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4:10 PM ET, December 31, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
The Tablet … —"Just a Touch Away, the Elusive Tablet PC", The New York Times, 4 October 2009  —  Here's the thimbleful of information I have heard regarding The Tablet (none of which has changed in six months): The Tablet project is real, it has you-know-who's considerable undivided attention …
RELATED:
XLeung / Cloned In China:
Kaifu Lee said Apple Tablet looked like a bigger iPhone  —  Kaifu Lee, the Ex president of Google China , who also ever worked for Apple, revealed some information about the Apple tablet today through a Twitter alike microblog launched by Chinese news portal Sina.com.cn and his account on this microblog was verified.
Jeff Bertolucci / PC World:
Google: Never Mind the Nexus One, How About a Cheaper Cell Plan?  —  Based on this week's flurry of media reports, it appears that Google will introduce its Nexus One smartphone right after the New Year.  This HTC-built handset sounds like a very good Android phone, a solid effort …
RELATED:
Dan Nosowitz / Gizmodo:
Nerds Win: Nexus One Rooted Before It's Even Officially Unveiled
Discussion: Engadget, MWD Tech News and I4U News
Kelly Hodgkins / Boy Genius Report:
Fresh out of China emerges the Motorola Shadow/Mirage, yet another Motorola Android handset  —  Our Chinese is a bit rusty and the details are sparse but it looks like Motorola may be brewing up another Android-powered handset.  This handset, codenamed the Mirage or the Shadow …
The Real McCrea:
Silicon Valley: Top 10 of the 2000s  —  It's all too easy to view the first decade of the 21st Century as just an unmitigated series of disasters: September 11th, the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina, and the meltdown of the global financial system, to name just a few.
Seth Weintraub / 9 to 5 Mac:
This is why Apple denied Google Latitude from the App Store...  Another Apple patent today looks remarkably similar to the functionality of Google Latitude which Apple relegated to WebApp status earlier this year.  Obviously if Apple is working on their own version of Google Latitude …
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
ChaCha Makes Its Crazy Business Model...Profitable  —  We've always had a lot of fun with Indianapolis-based startup ChaCha.  They launched in 2007 as a human powered search engine - meaning a human found you answers when you typed in a query.  Pranksters, obviously, loved it.
Discussion: VentureBeat and Internet2Go
Rebecca Harper / Hulu Blog:
Live Stream: Times Square 2010  —  With a bit of rain and snow in the forecast for the New Year's Eve festivities in the Big Apple, the team at Hulu HQ can't blame you for wanting to stay warm and dry inside.  The good news?  You can catch all the festivities at home with Hulu.
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
The Google Countdown Reveals Its Explosively Colorful Secret  —  A few weeks ago we wrote about a mysterious Easter Egg on Google's homepage that we dubbed The Google Countdown.  After clicking the “I'm Feeling Lucky” button with no search query entered, the page would display a countdown timer ticking …
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Time Warner Cable Shows Subscribers How to Cut the Cord  —  The nightmare scenario for cable companies is that customers drop their TV subscriptions and grab their video directly from the Web, turning the cable guys into mere providers of “dumb pipes.”  —  But here's a comprehensive set …
Discussion: NewTeeVee and Gizmodo
Louis Gray:
Like Convergence, Aggregation Is Better In Theory  —  There always seems to be a tug of war in technology between those who want a converged, multi-purpose device that does everything, or those who want a dedicated device that does one thing (or just a few things) extremely well.
Discussion: Lifestream Blog
David Kaplan / paidContent:
Shelby Bonnie's Whiskey Media Secures $2.5 Million Funding  —  Social media publisher Whiskey Media has raised a $2.5 million funding, PEHub reported, citing a regulatory filing.  No word on who the investors are or what the proceeds will go towards.  The Sausalito, CA-based company was started …
Chris / cdixon.org:
What's strategic for Google?  —  Google seems to be releasing or acquiring new products almost daily.  It's one thing for a couple of programmers to hack together a side project.  It's another thing for Google to put gobs of time and money behind it.  The best way to predict how committed Google …
Thanks:atul
Brad Stone / Bits:
Whoops!  F.C.C. Chairman Spams Facebook Friends  —  Facebook scam artists have closed out 2009 by snagging a prominent victim: Julius Genachowski, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.  —  On Friday morning at around 10:30 a.m., Mr. Genachowski sent his Facebook friends this puzzling message …
The Official Google Blog:
Five years of Google blogging  —  It's time again for our annual wrap-up of blogging at Google.  You may have noticed 2009 marked our fifth year here on the Official Google Blog — our first post was in April 2004 — and it was our busiest year yet.  This is our 423rd post of 2009 — a 15 percent increase over last year.
Discussion: TechCrunch, Thanks:mgcreed
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
We All Live In Public Now.  Get Used To It.  —  As the Web becomes more social, privacy becomes harder and harder to come by.  People are over-sharing on Facebook and Twitter, broadcasting their whereabouts every ten steps on Foursquare and Gowalla, and uploading photos and videos …
Discussion: /Message
Bret Taylor / Bret Taylor's blog:
Web Sockets in Tornado  —  I have been playing around with HTML 5 Web Sockets for a personal project.  The Web Sockets API enables web browsers to maintain a bi-directional communication channel to a server, which in turn makes implementing real-time web sites about 1000% easier than it is today.
Kim-Mai Cutler and Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:
Nine startup dreams and industries Google crushed in 2009  —  If you're an ambitious young tech entrepreneur with a compelling product hacked together and a slide-deck in hand, there's always one giant elephant in the room to worry about.  —  That, of course, is Google.
Rory Cellan-Jones / dot.life:
Plastic Logic's long journey to Vegas  —  In Las Vegas next week, a twenty-five year journey could come to a successful conclusion, when a British company launches what it believes will be a triumphant combination of science and technology.  Plastic Logic's e-reader, the Que …
Mia / YouTube Blog:
YouTube's Top 10 Launches of 2009  —  Did you know that we released more features in 2009 than in 2007 and 2008 combined?  This made it the busiest year on record for the YouTube product and engineering teams.  Some of these launches, like support for 1080p, made sizable splashes, while others …
Bob Tedeschi / New York Times:
A Weight-Loss Resolution That's Light on the Wallet  —  For most people who resolve to shed pounds after the holidays, the decision means shelling out cash — on packaged foods, books, health club memberships, a scale, liposuction consultations.  Problem is, the only thing many people end up losing is money.
Eric A. Taub / New York Times:
Internet Radio Stations Are the New Wave  —  Early fans of the iPhone bemoaned that, unlike many of its competitors, their favorite “do anything” device couldn't do one obvious thing: play local radio stations.  —  They didn't get it.  FM tuners are passé.
Discussion: The FASTForward Blog
David Chartier / Macworld:
Billings 3.5 paves the way for iPhone companion  —  PEOPLE WHO READ THIS ALSO READ:  —  Designers, writers, and other independent and/or indentured laborers will soon be able to get more things done on the road.  Actually, to be more specific: they'll be able to keep track of what they've done …
Discussion: The Loop
Lauren Goode / Digits:
Fluenz Hopes to Help Users to Fluency  —  Language instruction may not seem like a ticket to riches.  But Rosetta Stone, which specializes in the field, became one of 2009's most heralded initial public offerings before running into subsequent headwinds.  Now Fluenz has entered the fray.
 
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 More Items: 
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:
Google Updates Toolbar PageRank For New Years 2010
AppleInsider:
Apple TV 3.0 update not helping sales as AirPort routers lose share
Discussion: Macsimum News
Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:
Apple misses Boot Camp update deadline
Don Clark / Wall Street Journal:
‘Smartbooks’ Join Crowded PC Market
Discussion: TeleRead and The Toybox
Juventino Quinones / My Pre:
Palm App Catalog is About to Reach 1000 Apps
Discussion: WebOS Arena and Maximum PC
 Earlier Items: 
Rich Miller / Data Center Knowledge:
How Many Servers Can One Admin Manage?
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
John Mayer Wants You To Defragment Your Brain With A Digital Cleanse
Discussion: one forty plus. and Gizmodo
Carl Malamud / O'Reilly Radar:
A National Scan Center: A Public Works Project
Daniel Brusilovsky / TechCrunch:
At Foursquare Venues, The Mayor Eats For Free
Discussion: GPS Obsessed and Internet2Go
Reuters:
Tweets, sexting “unfriended” in U.S. banned word list
Joe Wilcox / BetaNews:
2000-2009: Microsoft's decade of shattered dreams
Discussion: paidContent, Thanks:atul