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Ogre to Slay? Outsource It to Chinese — FUZHOU, China - One of China's newest factories operates here in the basement of an old warehouse. Posters of World of Warcraft and Magic Land hang above a corps of young people glued to their computer screens, pounding away at their keyboards in the latest hustle for money.
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michael parekh on IT, Techdirt, Steve Sloan …, business2blog, billsdue, Kotaku, SiliconBeat, Furdlog and Terra Nova

A cure for the common inbox — Ever get the feeling that your email experience is a little too predictable? I certainly have. Over the past few months, I've been working on Gmail Clips, a new feature that can help mix things up a bit. Starting this week, you can see headlines …
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Scripting News, Om Malik on Broadband, Guardian Unlimited, Lifehacker, The Unofficial Google Weblog and TechBlog

Words You Shouldn't Say Onstage for $500, Alex. — After reading the posts and comments about my speech and the controversial Q&A that followed, I've questioned whether it was worth writing a post defending my onstage actions. After much thought, I realized that it's not about the personalities involved …
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SwarmSketch taps Web's 'collective consciousness' — About three months ago, Peter Edmunds, a 22-year-old communications student at the University of Canberra, in Australia, began a Web site called SwarmSketch with the idea of producing a sketch of "the collective consciousness" every week.
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SearchViews

Google developing Google Earth for Mac OS X — Google Inc., the world's largest search engine, is developing a beta version of its fascinating Google Earth geographical satellite imagery and mapping application for Apple Computer's Mac OS X operating system, sources tell AppleInsider.
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UPDATE 2-Electronic Arts to buy Jamdat in $680 mln deal — LOS ANGELES, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday it would buy Jamdat Mobile Inc. (JMDT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) in a $680 million deal to increase its share …

Where Did You Get That Phone? — Wal-Mart and Radio Shack accounted for three-quarters of mobile phone handset purchases made in major US retail stores in the last 6 months. However, smaller stores also account for a large percentage of sales, according to Telephia.

Xbox 360s in Short Supply — Low Supply Shaping Up as Big Problem — Dec. 8, 2005 — Almost immediately after Microsoft's Xbox 360 video game console hit stores late last month, gaming Web sites were inundated with reports the machines were crashing, freezing up and simply not working.

A new addition to the Quality Score — In August, we introduced the Quality Score along with the launch of quality-based minimum bids, letting you know that we evaluate many factors, such as your ad text and clickthrough rate (CTR) to determine the minimum bid for your keyword.

Vote : Search Engine Journal's 2005 Search Blogs Awards — Vote : Search Engine Journal's 2005 Search Blogs Awards — The Search Engine Journal's 2005 Best of Search Blogs Awards nominations are in and its time to start voting (well, really rating) your favorite search engine blogs.
Discussion:
Search Engine Roundtable

Video Placebo: Is that Really HDTV You Are Watching? — News of the video bizarre: According to a just-released survey by Scientific-Atlanta, millions of people who have HDTV sets apparently think they are watching high definition television, but aren't. The survey was spurred …
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Techdirt
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FireWire not dead, but it's on life support — I was genuinely surprised when Apple dropped FireWire sync from the iPod nano. So much so that I almost returned mine when I first made the gruesome discovery. I thought for sure that FireWire would live forever in the bigger iPods …

Being Microsoft CEO for One Day — As part of the reality TV show "Three Wishes," a 10-year-old from Simi Valley is able to realize his greatest wish. — REDMOND, Wash., Dec. 7, 2005 — On Friday, Dec. 9, there' will be an extra CEO at Microsoft - just for the day. His name is Kiyaan Vazirzadeh.

Message To The BSA: You Aren't Fooling Anyone — Every so often the Business Software Alliance comes out with a press release, based on a study they paid IDC to do, where they misrepresent the issue of illegal software copying. They make huge claims that anyone with half a brain can see is incorrect.

Imitation is Not Strategy, or Why Yahoo is Living in the Uncanny Valley — One of Yahoo's vital points - perhaps it's definitive vital point - is that it doesn't innovate; it imitates. Even hyperimitates, if you like; soaking up like a sponge more and more corporate versions of cool ideas floating around the Net.

Online comparison shopping nabs Web market share — LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comparison shopping Web sites have seen a surge in holiday visits this year, as more consumers look to the Internet to compare prices, a research company said on Wednesday. — Last week, top comparison shopping sites logged …