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9:40 AM ET, December 18, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Death To The Embargo  —  PR firms are out of control.  Today we are taking a radical step towards fighting the chaos.  From this point on we will break every embargo we agree to.  —  Background:  —  Tech companies are desperate for press and hammering their PR firms for coverage on blogs and major media sites.
RELATED:
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Entrepreneurs: We Will Happily Respect Your Embargoes  —  Michael Arrington at TechCrunch said today that his site will no longer respect press embargoes, the informal system where press outfits agree to hold back publishing until an agreed upon time so that multiple sources can cover a story well.
Discussion: CloudAve and Techcraver.com
PR Newswire:
Toshiba Launches Industry's First 512GB Solid State Drive and Next-Generation SSD Family Using 43nm MLC NAND  —  New SSD Family Achieves High Levels of Performance, Endurance, Capacity and Reliability to Meet Market Requirements for Notebook Computers, Gaming and Home Entertainment Systems
Discussion: SlashGear and Engadget
RELATED:
Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:
Are bloggers & social networks killing the big shows?  —  I've noticed a trend lately (actually I noticed it back when I worked at Microsoft and my bosses kept refusing to buy booths at conferences, saying they didn't return the ROI, but that trend has grown and grown big time).
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
That He Not Busy Being Born Is Busy Dying … A big part of what makes Apple so fascinating is that they're so utterly unlike other companies of similar size and stature.  It's hard to imagine any other company abandoning something like Apple's traditional role at Macworld Expo.
Rob Beschizza / Boing Boing Gadgets:
Mac OS X Netbook Compatibility Chart  —  Who needs Psystar?  —  Apple says it's had “pretty interesting ideas” for a Mac netbook, but it's everyday users who've already taken action.  Due to their similar technical underpinnings, most of the popular netbooks can run OS X …
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Joost Just Gives Up On P2P Altogether  —  Joost's two year old online video service was a pretty darned smart idea when it first launched.  —  Instead of streaming video through the Joost website, users would download a Mozilla-based client and watch it there instead.  The user experience could be more tightly controlled.
RELATED:
David Chartier / Ars Technica:
Joost to disable software clients, only notable features
Discussion: TechCrunch and Lifehacker
Jessica Guynn / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Major leadership shakeup at LinkedIn: Nye leaves, Hoffman back at the helm  —  After a two-year stint in which he helped propel dramatic growth, LinkedIn Corp. Chief Executive Dan Nye is handing back the reins to company founder Reid Hoffman in a major leadership shakeup at one of Silicon Valley's hottest companies.
RELATED:
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
LinkedIn's Hoffman Takes Back CEO Title, as Nye Departs and Weiner Enters
Discussion: Between the Lines and Valleywag
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:
The iPhone is Apple's Netbook: Almost Half of All Traffic from WiFi Networks  —  According to the latest report from AdMob, 42% of all requests from iPhones to Admob's partners worldwide are coming in over WiFi instead of through the networks of mobile operators.
Zach Epstein / Boy Genius Report:
2009 is the year of the Moto for Verizon; more upcoming handsets revealed  —  When our ninjas get going they don't stop until the job is done.  Yesterday your pals here at BGR gave you an exclusive preview of four tasty upcoming Motorola handsets - codenamed FLASH, RUSH 2, CALGARY and INFERNO.
Josh Lowensohn / Webware.com:
Adobe squeezes AIR out of beta for Linux users  —  Adobe Systems on Wednesday is taking the Linux version of its Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) product out of beta, and bringing it up to speed with the versions available for Windows and Mac users.  —  The new version differs from previous beta versions …
Rory Cellan-Jones / BBC:
Sky moves towards 3D broadcasts  —  Sky has filmed several sporting events using the new technology  —  Sky TV says it has made a significant step towards bringing 3D television to British viewers.  —  The satellite broadcaster says it has successfully tested the delivery of 3D programming …
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
SnapTell: One Of The Coolest iPhone Apps Gets Even Better  —  SnapTell, the awesome iPhone app that lets you take a photo of nearly any CD, DVD, book, or video game to get instant product reviews, has just released an upgrade that introduces a number of useful new features.
Discussion: digg.com
Tom Krazit / CNET News:
Apple's blind-side hit on IDG  —  Apple threw Macworld organizer IDG off balance with its decision to keep Steve Jobs out of pocket.  —  (Credit: Corrine Schulze/CNET)  — Home - News - Apple  —  Apple  —  December 17, 2008 4:32 PM PST  —  Apple's blind-side hit on IDG  —  Posted by Tom Krazit
RELATED:
Earl Zmijewski / Renesys Blog:
Rising to the Top: A Baker's Dozen  —  As readers of this blog will know, Renesys collects Internet routing data — a lot of it.  We use this data in a variety of ways: in determining the impact of cable breaks, natural disasters and deliberate partitionings; in uncovering the source of hijacks …
Cameron Stewart / The Australian:
Chinese spy fears on broadband frontrunner  —  Article from:  —  NATIONAL security concerns about Chinese espionage could threaten the new frontrunner for Australia's $15 billion publicly backed national broadband network.  —  Security agencies will closely examine the bid lodged by Singtel Optus …
Discussion: CNET News
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Ask.com Plays The Google AdWords Arbitrage Game  —  Ah, Ask.com.  Since I wrote their obituary in March, not much has got me thinking they'll make a comeback.  Sure, there was the gimmick of kind of bringing back Jeeves himself.  But the spate of “hotels.ask.com” ads I see them running …
Google Earth Blog:
New York City in Photo-Realistic 3D Now in Google Earth  —  Google has updated the 3D buildings in Google Earth for New York City!  This is a HUGE update with at least hundreds (if not thousands) of new 3D buildings with photo textures applied.  Basically, Google has completed nearly every building …
Jeff Atwood / Coding Horror:
Avoiding The Uncanny Valley of User Interface  —  Are you familiar with the uncanny valley?  —  No, not that uncanny valley.  Well, on second thought, yes, that uncanny valley. … This phenomenon has also been noted in cartoons. … The seminal Understanding Comics was where I first encountered this concept, too.
Discussion: Ajaxian
Guardian:
100 top sites for the year ahead  —  Two years after we last picked the web's cream of the crop, our latest selection finds that location-based services, work-anywhere collaboration and video are prominent  —  The online world has changed dramatically even since we last drew up a list of 100 useful sites in December 2006.
Discussion: CenterNetworks
Andrew / Domain Name Wire:
Go Daddy To Shut Down Standard Tactics, LLC  —  Standard Tactics and 60-day lock discussed on Radio Go Daddy.  —  I just concluded my interview with Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons on his internet radio show.  It is available for on demand listening RadioGoDaddy.com.
Discussion: TechCrunch
PC World:
Wi-Fi Coming to Japan's Bullet Trains Next Year  —  Passengers on Japan's super-fast bullet trains will be able to surf the Web while travelling at 270 kilometers per hour thanks to a new service that will start in March.  —  NTT Communications will offer Wi-Fi service throughout cars …
Discussion: SlashPhone and Working Anywhere
 
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 More Items: 
Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
Don't tell the boss: most 'Net video viewing happens at work
Atsuko Fukase / Wall Street Journal:
Panasonic Wins Bid to Buy Sanyo
Discussion: Sony Insider
Chris Soghoian / CNET News:
Google censors political-donation transparency ads
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Deloitte survey shows we're living in a “media democracy”
Discussion: TomsTechBlog.com and NewTeeVee
Tini Tran / Associated Press:
With Olympics over, China re-blocks some Web sites
Discussion: DailyTech and Slashdot
Eric Eldon / VentureBeat:
Facebook's platform: Rebuilding the plane in midflight
Discussion: E-Media Tidbits
 Earlier Items: 
Don Reisinger / Webware.com:
What Gmail does better than its competitors
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
The Difference Between Invention And Innovation In The Netbook Space
Discussion: Scripting News
Steve Gillmor / TechCrunchIT:
Why Track will be back - Fred Wilson says so
Ben Worthen / Business Technology:
Adobe's Other Battle: The Economy
Eric Krangel / Silicon Alley Insider:
Exclusive: Sony PSP2 Rumors Bogus, No New Handheld Gaming Gadget Coming (SNE)