Top Items:
Apple:
Apple's App Store Downloads Top 15 Billion — Apple® today announced that over 15 billion apps have been downloaded from its revolutionary App Store™ by the more than 200 million iPhone®, iPad® and iPod touch® users worldwide. The App Store offers more than 425,000 apps …
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Josh Lowensohn / CNET News:
Facebook and Google+'s video chat tools compared — Video chat is the big thing again, at least according to Facebook, which let loose a new video chat service yesterday. Powered by Skype, the new feature lets Facebook users start a video calls with one another while continuing to use the site.
Discussion:
Friending Facebook Blog, GigaOM, SocialTimes.com, The Digital Home and Webware.com
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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:
Webware.com, The Big Blog, PC World, AllThingsD, ClickZ, USA Today, CNET News, The Business Insider, Interactive Marketing, MediaPost, Engadget, SplatF, Search Engine Land, Ars Technica, Friending Facebook Blog, AppleInsider, dailywireless.org, Mashable!, WinBeta, Telegraph, ITworld.com, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, Daily Patricia, Off On A Tangent, Mobilized, App Advice, GeekWire, The Business Insider, msnbc.com, 9to5Google, The Digital Home, Between the Lines Blog, LiveSide.net, Friending Facebook Blog, @thepeterha, @dancosta, @maggieshiels and @rhodri
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:
Digits, Computerworld, Inquirer, Between the Lines Blog, GottaBeMobile, 9to5Mac, Mashable!, ReadWriteWeb, MediaFile, PC Magazine, TechCrunch, lalawag and IntoMobile
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
Apple prepping major iPhone revamp for 2012 with “new way of charging the phone” — HP's Touchstone wireless charging technology as shown with the Pre — The Wall Street Journal follows up on their earlier report about the iPhone 5, once again calling for a thinner and lighter device …
Discussion:
GigaOM, paidContent, Guardian, The Business Insider, Gizmodo, I4U News, TUAW, The Next Web and Softpedia News
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Tiernan Ray / Tech Trader Daily:
Sprint iPhone Deal Appears Likely, Says Citadel
Sprint iPhone Deal Appears Likely, Says Citadel
Discussion:
Sprintfeed, Neowin.net, PhoneArena, SocialTimes.com, TiPb, ITProPortal, BGR, CNET News, iPhone Download Blog, PhoneDog.com, Mac Post, VentureBeat, The Tech Trade, Redmond Pie, The Toybox Blog, 9to5Mac and MacRumors
Dan Levine / Reuters:
Judge rejects Apple bid for injunction against Amazon — (Reuters) - A U.S. judge denied Apple Inc's attempt to quickly stop online retailer Amazon.com Inc from using the “App Store” name, according to a court document. — Apple, the maker of best-selling iPhones and iPad tablets …
Discussion:
AllThingsD, App Advice, CNET News, Engadget, Gizmodo, Computerworld, DailyTech, TUAW, MacRumors, Android Phone Fans, Inquirer, SlashGear, AppleInsider, Android Community, The Next Web, Neowin.net, MacStories, MobileBurn.com, iLounge, everythingiCafe and MacNN
Tom Anderson / Google+:
Mark Zuckerberg's first public response to Google+ - — Today at the Facebook news conference, +Ben Parr had the stones to ask Mark what he thought of Google+. (He was polite about it. I approve.) Zuckerberg responded by saying that lots of companies are going to build things like video chat …
Discussion:
TechCrunch
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Ben Parr / Mashable!:
Zuckerberg on Google+: It's a Validation of Facebook's Vision
Zuckerberg on Google+: It's a Validation of Facebook's Vision
Discussion:
The Business Insider, BitShare, Beth's Blog, Redmond Pie and AllThingsD
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Remember When Twitter Was A Joke? No One Is Laughing Anymore. — I recall a time a few years ago when Twitter was scoffed at. It was the blogosphere's punching-bag. It was the stupid little service that no one in their right mind would ever use. It was for people who wanted to share …
Discussion:
9to5Mac
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Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
So was the Twitter Town Hall better than a regular one?
So was the Twitter Town Hall better than a regular one?
Discussion:
AllTwitter, AllThingsD, The Atlantic Online, Mass Relevance, The Caucus and Bloomberg
Dan Taylor / The Next Web:
Airbnb takes on Europe. Will it revolutionize the industry, again? — Three years ago, Airbnb was a tiny startup that no investor wanted to touch. Whether not returning emails, or providing a flat out, “No” the San Francisco based firm had a “snowball's chance in hell” of getting out of the gate.
Discussion:
The Business Insider and PSFK
Chadwick Matlin / Fortune:
What Apple's like in bed — A new sleep-tracking app for the iPhone from Lark offers a peek into life inside a retailing partnership with Apple. — FORTUNE — Julia Hu got into bed with Apple (AAPL) so she could sell gadgets that get people out of bed. Hu is the CEO of Lark …
Discussion:
TUAW
Bloomberg:
Nintendo Pares Gains After Company Rules Out Expansion Into IPhone Games — Nintendo Co. pared gains in Osaka trading after the company ruled out expanding into smartphone games, damping speculation triggered by affiliate Pokemon Co.'s development of software for Apple Inc. (AAPL) …
Discussion:
CNET News, App Advice, Gizmodo, BGR, Mercury News, TechCrunch, Games.com The Blog …, SlashGear, Android Community, VG247, Fudzilla, AllThingsD and GoNintendo
Greg Finn / Search Engine Land:
Google: Hold Off On Creating Business Profiles On Google+, “Non-User Profiles” Will Be Shut Down — Tonight Christian Oestlien, the Ads Leads for the Google+ Project, posted a message along with a brief YouTube video about future Google+ plans on his Google+ account.
Discussion:
VentureBeat, The Business Insider, CloudAve, Christian Oestlien, The Next Web and Jon Burg's Future Visions
Joe Wilcox / BetaNews:
Patent trolling with Microsoft — Sometimes I really can't figure out Microsoft. Does the left-side corporate brain not connect to the right? — Take this new business in Microsoft patents supposedly applied to Android. HTC already coughs up five bucks per handset in licensing fees …
Discussion:
Network World and ZDNet
Zach Epstein / BGR:
Apple to launch ‘iPad 2 Plus’ with better display this year, analyst claims — Apple is gearing up to launch an updated version of its popular iPad 2 tablet with a high-resolution display later this year, according to FBR Capital Markets analyst Craig Berger.
Discussion:
International Business Times, MacRumors, TiPb, @lessien, Tablets Planet and PC Magazine
Reuters:
Government facilities targets of cyber attacks — (Reuters) - Two U.S. government-funded research laboratories and a defense contractor were targets of a “highly sophisticated” cyber attack last week, the latest in a string of assaults on U.S. interests. — The attacks were targeted …
Discussion:
Neowin.net, Associated Press, Fox News and Computerworld
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Mark Zuckerberg Explains His Law Of Social Sharing [Video] — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg punctuated his “awesome” announcement today by revealing that users are now publicly sharing around 4 billion “things” (status updates, images, etc) on Facebook a day.
Discussion:
@cdixon
Nik Cubrilovic Blog:
BlockPlus: A browser extension to block Google+ notifications — Google recently launched their much-publicized social network Google+. I signed up early on, but found that having the new status bar across the top of all the other Google applications was becoming a distraction.
Todd Haselton / BGR:
Amazon updates Cloud Drive and Cloud Player with unlimited music space, free storage for Amazon MP3s, iPad web player — Moments ago Amazon announced that it has made a number of enhancements to its Amazon Cloud Drive and Cloud Player services. First — for a limited time — anyone who signs up will get unlimited space for music.
Discussion:
Amazon.com, Fast Company, AppleInsider, AllThingsD, Mashable!, TechCrunch, CNET News, Engadget, Softpedia News, Mobile Entertainment, O'Grady's PowerPage, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Shelly Palmer Digital Living, SocialTimes.com, 9to5Mac, GeekWire, eHomeUpgrade, SlashGear, The Next Web, TiPb, TechCrunch and FT Tech Hub
Bianca Bosker / The Huffington Post:
Google Exec Marissa Mayer Explains Why There Aren't More Girl Geeks … Google , Marissa Mayer , Marissa Mayer Google , Marissa Mayer Women In Tech , Women In Tech , Marissa Mayer Gmail , Marissa Mayer Google News , Technology News — In 1999, Marissa Mayer, then a recent Stanford University graduate …
Discussion:
Search Engine Journal
Sebastian Anthony / ExtremeTech:
IBM Watson to replace salespeople and cold-calling telemarketers? — After conquering Jeopardy! and making inroads into the diagnosis of medical maladies, IBM's next application for Watson is the wholescale revitalization of two very lucrative markets: sales and customer support.
Discussion:
CNET News, Slashdot and Neowin.net
Don Clark / Wall Street Journal:
The Kids Are All Right...Running the Company — Young founders are nothing new for Silicon Valley companies. But they are growing in number and prominence these days—another sign, tech-watchers say, of how the Internet is changing entrepreneurship. — The trend can be seen in the actions …
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 …
Discussion:
Digital Trends, 9to5Google, ZDNet, Droid Life, IntoMobile, Softpedia News, Google Operating System, Pocket-lint, SocialTimes.com, Telematics News, Google Maps Mania, ITProPortal, GottaBeMobile, Geek.com, mobiputing, Between the Lines Blog, SlashGear, GigaOM, Android and Me, Search Engine Journal, All Points Blog and MobileBurn.com