Top Items:
Kashmir Hill / The Not-So Private Parts:
Either Mark Zuckerberg got a whole lot less private or Facebook's CEO doesn't understand the company's new privacy settings. — When Facebook's new privacy settings were rolled out yesterday, many privacy gurus complained that the default setting was for “Everyone” to have access to your Facebook profile …
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Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Why Facebook Changed Its Privacy Strategy — We reported yesterday that Facebook is aiming to get people to be more public on the site and that anyone who hasn't changed their privacy settings will now see it “recommended” that their status updates, photos etc. be exposed to the whole web.
Ina Fried / CNET News:
Mozilla worker touts Bing over Google, citing privacy — Google CEO Eric Schmidt is the latest Silicon Valley CEO to draw ire after suggesting that folks seeking privacy might not want to look to the Internet to find it. — “I think judgment matters,” Schmidt said, appearing on CNBC (see video below).
Discussion:
Search Engine Land, Ars Technica, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Asa Dotzler, Computerworld, bit-tech.net and The Register
Steve Lohr / Bits:
Microsoft Is Losing Fight for Consumers, Analyst Says — Mark Anderson is the writer behind the Strategic News Service, a predictive newsletter with a wide following among technology executives and venture capitalists, which he publishes from the island redoubt of Friday Harbor …
Brad Linder / Download Squad:
Skype 4.2 beta for Windows adds call transfer, Chrome browser plugin — Skype has released a new beta version of its internet communication client. Skype 4.2 beta for Windows includes a number of minor improvements and a couple of major new features including the ability to transfer calls.
Discussion:
Skype Blogs
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Forbes:
The Death of the PC — Well, not quite yet. But among corporate customers, the future is beginning to look very uncertain. — Throughout the computer industry companies of all sizes, from garage startups to Microsoft, are bracing for the possibility that their future will be in the hands of people like Sean Whetstone.
Thanks:atul
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
The Social Times/AllFacebook Acquired By WebMediaBrands — The Social Times, the company behind AllFacebook.com, has been acquired by WebMediaBrands. We've confirmed the news with Social Times founder Nick O'Neill, who will be joining WebMediaBrands as Director of Social Times.
AppleInsider:
Apple offers free taste of iTunes LP format with ‘Holiday Sampler’ — Apple is promoting its new iTunes LP format with a free downloadable selection of 20 holiday songs from a variety of popular artists. — The free iTunes Holiday Sampler download includes a variety of artists from wide-ranging genres …
Discussion:
The Loop
Brian Garner / AppleInsider:
Apple beat Google to Lala deal after failed bid for AdMob - report — Google was in serous discussions with music streaming service Lala before it was sold to Apple earlier this month. — Google and Apple have been battling to purchase some of the same companies in an attempt to gain leverage in the highly competitive tech sector.
Stephen Shankland / CNET News:
With draft standard, 3D Web closer to reality — 3D graphics became ordinary first in games, then in operating systems, and on Thursday, it took a significant step toward being built into Web browsers as well. — The Khronos Group, which oversees the OpenGL graphics interface …
Reuters:
Craigslist founder testifies felt betrayed by eBay — GEORGETOWN, Del./SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Craigslist founder Craig Newmark testified on Thursday he decided to trust eBay Inc after a key 2004 meeting in which then-CEO Meg Whitman and other executives said the Internet giant shared the small private company's core values.
Stuart Miles / Pocket-lint.com:
Dell Android tablet hitting CES 2010 — Dell is to launch an Android-based tablet device, Pocket-lint has learnt, possibly beating the also rumoured Apple tablet to the market. — The new model, which will go up against the currently available Archos Internet Tablet and recently announced JooJoo …
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Neil Hughes / AppleInsider:
Apple investigates tamper-resistant hardware, iPod motion controls — New patent applications revealed this week show Apple has worked on new methods to discourage users from opening its hardware and voiding its warranty, as well as extending additional accelerometer controls to iPod playback.
Discussion:
Engadget, Electricpig.co.uk, ZDNet, MacRumors, Gizmodo, iLounge, Crave, TG Daily and MacDailyNews, Thanks:mrinaldesai
Grant Gross / PC World:
GAO: FCC Needs to Better Monitor Mobile Carriers — The U.S. Federal Communications Commission needs to improve its oversight of mobile telephone carriers, because the agency has no way to measure the outcomes of the tens of thousands of complaints it receives each year …
Discussion:
CNET News, The Register, mocoNews, Computerworld, FierceWireless, Electronista, DSLreports, eWeek and Between the Lines
Andy Greenberg / Forbes:
The Year's Most-Hacked Software — Move over, Microsoft. This year Adobe took center stage for cybercriminals. — At the beginning of this decade, Microsoft represented a cybercriminal's dream target: universally-used software, brimming with bugs ready to be exploited to hijack users' PCs.
Chris Pendleton / Bing Maps Blog:
Adding Streetside and Enhanced Birds Eye To Your Applications — Well, it didn't take long for us to add these features to the already robust set of APIs in the Bing Maps Platform, now did it? In case you've been in some analog state without Internet access you should first read …
Discussion:
LiveSide
Janko Roettgers / NewTeeVee:
4 Out of 5 Viewers Leave If a Stream Buffers Once — Whatever happened to patience? More than 81 percent of all online video viewers click away if they encounter a clip rebuffering, according to a new study by Tubemogul. The Emeryville-based video distribution and analytics startup took …
Larry Dignan / CNET News:
Does Apple need to refresh iTunes? Probably — Apple's purchase of streaming music service Lala reportedly represents a shift in the company's iTunes strategy. The aim: Make iTunes more Web friendly. — The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is looking to give consumers more ways …
Discussion:
BetaNews, Gadget Lab, GigaOM, Inside Facebook, The Atlantic Business Channel, VentureBeat, The Apple Core, Webmonkey, Electricpig.co.uk, MediaPost and Fast Company
Marisa Taylor / Digits:
The Woz Says He'll Buy Apple Tablet, Steve Jobs Doing Well — Steve Wozniak may no longer be an active Apple employee, but he's still a loyal shopper, saying Wednesday that he'll buy the much-discussed Apple tablet once it's released next year. … “If there is such a thing,” he said at a conference.
Jennifer Van Grove / Mashable!:
Posterous Makes a Play for Business Blogs — Posterous has long supported group blogging functionality, which is 100 percent manageable via a clever and simple method: e-mail. Perhaps the one downside to Posterous group blogs has been that the original group creator's bio and information appears front and center on the group page.
Jolie O'Dell / ReadWriteWeb:
Downloading Frenzy in China: Gov't Blocking All Torrent Sites Soon? — Over the past 10 days, Chinese downloaders have flooded - and in some cases, crashed - major P2P and torrent sites after rumors that the government would be effectively disabling all media downloads in the country.
Kat Hannaford / Gizmodo:
Why I Hate Ereaders, And Doubt They'll Ever Hit the Mainstream — It started with Sony. Like most poorly thought-out format ideas from the Japanese titan, 2004's Librie ereader promised a revolutionary new way to perform an act you never realized needed an overhaul. Reading.
KRAPPS:
Official Playboy App Approved, For The Articles Of Course! — We're willing to bet our left nut that Hugh Hefner is a member of the “Cult Of Mac” as Playboy has always been quick to embrace Apple's emerging technologies. In 2004, Playboy introduced iBod ... a set of specially formatted thumbnail images …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Gizmodo, mocoNews, Gadget Lab, Neowin.net, The Huffington Post and Mobile Whack
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Search & Real Time Madness — Make no mistake. I think real time search is indeed one of the most exciting developments that's happened in the search space in years. But I also think search engines are acting a bit like cats getting a sniff of catnip. They're high on real time search and acting kind of crazy.
Robert Werlinger / PreCentral.net:
Sprint Changing Contract Terms in January, Small Opportunity to Cancel Contract Sans ETF — Sprint customers, we're coming up on that time of year where your carrier of choice likes to increase some of the fees on your account, allowing you to cancel your service without encouraging an early termination fee (ETF).
