Federal Trade Commission members and congressional staffers that his company's search results don't require government regulation.
Discussion:
Post Tech and Search Engine Watch
Naked Security / Sophos:
Sarah Palin's email hacker is imprisoned, against judge's recommendation — It was a computer security story that made headlines around the world, involving the private emails of a woman who could have become Vice President of the United States. And now, it's ended with a young man sent …
Discussion:
BBC, Network World and TechSpot
Mark Gurman / 9 to 5 Mac:
Apple bringing Photo Booth to iOS devices — Yesterday BGR reported that Apple would be bringing their popular Photo Booth Mac app to iOS devices, and today we have discovered confirmation of this claim. The discovery comes in two new iOS 4.3 frameworks: “PhotoBooth” and “PhotoBoothEffects.”
Discussion:
iHackintosh, Apple Headlines, The Iphone Spot and LAPTOP Magazine
John Lister / Tech.Blorge:
Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales: App stores a clear and present danger — The app store model is a more immediate threat to internet freedom than breaches of net neutrality. That's the opinion of Wikipedia chief Jimmy Wales. — According to Wales — who was quick to stress he was speaking …
Discussion:
Computerworld, Engadget and Digital Trends
DigiTimes:
RIM to ship 1 million PlayBook tablets in 1Q11 — Quanta Computer has begun volume production of RIM's PlayBook tablets with shipments in the first quarter of 2011 expected to top one million units competing head-to-head with the 700,000-800,000 Xoom tablets to be rolled out by Motorola, according to industry sources.
Discussion:
CrunchGear, Thoughts from the Sidelines, Electronista and Erictric
Horace Dediu / asymco:
Is Android more efficient than iOS at generating search revenue? — Thanks to David Chu for forwarding the data that made this possible and reader Narajanan for spotting the divergence in platform efficiency. — iOS and Android are both growing rapidly. According to Gartner …
Glenn Fleishman / Wi-Fi Networking News:
Virgin Mobile Throttles Unlimited Service — It was too good to last: Virgin Mobile's remarkable $40 MiFi plan, which bought you unlimited data on Sprint's core (non-roaming) 3G network for use within 30 days without a contract or cancellation fees, will be throttled started 15 February …
Discussion:
Pogue's Posts
Peter Bright / Ars Technica:
Microsoft releases free WebMatrix Web development tool — Today Microsoft released WebMatrix, a free Web development tool designed to give students and beginners an easy introduction to Web development. It has been in beta since July. — WebMatrix is designed as a one-stop-shop …
Discussion:
ReadWriteWeb, Microsoft and BetaNews
