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10:40 AM ET, January 3, 2012

Techmeme

 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.
RELATED:
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 …
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”
RELATED:
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.
Discussion: New York Times
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.
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.
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 …
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 …
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.
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 …
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.
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, TechCrunch, CNET and Boing Boing
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
 
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 More Items: 
Harrison Weber / The Next Web:
New law requires all restaurants in Malaysian city to provide Wi-Fi
Dante D'Orazio / The Verge:
New ClockworkMod app offers free tethering to Android phones, sans root
Matt Hamblen / Network World:
Mobile campaigns to be hot in 2012 presidential race
Kristian Davis Bailey / The Stanford Daily:
University explains NYC withdrawal
Wall Street Journal:
PC Firms Bet on Ultrabooks
Discussion: Digits
Barb Darrow / GigaOM:
Twine project blows by funding goals thanks to Kickstarter
Discussion: SlashGear and @cdixon
 Earlier Items: 
Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:
A new record high of 1.2 billion apps were downloaded in last week of 2011
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Mac Pro Build-to-Order Ship Dates Slip as Future Remains Uncertain
Ben Popper / Betabeat:
Coursekit Raises $5 M. from Joel Spolsky, David Tisch, IA Ventures
Discussion: Bits and AllThingsD
Harrison Weber / The Next Web:
It is now illegal to access any foreign website in the Republic of Belarus