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12:50 AM ET, January 16, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Devin Coldewey / CrunchGear:
MacBook AirHead: why Apple's new laptop is basically useless  —  First, let me just say that the Air is an extremely impressive piece of technology.  The miniaturization, the optimization of space, the blatant disregard for current standards — it's everything a revolutionary machine should be.
RELATED:
Jason Chen / Gizmodo:
MacBook Air Hands-on  —  Here's our take on the MacBook Air.  It's super light, super fragile, and super small.  If you just tap the screen lightly, the whole thing closes because it's so light.  The keyboard looks a little weird because it's black on the aluminum, but the keyboard feels great.
Nilay Patel / Engadget:
MacBook Air doesn't have a user-replaceable battery  —  We sort of understood it with iPods, and we grudgingly accepted it with the iPhone, but the MacBook Air has a sealed, non-user-replaceable battery, and that means we're suddenly a lot less in love.  We're digging for details …
Ryan Block / Engadget:
MacBook Air: plenty more details
Discussion: Valleywag
Ryan Block / Engadget:   MacBook Air battery replacements: $129, free install!
Duncan Riley / TechCrunch:
Air: The Only Thing Left In Your Wallet After You Buy Apple's New Laptop
Discussion: Elliott C. Back and eWeek
Arn / MacRumors:
First Look at the MacBook Air
Discussion: Gizmodo and Engadget
Mathew / mathewingram.com/work:
Hey, Steve — you broke the Internet  —  Thanks for all the great toys, Uncle Steve, but did you have to go and break the Internet?  I and about 7,000 other people were all signed up to get Twitter updates from MacRumors, but I never saw a single one — and in fact the entire Twitter.com network …
RELATED:
Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed:
Steve Jobs Proves the Interweb Can't Beat TV ... Yet  —  Live media events are great, when they work.  But watching live services like Twitter collapse around the Steve Jobs keynote this morning provides more great examples (if needed) why the Interweb isn't yet TV.
Duncan Riley / TechCrunch:
Twitter Fails Macworld Keynote Test
Discussion: Mashable!, Tech Ticker and i-boy
Nicholas Carlson / Valleywag:
Now we know what Twitter's good for: not much
Discussion: CenterNetworks
Ryan Block / Engadget:
Live from Macworld 2008: Steve Jobs keynote  —  Thanks for joining us for our live Macworld 2008 keynote coverage!  We're in, so click on, all our real-time updates are posted just after the break.  —  Note: this time we're updating from bottom to top, with the latest updates below.
RELATED:
Forbes:
Jobs Fails To Wow At Macworld  —  SAN FRANCISCO -  —  You could hear the collective sigh from the crowd.  When Steve Jobs unveiled the newest member of the Macintosh fold, the skinny MacBook Air laptop, the Mac-faithful sighed with pleasure.  But it was just a momentary exhale.
John Markoff / Bits:
The Passion of Steve Jobs
Matt Buchanan / Gizmodo:
Apple TV Take 2: $229, No Computer Required, Direct Rentals (Netflix Screwed)  —  Holy crap, Jobs admitted Apple TV failed at getting computer content to the square screen.  Apple TV Take 2 requires no computer, you can rent from iTunes directly from the box—movies and music—and it's only $229.
RELATED:
Saul Hansell / Bits:
Video Podcasts: The Sleeping Giant on AppleTV
Discussion: MacUser
Josh Jones / DreamHost Blog:
Um, Whoops.  —  Hello.. how's your morning going?  —  I hope it's been a little better than mine.  —  We had a teensy eensy weensy little billing error last night... my first clue something was up when I saw this morning's daily billing report (so far): $7,500,000.
RELATED:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:   Dreamhost Overbills Customers $7.5 Million; Uses Homer Simpson To Deliver Apology
RELATED:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Breaking: Samwer Brothers Invest In Facebook  —  Serial German entrepreneurs Alexander, Marc and Oliver Samwer have invested in Facebook, we've heard from a very reliable source - presumably as part of Facebook's recent $15 billion valuation round with Microsoft.  We are still trying to nail down the size of the investment.
RELATED:
Oracle:
Oracle Critical Patch Update Advisory - January 2008  —  A Critical Patch Update is a collection of patches for multiple security vulnerabilities.  It also includes non-security fixes that are required (because of interdependencies) by those security patches.
Miguel Helft / Bits:
Another Media Exec Leaves Yahoo  —  As Yahoo narrows its focus on a few key priorities, it's not surprising to see those whose projects fall outside those areas leave the company.  And Yahoo's media group, whose once lofty mission to produce original, Hollywood-style content has been scaled …
GigaOM:
700 MHz Auction Update  —  So 214 bidders have been approved for the forthcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction, which starts on Jan. 24.  The big bidders include AT&T, Verizon and Google.  These bidders will go after 1,200 licenses.  —  The bidding will conclude on March 24; down payments will be due by April 11.
Garett Rogers / Googling Google:
New iPhone update will confuse and upset many Gmail users  —  For people using POP access in their iPhone, the new update for the device will automatically convert your email to IMAP without you knowing.  Why does that matter?  Well, if you are in the habit of deleting messages from your iPhone …
Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:
Nick Denton Runs a “Slave Shop,” Oxford Chum Jason Pontin Declares  —  Gawker Media chief Nick Denton is “profoundly talented....kind of bitchy"....and gets by with things he shouldn't.  But he does it in a sufficiently Oxonian way so “you don't feel too dirty,” says Jason Pontin …
 
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 More Items: 
Allen Stern / CenterNetworks:
TubesNow Service to be Discontinued on January 31
Discussion: Mashable!
Karl / DSLreports:
Uncle Sam Turns Blind Eye To Hidden Fees - Wasn't false advertising …
MG Siegler / ParisLemon:
Spore To Come Simultaneously To the Mac and PC
Discussion: CNET News.com
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Meebo Widget Strategy Paying Off
Discussion: VentureBeat and Beet.TV
Light Reading:
AT&T Begins Massive Battery Replacement
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
2008 shaping up to be “Year of Filters” at colleges, ISPs
 Earlier Items: 
Nicole Maestri / Reuters:
Borders readies to take over Web site
Discussion: paidContent.org
GigaOM:
Google's Achilles Heel
Josh / Redeye VC:
The earlier the better...  Most VC's typically “pass” …
Alex Serpo / CNET News.com:
A tenfold improvement in battery life?
Discussion: Ars Technica and last100
Wilson Rothman / Gizmodo:
Apple Announces Time Capsule Server for Wireless Time Machine Backup
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Authentic Brands licenses Sports Illustrated's publishing rights to The Players' Tribune owner Minute Media for 10 years, with plans to keep the print edition

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Ofcom rules that five GB News programs presented by Conservative politicians have broken its due impartiality rules and puts the channel “on notice”

Todd Spangler / Variety:
YouTuber MrBeast announces a deal with Prime Video for Beast Games, a reality-competition show with 1,000 contestants, promising the winner a $5M cash prize

 
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