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6:45 PM ET, December 8, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Brian Rakowski / The Official Google Blog:
Google Chrome for the holidays: Mac, Linux and extensions in beta  —  There was nothing more excruciating for me as a kid than seeing the presents pile up under the Christmas tree but knowing that I couldn't open them until Christmas morning.  On the Google Chrome team …
RELATED:
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Google Chrome For Mac Is Here!  —  The wait is over.  Google Chrome for Mac is now available in beta.  It's still missing a few features that are in the Windows version (like support for extensions), but the browser is lickety-split and more-or-less stable.  —  I've been holding off really using Chrome until now.
Lee Mathews / Download Squad:
Google Chrome Extensions Gallery is open for business!
Discussion: Lifehacker and TheAppleBlog
Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:
New Digital Publishing Venture Boasts Access To 144 Million-Plus Audience; Squires Talks  —  Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith (NYSE: MDP), News Corp (NYSE: NWS). and Time Inc. are making it formal: the five publishers are equity partners in a new digital publishing venture with grand designs.
RELATED:
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Now's the Time, Finally: Publishers Announce Their “Hulu for Magazines.”  Next Up: Building It.  —  So here you go: The magazine industry is finally ready to announce that it is forming a joint venture to distribute and sell digital versions of its products.
The Official Google Blog:
Exploring a new, more dynamic way of reading news with Living Stories  —  There's been no shortage of talk recently about the “future of news.”  Should publishers charge for news online?  How do they replace lost sources of revenue such as classified ads?  How will accountability journalism endure?
Joe Wilcox / BetaNews:
What does AT&T's ‘Mark the Spot’ app say about service quality?  —  Do you have AT&T as wireless carrier?  Are you happy with the network service quality?  I encourage Betanews readers to respond in comments to these questions, which are suddenly surreal now that AT&T has released the “Mark the Spot” app for iPhone.
RELATED:
Brad Reed / Network World:   AT&T tops in 3G wireless speeds, study finds
Nicholas Carlson / Silicon Alley Insider:
CONFIRMED: Saul Hansell Quits The New York Times For AOL  —  Confirming our earlier report, AOL says it hired New York Times tech writer Saul Hansell.  —  Saul will be the first employee of Seed.com, AOL's platform for freelance contributors to its 80+ media sites.
Discussion: TechCrunch and Beet.TV
Aaron Whyte / Gmail Blog:
Offline Gmail graduates from Labs  —  Almost a year ago, we launched Offline Gmail in Gmail Labs.  By installing Offline Gmail, you're able to use the normal Gmail interface to read and write mail, search, and organize, even when there's no internet connection.
Connie Guglielmo / Bloomberg:
Dell Rings Up $6.5 Million in Sales Using Twitter Promotions  —  Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) — Dell Inc., relying on social- networking sites to drum up sales of personal computers, said its promotions on Twitter have helped generate more than $6.5 million in orders for PCs, accessories and software.
Chris Albrecht / NewTeeVee:
Study: Redbox Will Destroy the Entertainment Industry  —  If you thought the movie 2012 was disaster porn, just wait for the entertainment apocalypse that Redbox's dollar-a-night movie rentals will bring about.  That, in a nutshell, is the bottom line of a new report (PDF, hat tip to Video Business) …
Discussion: Video Business Online and /Film
Mel Martin / TUAW:
Dragon Dictation comes to the iPhone.  Wow.  —  Put this into the 'I didn't think they could ever get this to work on an iPhone' category.  —  I'm talking about Dragon Dictation [iTunes link] from Nuance, the developers of the very popular Dragon Naturally Speaking for the PC.
Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:
Apple reveals best-selling iTunes content, iPhone apps of 2009  —  Apple this week revealed the most critically acclaimed and best selling content of the year in the iTunes Store, the world's most popular online music seller and mobile application destination.
Paul Miller / Engadget:
Dell Vostro V13 hands-on impressions: ‘yes’  —  What if you took an original Adamo, shaved a couple pounds off the weight and a grand off the price?  You'd end up with something pretty close to the new Dell Vostro V13.  We just got a quick look at the machine, and while some of the cheaper materials Dell …
Google LatLong:
Changing your perspective  —  As an avid travel planner or discerning house hunter, you might always be looking for another view of a location before you make your final decision.  On the Google Maps team we're always looking for ways to make search experiences like this more useful for you.
Mark Milian / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
VeriFone follows Square's lead with its own iPhone credit card payment system [Updated]  —  PAYware Mobile.  Courtesy of VeriFone  —  Not to be outdone by tech visionary Jack Dorsey — one of the brains behind Twitter — and his Square cellphone payment start-up, point …
Michael Lazerow / MediaPost:
Alert!  Facebook Pages Are Changing: Are You Ready?  —  In late October, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the head of Facebook Platform, Ethan Beard, provided insight into the future of the platform in the company's inaugural road map address.  —  Overlooked by almost every marketer …
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Dan Abrams' Mediaite To Launch Tech News Site And Other Verticals  —  Dan Abram's recently launched media gossip and analysis site Mediaite, has steadily gained traction as a media news blog and today is announcing expansion to other news verticals, including technology, fashion and sports.
Discussion: Mediaite, FishBowlNY and Gawker
ComingSoon.net:
The Facebook Movie is Coming Next October  —  ComingSoon.net has learned that Sony's Columbia Pictures has set an October 15, 2010 release date for director David Fincher's The Social Network, written by Aaron Sorkin and starring Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake, Andrew Garfield and Joe Mazzello.
Discussion: NBC Bay Area, Pulse2 and Mashable!
The Official Google Blog:
Fighting fraud online: taking “Google Money” scammers to court  —  “Use Google to Make 1000s of Dollars!” or “Easy Cash with Google: You Could be Making up to $978 a Day Working from Home!”  You may have seen offers like these using Google's name or logo that sounded too good to be true.
Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent:
Yahoo's Bartz: ‘Things Are Looking Up’  —  Asked about the disparity between online media usage and internet ad spending at UBS Media Week, Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) CEO Carol Bartz said that the gap was in part because internet advertising had initially over-sold itself: “I think internet advertising oversold itself …
Adam Pash / Lifehacker:
Thunderbird 3 Officially Released with New Features, Improved Look  —  Windows/Mac/Linux: A whopping two years at its second major release, Mozilla's popular desktop email client Thunderbird is now available as the new and improved Thunderbird 3.0, and there's a lot to love in the new Thunderbird.
Discussion: Internetnews Blog and AppScout
Seth Weintraub / 9 to 5 Mac:
Apple updates Airport client software  —  Apple released Airport Client Update 2009-002 today fixing some minor issues in Snow Leopard's wireless access software.  A restart is required.  —  Update: Apple also released MacBook Pro EFI 1.8 firmware update for MacBook Pro 5,1 and 5,2.
Discussion: Macworld, Macsimum News and TUAW
Jackie Dove / Macworld:
Cooliris Express unveiled  —  Free utility makes immersive photo and video walls easy to create and share  —  Cooliris has launched Cooliris Express, a free online tool that lets consumers quickly build customizable and immersive walls of photos and videos to post and share from their Websites, social networks, and blogs.
Discussion: internetnews.com
Robert McMillan / PC World:
New Cloud-based Service Steals Wi-Fi Passwords  —  For US$34, a new cloud-based hacking service can crack a WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) network password in just 20 minutes, its creator says.  —  Launched Monday, the WPA Cracker service bills itself as a useful tool for security auditors …
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
How Microsoft stacks up against Google's latest search and mobile wares  —  Hoping (unsuccessfully so) to head off the glowing press Google was bound to get this week for its “future of search” preview, Microsoft showed off some of its latest enhancements to Bing last week.
Yahoo!:
‘You In?’  — Yahoo! Launches Campaign to Inspire Kindness Around the World  —  Kindness is contagious this holiday season.  Based on the belief that it doesn't take a great deal of money or time to spread happiness, today Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) announced the launch of a year-end giving campaign called ‘You In?’
Emil Protalinski / Ars Technica:
Support for Windows 2000, Windows XP SP2 ends next July  —  Support for Windows XP Service Pack 2 as well as Windows 2000 ends on July 13, 2010.  —  Microsoft has issued a reminder this week that it will stop providing support for Windows 2000 and Windows XP Service Pack 2 on July 13, 2010.
Discussion: Computerworld
 
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 More Items: 
Sophie Hardach / Reuters:
France's Sarkozy takes on Google in books dispute
Ilinca Nita / Unwired View:
Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition and E72 officially launched in the US
Glenn Fleishman / Wi-Fi Networking News:
WHDI Completes Wireless High Def Spec
Discussion: EE Times, Electronista and VentureBeat
Maisie Ramsay / Wireless Week:
FLO TV Adds Disney, ABC to Channel Lineup
Eric Zeman / InformationWeek:
Samsung Redefines Vaporware: ‘Bada’
Discussion: Boy Genius Report and Mobile Roar
Electronista:
Sony Reader EPUB, Snow Leopard support due Friday
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Tandberg to bring high-end video conferencing to low-cost PCs
 Earlier Items: 
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:
Dyyno Launches Free 1080p Live Streaming Solution
Paul Bonanos / GigaOM:
Pandora Is Coming to Your Car
Discussion: SlashGear and Mashable!
Katie Marsal / AppleInsider:
Apple appeals $21.7 million patent infringement decision
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Seagate finally makes move from hard drives to flash storage