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5:45 AM ET, January 6, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
BIZ / Twitter Blog:
Monday Morning Madness  —  This morning we discovered 33 Twitter accounts had been “hacked” including prominent Twitter-ers like Rick Sanchez and Barack Obama (who has not been Twittering since becoming the president elect due to transition issues).  We immediately locked down the accounts and investigated the issue.
RELATED:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Following The Twitter Hack Trail To DigitalGangster  —  One thing that didn't make a lot of sense about the 33 celebrity Twitter accounts hacked this morning - the messages left on the various accounts weren't consistent and were clearly written by different people with different agendas.
Greg Sandoval / CNET News:
Sources: Apple to expand DRM-free music, new pricing  —  Apple has cut deals that will finally enable iTunes to offer songs free of copy protection software from the three largest music labels, according to two sources close to the negotiations.  In exchange, Apple has agreed to become more flexible on pricing, the sources said.
Jessica Dolcourt / CNET News:
SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone announced  —  Six months after announcing its intention to bring SlingPlayer to the iPhone 3G, Sling Media has another announcement to make—just not the one you're wishing for.  —  SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone isn't ready yet, Sling said on Tuesday, but it is on its way.
Dan York / Disruptive Telephony:
Skype 2.8 Beta for Mac OS X provides screen sharing, WiFi access, chat features and Twitter-like mood messages  —  Tonight out at the “ShowStoppers” event at MacWorld in San Francisco, Skype announced the new 2.8 Beta for Mac OS X. The new version will apparently be available for download tomorrow, January 6, 2009, from Skype's website.
Motorola Media Center:
Motorola Unveils World's First Mobile Phone Made Using Recycled Water Bottle Plastics and New 3G Touch Tablet with Customizable Home Screen  —  Latest devices to be displayed at 2009 International CES in Las Vegas  —  Las Vegas - CES - Jan. 6, 2009 - Today Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) …
Discussion: PhoneNews.com
RELATED:
Susanna Leng / The Official Google Blog:
Introducing Picasa for Mac (at Macworld!)  —  Sometimes I find it hard to describe Picasa without sounding like a late-night infomercial for a multi-bladed thingamabob: “It's a photo organizer!  A photo editor!  A web-savvy photo sharing and management system in just one tiny package!”
RELATED:
Daniel Terdiman / CNET News:
Early returns show strong holiday video game console sales  —  Updated at 5:28 p.m. to include additional data and analyst perspective.  —  Though the retail economy suffered what appears to be one of the bleakest holiday seasons in recent memory, it looks as though the video games industry bucked that disastrous trend.
RELATED:
Alex Pham / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Microsoft: Xbox 360 widens lead over PlayStation 3
Discussion: Kotaku and GamesIndustry.biz
Liz Gannes / NewTeeVee:
Time Spent Watching Video Jumps 40% in One Year  —  One way to think about online video is to consider how big a chunk it takes out of our daily lives.  The amount of time U.S. Internet users spend watching video is up an impressive 40 percent year over year.
RELATED:
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
HP unleashes a series of new low-cost computers at CES  —  Hewlett-Packard is launching a bevy of new products today that show it is designing its products to take into account the lighter pocketbooks and energy usage concerns of consumers.  —  These products being unveiled this week …
Om Malik / GigaOM:
With Microsoft in Sight, Cisco invests in Xobni  —  Xobni, a San Francisco-based maker of software for email services, has raised $7 million in fresh funding led by Cisco Systems.  Existing investors Khosla Ventures, First Round Capital, Baseline Ventures and Atomico also invested in this round of founding.
Discussion: Xobni, Bits and Silicon Alley Insider
RELATED:
Matt / Xobni Blog:
Xobni Closes $7 Million Series B Financing - Bring on 2009!
Jeremy Kirk / Computerworld:
Amazon adds new S3 twist: Make people pay to access your data  —  Requester Pays option lets data owners shift Amazon's bandwidth fees to external users  —  IDG News Service) Amazon.com Inc. has rolled out a new option for its Simple Storage Service (S3) that lets data owners shift the cost …
Discussion: InfoWorld
Electronista:
HP updates Mini 2x netbooks with Atom, 10in LCD  —  HP in its pre-CES run-up introduced its first major update to its Mini 2100 netbook.  The Mini 2140 replaces the Mini-Note 2133 and abandons VIA's C7-M processor in favor of a 1.6GHz Intel Atom that HP claims should extend its battery life …
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Truphone Brings Skype To iPhone & iTouch  —  I have been a frequent user of Truphone since it launched its mobile VoIP service over two years ago.  What started as a simple VoIP client for Nokia Symbian S60 devices is fast becoming a unified client that does it all.
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
Mininova's Torrent Downloads Double to 7 Billion in a Year  —  Mininova, founded in January 2005, soon became one of the most successful torrent sites.  The site has grown steadily over recent months, and for a few weeks now the millions of daily users have been downloading well over 10 million torrents a day.
Judy Lin / Associated Press:
Ex eBay CEO prepares run for Calif. governor  —  Former eBay Inc. chief executive Meg Whitman has edged closer to a run for California governor, with a spokesman confirming on Monday that she has resigned from three corporate boards.  —  Whitman's spokesman, Henry Gomez …
Darren Murph / Engadget:
Samsung debuts H-Series of HD camcorders, first with 64GB SSD  —  You should've known that Canon wouldn't be able to introduce a new family of HD camcorders without Samsung hitting back with a crew of its own, so it's with that in mind that we present Samsung's H-Series.
Discussion: DVICE, Electronista, Gizmodo and Engadget HD
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
VixML: A Revolutionary New iPhone Development Platform For The Masses  —  The iPhone is the hottest platform around, leading some small-time developers to overnight riches and spawning over ten thousand apps in only a few months.  But without knowledge of Objective-C or the intricacies of the iPhone SDK …
Discussion: SitePoint
Ina Fried / Beyond Binary:
Microsoft elevates server unit, promotes Muglia  —  Microsoft started off its new-year executive shuffling by promoting longtime Server and Tools unit head Bob Muglia to president, a title he shares with entertainment boss Robbie Bach and business software chief Stephen Elop.
Darren Murph / Engadget:
LaCie intros 22x d2 external DVD burner, 2TB Hard Disk MAX  —  Two new ones have arrived today from the labs of LaCie, and neither are destined to ever end up inside of your PC.  Up first, we've got the slightly speedier d2 external DVD±RW drive with LightScribe …
Discussion: LaCie, Newlaunches.com and Electronista
David Kravets / Threat Level:
Top Internet Providers Cool to RIAA 3-Strikes Plan  —  Two weeks after the Recording Industry Association of America announced it had struck deals with top internet service providers to cut off unrepentant music sharers, not a single major ISP will cop to agreeing to the ambitious scheme …
Discussion: P2P Blog
Emily Steel / Wall Street Journal:
Ad Shops Eye Web Space  —  Firms Customize Digital Marketplaces to Stay in the Game  —  Madison Avenue took a back seat as technology companies created the tools to buy advertising space online.  Now, major ad holding companies are developing their own systems.
Discussion: paidContent.org
 
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 More Items: 
Enigmax / TorrentFreak:
Campaign to Stop File-Sharers Being “Guilty Upon Accusation”
Discussion: Techdirt and p2pnet
William M. Bulkeley / Wall Street Journal:
IBM Chief: IT Investment Will Create Jobs
Jart Armin / Internet Evolution:
Battle for Gaza Fought on the Web, Too
Jenna Wortham / Bits:
Gearing Up for Mobile Video on Inauguration Day
Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM:
Comcast Can Now Slow Bandwidth Hogs Across Its Network
Discussion: DSLreports
internetnews.com:
Cisco Lawsuit: A Test for the GPL?
 Earlier Items: 
Tom Ohanian / MediaPost:
Why Apple and Wal-Mart Are Poised To Rule The World Of Mobile Media
Don Reisinger / Webware.com:
How to downsize your social network portfolio
Richard / socialmediocrity:
Lying on Facebook  —  In what looks like another hack …
Discussion: All Facebook and TechCrunch UK
Chris Foresman / Infinite Loop:
Macworld.ars: Company may have spilled Mac mini beans (Updated)
Discussion: Gizmodo, AppleInsider, TUAW and Macworld
 

 
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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