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:
Mark Evans Tech, Bloomberg, CNBC, paidContent, Pulse2, VatorNews, ReadWriteWeb, The Next Web, TechCrunch, The Blog Herald and Mashable!, Thanks:davidjamesdiaz
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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:
Reuters, TechCrunch, Pulse2, I4U News, Electricpig.co.uk, The Next Web, AppleInsider, SlashGear, MacStories, Erictric, The Apple Core Blog, PhoneArena, Apple Headlines, 9 to 5 Mac, Electronista and iClarified
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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 …
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, Pulse2, ThinkMobile, TmoNews, Electronista, Digital Trends, Engadget, PC World, Crave, Droid Life, Android Phone Fans, JR Raphael and HowardForums, Thanks:jr_raphael
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Dan Frommer / SAI: Silicon Alley Insider:
Only Now Are We About To See The Real Battle Between iPhone And Android — Apple's iPhone war against Google Android was the big story in tech last year, with Android growing like a weed to beat Apple in U.S. market share. — But in reality, we haven't actually seen a real competition between the iPhone and Android yet.
Marco Arment / Marco.org:
Too much hardware choice — From my Verizon iPhone post …
Discussion:
Daring Fireball
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.
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Jonathan S. Geller / BGR:
Exclusive: BlackBerry Dakota gets pictured; the touch and type …
Discussion:
Pulse2, Fonehome.co.uk, I4U News, ThinkMobile, Neowin.net, Electricpig.co.uk, PC World, Appmodo, Yahoo! News, Digital Trends, eWeek, Life On My Mobile, Network World, Newlaunches.com, Electronista, GottaBeMobile, Mobile phones, MobileCrunch, IntoMobile, BerryReview.com, Techie Buzz, T3.com News, Techland, LAPTOP Magazine, Geek.com, Tracy and Matt's Blog, SlashGear, PhoneArena, MobileWhack.com, The Toybox Blog, Gizmodo, Softpedia News, Erictric, Mashable!, Black Web 2.0, Ars Technica, Pocket-lint, Engadget, CrackBerry.com blogs, CrunchGear and InformationWeek
Jonathan S. Geller / BGR:
Exclusive: Next-generation BlackBerry Curve appears, brings specs with it
Discussion:
Fonehome.co.uk, Clove Technology's Blog, I4U News, BlackBerry Cool, Pulse2, Electricpig.co.uk, Gadget Lab, CrackBerry.com blogs, Mobile Magazine, Electronista, IntoMobile, PhoneArena, Thoughts from the Sidelines, GottaBeMobile, BerryReview.com, BB Geeks, Erictric, Thoughts from the Sidelines, pocketnow.com, Techie Buzz, BerryReview.com, Softpedia News, Pocket-lint, Life On My Mobile, Engadget, Electronista, MobileBurn.com, Tracy and Matt's Blog, Know Your Cell, Near Field Communications … and Phones Review
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:
Pulse2, TechFlash, All about Microsoft Blog, The Microsoft Blog, SAI and The Register
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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
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:
Softpedia News, www.pocketgamer.biz, SlashGear, The Next Web, SAI, CrunchGear, Thoughts from the Sidelines, Electronista and Erictric
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:
counternotions, Digital Society, ConceivablyTech and Hardware 2.0 Blog
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Haavard / My Opera:
Is the removal of H.264 from Chrome a step backward for openness?
Discussion:
USA Today, parislemon, techno.blog, OSNews, ZDNet, rc3.org and L.A. Times Tech Blog
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.
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?
Phil Nickinson / Android Central:
Is the Motorola Atrix 4G coming to AT&T on March 1? — The Motorola Atrix 4G (check out our hands-on) on AT&T easily is one of the hottest phones to come out of CES, with its dual-core processor, the very cool laptop dock and the even cooler HD dock, which basically turns your smartphone …
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
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Noel Randewich / Reuters:
Intel outlook beats Street, tablet caution lingers
Discussion:
Intel, NewEnterprise, Engadget, New York Times, NewEnterprise and ITworld.com
BBC:
Facebook's potential ‘unlimited’ — Tens of millions of users are signed up to the social networking site, Facebook. Goldman Sachs invested $450m (£285m) in the company at the start of this year giving it an implied value of $50bn. That's just under $100 for each Facebook member.
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:
Softpedia News and Computerworld
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:
AppleInsider, SlashGear, Computerworld, Engadget and Digital Trends
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
Florin / Unwired View:
Samsung S5830 Android 2.2 phone leaked, looks like a mini Galaxy S — Here's an Android handset from Samsung that you've probably never heard of until now: the Samsung S5830. — Te phone has appeared in some live photos over at Samfirmware, and it seems to be a smaller version …
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:
Inquirer, The Next Web, Softpedia News, ScottGu's Blog, ReadWriteWeb, MSDN Blogs, All about Microsoft Blog, MSDN Blogs, MSDN Blogs, Microsoft, BetaNews and MSDN Blogs
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 …
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:
SlashGear and Pogue's Posts
