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7:25 AM ET, January 7, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Tom Neumayr / Apple:
Changes Coming to the iTunes Store  —  Apple® today announced several changes to the iTunes® Store (www.itunes.com).  Beginning today, all four major music labels—Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI, along with thousands of independent labels …
RELATED:
Brad Stone / New York Times:
Want to Copy iTunes Music?  Go Ahead, Apple Says  —  SAN FRANCISCO — In moves that will help shape the online future of the music business, Apple said Tuesday that it would remove anticopying restrictions on all of the songs in its popular iTunes Store and allow record companies to set a range of prices for them.
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
The Price Of Going DRM-Free: Apple's Hidden $1.8 Billion Music Tax
Discussion: CNET News, AppScout and CrunchGear
Guardian:
The shape of things to come  —  A self-confessed ‘pretty unlikely early adopter’, the digital guru Clay Shirky still proved to be uncannily prescient about the impact of the web - which is why Tom Teodorczuk is getting his media forecast for 2009  —  Clay Shirky, with his bald head and composed manner …
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
Sony's VAIO P ultraportable revealed  —  Chicklet keyboard, check.  Tiny pointing nub, check.  Looks like this is Sony's Vaio P series ultraportable on display at CES.  By on display we mean, on display as these shots were taken off the display monitors here at CES.
Om Malik / GigaOM:
WebEx on Your iPhone, Finally  —  If I had to name one collaboration application that I to use on an almost daily basis, with the exception of Google Docs, my answer would be Cisco's WebEx.  A lot of companies make pitches to me using WebEx.  Despite its patchy performance on the Mac …
RELATED:
Marguerite Reardon / CNET News:
Cisco adds social networking to its forte
Discussion: Contentinople
Wilson Rothman / Gizmodo:
Apple Confirms $179 Battery Swap Cost for 17" MacBook Pro  —  We just confirmed with Apple that swapping out the 17" MacBook Pro's non-removable battery will cost $179.  Fortunately, says Apple, the swap might not be needed for a long time:  —  From a spokesperson at Apple:
RELATED:
Michael Hirschorn / The Atlantic Online:
End Times  —  VIRTUALLY ALL THE predictions about the death of old media have assumed a comfortingly long time frame for the end of print—the moment when, amid a panoply of flashing lights, press conferences, and elegiac reminiscences, the newspaper presses stop rolling and news goes entirely digital.
The Boy Genius / Boy Genius Report:
T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8900 makes its way into stores, Feb. 11th release  —  Yes, yes, the rumors about the T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8900 release being moved up to February 11th is true.  One of our T-Mobile ninjas just sent us in some pictures of the Curve 8900 in their retail store.
RELATED:
Michael Bettiol / Boy Genius Report:
T-Mobile and RIM make the BlackBerry 8900 Curve official, coming in February
Discussion: TmoNews and SlashPhone
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Here Come The 12 Inch Netbooks, And Intel Isn't Happy About It  —  12 inch Netbooks are coming.  Dell has the Inspiron Mini 12, Samsung will unveil its 12 inch netbook model to the U.S. shortly, and more are coming.  And Intel isn't happy about this at all.  —  In fact, the whole Netbook market may be making them nervous.
Discussion: CrunchGear
Reuters:
Apple disappoints-no Jobs, big news at Macworld  —  (Refiles to delete extraneous words in paragraphs one and three) (Adds analyst comment, product details)  —  Apple Inc (AAPL.O) said on Tuesday it was dropping copy protection from songs sold on the Internet and debuted its slimmest 17-inch laptop yet …
RELATED:
Sam Diaz / Between the Lines:   Apple's final Macworld: Schiller delivers but announcements disappoint
Mark Wilson / Gizmodo:
Asus T91: Your 1-inch Thick Convertible Eee PC  —  The Asus T91 is an intriguing netbook from Asus.  Just 2lbs in weight, it features an 8.9" convertible touchscreen display and Atom processor.  Pricing/availability are yet unannounced.
Dave Zatz / Zatz Not Funny!:
TiVo Beefs Up Search Functionality  —  Later today, broadband-connected TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD subscribers will be treated to a revamped search experience.  And, marking a first, TiVo is finally taking widescreen televisions seriously with a high-def interface utilizing that extra real estate.
Discussion: Gizmo Lovers Blog and TiVo Blog
Kim Zetter / Threat Level:
Weak Password Brings ‘Happiness’ to Twitter Hacker  —  An 18-year-old hacker with a history of celebrity pranks has admitted to Monday's hijacking of multiple high-profile Twitter accounts, including President-Elect Barack Obama's, and the official feed for Fox News.
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Pandora Radio 2.0 Lands On The iPhone Tonight  —  Pandora Radio, the personalized internet radio service that has remained among the most popular iPhone apps on the iTunes App Store since its inception in July (and that I've previously called the iPhone's killer app), will be releasing its most significant update yet later today.
Ryan Kim / The Technology Chronicles:
CES09: Powermat looks to charge your gadgets wirelessly  —  One of my favorite items from CES last year was WildCharge's wireless charging set up, which allowed you to power up gadgets without actually plugging them in.  You just plopped them on a charging pad and away you go.
Declan McCullagh / CNET News:
Obama picks RIAA's favorite lawyer for a top Justice post  —  As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama won applause from legal adversaries of the recording industry.  Stanford law professor Larry Lessig, the doyen of the “free culture” movement, endorsed the Illinois senator, as did Google CEO Eric Schmidt and even the Pirate Party.
Discussion: TeleRead and Slashdot
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:
Google Trends Features ASCII Art Of 9/11  —  A reader tipped us off to how ASCII art of an airplane is showing up in the number two position at Google Trends.  When we first looked ourselves, we thought the image was that of an airplane approaching a landing strip.
Discussion: Bits, TechCrunch and Gawker
Jose Martinez / NY Daily News:
Model Liskula Cohen sues Google over blogger's ‘skank’ comment  —  A Vogue cover girl is suing Google in an attempt to unmask the blogger who trashed her as a “skank” and an “old hag.”  —  Liskula Cohen, a blond beauty who has modeled for Giorgio Armani and Versace, made headlines last year …
Greg Kumparak / CrunchGear:
Linksys announces Wireless Home Audio System, another wireless audio toy for rich people  —  Unless you're down to hobble your own crazy homebrew set-up, tinkering with wireless audio systems is a damned expensive hobby.  Everytime I read about these products, I imagine some rich old dude …
Matt Buchanan / Gizmodo:
WowWee Cinemin Pico Projectors Are Tiny and Cheap  —  WowWee's Cinemin pico projectors fit any situation you'd be pico projecting in.  The Swivel is a candybar that angles 90 degrees; the Stick's tinier and takes SD cards, and the Station's an iPod dock station.
Discussion: CrunchGear
Eric Eldon / VentureBeat:
F-A-I-L: Official Scrabble Facebook apps still smaller than Scrabulous was  —  This summer, board game makers Hasbro and Mattel forced the popular Facebook gaming application Scrabulous to shut down, claiming that it violated the companies' copyrights on the crossword board game Scrabble.
Kelvin Soh / Reuters:
As laptops dominate, desktop PCs face obsolescence  —  TAIPEI (Reuters) - The age of the desktop PC appears to be over as its more portable cousin, the laptop, surges ahead with consumers clamoring for light-weight computers in funky designs for use at home, in cafes and on the train to work.
BBC:
Record high for videogaming sales  —  Sales of videogames in the UK hit an all time high of 82.8m in 2008, figures from the industry trade body show.  —  The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) said that consumers spent £4.03bn on video game hardware and software.
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
Report: PC makers to provide free Vista-to Win-7 upgrades starting July 1  —  In yet another indicator as to the progress of Windows 7, the Tech ARP site reported that Microsoft plans to allow PC makers to offer customers who buy Windows Vista machines as of July 1 free upgrades to Windows 7 once it ships.
Christopher MacManus / Sony Insider:
Sony Set To Offer Innovative Wearable Walkman  —  Update: Want some real life pictures?  Check out our post here..  —  We stunned the world with our previous exclusive story about an upcoming touchscreen Walkman, but what we didn't tell you is that there is another.
Discussion: Engadget
 
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 More Items: 
Kevin Michaluk / CrackBerry.com blogs:
OS 4.7.0.85 Leaked for the BlackBerry Storm 9500!
Discussion: IntoMobile and Engadget Mobile
Carolyn Duffy Marsan / Network World:
AT&T builds $23M IPv6 network for U.S. military
RobK / Mobile Industry Review:
New HTC mobile gets leaked by reseller
Discussion: Cellpassion and Engadget Mobile
Ashlee Vance / New York Times:
Data Analysts Captivated by R's Power
Bobby White / Wall Street Journal:
Cisco Woos Entertainment Firms
Discussion: GigaOM
Caroline McCarthy / CNET News:
$9 million for SpotMixer's video ad service
Discussion: paidContent.org and MarketingShift
Joe Mullin / The Prior Art:
Realm of the Lawyer-Inventor: Oprah's Book Club sued for patent infringement
Discussion: The Register and Slashdot
 Earlier Items: 
Ryan / Signal vs. Noise:
iPhoto '09 and Domain Language
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
Apple's Brilliant Video Engineer: Anonymous No More
Discussion: AppleInsider and Obsessable
Mark Ward / BBC:
The dark side of the flash drive
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
AOL Boss Kevin Conroy Bolts For Univision (TWX)
Philipp Lenssen / Google Blogoscoped:
On Google Disallowing Crawling of Their LIFE Hosting
Discussion: Beyond Search
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Liam Scott / Voice of America:
RSF says 23 journalists were jailed in Syria and 10 others were missing as of December 9; press freedom groups call for accountability for Assad's government

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Warner Bros. Discovery has decided not to renew its deal for new episodes of Sesame Street, though it will continue licensing library episodes through 2027

Katie Robertson / New York Times:
Sources: Patrick Soon-Shiong told LA Times opinion leaders not to publish an editorial critical of Trump's cabinet picks without publishing an opposing view

 
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