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7:45 PM ET, December 18, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Ashlee Vance / Bits:
Dell's Mystery ‘Adamo’ Could Be Thinner Than Air  —  When Apple released the MacBook Air, someone viewed the sleek notebook as an opportunity to make fun of clunky, old Dell on YouTube with a parody ad.  But what if Dell is about to have the last laugh in the ultra-light laptop race?
Tom Krazit / CNET News:
Apple buys stake in mobile graphics chip designer  —  Future versions of Imagination Technologies' graphics cores could mean iPhone games far more sophisticated than ‘Super Monkey Ball.’  —  Apple has taken a small stake in a British chip designer, revealing how the company plans to power …
RELATED:
Prince McLean / AppleInsider:
Apple finally outed as mysterious PowerVR licensee  —  New evidence that Apple is the mysterious licensee of Imagination Technologies Group's PowerVR mobile graphics technology broke today, when the company publicly announced that Apple has subscribed to 8 million new shares of IMG, giving the iPhone maker a 3% stake in the firm.
Discussion: VentureBeat, iLounge, Macsimum News and GMSV
Chris Foresman / Infinite Loop:
Further details surface on plan for next-gen iPhone graphics
Discussion: imgtec.com, PC World and MacRumors
Justin Smith / Inside Facebook:
Facebook Now Growing by Over 600,000 Users a Day - And New Engagement Stats  —  It was just at the beginning of December when Facebook crossed the 130 million monthly active user mark.  Today, that number is up to 140 million.  —  While Facebook has been growing at around 300,000 …
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Verizon: BlackBerry Storm Return Rates ‘Lowest’ Of Any Smartphone (RIMM)  —  Good news for BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIMM) and Verizon Wireless: People buying their latest smartphone, the touchscreen BlackBerry Storm, are not ditching them as much as we'd heard.
RELATED:
Om Malik / GigaOM:
What Is Steve Jobs Worth to Apple?  About $20 Billion  —  Jeff Segal of BreakingViews tries to calculate the value of Steve Jobs to Apple.  — Apple Mac Line at twice the industry average multiple (1.3 times revenue) is worth about $19 billion.  — iPod business at five times EBITDA is worth about $14 billion.
RELATED:
David Bunnell / San Francisco Chronicle:
Steve Jobs didn't make the first Macworld, either
Discussion: PC World
Google Earth Blog:
New York City in Photo-Realistic 3D Now in Google Earth  —  Google has updated the 3D buildings in Google Earth for New York City!  This is a HUGE update with at least hundreds (if not thousands) of new 3D buildings with photo textures applied.  Basically, Google has completed nearly every building …
RELATED:
Mark Wilson / Gizmodo:
New York City Is Breathtaking Following Google Earth Update
Discussion: DVICE and techeblog.com
BBC:
BBC iPlayer now available on Mac  —  The BBC has created a version of the iPlayer that works with both Mac and Linux computers.  —  The two systems, which have been able to stream BBC programmes via the iPlayer for a year, will now be able to handle downloads.
Jesse Johnson / The Bivings Report:
The Use of the Internet by America's Largest Newspapers (2008 Edition)  —  Every year, The Bivings Group conducts a study of the web features of America's largest newspapers as a way to gauge how papers are dealing with the threat and opportunity presented by the rise of the Internet as a news source.
Discussion: TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb and Romenesko
Kevin C. Tofel / jkOnTheRun:
Toshiba Offers “Industry's First” 512GB SSD Flash Drive  —  Each year I that attend CES, I can't help but swing by the huge HDTVs and see the new “world's biggest” set.  It's a status symbol of course, but this year might be the first time I focus more on the “world's biggest” Solid State Disk capacity.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Loopt Snags AT&T, Now Available On Every U.S. Carrier  —  Mobile social network Loopt goes live on AT&T phones today, which was the last major carrier holdout.  Loopt is now available in the U.S. on Sprint, Verizon, Metro PCS, T-Mobile and Boost.  The service is free for a year and then a $4/month fee kicks in.
Discussion: VentureBeat
Brett Terpstra / TUAW:
iPhone thief thwarted by MobileMe sync  —  To say that MobileMe hasn't made everyone happy may be a bit of an understatement.  We don't generally hear from the satisfied customers, but we have received a fair amount of email from dissatisfied users of Apple's “cloud computing” solution.
Google Mobile Blog:
Optimized search results pages for Android and iPhone  —  Whether you're using Google search through the search widget on the Android home screen, the built-in search box of the iPhone's Safari browser, or google.com on either device, you'll now end up with search results optimized for your phone.
Chris Snyder / Epicenter:
Ustream: There Is Life After Puppy Cam  —  Ustream.tv came out swinging from all angles this year in the live video market.  Techies streamed Macworld in January and politicos on both sides got an inside look at the RNC and Obama's victory speech.  And, topping it all off amid an economic crisis …
Kenneth Li / Financial Times:
Palm reports $506.2m in losses  —  Palm reported more than a half a billion dollars of net losses in its fiscal second quarter as it lost more customers to rivals Apple and Research In Motion (RIM), maker of the BlackBerry.  —  The maker of the Treo smartphone said its second quarter net loss widened …
Ashlee Vance / Bits:
Can a Deflated Adobe Remain Independent?  —  Shares of Adobe performed so well over the past ten years that the company's value soared to the point of putting off many potential suitors.  But a recession, troubled financial markets and slowing economic growth have helped erase more than half …
Zach Epstein / Boy Genius Report:
2009 is the year of the Moto for Verizon; more upcoming handsets revealed  —  When our ninjas get going they don't stop until the job is done.  Yesterday your pals here at BGR gave you an exclusive preview of four tasty upcoming Motorola handsets - codenamed FLASH, RUSH 2, CALGARY and INFERNO.
Stephen DiMarco / Compete Blog:
Amazon.com is Fueling a Strong December for Online Retailers  —  Whether you're an analyst, economist or a just a red-blooded American consumer, your eyes are probably fixed right now on the retail industry.  We're all looking for a glimmer of hope that consumer spending during the holidays …
Discussion: TechFlash, ReadWriteWeb and WebProNews
Matt Hickey / CNET News:
How do you like them Apple-branded apples?  —  (Credit: Blog!  Nobon)  —  Some of you may have heard of a thing called the Apple iPod.  Today, an apple farmer out of Japan brings you the iPod Apple.  By placing hand-cut stickers of the Apple logo or a silhouette of an iPod on the fruit …
Discussion: PC World, Crave and technabob
Apple:
Mac OS X 10.5: Software Update stops responding during “Configuring installation”  —  Symptoms  —  When attempting to update software using Software Update in Mac OS X 10.5, the update process may stop responding while “Configuring installation” is visible in the update window.
Discussion: CNET News, TUAW and TidBITS
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Even Silicon Valley Isn't Shopping  —  For many Web 2.0 start-ups, build-it-to-flip-it has been a mantra of sorts, with most hoping to get big payouts when Google, Yahoo or AOL cuts them a big check.  Unfortunately, the credit crisis has turned those dreams into layaway plans.
Discussion: VentureBeat
Mark Milian / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Where To iPhone app sells for $70,000  —  A couple of months ago, when iPhone application developer Tap Tap Tap announced that it was shopping around its flagship Where To software, we wondered how much an iPhone app, albeit a successful one, might be worth.  —  Now we know.
Discussion: VentureBeat and The FutureBlog
Eliot Van Buskirk / Epicenter:
TV Studio in a Box Enables Long-Tail Television  —  If you were impressed when manufacturers began putting home theaters in boxes, wait until you feast your eyes on NewTek's TriCaster, which packs an entire live television production studio into a comparable cube of space.
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
TechCrunch's Yertle the Turtle Tantrum Over News Embargoes  —  Yesterday, the one-man-band of a tech blogger, Michael Arrington, let loose with yet another outrageously indignant diatribe-this time that he and his TechCrunch site would forthwith break all news embargoes.
James Lewin / Podcasting News:
Free iPhone Audio Recorder  —  Rockifone's Easy Recorder (App Store link) is a free iPhone app that turns your iPhone into a dictaphone-style audio recorder.  —  Easy Recorder doesn't have a lot of features, but it lets you record audio at three quality levels and the price is hard to beat.
Discussion: FaceReviews and Mashable!
Greg Sandoval / CNET News:
Universal Music seeing ‘tens of millions’ from YouTube  —  YouTube's traffic machine may finally be turning into a cash machine.  —  For the first time, there are signs that YouTube is driving significant revenue for itself and some of the video site's partners.
Discussion: TechSpot
David Kaplan / paidContent.org:
Sirius Shareholders Approve Reverse Stock Split To Ease Debt  —  Sirius (NSDQ: SIRI) Satellite Radio shareholders have approved the issuance of up to 3.5 billion more shares for a reverse stock split, as the company tries to gain flexibility to pay down its crushing debt, according to a report that aired on CNBC (see the clip here).
 
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 More Items: 
Windows Live team blog:
Hotmail: Classic scrolling is back, and more updates
Discussion: One Microsoft Way and LiveSide
Caroline McCarthy / The Social:
Twitpay brings micropayments to Twitter
Discussion: Bits
Lee Gomes / Forbes:
Bad Vudu  —  Vudu's service is fun—but the company needs …
Discussion: eHomeUpgrade
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
Symantec's New Mac Security Suite: A Different Side of Norton
Discussion: PC World
Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
A different Windows, Mac debate: Which has the stronger community?
Discussion: The Open Road
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Google Exec Brian O'Shaughnessy Leaves To Run Skype PR
Discussion: Jobwire
MediaShift:
Your Guide to Alternative Business Models for Newspapers
Cyrus Mistry / Google Enterprise Blog:
Cross-Language Enterprise Search launches on Google Enterprise Labs
Discussion: VentureBeat, CNET News and WebProNews
 Earlier Items: 
Freddie Laker / AdAge:
Eek! How to React When You've Been Slammed on Twitter
Dina Bass / Bloomberg:
IBM, Sun Face ‘Reckoning’ in 2009 as Budgets Shrink