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10:30 PM ET, December 14, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
The Official Google Blog:
Making URLs shorter for Google Toolbar and FeedBurner  —  This morning, we launched updated versions of the Google Toolbar and FeedBurner that offer a new URL shortening service from Google called the Google URL Shortener.  We mentioned our URL shortener as a feature in both announcements …
RELATED:
Eric Eldon / Inside Facebook:
Facebook Testing New URL Shortener, fb.me  —  URL shorteners, like bit.ly, have become a popular way for people to share links on Twitter while taking up as few of the allotted 140 characters as possible.  But saving space is just one of the benefits that shorteners provide.
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Bit.ly Just Got Fu.kd: Facebook And Google Get Into The Short URL Game  —  Moments after we heard reports of Facebook's new URL shortener, Google launched its own service, aptly called goo.gl.  —  At the moment, its only being used for Google Toolbar and Feedburner.
Discussion: Mashable! and CloudAve
Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:
Exclusive: first Google Phone / Nexus One photos, Android 2.1 on-board  —  Well here you have it folks, honest-to-goodness pics of the Google Phone... AKA, the Nexus One.  As you can see by the photos, the design of the device is largely similar to those we've seen, but the graphic …
RELATED:
Reuters:
Google phone with T-Mobile contract in January: source  —  FRANKFURT/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc will sell a version of its own-branded cellphone for a reduced price to U.S. consumers who agree to a service contract from Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA, a source familiar with the matter said.
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
HTC Nexus One blessed by the FCC (updated)
AdSense for Feeds:
Socializing your feed with Twitter  —  Sometimes you reach across the hedgerow to share with your nearby neighbors.  Other times, members of the household move away and yet you can't keep from calling to remind them to wear a hat and such because it's chilly out.
RELATED:
New York Times:
Author Grants Exclusive E-Book Rights to Amazon  —  Ever since electronic books emerged as a major growth market, New York's largest publishing houses have worried that big-name authors might sign deals directly with e-book retailers or other new ventures, bypassing traditional publishers entirely.
Emma Barnett / Telegraph:
Marissa Mayer: An omnivorous Google is coming  —  Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president for search products and user experience, shares her unparalleled insights into the future of internet search engines.  —  The next big breakout area for Google is going to be language, according to Marissa Mayer.
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Facebook For Android Just Got A Big Upgrade, Is Catching Up To Its iPhone Cousin  —  For quite a while now now, one of the biggest problems with Android has been its app support.  In particular, the Facebook application has been quite limited: you could read your News Feed …
Andrew Nusca / Between the Lines:
Best Buy, Samsung, Westinghouse, 11 more named in GPL lawsuit  —  Best Buy, Samsung, Westinghouse and JVC are among 14 consumer electronics companies named in a copyright infringement lawsuit filed today in New York by the Software Freedom Law Center.  —  According to the complaint (.pdf) …
Matt Buchanan / Gizmodo:
Fuse: What Your Next Touch Phone Is Going to Feel Like  —  Fuse is what Synaptics—who probably made the trackpad you're swirling your finger on, and maybe your phone's touchscreen—says the next generation of touch phones will be like: You'll be squeezing, touching and stroking the phone, all over.
Ben Parr / Mashable!:
Twitter Starts Testing Features for Businesses  —  We know that Twitter believes that businesses are central to helping grow and monetize the microblogging service; recent integrations with Citysearch and LinkedIn have foretold its interest in the space.  —  Today though, Twitter has begun …
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
The Wall Opens A Bit More: Facebook To Publish User Updates To Twitter This Week  —  A lot has been said recently about Facebook's decision to re-write its privacy rulebook to encourage users to be more open about what they share.  Privacy implications aside, at least it appears that Facebook is eating its own dogfood.
Jim Dalrymple / CNET News:
Apple apologizes for iMac delays  —  Apple on Sunday apologized to customers amid reports of shipping delays of its recently introduced iMac computer.  —  “The new iMac has been a huge hit and we are working hard to fulfill orders as quickly as possible,” an Apple spokesperson told CNET.
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
ZumoDrive Lands $1.5 Million For Cloud Storage And Syncing Application  —  File syncing and storage startup Zumodrive has raised $1.5 million in funding led by Sherpalo Ventures with Tandem Entrepreneurs and VeriFone CEO Douglas Bergeron participating.  We initially reviewed Zumodrive here.
Discussion: paidContent and VentureBeat
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Brainstorm Tech:
The Mac's holiday momentum  —  A pair of analysts see an end-of-the-year uptick in Apple's computer sales  —  “Our conversations with industry contacts suggest that the Mac shipment levels have improved over the last two weeks,” writes J.P. Morgan's Mark Moskowitz in a report to clients issued Monday morning.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
The Unofficial Google Text-To-Speech API  —  Last month Google unveiled enhancements to Google Translate.  Among the new features was a simple text-to-speech function.  You can try it out, or watch this video to see how it works (skip to 0:45).  —  There's no official API for the text-to-speech service.
bit.ly blog:
Announcing bit.ly Pro  —  Today we're pleased to announce a new service: bit.ly Pro.  The Pro service provides custom short URLs powered by bit.ly.  Publishers and bloggers will be able to use their own short domain names to point to pages on their sites.  —  As part of our initial beta program …
Discussion: TechCrunch, Thanks:atul
Sean Fallon / Gizmodo:
Boxee Beta Leaks on BitTorrent  —  Interested in trying out the latest version of Boxee with its fancy new UI?  Beta 0.9.20.9647 is now available for download from The Pirate Bay.  [TPB]
Discussion: TechSpot
The Official Google Blog:
Cloud apps, big city: LA goes Google  —  This fall we've seen lots of government agencies decide to make the switch to cloud computing, joining the many businesses already using Google Apps for email and collaboration at work.  Today we'd like to officially welcome another customer to the mix: the City of Los Angeles.
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
MySpace and News Corp. Eye Flixster (But for What?)  —  Now that the digital equivalent of a super-vac, MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta, has sucked up some decent music start-ups-Imeem and iLike-for a song, to bolster the social networking site's efforts to expand into an entertainment portal, what's next?
Discussion: CNET News and Mashable!
Jeffrey Burt / eWeek:
Neon Sues IBM Over Mainframe Business  —  Neon Systems is suing IBM, claiming Big Blue's anticompetitive behavior violated trademark laws and cost Neon business.  Neon's zPrime software lets businesses move more mainframe workloads onto cheaper specialty processors, threatening to cost IBM millions.
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
One Of The 32 Million With A RockYou Account?  You May Want To Change All Your Passwords.  Like Now.  —  It's no secret that most people use the same password over and over again for most of the services they sign up for.  While it's obviously convenient, this becomes a major problem if one of those services is compromised.
David Lenoe / Adobe Product Security Incident …:
New Adobe Reader and Acrobat Vulnerability  —  This afternoon, Adobe received reports of a vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.2 and earlier versions being exploited in the wild (CVE-2009-4324).  We are currently investigating this issue and assessing the risk to our customers.
Jon Fortt / Brainstorm Tech:
How LG is getting teens to think before they text  —  With its “Give It A Ponder” campaign, the handset maker walks the line between lecture and laughs  —  LG's viral marketing campaign is using humor to get teens to think before they text.  Image: Facebook.
Discussion: Between the Lines
TeliaSonera:
TeliaSonera first in the world with 4G services  —  Today, as the first operator in the world, TeliaSonera launches 4G services commercially to customers in Stockholm, Sweden and Oslo, Norway.  —  “We are very proud to be the first operator in the world to offer our customers 4G services.
Dan Goodin / The Register:
Hackers declare war on international forensics tool  —  Microsoft's COFEE decaffeinated  —  Hackers have released software they say sabotages a suite of forensics utilities provided for free by Microsoft to hundreds of law enforcement agencies across the globe.
 
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 More Items: 
Mia / YouTube Blog:
Release Notes: Find Facebook Friends, Total Video Views & More
Eric Slivka / MacRumors iPhone Blog:
Tesco Launches iPhone in UK Today
Discussion: IntoMobile
Jessica Dolcourt / Crave: The gadget blog:
Seesmic Twitter app lands in BlackBerry store
Discussion: MobileCrunch, Thanks:loic
Wendy Davis / MediaPost:
Judge OKs Class-Action Suit For ATandT Broadband Slowdown
Brad Stone / New York Times:
Viruses That Leave Victims Red in the Facebook
Discussion: CrunchGear, Thanks:atul
BetaNews:
The case in favor of the open source enterprise database
Discussion: eWeek and internetnews.com
 Earlier Items: 
Nielsen Wire:
U.S. Web Users Spent Just Over 66 Hours on the Computer in November
Discussion: BetaNews and ResourceShelf
The Huffington Post:
The Goracle — Al Gore, the Internet and the Future of American Politics
Michelle Maisto / eWeek:
BlackBerry User Satisfaction on Rise, as iPhone, Droid Skirmish
Yukari Iwatani Kane / Digits:
App Watch: Exploiting the iPhone Lock Screen
Todd Spangler / Multichannel News:
Can TiVo Reinvent Itself?
Discussion: NewTeeVee and DSLreports, Thanks:arjo