Top Items:
Philip Su / Facebook Blog:
Call Your Friends Right From Facebook — Over the last year, the messages team has been working to make it easier to have one on one conversations with your friends. In November, we launched the new messages, which brings together your chats, texts, emails and messages all in one place.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, PC World, Ars Technica, Search Engine Land, Engadget, LiveSide.net, GeekWire, Wall Street Journal, AppleInsider, Mobilized, 9to5Google, App Advice, LAPTOP Magazine, SiliconFilter, CNET News, Friending Facebook Blog, This is my next, The Business Insider, BGR, Daily Patricia, ZDNet, Gizmodo, All Facebook, Search Engine Land, Off On A Tangent, Inside Facebook, Digits, msnbc.com, The New Persuaders, WinRumors, VR-Zone, @maggieshiels, @thepeterha, Techland and @rhodri
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Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Facebook Launches Skype-Powered Video Calling — Confirming our report last week, Facebook has just announced a major new feature that it's launching in tandem with Skype: video calling. — It's a feature that's been rumored for quite a while, and it's one that Facebook is putting a lot of weight behind.
Discussion:
Guardian, The Big Blog, AllThingsD, Telegraph, mocoNews, PC Magazine, Macworld, CNET News, WebProNews, Mashable! and IntoMobile
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Facebook Video Chat v. Google Hangouts: It's No Contest — One of the questions I had when I broke the news last week about the Facebook/Skype partnership: Would group video chat be part of the product, and if so would it be free? — The answer is no, there's no group chat.
Discussion:
ReadWriteWeb, lalawag, Mashable! and WebProNews
Josh Constine / Inside Facebook:
Facebook Launching Ad Hoc Group Chat, New Chat Design, Skype Video Calling
Discussion:
Engadget, The Tech Trade, The Seattle Times and Mashable!
Lorraine Luk / Wall Street Journal:
Apple Preparing For New iPhone in Third Quarter — TAIPEI—Apple Inc. has placed orders for key components used in a next-generation iPhone it is preparing to launch sometime in the third quarter, according to people familiar with the situation. — According to some suppliers of components to Apple …
Discussion:
Digits, BetaNews, ReadWriteWeb, Ars Technica, msnbc.com, The Business Insider, Fast Company, PC Magazine, VentureBeat, The Tech Trade, Mobile Marketing Watch, App Advice, iPhone Buzz, Mac Post, BGR, Digital Trends, Techland, Appolicious Advisor, GottaBeMobile, Gadgetsteria, iThinkDifferent, Electronista, GigaOM, FierceWireless, iPhone Download Blog, IntoMobile, 9to5Mac, TiPb and Apple Bitch
RELATED:
Tiernan Ray / Tech Trader Daily:
Sprint iPhone Deal Appears Likely, Says Citadel — Citadel Securities analyst Shing Yin this morning writes that it is increasingly likely that there will be an iPhone from Apple (AAPL) for Sprint-Nextel (S), especially considering that with the inauguration of Verizon Communications (VZ) …
Discussion:
The Toybox Blog, VentureBeat, Neowin.net, CNET News, iPhone Download Blog, PhoneDog.com, Mac Post, The Tech Trade, Redmond Pie, MacRumors and 9to5Mac
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
OmniVision's Production Issues Diverting iPhone Image Sensor Orders to Sony?
Discussion:
Tech Trader Daily and The Tech Trade
Miyoung Kim / Reuters:
Microsoft wants Samsung to pay smartphone license: report — Microsoft Corp has demanded that Samsung Electronics Co Ltd pay $15 for each smartphone handset it makes based on Google Inc's Android operating system as the software giant has a wide range of patents used in the mobile platform, local media reported on Wednesday.
Discussion:
The Register, The Microsoft Blog, CNET News, Nicke's shared items …, The Next Web, ZDNet, AndroidOS.in, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Techland, The Business Insider, GeekWire, 9to5Google, Android Phone Fans, Redmond Pie, Network World, VentureBeat, GMSV, PhoneDog.com, TechFlash, IntoMobile, Appolicious Advisor, Techie Buzz, FierceWireless, SlashGear, Geek.com, Android Community, WMPU, Inquirer, WinRumors, Digitizor and MobileSyrup.com
Chris Van Der Westhuizen / The Official Google Blog:
Google Maps 5.7 for Android introduces Transit Navigation (Beta) and more — (Cross-posted on the Google Lat Long Blog and the Google Mobile Blog) — Today we're releasing Google Maps 5.7 for Android. From Bangkok to Baltimore, we've added Transit Navigation (Beta), updated access to directions …
NielsenWire:
Play Before Work: Games Most Popular Mobile App Category in US — Games continue to be the most popular app category, and according to Nielsen research, 93 percent of app downloaders — those who have downloaded an app within the past 30 days - are willing to pay for the games they play.
Discussion:
Computerworld, Ars Technica, TechFlash, Hardware 2.0 Blog, mocoNews, iPhone, CNET News, Marketing Pilgrim, BlackBerry Cool, IntoMobile, BGR, BetaNews, MarketingVox News & Trends, Communications …, Mobile Marketing Watch, PhoneArena, Internet2Go, GigaOM, WebProNews, FierceMobileContent and AllThingsD
Susan Decker / Bloomberg:
Apple Escalates Samsung Fight With ITC Case — Apple Inc. (AAPL) filed a U.S. trade complaint that seeks to block imports of Samsung Electronics Co. smartphones and tablet computers, days after asking a federal court to halt sales of the devices. — The complaint submitted yesterday …
Discussion:
BGR, VentureBeat, PC Magazine, IntoMobile, InfoWorld, SlashGear, Phone Scoop, The Next Web and PhoneDog.com
RELATED:
Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:
Apple's ITC complaint against Samsung: 5 technical and 2 design patents against 6 smartphones and 2 tablets
Discussion:
AllThingsD, Reuters, CNET News and The Next Web
Chris Ziegler / This is my next:
Exclusive: redesigned Motorola Droid Bionic looks confirmed in Best Buy leak — “With the ferocious force of Verizon 4G LTE, the Droid Bionic is an all-powerful, unstoppable machine.” Pretty graphic language, isn't it? That's the opening line in this leaked Best Buy Mobile promo material …
Discussion:
The Business Insider, Gizmodo, Droid Life, Engadget, PhoneArena, Geek.com, Android Community, IntoMobile, AndroidGuys, GottaBeMobile, MobileCrunch, AndroidSPIN, SlashGear and VzBuzz
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
One Week In, Google+ Users Are Growing Followers, Getting Traffic — Just over a week old, how's Google+ doing? Comprehensive stats are hard to come by. But from our own experience, along with some other stats out there such as a new top Google+ accounts list, it seems to easily be eclipsing its Google Buzz predecessor.
Discussion:
Google Watch and Communications …
Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Who owns your social graph — you or Facebook? — Facebook's control over the information in your social graph is in the news again. The company recently blocked a Google Chrome extension that scraped your contact info so that you could export it somewhere else, such as into Google's new Google+ social network.
Thanks:jasonhiner
Jenna Wortham / Gadgetwise:
Is Google's Hangouts Its Killer App? — Last night a chatroom changed my life. — But it wasn't just any chatroom. It was a virtual “hangout,” the group video chat service that is a prominent feature of Google+, Google's new social-networking service that aims to challenge Facebook..
Kevin Murphy / The Register:
Google dumps all 11+ million .co.cc sites from its results — Bigger than .org or .uk - but mostly spam and phish — Google has removed over 11 million .co.cc websites from its search engine results pages on the basis that most of them are far too “spammy”.
Discussion:
Dennis Fisher, Digitizor, Digital Trends and The Business Insider
Courtney Boyd Myers / The Next Web:
Official: Spotify announces it's coming to the US — It's official. Hot off the heels of its $100 million funding round, Spotify, Europe's most popular music service, has just announced it's coming to the U.S.
Discussion:
TechCrunch Europe, Engadget, VentureBeat, Epicenter, The Business Insider, AllThingsD and Evolver.fm
Kim-Mai Cutler / Inside Facebook:
Zuckerberg Confirms That Facebook Has Reached 750 Million Monthly Actives — Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that Facebook had surpassed 750 million monthly active users today at a product launch in Palo Alto. He said the company had declined to announce it earlier because it's become focused on other metrics …
Discussion:
Mashable! and The Next Web
RELATED:
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Zillow Prices IPO Between $12 And $14 Per Share With Nearly $400 Million Valuation — Real estate listings site Zillow has just filed additional documents with the SEC indicating the initial range for the company's upcoming IPO. Zillow's price range will start at $12 to $14 per share, giving the company a $378 million valuation.
Discussion:
GeekWire, Seattle Times and AllThingsD
Tom Warren / WinRumors:
Steve Ballmer to deliver Windows 8 packed CES 2012 keynote … Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will once again deliver the pre-show keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show. — Microsoft has been keynoting at CES for a number of years and 2012 will be no different.
Discussion:
Business Wire, TechCrunch, MacNN and The Next Web
Geoffrey A. Fowler / Wall Street Journal:
The Perk Bubble Is Growing as Tech Booms Again — To Woo and Keep Employees, Start-Ups Stress Playthings; a Nap in the Tree House — At the new headquarters of San Francisco startup Airbnb, quirky amenities like an in-house tree house and a “peace room” give the office a “back to the dotcom '90s” feel.
Discussion:
The Business Insider and Digits
