• Google Agrees to Change Its Business Practices and Google settles on patents, other antitrust claims – Google gets off relatively easy as the Federal Trade Commission closes its antitrust review of the search giant. Google will allow companies to opt out of searches, and will quit scraping data. Also What Google’s settlement with the FTC means for users
• U.S. State Department knocks Google chairman’s planned North Korea trip – The feds say now is not the time for Eric Schmidt to be visiting North Korea.
• Android Jelly Bean passes 10% adoption, ICS nears 30%, and Gingerbread finally falls under 50% – And there are still Android phones for sale with Gingerbread (version 2.3).
• That Apple/Waze Deal Hits A Roadblock — That Roadblock Being Reality (Not Happening) – Apple and Waze may have talked about an acquisition, but apparently it’s not going to happen.
• Forrester Report Says Apple Will Sell $39 Billion In Macs and iPads To Businesses Over Next 2 Years – iPads are the bulk of those sales.
• Ashton Kutcher’s Steve Jobs Film Due in April – The biopic will close the Sundance Film Festival this month.
• Barnes & Noble’s bad holiday: Nook, store and BN.com sales down – Barnes & Noble says Nook sales started strong but then faded. Tablets may be to blame: The E-Reader Revolution: Over Just as It Has Begun?
• Microsoft to patch Windows 8, but stays mum on IE zero-day fix – Cyberscum have been exploiting the IE bug since Dec. 7, but Microsoft says few customers are affected. Also Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla revoke two fraudulent Turkish certificates used in targeted attacks
• Ex-Windows boss Steven Sinofsky launches new blog focused on ‘technology product development’ – Besides writing in the new Learning by Shipping blog, Sinofsky will also teach at Harvard Business School.
• Facebook launches voice in iOS and Android Messenger apps, tests VoIP calling in Canada
• Why you should be skeptical of Chitika’s market-share reports – Ed Bott skewers Chitika numbers that have been inconsistent. The company would not provide him with a detailed explanation of its methodology.
• Toyota, Audi to show off self-driving cars at CES – The cars appear to be efforts independent of Google’s autonomous autos.
• Corning Gorilla Glass 3 to be three times more scratch resistant than previous generation – No word on when it will start showing up in smartphones and tablets, but it’s being announced at CES.
• Kim Dotcom: US “planted” evidence to obtain illegal search warrants – According to unsealed documents in the Megaupload case.
• Spotify disables song purchases in the UK – Britons may still stream music on Spotify. Downloads aren’t available in the U.S. on Spotify.
• Nokia planning aluminum body for thinner, lighter Lumia 920 successor – The new phone reportedly has the code name of Catwalk.
Open comments, and the first Geek Gathering of 2013
Here it is: Your first open-comments thread of the new year. The calendar may have incremented, but the process remains the same.
You leave a comment about anything having to do with personal computing, and I approve it.
Others will see what you wrote, and respond.
You come back later to see what they said, then say some more.
And since it’s the first Friday of the first month, tonight is also the initial Geek Gathering of 2013.
It’s the monthly meet-up of Technology Bytes, the Wednesday night computer call-in show I co-host in KPFT. The Geek Gathering kicks off about 7:30 p.m. at Khon’s Wine, Darts and Coffee at 2808 Milam at Drew in Midtown. Khon’s offers wine, craft beers and coffee. There will also be a DJ this evening. Although Khon’s doesn’t serve food, there are plenty of restaurants nearby and you’re welcome to bring in your own.
There’s free Wi-Fi and power, of course, so bring your gear.
I’m fighting off a cold that kept me off last Wednesday’s TechBytes episode, so my attendance is contingent on the weather and my energy level. Hopefully, I’ll see you there!