Top Items:
Joshua Topolsky / The Verge:
The truth about Microsoft and CES — There's been a bit of back and forth today over Microsoft's announcement that it would be ending its long-standing CES keynote role, and will no longer have a booth at the show as it's done for many years. Head of Microsoft's corporate communications …
Discussion:
Electronista and Daring Fireball
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Barb Darrow / GigaOM:
Mystery: Who killed the Microsoft CES keynote? — So, just who nixed future Microsoft keynotes at the big Consumer Electronics Show? It's a sticky question. — Microsoft said Wednesday that Steve Ballmer's keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show next month will be the company's …
Discussion:
@parislemon, Electronista, Business Insider, PC World, LiveSide.net and The Tech Trade
MG Siegler / parislemon:
F**k Me? No. F**k You. — This morning, Microsoft made waves with a big move: they're pulling out of CES. Frank Shaw, Microsoft's head of communications, made the announcement on the company blog, noting that this year's CES (which is in a few weeks) would be the last one featuring …
Frank X. Shaw / TechNet Blogs:
2012 Marks Final CES Keynote for Microsoft
Discussion:
eWeek, Bits, Engadget, msnbc.com, The Next Web, The Verge, PC World, iPhone, BetaNews, The Tech Trade, My Nokia Blog, Shiny Objects, PC Magazine, TechSpot, CNNMoney.com, Mashable!, PhoneArena, Neowin.net, Business Insider, VG247, Mobile Marketing Watch, blog.chron.com, IntoMobile, WebProNews, LiveSide.net, BGR, CNET News, WinRumors, Geek News Central, Electronista, mocoNews, Technologizer, Network World, SlashGear, @dannysullivan, LAPTOP Magazine, I4U News, Digits, @fromedome, MediaFile, Gizmodo, Digital Media Wire, Daring Fireball, RazorianFly, VentureBeat, Seattle Times, Macworld, AllThingsD, Between the Lines Blog, WMPoweruser, All about Microsoft Blog, L.A. Times Tech Blog, TechCrunch, Pulse2, MacRumors, WinBeta, GeekWire and Slashdot
Sam Biddle / Gizmodo:
All the Companies Supporting SOPA, the Awful Internet Censorship Law—and How to Contact Them — Who's officially on the record backing what could be the worst thing to ever happen to the internet? All of these companies listed below. Don't take our word for it—this list comes straight from Congress.
Discussion:
Neowin.net and CNET News
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Adam Savage / Popular Mechanics:
MythBuster Adam Savage: SOPA Could Destroy the Internet as We Know It
Discussion:
A+K, Techdirt, @dannysullivan, WebProNews and TechCrunch, more at Mediagazer »
Adam Clark Estes / The Atlantic Wire:
Coders Are Already Finding Ways Around SOPA Censorship
Discussion:
Gizmodo, Lifehacker and Slashdot
DealBook:
Yahoo to Consider Sale of Asian Assets — Yahoo's board will consider a deal to sell its holdings in Alibaba Group and its Japanese affiliate back to their majority owners in a complicated tax-free deal valued at about $17 billion, according to people briefed on the matter.
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Shayndi Raice / Wall Street Journal:
Facebook's Goal: To Be a Blue Chip — As Company Readies 2012 IPO, It's Getting All Grown Up: Zuckerberg Swaps Flip-Flops for Real Shoes — Mark Zuckerberg spent Facebook Inc.'s early years trying to keep it cool. But the founder and CEO of the social-networking giant has spent …
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Tricia Duryee / AllThingsD:
Surprise — The Most Popular Facebook Game of 2011 Wasn't Made by Zynga — Facebook has released its list of the 10 most popular social games for 2011, and while the chart was dominated by Zynga titles, other companies received the top two slots. — The list revealed some other surprises, too.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, @joshconstine, Mashable!, VentureBeat, Facebook, All Facebook, Business Insider and Inside Social Games
Kevin C. Tofel / GigaOM:
Kindle Fire no longer blocks Android Market website — Earlier this week, I grilled Amazon for attempting to control web browsing activities on its Kindle Fire. Any attempts to browse Google's Android Market website were redirected to Amazon's own AppStore on the tablet.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, 9to5Google, PC World, LAPTOP Magazine, Engadget, Android Phone Fans, Liliputing, Pogue's Posts and Google Watch
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
45 Privacy Changes Facebook Will Make To Comply With Data Protection Law — In 2012, Facebook will be making 45 privacy-related changes to comply with the recommendations of an audit by Ireland's Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) released today.
Discussion:
paidContent and Inside Facebook, Thanks:grg
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Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:
The Facebook “Frictionless” Sharing Apps Trickle Out: Digg Is Next — Facebook took its sweet time this fall; now, in winter, it's launching two interlinked products: Revamped profile pages, now called Timelines (which are being deployed this week), and “frictionless” open-graph apps that share user activity to Facebook automatically.
Discussion:
ReadWriteWeb, Mashable! and TechCrunch, more at Mediagazer »
Tony Hicks / Contra Costa Times:
People: Steve Jobs awarded a Grammy — Steve Jobs has won a Grammy. — Which makes sense, since he revolutionized the music industry by managing to shrink everyone's record collection into something that will fit in their pocket, among other achievements.
Discussion:
CNET News, MacRumors, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, SlashGear, GRAMMY.org, MacStories, GRAMMY.com, iPodNN, Mashable!, Gawker and The Next Web
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
RIAA: Someone Else Is Pirating Through Our IP-Addresses — Over the past week we've had fun looking up what governments, Fortune 500 companies, and even the most dedicated anti-piracy groups download on BitTorrent. All we had to do is put their IP-addresses into the search form on YouHaveDownloaded and hit after hit appeared.
Discussion:
Techdirt, Geekosystem, WebProNews, Gizmodo, Neowin.net and Softpedia News
Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
Bitcoin's comeback: should Western Union be afraid? — The last time we wrote about Bitcoin, in October, the currency's future looked grim. A series of security incidents had created an avalanche of bad press, which in turn undermined public confidence in the currency.
Sean Gallagher / Ars Technica:
How hackers gave Subway a $3 million lesson in point-of-sale security — Update: this story has been corrected and amended based on information received from Richard James of sendpace.com — For thousands of customers of Subway restaurants around the US over the past few years …
Discussion:
Gizmodo
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Apple's ‘Complete My Album’ Feature Drops 180-Day Deadline for Upgrading — Yesterday, we noted that Apple had launched a new “Complete My Season Pass” feature for TV shows purchased through the iTunes Store, offering users who purchased individual episodes of a TV show season the ability …
Discussion:
Apple, MacStories, parislemon, The Next Web, Electronista, the Econsultancy blog and PadGadget
Vlad Savov / The Verge:
Radeon HD 7970 official: 28nm, 2,048 Stream processors, and a $549 price for January 9th — AMD today launches the Radeon HD 7970, its first graphics card built at a 28nm production process and the first member of its Southern Islands family of GPUs. As its name suggests …
Discussion:
Engadget, VentureBeat, Gizmodo, Digits, The Register and Electronista
Chris Velazco / TechCrunch:
Spotify For BlackBerry Officially Released, Only Supports Old Hardware — If you're a BlackBerry user and you've been waiting for a music service that's just a bit more compelling than BBM Music, then you may be in luck — emphasis on the “may.” Spotify for BlackBerry was officially released today …
Discussion:
BGR, CrackBerry.com, IntoMobile, The Next Web, The Verge, GottaBeMobile and Lifehacker
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Another $40 million for Jawbone from Kleiner Perkins, Deutsche Telekom — Jawbone, a San Francisco-based company that makes mobile lifestyle accessories such as Jambox and Up, a personal health device, has raised another $40 million in new funds from Deutsche Telekom, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers …
Discussion:
Business Insider, VentureBeat, TechCrunch and AllThingsD
Sharon Terlep / Wall Street Journal:
Transportation Chief Opposes Cell Driving Ban — U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said on Wednesday he won't back a proposal to prohibit the use of cell phones and other electronic devices while driving, even hands-free devices, in the latest sign that the ban is unlikely to become law.
Nicholas Carlson / Business Insider:
Here's The Damning Letter A Massive AOL Shareholder Just Sent Tim Armstrong — Investment firm Starboard Value LP, which owns 4.5% of AOL, just sent a remarkably polite letter to AOL CEO Tim Armstrong telling him he is blowing it and that he needs Starboard's help.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, AOL Corp, VentureBeat, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Betabeat and WebProNews, more at Mediagazer »
Cade Metz / Wired Enterprise:
Ex-Google Man Sells Search Genius to Rest of World — M.C. Srivas is amazed by Google's search engine. And he helped build Google's search engine. He's amazed that if you search for “2005 Accord,” Google seems to understand you're looking for a family sedan, giving you links …
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Lingering Android security flaw lets apps do things without permission — Last week, ViaForensics pointed out that Google Wallet wrote transaction histories to unencrypted database files, and this week the security firm's demonstrating another Android flaw, namely that apps can do things …
Discussion:
Android Community, Slashdot, viaForensics and Dennis Fisher
