Top Items:
Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
No spin: Ars reviews the MacBook Air with solid state drive — The MacBook Air's high-end model comes with 200 extra MHz and a solid state drive. Is it worth the extra $1,300 to upgrade? We compare the two Airs directly to find out whether the price is worth paying.
Official Google Docs Blog:
Stop sharing spreadsheets, start collecting information — Posted by: Andrew Bonventre, Spreadsheets engineer and Michelle Lee, Spreadsheets designer — Today we're asking you to do something new: stop sharing spreadsheets. — Well... only sometimes, and only in certain situations.
CmdrTaco / Slashdot:
Fifth Cable Cut To Middle East — You may have noticed a number of stories recently about undersea cables getting cut around the world. Apparently the total is now up to 5, but the scariest part of this is that Iran is now offline. You can also read Schneier's comments on this coincidence.
RELATED:
Peter Kafka / Silicon Alley Insider:
“BigNews”: Ask's Digg Project Revealed (IACI) — Here's the Ask.com/Digg collaboration we'd heard about earlier this week, but it may be less than we'd advertised: “BigNews” is actually more of an attempt to create a new spin on Techmeme/Google News than a ripoff of Digg's social news site.
RELATED:
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Rumor: Is Google About to Buy Bebo For $1 Billion To $1.5 Billion? Or Will it Be MySpace? — An unconfirmed rumor has surfaced that either Google or MySpace is about to announce a big $1 billion to $1.5 billion acquisition in the social space. After checking around with multiple industry sources …
Bernard Lunn / ReadWriteWeb:
This Is Not Our Bubble — Back in early October I posted about coming economic storms and what entrepreneurs could do to prepare. Given recent news, it is now almost certain that we are in recession. The bad news from financial institutions and credit markets is like a steady drumbeat …
Discussion:
VentureBeat
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Ex-Googlers Launch Instructional Video Site Howcast, Raise $8 Million A Round — A New York City startup called Howcast is launching today that wants to be the YouTube of instructional videos. In fact, the three founders—Jason Liebman, Daniel Blackman and Sanjay Raman …
Discussion:
HipMojo.com, Contentinople, Techland, The Technology Chronicles, PDA, Screenwerk, paidContent.org, VentureBeat, NewTeeVee, Rev2.org and Silicon Alley Insider
Nicholas Carlson / Valleywag:
Leaked Yang memo calls for hard work, commitment, and anybody but Microsoft — In his latest companywide memo, copied below, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang wants to “make sure you all realize how essential you are to yahoo!s success.” And by “you all” he means all but the 1,000 or so he planned to “reallocate” in the next few months.
Brad Linder / Download Squad:
Why Windows 7 looks so much like Vista — Last month we posted a video and screenshots of what may or may not be Windows 7, the next version of Microsoft's flagship operating system. The company hasn't confirmed or denied the authenticity of these images, but many readers have been a bit... vocal about their doubts.
Jacqui Cheng / Infinite Loop:
QuickTime 7.4.1 update fixes AfterEffects rendering issue — Apple released an update to QuickTime this afternoon, bringing the software to an unassuming 7.4.1. Unsurprisingly, Apple is somewhat vague in its description, but assures us that the update “addresses security issues …
Elizabeth Woyke / Forbes:
Google Likely Out, And Happy — After dominating the U.S. wireless spectrum auction for months, from influencing the terms of the auction to bidding, it looks like Google is off the hook. — Nine days into the closely watched Federal Communications Commission auction …
Paul Krill / InfoWorld:
Sun's Schwartz cites MySQL's growth rate as incentive — San Francisco - In deciding to buy MySQL last month, Sun was attracted to the open-source database company's very rapid growth rate and its revenue model, Sun President/CEO Jonathan Schwartz said in a keynote presentation Wednesday …
Discussion:
Open Source
Josh Bernoff / Groundswell:
Why Social Applications Will Thrive In A Recession — Is a recession coming? Don't ask me — I'm not an economist, and even the economists don't really know. But if it's anything like the last recession, advertising will plummet and experimental media will crater.
Discussion:
Web Strategy, VentureBeat, broadstuff, Furrier.org, Insider Chatter, The Social Web and The Social Times
Tim O'Reilly / O'Reilly Radar:
LinkedIn Announces New Research Platform — At the Money:Tech conference, Mike Gamson of LinkedIn announced their new line of business to provide primary research services to financial markets, the LinkedIn Research Network. — While the service isn't going live for several months …
Daniel Terdiman / CNET News.com:
EA unveils Spielberg's ‘Boom Blox’ for Wii — It's been a long time coming, but we finally have some actual details about the first game to emerge from the partnership between Steven Spielberg and Electronic Arts. — Known as Boom Blox, the game, which will be available in May only on the Wii, is from EA's casual games unit.
