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10:55 AM ET, December 4, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
The Boy Genius / Boy Genius Report:
Apple to sell a $99 4GB iPhone at Walmart?  —  We just got a tip that in addition to the iPhone 3G actually making its way to Walmart, as we exclusively told you, there will be a 4GB model priced at $99 with a 2-year agreement.  We're not putting our stamp of approval behind this one just yet …
RELATED:
Arn / MacRumors:
Wal-Mart to Sell $99 4GB iPhone?
Discussion: Engadget and Switched
William M. Bulkeley / Wall Street Journal:
IBM Offers ‘Microsoft-Free’ Desktop  —  Applications for Thin Clients Would Operate From Back-Office Server  —  International Business Machines Corp. is hoping to convince corporate customers that they no longer need Microsoft Corp.  —  IBM says it has created a “Microsoft-free” …
RELATED:
Paula Rooney / Open Source:
IBM launches first Linux-OpenOffice desktop with virtualization features  —  IBM has added a Linux desktop with new virtualization capabilities to its portfolio.  —  The Virtual Desktop, which bundles Canonical's Ubuntu Linux, Virtual Bridges' KVM-based desktop virtualization software …
Steven Musil / CNET News:   IBM offers a ‘Microsoft-free’ desktop
Chris Mellor / The Register:   IBM takes on VMware virtual desktop
AT&T:
AT&T Announces Job Reductions  —  AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) today announced a planned reduction of approximately 12,000 jobs, or about 4 percent of the company's total workforce, citing economic pressures, a changing business mix and a more streamlined organizational structure.
RELATED:
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
AT&T cuts 12,000 jobs, will cut capital spending  —  AT&T said Thursday that it will cut about 12,000 jobs, or 4 percent of its workforce, due largely to “economic pressures.”  —  The layoffs are beginning to sound like a broken record (or MP3).  AT&T said it wants to streamline its operations …
Rick Turoczy / ReadWriteWeb:
Times Extra: The New York Times Opens Web Front Page to Outside Content  —  New York TimesAt a time when the online world is continually seen as a more trusted source of news, mainstream media outlets find themselves forced into the position of becoming more and more open to keep their readers coming back.
RELATED:
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
The New York Times Clutters Up Its Homepage With Links From Elsewhere (In Beta)
Simon Sage / IntoMobile:
World's Second Android Phone Now on Presale … Kogan's Agora and Agora Pro hinted at last month is now ready to roll, costing AU$299 and AU$399, and shipping on January 29th.  The Agora Pro's specs are as follows:  — Operating System: Android™  — Google Mobile Functions …
RELATED:
Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:
The Dreaded Viacom Layoffs: 850 People  —  The long-feared Viacom pre-post holiday layoffs are here, and they're not pretty.  We heard earlier that as many as 300 layoffs might be coming at MTV today, but the total, Viacom-wide numbers are even worse: 850 people are being cut, about 7% of the company's global staff.
RELATED:
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Viacom Lays Off 850, Takes $450 Million Charge  —  Viacom's long-rumored cuts are here.  The media conglomerate is firing 850 people — 7% of its workforce — and will take a charge of up to $450 million.  Viacom (VIA.B) says the cuts will save it up to $250 million next year.
Neal Santos / The Clog:
Zunegate  —  OK.  So let's get things straight.  —  I want to correct what I said yesterday about Obama using a Zune.  I claimed that it was his Zune.  I don't know for sure that it was his.  It could belong to one of the many Secret Service dudes that were at the gym, Michelle, or even one of his daughters.
Discussion: Podcasting News
RELATED:
Ina Fried / Beyond Binary:
Online auctions remain piracy problem for Microsoft  —  Attention, software buyers: there's no such thing as Microsoft Office “Blue Edition.”  —  That's the latest ruse making the rounds on online auctions.  It feigns to be some sort of technician version of Microsoft's software that happens …
Egan Orion / Inquirer:
Apple says others are behind Psystar's misdeeds  —  Will make them pay  —  APPLE FILED a motion on Tuesday to amend its complaint in its lawsuit against Psystar.  —  Psystar attracted Apple's lawsuit by selling unauthorised clones of Apple brand computers.
RELATED:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Amazon Launches Public Data Sets To Ease Research  —  Amazon released its previously announced Public Data Sets web service this evening.  The project encourages developers, researchers, universities and businesses to upload large (non-confidential) data sets to Amazon - things like census data …
Discussion: Between the Lines
Business Wire:
AMD Updates Fourth Quarter Outlook  —  SUNNYVALE, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—AMD (NYSE: AMD - News) today announced that it expects revenue from continuing operations for the fourth quarter ended December 27, 2008 to be approximately 25 percent lower than third quarter 2008 revenue of $1.585 billion …
Jeremy Kirk / LinuxWorld.com:
Firefox users targeted by rare piece of malware  —  Researchers at BitDefender have discovered a new type of malicious software that collects passwords for banking sites but targets only Firefox users.  —  The malware, which BitDefender dubbed “Trojan.PWS.ChromeInject.A” sits in Firefox's add-ons folder …
Discussion: Zero Day
Josh Lowensohn / Webware.com:
New Firefox extension turns Amazon.com into illegal free-for-all  —  A new Firefox extension called Pirates of the Amazon lets users download movies, games, TV shows, and MP3s free of charge by cross referencing Amazon's product pages with torrent files from the Pirate Bay.
Arkansas IMC:
Forget Cyber Monday: COBY Plans “Moore's Law” MIDGET PC for $100 in March  —  Sales of 100 million, worldwide, in five years?  —  Coby Electronics, a leading international manufacturer and distributor of electronics consumer-packaged goods for discount stores, plans to introduce the first under-$100 laptop by March 2009.
Jose Fermoso / Gadget Lab:
Nintendo Thinking About Changing the Accelerometer in Wiimote  —  At the heart of the success of the Wii is the accelerometer chip inside the Wiimote that detects motion in three dimensional space.  —  Now, the company that provided that first chip, STMicroelectronics …
Discussion: Newlaunches.com and GoNintendo
Luke Plunkett / Kotaku:
Grand Theft Auto IV On PC Is A Little Broken  —  And here we were, getting all excited over Grand Theft Auto IV on PC.  Seems that Rockstar's big release - like, sadly, so many other high-profile PC games for the year - has launched broken.  —  Problems range from dire performance issues …
Discussion: TechSpot, Blue's News and bit-tech.net
 
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 More Items: 
Robert Andrews / paidContent.org:
Sony, Kindle E-Reader Sales Grow Before Christmas; But Still No ‘iPod Moment’
Discussion: TeleRead, Business Technology and CNN
PC World:
Yahoo Technology Will Offer Abstracts of Search Results (PC World)
Discussion: WebProNews
Associated Press:
Nokia downgrades market forecast for 2nd time
Discussion: Tech Trader Daily
Royal Pingdom:
Google Apps SLA loophole allows for major downtime without consequences
Discussion: TechCrunch
Bobbie Johnson / Guardian:
Startups seek more dignified exit than a belly flop into the dead pool
John Mahoney / Gizmodo:
The KT Listening Room Shipping Container: My New Favorite Way to Travel
Discussion: Newlaunches.com, Dezeen and Born Rich
BBC:
Amazon launches music downloads
Discussion: broadstuff and hypebot
 Earlier Items: 
Nick O'Neill / The Social Times:
Google Makes a Hard Push With Friend Connect
Discussion: VentureBeat
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Tapulous Brings Weezer And World-Class DJs To Tap Tap Revenge
Meghan Keane / Epicenter:
Greystripe Brings Flash to the iPhone, Sort Of
Techmeme News:
Guess what? Automated news doesn't quite work.
 

 
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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