Top Items:
Damon Darlin / New York Times:
The Year of the Simpler Gadget — THE National Bureau of Economic Research hardly stunned the nation this month when it announced that the United States had been in recession since December 2007. — And, as it turns out, the buyers of consumer electronics could very well have been a leading economic indicator.
Brad J. Ward / SquaredPeg:
There's something going down on Facebook. Pay attention. — I really need you to listen up for this post. Please. — Something is going down on Facebook, and it has implications for your school. — Several weeks ago I was contacted by my friend and colleague Michelle at Winthrop …
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Apple 2.0:
What the recession means for the Mac — Money gets tight. Buyers get picky. Price-sensitive consumers — the kind Steve Jobs and Apple famously “choose not to serve” — start shopping for bargain basement PCs and Taiwanese netbooks. Mac sales plummet. — That's the conventional wisdom.
Anne Eisenberg / New York Times:
Need a Ride? Check Your iPhone — SOON you may no longer need to stick out your thumb to catch a ride. Instead, you may get one by tapping your fingers on your iPhone. — Avego, based in Kinsale, Ireland (www.avego.com), is demonstrating an iPhone application intended to let drivers …
Discussion:
Smart Mobs
Ronald Ho / Docs Blog:
Access Google Docs from your Desktop — If you often work with Google Docs, you probably want more ways to access your docs quickly. A recent example is the handy Docs gadget in Gmail that shows a list of your recently accessed Google Docs right from within Gmail.
Discussion:
Mashable!
Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:
Sony teaser site says “revolutionary new VAIO” coming January 9th — Look, we're not going to speculate on what Sony has coming on January 9th. Let's just say that it wouldn't be totally surprising to see some weird, long netbook. Okay? Okay. — [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Discussion:
Gizmodo
ChannelWeb:
Microsoft Extends XP Availability For Distributors — Microsoft system builder partners who've been feeling queasy about the impending Jan. 31, 2009, deadline for selling PCs with Windows XP pre-installed can now breathe a bit easier, as Microsoft is giving them a way to obtain XP licenses through distribution after the deadline.
Macenstein:
Is this the new Mac mini? — An anonymous tip (the best kind). Thoughts? — Click to embiggen.
Discussion:
CrunchGear, Webomatica, Boy Genius Report, PalmAddicts, Engadget, Boing Boing Gadgets, VentureBeat and 9 to 5 Mac
CdrInfo.com:
First Hybrid Blu-ray/DVD Movie Title Announced For Japan — Japanese entertainment software developer Pony/Canon will release the first movie title on a hybrid Blu-ray/DVD disc in Japan in February, in an effort to accelerate the transition from the DVD to the Blu-ray format.
Discussion:
ReadWriteWeb, Technology, Culture …, Boy Genius Report, The Raw Feed, Engadget and Gizmodo
Jack Schofield / Guardian:
Twitter Venn, text snowflakes and other entertainments — One of the interesting things about Twitter is the fast-growing “tweecosystem” of add-ons and applications that expand or exploit the basic service. I've just been playing with a new one called Twitter Venn, which lets you display searches as Venn diagrams.
Discussion:
Data Mining
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
YouTube Unveils Unique View Counts. Now You Can Tell If Your Mom Is Your Only Fan — YouTube has just released a new feature for its analytics platform that allows content owners to see how many unique visitors are watching their videos. While YouTube videos have long displayed …
Discussion:
digg.com
Jeremy Liew / Wall Street Journal:
Will the Recession Kill Web 2.0? — The last fast few years have seen resurgence in Internet companies not seen since the bubble years of the late 90s. The growth of these advertising-supported “Web 2.0” companies has propelled online advertising sales to $21 billion from $6 billion between 2002 and 2007.
