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2:05 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 …
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 …
RELATED:
Eric Eldon / Inside Facebook:
Facebook Testing New URL Shortener, fb.me
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Comcast Launches Its “TV Everywhere” Plan Nationwide, with An Awful Name: Say Hello to “Xfinity”  —  As promised, Comcast (CMCSA) 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.
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.
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.
Jesse Engle / CoTweet:
A Word About Twitter Commercial Accounts  —  Many people have asked us about Twitter's planned commercial account offering and what it means for CoTweet.  Twitter has been planning for commercial accounts for a long time.  Today Anamitra Banerji from Twitter's Product Team posted to their blog …
RELATED:
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 Lifehacker
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.
Discussion: Inside Facebook and Neowin.net
Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM:
Is Bandwidth.com the Future of VoIP and Voice?  —  Bandwidth.com, despite having a name only a late '90s investor could love, has built a profitable all-IP network and expects to bring in $85 million in sales this year.  Today it also is announcing that it's opening up its network as a platform …
Discussion: VentureBeat and ReadWriteWeb
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 …
Discussion: Blog World Expo Blog
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 …
Google Code Blog:
Google Fusion Tables API  —  Today I'm excited to announce that Google Fusion Tables is releasing its own API.  —  What is Fusion Tables?  A product launched recently in Google Labs, Fusion Tables is a free service for sharing and visualizing data online.
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 …
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 …
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: bizjournals
Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent:
AlikeList Raises $5 Million For Local Business Reviews Site  —  A new local business reviews site has raised $5 million in a funding round from Syncom Venture Partners.  The startup, AlikeList, is trying to distinguish itself from existing competitors by making its recommendations more personal.
Randolph J. May / Washington Times:
Voiding the Constitution  —  FCC rules could counter freedom of speech  —  The Federal Communications Commission has proposed new regulations to force broadband Internet service providers (ISPs) like Time Warner and Verizon to adhere to “net neutrality” mandates.
Discussion: DSLreports and The Precursor Blog
Dan Goodin / The Register:
Google's reCAPTCHA busted by new attack  —  Significant success rate  —  A security researcher has devised a successful attack on a Google-owned system for blocking malicious scripts on web-based email services and other types of sites.  —  The attack, described in a paper released Saturday …
Discussion: fiercecio.comwatch
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.
Scott Sayare / New York Times:
France to Digitize Its Own Literary Works  —  PARIS — President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged nearly $1.1 billion on Monday toward the computer scanning of French literary works, audiovisual archives and historical documents, an announcement that underscored his government's desire to maintain control …
Discussion: Ars Technica
David Diaz / TechCrunch:
DEMO Winner Liaise Opens Doors, Debuts Mobile And Team Services  —  The winner of DEMO's enterprise category and people's choice award, Liaise, is moving from private to open beta by launching their much anticipated mobile calendar integration and introducing their Team Services platform.
Discussion: VentureBeat, ReadWriteWeb and VatorNews
Ars Technica:
iPhone and Snow Leopard Server's failure to communicate  —  Imagine if the iPod worked with a Windows machine but not on a Mac.  Would make zero sense, right?  Amazingly, this scenario describes the current reality with the iPhone and Apple's server edition of its Mac OS X operating system.
Discussion: The iPhone Blog
Julie Haviv / Reuters:
Zillow launches rental listings and search service  —  Real estate website Zillow.com, one of the most popular vehicles for U.S. home sales searches, on Tuesday said it expanded its services to include the rental market.  —  Zillow.com added a rental listings and search to its home shopping service …
Discussion: Screenwerk, VentureBeat and TechFlash
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Chinese mobile Internet firm buys game maker for $80M  —  Beijing-based mobile Internet company KongZhong said today it is buying Shanghai Dacheng Network for $80 million.  —  Shanghai Dacheng Network is a developer of 3-D massively multiplayer online (MMO) games where thousands of people play together in online virtual worlds.
Discussion: paidContent
Chris Davies / SlashGear:
Sprint 4G Desktop Modem CPEi25150 by Motorola goes on sale  —  Sprint's latest Motorola WiMAX 4G modem quietly went on sale over the weekend, and while it's not exactly mobile-warrior friendly in size, it does offer a whole lot more than your regular USB dongle.
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 …
 
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 More Items: 
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
What Happened to the Web's Unemployment Boost?
Alex Williams / ReadWriteWeb:
MindTouch and SnapLogic: Another Affordable Way to Fit Information Together
Discussion: eWeek and What's New
Eric Lai / Computerworld:
The Grill: Microsoft's Chris Capossela on Google, Twitter …
Ina Fried / CNET News:
Microsoft's server chief talks cloud (Q&A)
Om Malik / GigaOM:
8 Years Later, the Blogging Goes On
Thanks:atul
 Earlier Items: 
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Zoho Reports Steps Out Of Beta With Pricing Model And New Features
Ina Fried / Beyond Binary:
Microsoft pulls China blog site amid code-theft charges
 

 
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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