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Weekly high-tech hot topics in the blogs: Nexus One Phone, Twitter gets hacked
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Your support makes all the difference.Hot topics in the tech blogs for the week of December 18: Google's Nexus One phone causes waves of excitement, rumors in the blogs, Google introduces its own URL shortener, Iranian Cyber Army temporarily compromises Twitter, the FTC sues Intel for anti-competitive tactics and Europe drops antitrust case against Microsoft.
Google Nexus One Phone
Technology bloggers have high hopes for the Google-branded super slim Nexus One mobile phone - that may or may not be released to the wider public in 2010. As soon as bloggers got wind of the device they started spreading rumors about it, calling it the device that will change the way people communicate on their mobile phones. Multiple online tech sites published articles about how Google might revolutionize the overwhelming stronghold mobile operators have over their clients by totally bypassing carrier-voice calls and enabling users to make VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) only calls on their Nexus One phone. New "hands-on" Nexus One reports are surfacing daily. Most recently a technology blogger going by the name of Tnkgrl reportedly spent a few minutes with the "superphone," revealing that the device she trialled was unlocked from any network but routed calls through mobile networks, not VoIP.
Google URL shortening service
Google and Facebook joined in the URL shortening game on December 14 creating the much shorter domain names, goo.gl and fb.me. Technology blogs were alive with the news, debating what a further roll-out of Google's and Facebook's service will mean for the much smaller companies, such as Bit.ly and Tinyurl.com, founded to fill the need for URL shortening services (services that reduce the amount of characters needed to point a link clicker to a specific website). Bit.ly, currently the largest URL shortener, reacted to the news with the launch of its own (currently in beta) Pro service on December 14. Mashable's Ben Parr asked and answered the question, "Can the number one most popular URL shortener hope to compete against the likes of these tech titans? The answer is yes, as long as Bit.ly retains its ace card."
'Iranian Cyber Army' hacks Twitter DNS
Twitter's DNS (Domain Name System) records were "temporarily compromised" on the evening of December 17 causing the site to be re-directed to a page displaying the message, "This site has been hacked by Iranian Cyber Army." Technology blogs also revealed that a second, lesser known site, http://mowjcamp.org/, was also targeted by the hackers and is currently still directing to the Iranian Cyber Army's message. Before bloggers found out it was a DNS attack they warned people that their Twitter accounts may have been compromised and advised that anyone using the same password for multiple sites to change their passwords immediately.
FTC challenges Intel's market dominance
America's Federal Trade Commission sued Intel Corp. for "anticompetitive tactics that have stifled innovation and harmed consumers." Intel is currently the world's leading computer chip maker and the FTC is hoping to stop Intel from unfairly bundling its chips or reducing its pricing in a manner that would be considered unfair to other chip manufacturers. Bloggers such as Gizmodo's Adam Frucci compared the FTC's filings with a related case that took place earlier in 2009 where "Intel was forced to pay a $1.45 billion fine by the EU."
Europe drops Microsoft antitrust case
On December 16 The New York Times published an article entitled "Europe Drops Microsoft Antitrust Case" stating that European regulators were no longer looking to sue Microsoft after the company agreed to offer its consumers a choice of rival-made browsers. Bloggers welcomed the news that will enable EU Microsoft Windows 7 users to download one of 12 web browsers, including Microsoft's own Internet Explorer as their default internet browser.
Technorati's list of Top 5 movers in the Top Technology blogs recorded on December 18:
1. Adobe Blogs - http://blogs.adobe.com
2. BoomTown - http://kara.allthingsd.com/
3. WebProNews Feed - http://www.webpronews.com
4. Search Engine Journal - http://www.searchenginejournal.com
5. Royal Pingdom - http://royal.pingdom.com
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