Top Items:
Wall Street Journal:
China Is Losing a War Over Internet — Beijing Has Prevailed in Battles, but Segment of Society Has Awakened to the Constraints — BEIJING—These appear to be dark days for the Internet in China. — Four months into a crusade against Internet pornography, the government is closing thousands of sites …
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Chris Buckley / Reuters:China says 5,394 arrested in Internet porn crackdown
Discussion:
Lockergnome Blog Network
Megan McCarthy / Techmeme News:
Top 10 objectively biggest tech stories of 2009 — Ignore all the other lists! As we did last year, Techmeme has distilled its very own Top 10 story list, utilizing headline ranking data archived throughout the year. While we employ a terrific team of news editors to guide our story selection …
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Are You Ready for iEconomy? — Jack Dorsey's Square, Incase, Verifone and now Mophie — these companies' credit card readers are turning the iPhone/iPod touch platform into an e-commerce engine. — Mophie, a Los Angeles-based company that makes accessories for the iPod/iPhone devices …
Discussion:
Mashable!, EverythingiCafe, TUAW, SlashGear, I4U News, IntoMobile, TechStartups.com, Gizmodo and Engadget
Joanna Stern / Engadget:
Acer Aspire One AO532h joins the Pine Trail party with a $299 pricetag — It's about time that the number one netbook manufacturer officially release details on its Pine Trail packing netbooks. The 10-inch Acer Aspire One A0535h seems to look slightly different than its predecessors …
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Brainstorm Tech:
Apple: Best [— ] of the Decade — Steve Jobs and Apple appeared in an extraordinary number of 2009's “Best of” lists — Our favorite: “There's an app for that,” the Yale Book of Quotations' No. 3 quote of the 2009, right before Rep. Joe Wilson's “You lie” and after Captain Sully Sullenberger's …
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 …
Discussion:
Ars Technica, peterme.com, Electronista, Brainstorm Tech, TUAW, MacRumors, EverythingiCafe, Paul Buchheit, SlashGear, Bloomberg, The iPhone Blog, DisplayBlog, 9 to 5 Mac, Silicon Alley Insider and CrunchGear, Thanks:atul
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blog.pavlov.net:
Firefox for Maemo RC1 — To help bring in the new year, Mozilla has released the first release candidate of Firefox for Maemo. If you've already got beta 5 installed on your N900 or N810, you will be receiving a software update shortly. Otherwise, if you're viewing this on your device, you can install it from here.
Hugh Schofield / BBC:
French online piracy law in force — The first effects of France's new law against internet piracy will begin to be felt as the new year begins. — The law was passed after a long struggle in parliament, and in the teeth of bitter opposition from groups opposed to internet restrictions.
Nigel Kendall / Times of London:
Domain name extension ‘could boost cyber-crime’ — The introduction of internet addresses in non-Roman scripts could offer fresh opportunities to cyber-criminals, experts have warned. — Next year the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) will for the first time …
Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:
Virus Scanners for Virus Authors — I have often recommended file-scanning services like VirusTotal and Jotti, which allow visitors to upload a suspicious file and scan it against dozens of commercial anti-virus tools. If a scan generates any virus alerts or red flags …
Kim Zetter / Threat Level:
TSA Withdraws Subpoenas Against Bloggers — TSA Special Agent John Enright, left, speaks to Steven Frischling outside the blogger's home in Niantic, Connecticut, after returning Frischling's laptop Wednesday. — Photo: Thomas Cain/Wired.com — In the wake of public outcry …
Maggie Shiels / BBC:
‘Start-up’ visas to boost US tech — A proposal that will make it easier for foreign entrepreneurs in the US to start the next Google or Yahoo will be debated in the new year. — Congressman Jared Polis has proposed a start-up visa to entice “foreigners with good ideas” to stay in the US.
