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12:30 PM ET, January 3, 2012

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
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.
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.
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 …
RELATED:
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.
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.
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 …
Evan Blass / pocketnow.com:
More Nokia Lumia 900 “Ace” Details Revealed  —  We've gotten some more information on the upcoming Nokia Ace for AT&T — whose codename for the device is Eloko — including confirmation that it is indeed the Lumia 900 which will be sold globally as Nokia's flagship Windows Phone.
Darren Murph / Engadget:
Ask Ziggy: the Windows Phone 7 counter to Apple's Siri (video)  —  Ask Ziggy has actually been on the Windows Store for right around a fortnight, but there's an updated version hitting soon that brings an astounding amount of Siri-ness to Microsoft's own Windows Phone 7 platform.
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 …
Jordan Kahn / 9to5Google:
Larry Page named ‘CEO of the year’ by Investors Business Daily  —  Following Google Cofounder Larry Page taking over as CEO of the company in April, Investor's Business Daily named Page its “CEO of the Year.”  While noting that Google has increased revenues over the last two quarters …
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Report: 522 Exits Of Venture-Backed US Companies Netted $53.2 Billion In 2011  —  According to a Dow Jones VentureSource report released this morning, fewer US-based venture-backed companies exited in 2011 than the year before, but the deals netted more capital as the median price for M&A and buyouts …
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 …
Zach Honig / Engadget:
Nintendo sold four million 3DS consoles, 4.5 million Wiis in US last year  —  We've been (somewhat) taken with Nintendo's dual-screen handheld's 3D screen, AR features and overall unique experience, but it appears that the 3DS has been a real boon to gamers, with more than four million U.S. consumers picking …
Bill Slawski / SEO by the Sea:
IBM Assigns 217 More Patent Filings to Google including Wireless Phones and Javascript Widgets  —  Looks like Google and IBM are working together again to build up Google's patent portfolio, from an update at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patent assignment database.
Monica Chen / DigiTimes:
Intel to announce 40 new server processors in 1H12  —  Intel is set to launch 40 new processors including those for its upcoming Romley platform, in the first half of 2012 with the company to release 20 models each quarter, according to sources from server players.
 
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 More Items: 
Tony Smith / The Register:
The Commodore 64 is 30  —  Commodore took the wraps off …
Discussion: GadgeTell
Haaretz:
Saudi Hackers claim to post personal information of 400 thousand Israelis
Telegraph:
Facebook IPO: the £64bn question of 2012
Discussion: ITProPortal
Harrison Weber / The Next Web:
New law requires all restaurants in Malaysian city to provide Wi-Fi
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
 Earlier Items: 
Barb Darrow / GigaOM:
Twine project blows by funding goals thanks to Kickstarter
Discussion: SlashGear and @cdixon
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch Europe:
SoundCloud raises $50 million round led by Kleiner Perkins
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
Discussion: SlashGear and Electronista
Harrison Weber / The Next Web:
It is now illegal to access any foreign website in the Republic of Belarus
Gabe Rivera / Techmeme News:
Techmeme's biggest stories of 2011, literally, as measured by height
Discussion: Pulse2 and TechCrunch