Top Items:
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
This Month's Apple Event To Focus On Publishing And iBooks — Apple will be holding a product event later this month in New York, Kara Swisher is reporting, and we've confirmed independently with a source. — According to the source the event will not involve any hardware at all and instead …
Discussion:
Digital Trends, GigaOM, CNET, GeekWire, Good E-Reader, Gizmodo, Business Insider, Washington Post, Pulse2, Techland, VG247, GottaBeMobile, SlashGear, Techie Buzz, Gadget Lab, IntoMobile, O'Grady's PowerPage, 9to5Mac, VentureBeat, WebProNews, MacRumors, TUAW, MacStories and Electronista, more at Mediagazer »
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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:
LAPTOP Magazine, Tech Trader Daily, PC Magazine, Washington Post, mocoNews, Fortune, Inquirer, Guardian, NBC Bay Area, MacDailyNews, Appolicious Advisor, PadGadget, everythingiCafe, Digital Trends, iLounge, brian s hall, Phones Review, HotHardware.com News, Fast Company, PC World, T3 News, PhoneArena, LIVEdigitally, Business Insider, Pocket-lint, SlashGear, Redmond Pie, BGR, Poynter, The New Persuaders, The Verge, IntoMobile, TUAW, Engadget, iDownloadBlog.com, 9to5Mac, The Next Web, MacRumors, Electronista, Edible Apple, TechnoBuffalo, Jailbreak | iOS, App Advice, Softpedia News, Neowin.net, New Media Age, Macworld, Techie Buzz and MacDaddyNews.com, 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”
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VentureBeat, CNET, eWeek, 9to5Google, The Verge, PC World, Andrew R H Girdwood, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, Softpedia News, Search Engine Roundtable, Marketing Pilgrim, SEO Book.com, parislemon, the Econsultancy blog, Marketing Land, The Tech Herald Technology …, SiliconFilter, 9to5Google, Beyond Search and Danny Sullivan
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Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Google's Ad Company (Which Isn't Google) Explains What's Up With Those Chrome Ads — Google is paying bloggers to run posts promoting its Google Chrome browser. — Is that a big deal? Depends on who you ask. — Search Engine Land's Danny Sullivan, who sussed this out yesterday, has two big problems with the notion.
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eWeek
Financial Post:
RIM leaning toward new chairman: sources — Under intense pressure from a group of shareholders, Research in Motion Ltd. is preparing to unveil a corporate shakeup at the beleaguered BlackBerry maker that could see co-founders Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie relinquish their titles as co-chairmen of the board, according to sources.
Discussion:
The Verge, Business Insider, CNET, The Tech Trade, mocoNews, Engadget, BGR, Reuters, MobileSyrup.com and The Next Web
Electronista:
RIM cuts all PlayBooks to $300, gets ad hoc Android Market — BlackBerry PlayBook drops to 300 on company store — RIM has started running a new sale for the BlackBerry PlayBook on its own store. Every version of the tablet costs the same $300, making the 64GB version the best option until stock runs out.
Discussion:
eWeek, Inquirer, TechEye, CNET, TechCrunch, Between the Lines Blog, BGR, The Register, AllThingsD, Engadget, Techland, Gizmodo, Mashable!, Slashdot, Pocket-lint, MacDailyNews, Phones Review, Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check, GottaBeMobile, Ubergizmo, gHacks Technology News, TweakTown, BerryReview.com, Liliputing and PhoneArena
Jon Mitchell / ReadWriteWeb:
The Verified Twitter Account for Rupert Murdoch's Wife Was Fake — Rupert Murdoch joined Twitter last week. So did his wife, Wendi Deng Murdoch. “Joining my husband @rupertmurdoch in our new digital adventure on Twitter,” reads her bio. Cute, right? Rupert was verified, Wendi was verified …
Discussion:
Business Insider, @wendi_deng, TechCrunch, The Register, @tim, Mediaite, Naked Security, The Next Web and CNN, more at Mediagazer »
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:
If Android is so hot, why has Java ME overtaken it? — Ranked by Internet market share — rather than unit sales — Google is now No. 3 — Data: NetApplications. Chart: PED — From the perspective of NetApplications, which has been measuring browser usage data since 2004 …
Discussion:
Internet2Go, Hardware 2.0 Blog, AppleInsider, Mobile Marketing Watch, BGR, TechCrunch, Macgasm and PhoneArena
Harrison Weber / The Next Web:
Google+ just had its biggest traffic month of all time, up 55% from November. — According to Experian Hitwise, Google+'s total monthly US visits have grown 55% since November. 49 million visits were recorded in December 2011 — the biggest month to date. — But regardless of the actual numbers …
Discussion:
VentureBeat, Business Insider, CNET, @hitwise_us, SocialTimes.com, Neowin.net, ITProPortal, ReadWriteWeb and Marketing Land
Rick Martin / Tech in Asia:
‘Lucky Bags’ a Popular Apple Store Tradition in Japan — In Japan, ‘lucky bags’ are a New Year's Day shopping tradition that offers up a mystery bag of items usually at a discounted price. And perhaps one of the most sought-after lucky bags comes from the country's Apple Stores.
Discussion:
MacRumors, 9to5Mac, Macgasm, The Next Web, App Advice, MacNN and SlashGear
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:
Digital Media Wire, SoundCloud, paidContent, CNET, ReadWriteWeb, alarm:clock, Softpedia News, ArcticStartup Posts, GigaOM, FT Tech Hub, Business Insider, VentureBeat, @rafat and hypebot, Thanks:mikebutcher
Telegraph:
Facebook IPO: the £64bn question of 2012 — If it ever happens, Facebook will be the frenzied float of 2012, with a possible valuation of $100bn (£64.4bn). — An IPO will make founder Mark Zuckerberg one of the world's richest men and many of Facebook's 3,000 employees exceedingly wealthy.
Discussion:
VentureBeat, TechCrunch and ITProPortal
Tony Smith / The Register:
The Commodore 64 is 30 — Commodore took the wraps off the Commodore 64, one of two immediate follow-ups to its popular Vic-20 home computer, 30 years ago this week. — The 64 made its public debut at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), though it wouldn't go into production until later …
Discussion:
GadgeTell and TechCrunch
Barb Darrow / GigaOM:
Twine project blows by funding goals thanks to Kickstarter — When Supermechanical turned to Kickstarter to crowd source funding of its Twine project, its cofounders were no doubt optimistic. But it's hard to believe that even they would have expected that pledges amounting to nearly a half …
Harrison Weber / The Next Web:
New law requires all restaurants in Malaysian city to provide Wi-Fi — According to Malaysian editorial, The New Straits Times Press, restaurants in Kuala Lumpur (the largest city in Malaysia) are now required to have Wi-Fi. Enforcement of the new law will begin in April of this year …
Discussion:
SlashGear, New Straits Times, Examiner and Pocket-lint
Wall Street Journal:
PC Firms Bet on Ultrabooks — New Sleek, Thin Laptops Make Stylish Push Toward Mainstream Price Points — Intel Corp.'s crusade to redefine the personal computer is entering a crucial phase, as a new breed of sleek skinny portables jostle with tablet-style devices and smartphones for consumer attention.
Discussion:
Digits
