Top Items:
Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:
Not the iPad 3 or New TV — But Apple Planning Media-Related Event in the Big(ger) Apple This Month — According to sources close to the situation, Apple is planning an important — but not large-scale — event to be held in New York at the end of this month that will focus on a media-related announcement.
Discussion:
The New Persuaders, LIVEdigitally, BGR, The Verge, Between the Lines Blog, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, Engadget, App Advice, T3 News, PhoneArena, Business Insider, MacDaddyNews.com, Jailbreak | iOS, Edible Apple, Techie Buzz, SlashGear, Gizmodo, Neowin.net, IntoMobile, iDownloadBlog.com, TechnoBuffalo, TUAW, PopHerald Technology News, The Next Web, MacStories, Electronista, iClarified and ifun.de, more at Mediagazer »
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Google's Jaw-Dropping Sponsored Post Campaign For Chrome — Google, the company that has been fighting against paid links and “thin” content, seems to be behind a campaign that's generating both on behalf of its Chrome browser. File this under “what were they thinking.” — “This Post Sponsored By Google”
Discussion:
SiliconFilter, SEO Book.com and New York Times
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Mac Pro Build-to-Order Ship Dates Slip as Future Remains Uncertain — Just before Christmas, shipping estimates for Apple's 12-core Mac Pro model increased to 1-3 weeks, and while that specific model does tend to occasionally see some extra lead time, the shipping delays were later noticed …
Discussion:
SlashGear, Macgasm, Electronista and Apple Bitch
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft Blog:
Microsoft to enable Linux on its Windows Azure cloud in 2012 — Summary: Microsoft is preparing to launch a new persistent virtual machine feature on its Azure cloud platform, enabling customers to host Linux, SharePoint and SQL Server there. — This headline is not an error.
Discussion:
Neowin.net, Open Source Blog, OStatic blogs and Datamation.com
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch Europe:
SoundCloud raises $50 million round led by Kleiner Perkins — SoundCloud has raised a new fundraising round led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The amount was not released but TechCrunch understands it to be $50 million. This would give the company a $200 million pre-money valuation.
Discussion:
CNET, VentureBeat, Business Insider, GigaOM, SoundCloud and @rafat, Thanks:mikebutcher
Frederic Lardinois / SiliconFilter:
Just Ahead of the Iowa Caucuses, Google Launches its U.S. Election Site — Even though the presidential elections are still nine months away, the political circus in the U.S. is in full swing already (and has been for months), thanks to the impending start of the Republican primaries tomorrow.
Gabe Rivera / Techmeme News:
Techmeme's biggest stories of 2011, literally, as measured by height — One the best things about Techmeme is how “huge” or “big” stories can literally be that: conveyed through a stack of headlines several times taller than your screen size. (Unless you hate this, in which case it's …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Business Insider, Pulse2 and om.co
Harrison Weber / The Next Web:
It is now illegal to access any foreign website in the Republic of Belarus — According to the US Library of Congress, The Republic of Belarus has just recently published a law making it illegal for Belarusian citizens and residents access and/or use foreign websites (particularly for commercial purposes).
Discussion:
Engadget, TechSpot, Electronista, loc.gov and Geekosystem
Aaron Lee / DigiTimes:
Acer, Lenovo to launch Wintel tablet PC in 3Q12 — First-tier PC vendors Acer and Lenovo are set to launch table PCs based on Microsoft's Windows 8 and Intel's Clover Trail platform in the third quarter of 2012, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.
Discussion:
Computerworld, BGR, I4U News, Techie Buzz, WinBeta, PhoneArena, Neowin.net, Electronista, SlashGear and Fudzilla
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Wikimedia Foundation Raises $20 Million From 1 Million+ Donors — Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia and other sites, this morning announced that they've raised $20 million from more than a million donors, shattering a record once again.
Discussion:
ReadWriteWeb, Wikimedia blog, VentureBeat, Neowin.net, VatorNews and Network World, more at Mediagazer »
Dylan Welch / Sydney Morning Herald:
New to Twitter: the tweet Murdoch took down ... fast — “Either @rupertmurdoch is genuinely now on Twitter, or some disgruntled ex-NOTW journo just won the hacking Olympics.” — Less than two days after joining Twitter, media mogul Rupert Murdoch appears to have had his first brush …
Discussion:
CNN, Mediaite, Guardian, @lord_sugar, Wonkette, VatorNews, Lost Remote, Gizmodo, AllThingsD, Pulse2, London Calling Blog, Betabeat, The Tech Herald Technology …, CNET, Boing Boing, The Next Web, TechEye and ABCNEWS, more at Mediagazer »
Steve Lohr / New York Times:
Unboxed: How Samuel Palmisano of I.B.M. Stayed a Step Ahead - Unboxed — BECAUSE it has become so consistently successful, I.B.M. is almost boring. This is a company so predictable that its financial forecast is packaged as a “five-year road map,” as if it were some sort of state planning exercise.
Discussion:
AllThingsD, Bloomberg, Engadget and SlashGear
Tim Stevens / Engadget:
MSN Direct goes dark, SPOT watches to suffer no more — When the noble SPOT watch was discontinued back in 2008, Microsoft promised the FM service that kept them informed would soldier on. A year later that service too had its days numbered, and now, today, the counter clicks over to zero.
Discussion:
The Verge, Neowin.net, msnbc.com, @maryjofoley and The Next Web
Danny Sullivan / Marketing Land:
For Consumers, Android Is More “Clopen” Than Open — Imagine if when Windows 7 came out, it was only offered on only one particular Dell computer. It was also uncertain when or if other computers, including those made by Dell, would ever be able to upgrade to it. Welcome to the “clopen” world of Android.
Discussion:
BGR, parislemon and Technologizer
Michelle Meyers / CNET:
PostSecret shuts down iPhone app due to abusive posts — The PostSecret app has been shut down, but the blog is still alive and well. — PostSecret, the popular blog and new-media project that's long given people a place to share their deepest, darkest thoughts, today announced it has shut …
Discussion:
Mashable!, Neowin.net, MacRumors, IntoMobile, Appolicious Advisor, msnbc.com, Gadgetopia, ReadWriteWeb, The Next Web and PostSecret
Matt Brian / The Next Web:
Asus faces customer backlash over Transformer Prime's locked bootloader — Taiwanese electronics giant Asus has been the subject of intense criticism over the release of its new Transformer Prime tablet after it emerged that the company had locked the bootloader on its device …
Discussion:
The Verge, Gizmodo UK, IntoMobile, GottaBeMobile, Android Phone Fans and AndroidOS.in, Thanks:jonrussell
Ben Popper / Betabeat:
Coursekit Raises $5 M. from Joel Spolsky, David Tisch, IA Ventures — Coursekit, a graduate of TechStars NY which bills itself as an academic social network, has raised $5 million in a Series A round of venture capital financing. Led by the Social+Capital Partnership …
Discussion:
Bits and AllThingsD
