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:
Technically Incorrect, Chicago Sun Times, Security Watch, L.A. Times Tech Blog, unstruc chitchatting …, The Social, TechCrunch, internetnews.com, PC World, Computerworld, Don Park's Daily Habit, The Register, InformationWeek, Washington Post, MarketingVOX, Technologizer, paidContent.org, Guardian, SC Magazine US, VentureBeat and techblog.dallasnews.com
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Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Celebrity Twitter Accounts Hacked (Bill O'Reilly, Britney Spears, Obama, More) — My guess is this has nothing to do with the phishing attacks that started on Twitter a couple of days ago. But a few minutes ago the official Fox News Twitter account posted “Breaking: Bill O Riley is gay” …
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:
AppleInsider, VentureBeat, louisgray.com, 9 to 5 Mac, Mashable!, Boy Genius Report, The iPhone Blog, CrunchGear, MacNN, Macsimum News and Insanely Great Mac
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:
CrunchGear, VentureBeat, Computerworld, Coop's Corner, Wall Street Journal, Gadget Lab, Homotron.net, internetnews.com, Connecting the Dots, Coolest Gadgets, Apple 2.0, Tech Trader Daily, CNET News, ParisLemon, ZDNET.com.au, Neowin.net, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Wireless Week, TheNextWeb.com, The Technology Chronicles, dailywireless.org, MacDailyNews, techblog.dallasnews.com, Engadget, Silicon Alley Insider, Macworld, the Econsultancy blog, Forbes, IntoMobile, Tech Ticker, Elliott C. Back and GMSV
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Nicholas Carlson / Silicon Alley Insider:Gizmodo Gets Steve Jobs Macworld Story Right, CNBC Gets It Wrong
Discussion:
Infinite Loop, mathewingram.com/work, Gizmodo, Gawker, The Digital Home, CNET News, internetnews.com and Fast Company
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, The Mac Observer, O'Grady's PowerPage, Gear Live, Lifehacker and Mashable!
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Michael Calore / Epicenter:
After an Agonizing Wait, Picasa for Mac Finally Arrives — Mac users, you can stop holding your breath. Google announced Monday that Picasa for the Mac, a free desktop application for editing, organizing and sharing digital photos, is now available as a public beta through Google Labs.
Discussion:
Macworld, Google, TechCrunch, MacRumors, Underexposed, InformationWeek, Infinite Loop, Google Operating System and AppleInsider
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:
The Technology Chronicles, Macworld, TechCrunch, I4U News, Boy Genius Report, Gizmodo and Mobility Site
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
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.
RELATED:
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.
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:
Microsoft Watch, TechCrunchIT, Microsoft Pri0, Wall Street Journal, The Microsoft Blog and Computerworld
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
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.
Ina Fried / CNET News:
Microsoft still pushing ‘Apple tax’ notion — With Apple's last Macworld keynote speech just hours away, Microsoft is again talking up the idea of an “Apple tax” that people pay when they opt for a Mac over a Windows PC. — It's a concept that Microsoft started touting in the fall.
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 …
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
Michael Rose / TUAW:
Rumor watch: AT&T tethering plans may be announced this week — It's been under the rumor banner for some time now, but we've been told by a trusted source that the long-awaited AT&T iPhone-as-modem tethering plans (preliminary details in MacBlogz' post from November: 5 GB data cap …
Discussion:
Gizmodo, Gadgetreview, Gear Live, Mobilewhack.com, The iPhone Blog, Infinite Loop, Boy Genius Report, Tech-Ex and DSLreports
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 …
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.
Tom Ohanian / MediaPost:
Why Apple and Wal-Mart Are Poised To Rule The World Of Mobile Media — As a business traveler, I've witnessed a very interesting shift over the past two years. Business fliers, first to watch DVDs or videos on their laptops, are now watching movies and TV shows on their iPhones or iPod touch …
Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM:
Comcast Can Now Slow Bandwidth Hogs Across Its Network — Comcast, which got in trouble with the FCC for its P2P-throttling approach to network management, has now completed its plan that deals with bandwidth hogs by slowing all broadband traffic for heavy Internet users during times of network congestion.
Discussion:
DSLreports
