Techmeme: HTC to set up chain of 100 exclusive retail shops in Taiwan (Francis Tan/The Next Web)

12:30 PM ET, January 28, 2011

Top Items:

James Cowie / Renesys Blog:

Egypt Leaves the Internet — Confirming what a few have reported this evening: in an action unprecedented in Internet history, the Egyptian government appears to have ordered service providers to shut down all international connections to the Internet. Critical European-Asian fiber-optic …

Discussion: GigaOM, PC World, Ars Technica, Datamation, Krebs on Security, Technology Liberation Front, Reuters, The Huffington Post, textually.org, Forbes, Mashable!, Wall Street Journal, Telegraph, Post Tech, @pjcrowley, CounterMeasures, Danger Room, The Register, Associated Press, Faster Forward, Associated Press, Techland, Agence France Presse, Threat Level, DSLreports, Sky News, TechEye, SAI, The Firewall, DomainIncite.com, SlashGear, MacDailyNews, Global Voices in English, BBC, BBC, Arabist.net, Associated Press, Inquirer, ZDNet, The Huffington Post, SmoothSpan Blog, The Daily Dish, Engadget, Softpedia News, newsfeed.time.com, @alecjross, Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check, Techie Buzz, TechCrunch, Switched, NevilleHobson.com, Black Web 2.0, Gizmodo, Alexia Tsotsis, V3.co.uk, Pluggd.in, @wikileaks, Edible Apple, TechCrunch Europe, @sayrer, The Blog Herald, The Daily What, SAI, @chinageeks, Pulse2, Download Squad, Data Center Knowledge, msnbc.com, @aveltens, L.A. Times Tech Blog, GFI Labs blog, Laughing Squid, Digital Trends, VentureBeat and News: News blog, more at Mediagazer »

Andree Toonk / BGPmon.net Blog:

Internet in Egypt offline — Different media are reporting that Internet and other forms of electronic communications are being disrupted in Egypt. Presumably after a government order in response to the protests. Looking at BGP data we can confirm that according to our analysis 88% …

Discussion: Guardian, PC World, CNET News, @timcohn, OUT-LAW News and Reuters

Danny O'Brien / @danny_at_cpj:

This is what Egypt's cutoff from the Net looks like: http://j.mp/egypt_arbor (HT @labovit - it's from a global set of traffic points)

Alexei Oreskovic / Reuters:

Facebook says has seen drop in traffic from Egypt — (Reuters) - Facebook has seen a drop in traffic to its Web site from Egypt on Thursday amid anti-government protests in that country, the company said. — “We are aware of reports of disruption to service and have seen a drop in traffic …

Georgina Prodhan / Reuters:
ANALYSIS-Egypt shows how easily Internet can be silenced

Discussion: msnbc.com

Hillary Hartley / @quepol:
Three days ago, Lieberman vowed to reintroduce his internet “kill switch” bill. We'll see how well it worked for Egypt. http://j.mp/hgeUvA

Discussion: @anonyops, @cscotta, @beregond and @jeff419

SAI: Silicon Alley Insider:

CHART OF THE DAY: Microsoft Incinerates ANOTHER $543 Million Online — Every quarter Microsoft reports earnings, and every quarter it reports a massive loss in its online operations. Today it reported a $543 million loss for its December quarter. — This gives Microsoft a trailing-four-quarter loss of $2.5 billion.

Discussion: Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim and Adotas

Kenneth Li / Reuters:

Tablets won't steamroll Microsoft, top executive says — (Reuters) - Concerns that roaring demand for tablets and smartphones like Apple's iPad and iPhone will leave Microsoft in the dust are simply overdone, Microsoft International's president told Reuters.

Microsoft:
Microsoft Reports Record $0.77 Earnings Per Share in Second Quarter

Brandon LeBlanc / The Windows Blog:
Windows 7: 300 Million Licenses Sold

Discussion: Technologizer, PC Magazine, GeekSmack, Softpedia News, MSDN Blogs and WinRumors

Zach Epstein / BGR:

ZTE displaces Apple as No. 4 phone maker; RIM bumped from top 5 — Chinese consumer electronics company ZTE exploded from the “other” category in the fourth quarter of 2010 to displace Apple as the No. 4 cell phone maker in the world. In doing so, the Chinese manufacturer also bumped RIM off …

Discussion: IDC, MacRumors, iLounge, Engadget, SlashGear, Know Your Cell, AppleInsider and Inquirer

eMarketer:

Who Will Win the Android vs. iPhone Race? — Google's mobile OS will be on top by year-end 2012 — The iPhone may have captured the hearts and minds of many tech-savvy early smartphone adopters—not to mention marketers—with its sleek design, multitouch interface and available apps.

Discussion: Evolver.fm, Internet2Go, Mobile Entertainment and TechCrunch

Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:

What you should know about LinkedIn's IPO — You've probably seen that professional networking site LinkedIn filed for its initial public offering today. Now that the first wave of excitement has died down, let's take a look at the most relevant facts about the company and its IPO plans, drawn primarily from the filing:

Discussion: alarm:clock

Steve Sordello / The LinkedIn Blog:
LinkedIn files registration statement for Initial Public Offering

Reuters:
LinkedIn's IPO to test appetite for Facebook

Discussion: Reuters and Reuters

Ina Fried / Mobilized:

Microsoft Considering Whether to Bring Office to Apple's Mac App Store — Microsoft says it continues to be pleased with sales of the Mac version of Office, but has not yet decided whether to offer the product or any of its components in the Mac version of the App Store, which launched earlier this month.

Discussion: App Advice, Erictric, TUAW, AppleInsider, MacStories, FT tech hub, Softpedia News, 9 to 5 Mac, MacRumors, MacNN, Electricpig.co.uk, The Loop and everythingiCafe

Matt Cutts / Gadgets, Google, and SEO:

Algorithm change launched — I just wanted to give a quick update on one thing I mentioned in my search engine spam post. — My post mentioned that “we're evaluating multiple changes that should help drive spam levels even lower, including one change that primarily affects sites …

Discussion: Hacker News and Stack Overflow, Thanks:blogsdna

Chris Vogel / The Informer:

Donald LeBuhn Files Class Action Lawsuit in LA Against Apple: Says iPhone 4 Glass Casing Sucks and is Not as Strong as Apple Advertises — If you own an iPhone 4 and the glass casing has broken, you are not alone. — So many people have complained, in fact, that the phenomenon has even earned the nickname, “Glassgate.”

Discussion: MacNN, Faster Forward, TUAW, 9 to 5 Mac, iLounge, everythingiCafe, Softpedia News, The Next Web, IntoMobile, Apple Bitch, AppleInsider, SlashGear, PalmAddicts and Macgasm

Chris Davies / SlashGear:

Samsung hits all-time record revenue in 2010; dual-core Galaxy S2 & multiple Galaxy Tabs incoming — Samsung has announced its 2010 financial figures, and there are strong results for the company's mobile business. Mobile device sales in Q4 2010 topped 80.7m, up 17-percent compared to Q4 2009, with 280m sales for the whole of 2010.

Discussion: CNET News, SAMSUNG, english.yonhapnews.co.kr, Android Phone Fans, Android Community, PhoneArena and Electronista

Tim Bradshaw / FT tech hub:

Tweetdeck busts the 140-character limit with Deck.ly — Tweetdeck, the software for social-media ‘power users’, is today unveiling Deck.ly, the latest strand of its plan to ease its dependence on Twitter and become a greater platform in itself. — At a basic level, Deck.ly allows Tweetdeck users …

Discussion: The Next Web and SAI, Thanks:tim

Mark Hachman / PC Magazine:

Amazon's Sales Grow 36%; Sells More E-Books than Paperbacks — Amazon reported higher profits and a 36 percent increase in net sales for the fourth quarter of 2010, and noted that the company is selling more copies of Kindle e-books than paperback copies. — The problem, according to Wall Street …

Discussion: Shelly Palmer Digital Living

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Amazon's Jeff Bezos: “We Had Our First $10 Billion Quarter”

Discussion: Softpedia News, msnbc.com, Inquirer, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, The Equity Kicker, IBD Click, VentureBeat, TechSpot, Engadget and WebProNews

Liz Gannes / NetworkEffect:

Four Big Projects Facebook Should Launch, and Probably Will-Even Though It Says It Won't — Steve Jobs is famous for publicly dismissing a market shortly before Apple enters it. And Mark Zuckerberg and his team seem to have some Steve Jobs in them: There are several obvious product launches coming …

Discussion: WebProNews

Greg Sandoval / Media Maverick:

Some at Spotify eye Apple with suspicion — Do Spotify executives believe Apple had anything to do with their company's inability to make the leap to the United States? — In an interview given on Monday by Faisal Galaria, Spotify's chief of global business development, sure made it sound that way.

Andrew Chen / @andrewchen:

Quora stats: 150% growth in January, 160k monthly actives, 18k daily actives (lower bound estimate via Facebook app data) — I ♥ Quora. Oh yes, I'm a fanboy. — As my many of my friends and family know, I love Quora and get a ton of value out of it.

Bill Tancer / Hitwise Intelligence:

LivingSocial Closing the Gap — Let's face it, $6 billion is a lot of money, especially considering the hyper-innovation we're seeing in the social buying space. — In a previous post less then two months ago we analyzed the difference between Groupon and LivingSocial visitors.

Discussion: Mashable!, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, SAI, WebProNews and Screenwerk

Dan Lyons / The Daily Beast:

Bono's Silicon Valley Soap Opera — The rocker's days as a tech mogul could be ending: A key founding partner is ditching Bono's private-equity firm, Elevation, in a nasty spat that's going public, just as the company is trying to launch a second investment fund.

Discussion: VentureBeat

John Paczkowski / Digital Daily:

90 Percent of AT&T iPhone Subs Still Under Contract — A metric worth mulling as AT&T's previously monogamous relationship with Apple shifts into polyamory: 90 percent of the carrier's iPhone users are still under contract. — That's according to Susquehanna analyst Jeffrey Fidacaro …

Discussion: 9 to 5 Mac

James Niccolai / PC World:

Microsoft Presses Intel for 16-core Atom Chip — Microsoft has asked Intel to develop a 16-core version of its low-power Atom chip for use in servers, part of a wider effort to reduce power consumption in its massive data centers, a Microsoft executive said Thursday.

Discussion: Electronista, Liliputing, SlashGear, WinRumors and bit-tech.net

Victoria Barret / Forbes:

Box.net And The Freemium Business App — Forbes Magazine dated February 14, 2011 — A band of newcomers is changing how business apps are bought and sold. … Aaron Levie is one of those 26-year-old technology chief executives who make no attempt to look older than their age.

Discussion: Forbes

Brad McCarty / The Next Web:

Facebook Deals come to the Android app — If you've been waiting to get those handy mobile deals on your pocket robot, it appears that your wait is over. The newest version of the Facebook application for Android introduces Facebook Deals. — Loading up the new version, nothing looks immediately different.

Discussion: Mashable! and AndroidOS.in

Francis Tan / The Next Web:

HTC to set up chain of 100 exclusive retail shops in Taiwan — Looks like it's not just Apple that is set to expand its dominance in the Asian market. Taiwanese manufacturer HTC has something up its sleeve as Digitimes reports that the company plans to step up their presence in the local market …

Discussion: SlashGear, DigiTimes and Electronista

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