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The Mad Scientist Bringing Back the Dead… Really

There are things you should know about, just because they’re weird. Did you know that people with diabetes exhale rocket fuel? It’s true, but it’s weird, right? And spontaneous combustion. That’s true, too, apparently, albeit in a bigfoot sort of way. People just explode. Mark Roth keeps a file on them, because, well, for one thing, he’s interested in the genetics of spontaneous combustion, and, for another, he’s interested in what keeps people from exploding, like, all the time.

There Are Two Phones in This World: iPhone and Not iPhone

For more than a year after iPhone was available to the public, I held off on buying one. I made all these excuses–that my BlackBerry was “good enough,” that work was paying my monthly bills, that I was concerned about lackluster Exchange support, or switching to AT&T.

How Comcast Controls Sony’s Internet TV Plans

At a recent press breakfast, someone asked top executives of Sony Electronics about their plans to let their televisions show video delivered by the Internet. While the company has an early effort, called the Bravia Internet Link, Stan Glasgow, the president of Sony Electronics in the United States, said the company can now introduce better products because it has reached an agreement with the cable industry.

Why Amazon Doesn’t Need Kindle 2.0

Digital bibliophiles may have hoped Amazon would offer up a new e-reader before the holidays. But they haven’t let their disappointment–or the tanking economy–put a damper on Christmas Kindle-mania.

Secret Geek A-Team Hacks Back, Defends Worldwide Web

When DNS was created in 1983, it was designed to be helpful and trusting–it’s directory assistance, after all. It was a time before hacker conventions and Internet banking. Plus, there were only a few hundred servers to keep track of.

Now Hiring in Silicon Valley

Nature abhors a vacuum, but apparently not in Silicon Valley, where it may not be easy to fill some very prominent vacancies. Right now you’ve got Jerry Yang abdicating at Yahoo, and Microsoft is looking for someone to run its online division. And there are persistent rumors that another huge job might be opening up at Google.

An Ethical Question Involving eBooks

I recently purchased a short story from Fictionwise, which was not DRM’ed, so I could easily get it into a form where I could read it on my Sony eReader. Thanks to that short story, I was introduced to an author, and a character, which I found very engaging.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Voices

SanDisk Rallies as Takeover Rumors Resurface

In October, Samsung withdrew a bid to acquire SanDisk. Some speculated that Toshiba would swoop in and rescue the company, but it didn't happen. Today, SanDisk shares rallied due to the same rumors about Toshiba--analysts noted that Toshiba could no more afford the acquisition now than it could in in the fall. Read more »

Digital Daily

Adobe Announces Crash® CS4 Professional

Well, no wonder Adobe won’t have an exhibition booth at Macworld Conference & Expo 2009--the company seems to be sacking employees who might have otherwise staffed it.… Citing the standard litany of economic tribulations, Adobe Wednesday reduced its fourth-quarter outlook and said it will cut 600 jobs around the world--about eight percent of its workforce. Read more »

MediaMemo

Who Cares About Cyber Monday? Citi Cuts Amazon Estimates

Yes, Cyber Monday sales were better than expected--up a not-terrible 15 percent. But Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney has gone ahead and cut his estimates for the world's leading e-commerce company anyway: He thinks Amazon's sales will grow seven percent this quarter, down from his earlier estimate of 16 percent growth. Read more »

QOTD DD Shorty

Do it for Kanye. If his head gets any bigger, it will explode and then we will all be covered with sunglass shards.”

Stephen Colbert on Operation Humble Kanye (OHK), the Comedy Central host’s campaign to push “A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All” to the No. 1 album on iTunes, a spot currently held by Kanye West

Fired Newspaper Reporters Still Reporting–For Fired Newspaper Employee Blog

What happens when a large company full of reporters fires hundreds of its workers? They report on their own firings. That's what's happening at Gannett Blog, where former Gannett employee Jim Hopkins is asking other former Gannett employees to share the details of their layoffs. Unfortunately, there are a lot of them to talk about--Hopkins, via a network of Gannett tipsters, has tallied up about 1,000 cuts just in this round alone. Read more »

Trade You 77 shares of SIRI for 1 Month of “Sirius Everything”

Looks like Sirius XM CEO Mel Karmazin won’t be taking the company private anytime soon, although given its current stock price there’s no reason he couldn’t. At its current value, you’d have to sell off more than 70 shares of SIRI to purchase a one-month subscription to Sirius Satellite Radio. Read more »

Infineon Shares Plunge 40 Percent on Grim Outlook

More bad news in the chip sector: German chipmaker Infineon's shares dropped 40 percent today after providing an extremely grim outlook for the fiscal first quarter ending December and for all of fiscal 2009. But the truly horrific part of the story is the outlook. The company sees December quarter revenues down 30 percent sequentially due to revenue decreases in its automotive, wireless solutions and industrial and multimarket segments. Read more »

Amazon Remembers Forgets Barcode Scanner

There’s a new beachhead in Amazon’s campaign to commandeer sales from competing retailers: Apple’s iPhone. This morning the retailer uncrated Amazon Mobile, an iPhone/iPod Touch application that allows users to browse its wares and those of associated retailers like Target and Macy’s. The app supports Amazon’s standard features as well as an intriguing, but totally cumbersome, new one. Read more »

ComScore: Cyber Monday Sales Up 15 Percent

As promised, here are the comScore Cyber Monday numbers: The Web measurement firm says sales increased 15 percent over last year's totals. Read more »

RIM: A Less-Than-Perfect Storm?

Research In Motion’s downside guidance for the third quarter is playing hell with the company’s share price today. After market close Tuesday, RIM said revenues for the three months ended November will fall short of its earlier forecast. The company blamed the news on product-launch timing, general economic conditions and foreign-exchange volatility, but could there be something else at work here a well? Like an uncompelling product line? Read more »

Earlier Posts

There's more good stuff on BoomTown, Digital Daily, MediaMemo, Voices and All Things Video

Weighing Devices for Your Netflix Delivered via Web

By Nick Wingfield

Netflix was a pioneer in the business of movie rentals -- getting consumers to rent DVDs online and mailing them out in cheery red envelopes. Recently, it has put a lot of effort into a service that delivers movies digitally over the Internet to subscribers, preparing for a day when getting movies on a physical disc will become outmoded.

Read more »

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