Top Items:
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Did YouTube Just Turn On HD For Real? — After teasing us for a year with the option to watch “higher quality” videos that weren't quite high-def, it appears that YouTube is making the switch to HD, at least for some videos that have been uploaded in that quality.
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Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:
The Age of Grainy Web Videos Has Come to an End: YouTube Turns on HD — Just about three weeks ago, we reported that YouTube was testing high-definition videos, and today it seems like this feature has been officially released. A large number of videos that fulfilled YouTube's criteria …
Discussion:
Off On A Tangent
Jim Goldman / Tech Check with Jim Goldman:
Apple Apps “Bubble” Talk Just That, As Downloads Soar — You may have seen the Apple advertisement in the New York Times this morning (back page of the Business section) extolling the virtues of the iPhone. Nothing new there. — If you made it through the fine print …
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Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
Social Network Profile Costs Woman College Degree — Forget losing your job, apparently your MySpace or Facebook profile and photos can now cause you to lose your degree. In what may be one of the most frightening rulings regarding social networks and privacy to date …
Stephen Lawson / Macworld:
AT&T hopes for single smart phone OS — AT&T hopes to standardize on a single operating system for AT&T-branded smart phones as part of a “dramatic consolidation” of its mobile platforms over the next few years, a company executive said Thursday. — The mobile operator believes smart phones …
Discussion:
eWeek, AppScout, InformationWeek, Local Mobile Search, Gizmodo, Boy Genius Report, Electronista, Engadget Mobile, Phone Scoop and TeleRead
Arielle Reinstein / Gmail Blog:
Get your Gmail stickers — Not too long ago, one of the Gmail engineers broke out her vinyl cutter and made some Gmail m-velope stickers. Pretty soon, they were pasted to our desks, stuck on our laptops, and adorning the walls around the office. Then other people started asking us about them — first it was just other Googlers.
David Rothman / TeleRead:
Gasp, MIGHT Sony have sold more e-readers than Amazon has? And has Amazon bungled the ePub-creation question? — I should have picked up on this yesterday. A CNN story says “more than a quarter million” Kindles have been sold. Whose numbers are most helpful? CNN or Forrester Research, which estimates 400,000?
DigiTimes:
Acer branded smartphones to hit the market in 1Q09, company clarifies — Yen Ting Chen, Taipei; Meiling Chen, DIGITIMES [Friday 5 December 2008] — Despite a bleak economic outlook, Acer remains optimistic about its growth opportunities for 2009. The company expects its notebook shipments …
Paul Graham:
Could VC be a Casualty of the Recesssion? — (I originally wrote this at the request of a company producing a report about entrepreneurship. Unfortunately after reading it they decided it was too controversial to include.) — VC funding will probably dry up somewhat during the present recession, like it usually does in bad times.
Discussion:
HipMojo.com
Dave Winer / Scripting News:
Soon it will be time to start over, again — Here's how the tech industry cycle goes. — A new generation of young techies comes along, takes a look at the current stack, finds it too daunting (rightly so) and decides to start over from scratch. They find that they can make things happen …
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Mark Hendrickson / TechCrunch:Oh No You Don't, Google! Facebook Connect Now Generally Available, Too
Discussion:
Economist, Gear Diary, broadstuff, Profy, Google Operating System, AppScout, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, CNET News and Obsessable
Saul Hansell / Bits:
Amazon's Team of Rivals — Not so long ago, much of my life this time of year was spent following the toy wars. From 1999 to 2001, Amazon.com, eToys and Toys ‘R’ Us battled for dominance in the online toy market. (Ultimately, Toys ‘R’ Us joined forces with Amazon, and eToys failed and changed hands several times.)
Discussion:
Silicon Alley Insider
Stephen Myers / Cygnet Engineering:
Iphone as a Universe Controller: Part 1 — Why have a universal remote control when you can have a universe controller? I was fortunate enough to get to beta test some of ioBridge's forthcoming hardware. Their hardware lets you connect just about anything to the internet.
Discussion:
iPhone Buzz, Core77, Distorted-Loop.com, SlashGear, textually.org, Gizmodo, Ubergizmo and TUAW
Rich Miller / Data Center Knowledge:
Google Slows N.C. Build, Foregoing State Grant — Google has told the state of North Carolina that it won't meet the job creation criteria for a $4.7 million state grant for its data center project in Lenoir, N.C. The grant required the company to create 200 jobs in four years, but Google has apparently slowed the pace of its project.
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Michael Liedtke / E-Commerce Times:
Icahn Nearly $1B in the Hole on Yahoo Buy-In — Last summer, Carl Icahn paid $1.8 billion for a 5.5 percent stake in Yahoo. On Thursday, Yahoo shares were worth about half of what Icahn paid then. But as the beleaguered company's fortunes sink lower, the activist investor keeps buying in further …
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Yahoo CEO Countdown, 26 Days to Go: As Chernin Declines, Will a Dark Horse Emerge? — With Yahoo board Chairman Roy Bostock reportedly assuring investors and others that the company will have a CEO in place by the end of the year, it seems prudent for BoomTown to initiate an official Yahoo CEO Countdown.
Discussion:
Silicon Alley Insider
Andy Greenberg / Forbes:
Second Life's Second Wind — Can the virtual world keep growing despite its collapsing hype? — In what tech pundits at Gartner Research call the curve of hype and gloom, Linden Lab's virtual world, Second Life, has officially entered the gloom stage. — In October, Reuters pulled …
Discussion:
Virtual Worlds News
Wailin Wong / Chicago Tribune:
Midway may default on $240 million in debt — Video game-maker Midway Games is fighting for its survival after warning Thursday that it could default on $240 million in debt. — Chicago-based Midway disclosed in a regulatory filing that it has hired Lazard Ltd. to evaluate “strategic and financial alternatives.”
Karl Bode / DSLreports:
100Mbps FiOS Will Arrive Next Year - Largely aimed at winning the marketing wars... We've known that Verizon has been testing 100Mbps FiOS for much of this year in select employee homes. We also know that Verizon has admitted that 100Mbps service is more about marketing bragging rights than anything else.
Discussion:
Electronista
RGS / Random Good Stuff:
DIY iPhone Airplane Holder — I saw this on an other blog couple of days ago and asked the fellow blogger if I could republish the images on RGS. — A big thank you to Hodenmumps who made this post possible. — Who doesn't like free stuff for your gadgets.
Google Webmaster Central Blog:
One place for changing your site's settings — One of the many useful features of Webmaster Tools is the ability to adjust settings for your site, such as crawl rate or geographic target. We've been steadily adding settings over time and have now gotten to the point where they merit their own page.
Dan Gallagher / MarketWatch:
Kotick changes the game at Activision Blizzard — Video game executive parlays ‘Guitar Hero’ blockbuster into lucrative merger — SANTA MONICA, Calif. (MarketWatch) — Oversized egos and celebrity hype may permeate the executive suites of the entertainment industry, but Bobby Kotick doesn't follow that script.
Jessica E. Vascellaro / Wall Street Journal:
Facebook Delays Employee Share Sales — Facebook Inc. is delaying a previously announced program to allow employees to sell some of their shares in the privately held company, citing the “incredibly difficult” global economy. — “After carefully considering the current environment …
