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4:50 PM ET, December 28, 2006

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Marshall Kirkpatrick:
Now Microsoft Wants Its Laptop Back  —  Microsoft and AMD sent out a pile of very expensive (yet trashy looking) laptops to a number of bloggers over the past week.  We were told we could keep them - now after a day of minor outrage by some people they are emailing us back with the following request that we not keep them after all!
RELATED:
Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:
I think the Microsoft Vista giveaway is an awesome idea  —  Lots of people like BL Ochman are screaming bloody murder about Microsoft giving bloggers and other influentials free laptops loaded with Windows Vista.  I personally don't get it.  —  That is a GREAT idea.
Darren Rowse / ProBlogger Blog Tips:
Microsoft Under Fire Over Laptop Giveaways to Bloggers  —  While i spent the day in the sun at the cricket watching Australia totally decimate England a storm has been brewing in the blogosphere over Microsoft giving away Ferrari Acer laptops loaded with Vista to bloggers to review - and if they want, to keep.
Michael Gartenberg:   Lessons from the Ferrari Fiasco
Joe Wilcox / Microsoft Watch:
How Much Oomph Does Vista Really Need?
Discussion: Michael Gartenberg
Andy Beal / Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim:
Microsoft & Edelman Make Two Mistakes with Free Laptop Fiasco
Discussion: digg
Mike / CrunchNotes:
The Microsoft "Scandal"
Discussion: Werblog and NevilleHobson.com
Robert McLaws / Windows-Now.com:   Microsoft "Gifts" and Ethics
Matt Marshall / VentureBeat:
News site Digg raises $8.5M more, rejects evidence it has been gamed  —  Digg, the news site that lets users rank stories by voting, has raised $8.5 million in fresh financing from existing backers, putting to rest for now speculation that it might sell to a bigger media player.
RELATED:
Wendy Tanaka / Red Herring:
Digg Raises $8.5 Million  —  New funding might suggest that the news site will remain independent.  —  Digg, the San Francisco-based site that lets users rank news stories, raised $8.5 million from two of its existing investors, according to a report from VentureWire.
CNET News.com:
Top ten Apple rumours of all time  —  What do you get when you cross a notoriously tight-lipped computer company with rabidly fanatical users?  A whole lot of gossip, speculation and hearsay, that's what.  Thirty years of Apple Computer has seen the company rise, fall and rise again like a kind …
Discussion: MacUser, Slashdot and Infinite Loop
RELATED:
Richard Waters / Financial Times:
Apple 'falsified' files on Jobs' options  —  Steve Jobs, chief executive of Apple Computer, was handed 7.5m stock options in 2001 without the required authorisation from the company's board of directors, according to people familiar with the matter.  —  Records that purported to show …
Peter Rojas / Engadget:
Apple faked files in Steve Jobs stock options scandal  —  It seems that the scandal related to Apple backdating stock options has gotten a little more serious.  According to the Financial Times, in 2001 Steve Jobs was granted 7.5 million stock options without the proper authorization …
Xeni Jardin / Boing Boing:
Google "disappears" sex blogs?  UPDATED  —  Xeni Jardin: UPDATE (Dec. 28, 12PM ET): Readers have been writing in to say that whatever happened here, the issue appears to be resolved for now — at least for the specific sex blogs cited in this post.  I haven't verified this, but if it's true, great.
Discussion: Search Engine Watch Blog and digg
RELATED:
Tony / Real Talk About Making Real Sex Films:
Will Google Kill Comstock Films?  —  A couple of weeks ago I noticed something distressing in our daily site statistics; our google search referrals, which over time had risen to about 300-500 visitors/day on 100-150 search strings/day started to vascilate wildly.
Valleywag:
GOOGLE: Chronicle writer disappears in porn clampdown
Discussion: violet blue and Boing Boing
LeeAnn Prescott / Hitwise US:
Google Blog Search Surpasses Technorati  —  When Google Blog Search launched last year, I wondered if it would surpass Technorati in market share of visits.  This week Hitwise data show that the market share of visits to Google Blog Search surpassed visits to Technorati for the week ending 12/23/06.
Jim Tharpe / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Busy travelers snap up iPods from Hartsfield vending machines  —  Concourse A machine sold $55,000 worth of electronics in a month  —  Anita Leopold has a little surprise for anyone who thinks vending machines were created to dispense lightly salted snack food and sugar-laced temptations.
Darren Murph / Engadget:
Suzuki's Xbox 360-infused SXBox concept vehicle  —  It's not often that companies hit it big twice in a row, but we'd say Suzuki's SXBox concept car is just as nifty (albeit in a very different manner) as its previous carpet-ready ride, the MIO.  Although this is likely a case …
Discussion: You NEWB and Xbox 360 Fanboy
Josh Goldman / CrunchGear:
Amazon.com's Best Of 2006 List Released  —  Amazon.com released its year-end "Best of" lists, which tallies up not only the best-selling items for the site's various stores, but also the most positively reviewed, most wished-for and most frequently purchased as gifts.
Carlo / Techdirt:
iPod's Present Popularity Brings Down iTunes Music Store  —  from the i'm-giving-her-all-she's-got-got- captain dept  —  Several well-known retailers' web sites went down during the Thanksgiving weekend when they couldn't keep up with the traffic their promotions were generating.
Discussion: Slashdot
RELATED:
Jordan Robertson / Associated Press:
Online shoppers overwhelm iTunes store
Gamasutra:
PlayStation 3 Gets Downloadable Tekken 5  —  Previously available only in arcade and PSP formats, Namco Bandai's Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection has been released overseas as a fully digitally distributed PS3 title over Sony's PlayStation Store.  —  First hinted at in a Weekly Famitsu report …
Discussion: You NEWB, Joystiq and PSP Fanboy
The Sun:
Talk talk naked  —  NEARLY half of Brits regularly chat to friends and family on their home phone NAKED, a survey has revealed.  —  The poll showed 49 per cent of 600 people questioned were happy to use the phone in their birthday suit.  —  Women are more likely than men to go au naturel …
Discussion: 21talks and Reuters
Chris Winfield / 10e20:
101 Biggest Stories in Search 2006  —  The first thing that you will do when you read this list is say "This list isn't just about search!"  And you will be right.  2006 was a year that saw the definition of search expand.  Search to me has become an all-encompassing word.  Search is information.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
ProfileLinker Takes Meebo Approach to Social Networking  —  There are clearly too many social networks, and if you belong to one you likely belong to many.  Boston based (soon to be relocated to San Francisco) ProfileLinker's aim is to help you stay organized across those networks.
Discussion: The Next Net and Zoli's Blog
Jeremy Toeman / LIVEdigitally:
How to Survive CES: 10 Practical Tips  —  The 2007 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is less than two weeks away, and (as always), I'm pretty excited about it.  This is my 7th year attending the show, and for the first time in seven years, I don't have massive amounts of responsibilities.
Discussion: jkOnTheRun
 
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 More Items: 
Ionut Alex. Chitu / Google Operating System:
Screenshots of Gmail's Mail Fetcher
Darren Murph / Engadget:
I-O Data unveils internal / external Vista-approved TV tuners
Discussion: I4U News and PVR Wire
Simonc / GameSetWatch:
Feature: 'Gizmondo - Inside The Eye Of The Tiger'
Discussion: Gizmodo and Kotaku
LXer Linux News:
Ten of the biggest Dutch municipalities say 'enough!' to Microsoft
Discussion: digg
Jeff Diehl / 10 Zen Monkeys:
Has Michael Crook Harassed You?
Discussion: Monkey Bites
Matthew G. Nelson / ClickZ:
Online Reality Series Draws Major Sponsors
Discussion: AdJab and Lost Remote
 Earlier Items: 
Pete Cashmore / Mashable!:
Mashable's 2007 Predictions  —  It's now only a few days until 2007 …
Michael McWhertor / Kotaku:
Contra 3 Headed To Wii VC Soon?
Discussion: Joystiq and digg
James Barron / New York Times:
To Send a Page, Press #, Then Hope It Still Works
Discussion: Techdirt
Chris Howard / Apple Matters:
Apple and Nintendo Should Play Together
Discussion: digg
Kotaku:
Games Make You Drive Like an Idiot
Discussion: GamePolitics.com, Techdirt and digg
Seth Mydans / International Herald Tribune:
Earthquake knocks Asia back to phone age, and beyond
Discussion: The Tao of Zen