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5:40 PM ET, December 15, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Robin Wauters / MobileCrunch:
Android Market grows up, hits 20,000 apps milestone  —  Rest assured that 2010 is going to be a big year for the Android operating system, with many new handsets finding their way to stores around the world (including Google's own phone) and an increasing number of developers building tools …
RELATED:
Colin Gibbs / GigaOM:
The Problem With Android Market's Growth  —  Android Market continues to grow its library in a big way, reaching 20,000 apps and doubling its library in just the last five months.  But as Google's storefront begins to nip at the heels of Apple's App Store, it will need to find better ways …
Discussion: Android Phone Fans
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Comcast Launches Its “TV Everywhere” Plan Nationwide, With an Awful Name: Say Hello to “Xfinity”  —  As promised, Comcast is opening up the trial of its “TV Everywhere” program, which gives its subscribers-but only its subscribers-access to extra TV programming, streamed via the Web.
Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:
Chrome Mac, Linux betas push browser into No. 3 spot  —  Passes Safari, may beat Firefox at its own game on Linux  —  Computerworld - The release last week of betas of Chrome for Mac OS X and Linux pushed the Google browser's share past Apple's Safari and into the No. 3 spot, a Web measurement company said today.
Nancy Blair / USA Today:
Google URL shortener not working for Firefox  —  Firefox browser users eager to try out Google's new web link shortener, you can stop shaking your heads now: It's not you.  Google says there is a small bug in the Google Toolbar for Firefox that currently doesn't convert URLs into goo.gl URLs.
Discussion: The Social Path and Epicenter
RELATED:
Todd Levy / bit.ly blog:
Announcing bit.ly Pro
Darrell Etherington / TheAppleBlog:
Apple Approves Video Recording App for iPhone 2G and 3G  —  If you've been reconsidering your position as a jailbreaker thanks to recent security threats or Apple's strong disapproval, there's now one more reason to consider going legit.  Apple just approved a new app that allows iPhones other than the 3GS to record video.
Discussion: PC World, TechStartups.com and MacNN, Thanks:mrinaldesai
ABC News:
Green light for internet filter plans  —  The Federal Government has detailed its plan to require internet service providers (ISPs) in Australia to block a list of banned material.  —  When Parliament resumes next year the Government plans to introduce amendments that will require ISPs to block banned material on overseas servers.
Microsoft:
Microsoft Statement Regarding MSN China Joint Venture's Juku Feature  —  Additional information regarding the Juku beta application.  —  On Monday, December 14, questions arose over a beta application called Juku developed by a Chinese vendor for our MSN China joint venture.
PR Newswire:
Cherrypal Launches World's First $99 Laptop  —  New 7-inch Netbook Helps Bridge the Digital Divide; Redesigned Intel N280 Bing laptop features 13.3-inch wide screen; New Cherrypal Open Store Launched  —  Cherrypal, the company that brought the world's “greenest” desktop computer to market last year …
Discussion: Engadget, bizjournals, Gadgetell and Gizmodo
HardMac.com:
Details concerning the Xeon processors with 6 cores  —  New information shown by Intel lets us learn some more on the future Intel processors in 6 cores engraved in 32 nm that we soon expect to see equipping the Mac Pro.  To start, contrary to the forecasts, these processors will keep the name of Core i7 and will not be called Core i9.
Tameka Kee / paidContent:
New eBook Service Kobo Launches, Raises $16 Million From Borders, Others  —  Add another entrant to the white-hot eBook market ... Kobo, a startup backed by Borders.  After all, Borders can't afford to let Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) and Amazon.com (NSDQ: AMZN) gobble up all the market share this early in the game.
Discussion: PR Newswire, TechFlash and TeleRead
PC World:
Smartphone Sales Increase Disappoints, Says Gartner  —  Smartphones grabbed a smaller-than-expected part of overall mobile phone sales in 2009, and Nokia is largely to blame, according to market research company Gartner.  —  In 2009 smartphones will represent 14 percent of overall unit sales to end users …
Discussion: BetaNews and eWeek
Jennifer Van Grove / Mashable!:
Foursquare Launches Location Check-ins for Facebook  —  Now that Foursquare has money in the bank, the New York-based startup is starting to quickly launch updates to its increasingly popular mobile location-based game.  —  The service recently released their API, paving the way for nifty apps …
Colin Gibbs / GigaOM:
Verizon's Affair With Wi-Fi Heats Up  —  Verizon Wireless's love affair with Wi-Fi heated up again today with the carrier's announcement that its broadband subscribers can now connect to thousands of hotspots in North America at no additional charge.  Subscribers with Verizon laptop cards …
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
Toshiba announces 64GB NAND packages: Apple winks, gives a nudge  —  Outside of the occasional leaked roadmap, one of the best ways to predict the future of consumer electronics is by looking at the evolution of the components within.  Take this Toshiba NAND package for instance.
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
JS-Kit Finally Ditches Its Name, Rebrands As Echo With Some Big Partners In Tow  —  Last July, we covered the initial debut of JS-Kit's Echo, a real-time commenting system.This morning during a media conference call, the CEO Khris Loux announced that in light of the success of the product …
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Ebooks For Dummies: Wiley Joins 150 Publishers In The Scribd Store  —  Book publishers are increasingly embracing digital books, and not just on Amazon's Kindle.  Today, John Wiley and Sons, Barnes and Noble imprint Sterling Publishing, Chronicle Books, and the University of Chicago Press announced …
Discussion: dailywireless.org and AppScout
Michael Bürge / Google LatLong:
More information, fewer clicks  —  Earlier this year, we proclaimed that “1000 is the new 10” when we began showing small dots on the map for all your local search results.  This has been a great way to get a better understanding of the density of certain listings - for example …
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
ASCAP Now Demanding License From Venues That Let People Play Guitar Hero  —  We've been detailing how the various collection societies around the globe have been trotting out all sorts of dubious reasoning to try to get more people to pay up for a license.  In the US, ASCAP has been particularly …
Discussion: GamePolitics News
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Yahoo Sticks With “It's Y!ou,” Expanding Pricey Ad Campaign by Pushing “Hero Products” and Relevance  —  When Yahoo launched its massive advertising campaign-featuring the tagline, “It's Y!ou"-earlier this fall with splashy events in New York and slick marketing rollouts all over the U.S., not everyone at the Internet portal loved it.
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider
Yahoo! Search Blog:
Get More Personally Relevant Results When You Search for Local Businesses  —  We just made it easier to search for local businesses.  Starting today, you can see the Yahoo! local business shortcut when you search for a business, even if you don't include your location in your query.
Project Honey Pot:
1 Billion Spammers Served  —  Our 1 Billionth Spam Message  —  On Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at 06:20 (GMT) Project Honey Pot received its billionth email spam message.  The message, a picture of which is displayed below, was a United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) phishing scam.
Discussion: Slashdot, Thanks:atul
Ryan Naraine / Zero Day:
Adobe confirms PDF zero-day attacks.  Disable JavaScript now  —  Malicious hackers are exploiting a zero-day (unpatched) vulnerability in Adobe's ever-present PDF Reader/Acrobat software to hijack data from compromised computers.  —  According to an advisory from Adobe …
Discussion: PC World, Computerworld and Symantec
Robert Werlinger / PreCentral.net:
Google Quietly Updates Maps For webOS  —  For the second time since launching back in June, Google Maps for webOS has quietly received an update.  The first update came our way back in October, and brought with it a number of enhancements, the most notable of which were the addition …
Discussion: jkOnTheRun
bizjournals:
Adobe swings to $32M Q4 loss  —  Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal  —  Adobe Systems Inc. on Tuesday reported a fourth quarter loss of $32 million, or 6 cents a share, compared to net income in the same period last year of $245.9 million, or 46 cents a share.
Jim Dalrymple / The Loop:
Apple, Adobe, Microsoft, others sued for patent infringement  —  BetaNet on Monday filed a lawsuit against 18 companies, including Apple, Adobe and Microsoft.  —  Filed in the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, the lawsuit claims the companies violate the '134 patent, entitled …
Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Paramount to Start Online Service to Sell Movie Clips  —  LOS ANGELES — Paramount Pictures, looking for new ways to turn its old movies into cash, especially as DVD sales continue to decline, is creating an online video clip service that will allow users to search hundreds of feature films on a frame-by-frame basis.
Liam Cassidy / TheAppleBlog:
The Nexus One: A Non-Story  —  Over the weekend the rumors of a Google Phone were confirmed in the guise of the whimsically named Nexus One.  It's an unbranded HTC-made carrier-unlocked handset running Android 2.0, and it looks lovely.  And already articles have popped-up examining its various …
Discussion: Engadget and Gizmodo
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Facebook Passes Aol In The U.S.  —  Just last week, Aol celebrated its re-emergence as an independently-traded company.  But its one main advantage is that it still commands a large audience, and in fact was the fourth largest Website in the U.S.—until last month.
Andrew Willis / Globe and Mail:
Morgan Stanley spotlights wireless future  —  Spend 10 minutes with Jim Balsillie, and you'll understand that the Research in Motion executive's ambition is nothing short of revolutionary: He wants the BlackBerry to supplant the personal computer.  —  For most of Mr. Balsillie's 17 years at RIM, this goal seemed a distant dream.
 
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 More Items: 
Macworld:
Macworld's iPhone apps of the year
Don Reisinger / CNET News:
Americans are glued to the couch, study says
John Markoff / New York Times:
A Deluge of Data Shapes a New Era in Computing
Discussion: InformationWeek
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
What Happened to the Web's Unemployment Boost?
Chris Davies / SlashGear:
Sprint 4G Desktop Modem CPEi25150 by Motorola goes on sale
Scott Sayare / New York Times:
France to Digitize Its Own Literary Works
Discussion: Ars Technica and Wired Campus
Julie Haviv / Reuters:
Zillow launches rental listings and search service
Discussion: Screenwerk, VentureBeat and TechFlash
 Earlier Items: 
Eric Lai / Computerworld:
The Grill: Microsoft's Chris Capossela on Google, Twitter …
Ars Technica:
iPhone and Snow Leopard Server's failure to communicate
Discussion: The iPhone Blog
Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM:
Is Bandwidth.com the Future of VoIP and Voice?
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb and VentureBeat
Dan Goodin / The Register:
Google's reCAPTCHA busted by new attack
Discussion: fiercecio.comwatch
New York Times:
Author Grants Exclusive E-Book Rights to Amazon
 

 
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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