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.
Discussion:
bit-tech.net, Technically Incorrect, Chicago Sun Times, Security Watch, unstruc chitchatting …, Don Park's Daily Habit, PC World, Computerworld, L.A. Times Tech Blog, internetnews.com, MarketingVOX, The Register, InformationWeek, The Social, TechCrunch, Technologizer, Washington Post, paidContent.org and SC Magazine US
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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.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:Celebrity Twitter Accounts Hacked (Bill O'Reilly, Britney Spears, Obama, More)
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.
Discussion:
Music Ally, VentureBeat, AppleInsider, Boy Genius Report, The iPhone Blog, louisgray.com, CrunchGear, Mashable!, 9 to 5 Mac, MacNN, Macsimum News and Insanely Great Mac
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.
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.
Discussion:
Technologizer, TechCrunch, Macworld, The Technology Chronicles, Boy Genius Report, Gizmodo, Mobility Site, TUAW and I4U News
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!”
Discussion:
Google Photos Blog, Google Mac Blog, O'Grady's PowerPage, Gear Live, Lifehacker and MacRumors
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Michael Calore / Epicenter:After an Agonizing Wait, Picasa for Mac Finally Arrives
Discussion:
Macworld, Google, TechCrunch, InformationWeek, The Mac Observer, Infinite Loop and Google Operating System
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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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 …
Apple:
Letter from Apple CEO Steve Jobs — For the first time in a decade, I'm getting to spend the holiday season with my family, rather than intensely preparing for a Macworld keynote. — Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health …
Discussion:
InformationWeek, Macworld, Profy, CrunchGear, Computerworld, VentureBeat, Wall Street Journal, Gadget Lab, internetnews.com, Connecting the Dots, Tech Trader Daily, CNET News, ParisLemon, Neowin.net, ZDNET.com.au, Coolest Gadgets, Homotron.net, Apple 2.0, Coop's Corner, MacDailyNews, TheNextWeb.com, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Wireless Week, techblog.dallasnews.com, The Technology Chronicles, Silicon Alley Insider, dailywireless.org, Forbes, Elliott C. Back, Maximum PC all and the Econsultancy blog
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Nicholas Carlson / Silicon Alley Insider:Gizmodo Gets Steve Jobs Macworld Story Right, CNBC Gets It Wrong
Discussion:
Business Week, Infinite Loop, mathewingram.com/work, Gizmodo, Gawker, The Digital Home and CNET News
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.
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
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.
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 …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal
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.
Discussion:
Network World, Microsoft Watch, TechCrunchIT, Microsoft Pri0, Wall Street Journal and Computerworld
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 …
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.
Brooke Crothers / CNET News:
New HP ultraportable first to use AMD Neo chip — Another Netbook? No, not exactly. Hewlett-Packard's new Pavilion dv2 is an ultraportable, thank you. And the new Athlon Neo silicon inside from Advanced Micro Devices will try to prove that point. — AMD is introducing new chips …
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 …
