Top Items:
YouTube Blog:
Bigger Isn't Always Better... But in This Case, We Believe It Is — Over the years we've heard a lot of feedback from you about what you'd like to change about YouTube, and the size of our video player is always top of mind. That's why today we're excited to announce a bigger YouTube player.
Discussion:
Podcasting News, Between the Lines, WebProNews, ReadWriteWeb, Gizmodo, NewTeeVee, Profy, CNET News, Mashable! and The Utube Blog
RELATED:
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
YouTube Goes Wide — YouTube has apparently changed all videos on its site to play in widescreen format. Because most videos on the site were originally uploaded in a ratio closer to 4:3 (the standard size used on non-HD televisions), most videos are playing with horizontal black bars on the side.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Amazon Kindle 2 Slated For “Early Q1″ — Update on the Kindle 2: It was scheduled to be released in October in time for this holiday season, but Bezos himself reportedly pulled the plug for last minute changes to the software. Our sources now say it's tentatively scheduled to go on sale in “early next quarter.”
Twitter Blog:
Meet Rael Dornfest — Rael Dornfest is a famously talented engineer, author, and entrepreneur. Before founding Values of n, Rael served as Chief Technology Officer at O'Reilly Media and is known for his pioneering work on RSS as well being the series editor of O'Reilly's celebrated Hacks books.
Discussion:
WebProNews, TechCrunch, Twitterrati, Furrier.org, Jobwire, mocoNews.net, Alley Insider, ReadWriteWeb, TheNextWeb.com and Susan Mernit's Blog
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Steven Levy / Wired News:
Ray Ozzie Wants to Push Microsoft Back Into Startup Mode — The keynote speaker at this past summer's TechReady conference—a gathering of 6,000 or so Microsoft engineers from around the world—was the company's chief software architect, Ray Ozzie. This was not a routine appearance.
Stephen Shankland / CNET News:
Google cutting contractor workforce — Google is in the process of paring back a contractor workforce that numbers about 10,000, the company confirmed Monday. The news, though, isn't as fresh as it might appear at first blush. — The contractor cut story made the rounds Monday …
RELATED:
Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:Google laying off 10,000? Maybe — lose the extra 0
Discussion:
Profy, TechFlash, ChannelWeb, PC World, Enterprise Irregulars, Google Watch, RyanSpoon.com and TheNextWeb.com
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
HP's outlook for next year unchanged despite tough economy — Hewlett-Packard reported its fourth fiscal quarter earnings this afternoon for the quarter ended Oct. 31 that were consistent with the company's upbeat preliminary results. The surprising thing is that the world's biggest …
Darren Murph / Engadget:
Blockbuster joins the movie set-top-box game with 2Wire MediaPoint player — We've rubbed our eyes four or five times now, but the factual heat remains: Blockbuster — of all companies — has decided to dive headfirst into the movie set-top-box arena. We wanted to believe the rumors were false …
Discussion:
L.A. Times Tech Blog, Associated Press, The Technology Chronicles, NewTeeVee, Gizmodo, broadstuff and Crave
RELATED:
Esteban Kozak / The LinkedIn Blog:
Announcing LinkedIn's New Search Platform — I am writing today to announce the full release of LinkedIn's new search platform to over 31 million LinkedIn users. — The new search platform at LinkedIn is redefining the way professionals go about finding talent, business partners, customers or a former colleague.
Discussion:
Master of 500 Hats, Marketing Nirvana, TECH.BLORGE.com, The Noisy Channel, CNET News, RotorBlog.com, WebProNews and TechCrunch
DigiTimes:
Acer to launch 10-inch Aspire One as early as February next year — Acer plans to launch 10-inch Aspire One netbooks in February or March next year, according to Scott Lin, Acer Taiwan president. — As for its 8.9-inch netbooks currently available, the 3.5G module-based Aspire One netbooks …
Adobe:
Camera Raw 5.2 update — This new version of the Camera Raw plug-in replaces the original one that was installed with Adobe® Photoshop® CS4; Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0; and Adobe Premiere® Elements 7.0 software. Visit the Camera Raw page for a complete list of supported cameras.
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
PlaySpan raises $16.8 million for gaming virtual goods platform — Virtual goods sales are looking better than real world goods sales. PlaySpan announced today that it has raised $16.8 million for its virtual goods platform and online payments business for online games.
Jesus Diaz / Gizmodo:
Student Writes to Steve Jobs, Gets Free Final Cut Studio 2 — Sometimes Xmas comes earlier and when you less expect it: A Greenwich High School student wrote a letter directly to Mr. Jobs himself asking politely for an student discount on Final Cut Studio 2.
Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM:
Telco Startup Raises $100M for Northeast Buildout — Pocket Communications Northeast, a subsidiary of San Antonio-based cellular operator Pocket Communications, has raised a first round of $100 million to build out a five-city CDMA network in the Northeast that will join an existing network and customer base in South Texas.
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Web 2.0 Music Pioneer iLike Looking for Buyers — iLike, the Web start-up that made a name for itself by becoming Facebook's de facto music service, is looking for a buyer, according to multiple sources. I'm told that iLike is actively soliciting a list of buyers that include RealNetworks and Ticketmaster …
Discussion:
paidContent.org, Tech Confidential, Distorted-Loop.com, VentureBeat, TechFlash and Alley Insider
Brian Stelter / New York Times:
Web Suicide Viewed Live and Reaction Spur a Debate — For a 19-year-old community college student in Pembroke Pines, Fla., the message boards on BodyBuilding.com were a place to post messages, at least 2,300 of them, including more than one about his suicidal impulses.
Meera Selva / Associated Press:
Negotiations to put Beatles on iTunes stalled — Paul McCartney says negotiations to put Beatles songs on iTunes have stalled — LONDON (AP) — Paul McCartney said Monday negotiations on a long-awaited deal to make the Beatles' catalog available on the online music service iTunes have stalled.
Discussion:
Distorted-Loop.com, MacDailyNews, MacNN, MacBlogz, CNET News, VentureBeat, iPhone Savior, Edible Apple, Engadget and Macsimum News
Paddy Maguire / BBC:
Compulsive gamers ‘not addicts’ — Ninety per cent of the young people who seek treatment for compulsive computer gaming are not addicted. — So says Keith Bakker the founder and head of Europe's first and only clinic to treat gaming addicts. — The Smith & Jones Centre in Amsterdam …
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Musical Chairs at MSN: Here's a Partial Scorecard of What's What — Here's part of an internal memo BoomTown obtained about some small, but interesting, changes at Microsoft's MSN unit, sent out by the GM of its Global Media Group, Greg Nelson, which is under the leadership of-well, frankly-a confusing panoply of execs.
Discussion:
paidContent.org
CNET News:
‘Green’ gadgets need better labeling, report says — Unclear product labeling prevents many consumers from buying affordable, energy-efficient electronics, and companies making “greener” goods aren't getting proper credit, according to a report released Monday.
Discussion:
InfoWorld
John Markoff / New York Times:
Microsoft Examines Causes of ‘Cyberchondria’ — If that headache plaguing you this morning led you first to a Web search and then to the conclusion that you must have a brain tumor, you may instead be suffering from cyberchondria. — On Monday, Microsoft researchers published the results …
Discussion:
Digital Inspiration
Mike Shields / Adweek:
Is the End Near for Display Ads? — As ad budgets shrink, buyers and publishers face growing pressure to prove value of banners — NEW YORK Digital media buyers have been trying to kill the banner ad for years. Now, it appears, the recession might just finish the job for them.
Daniel Terdiman / CNET News:
Is the video games industry recession-proof? — Nintendo is hoping that strong sales of its Wii console are evidence that it, at least, is immune to the economic downturn. Others agree that the video games industry as a whole will suffer less than other technology sectors. — (Credit: Gamespot)
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Was Ebay's BillMeLater Acquisition A Huge Blunder? — When eBay paid $945 million for BillMeLater in October, we blinked. The business assigns credit at the point of sale to ecommerce customers who can't use credit cards because they don't have them, have maxed out credit limits, or choose not to.
