Chirp Launches Its Social Screen Saver In Beta  —  Today, Chirp is launching in public beta.  Chirp is a screen saver, previously covered here, that lets you bring social feeds from Flickr and Facebook onto your desktop.  Other social Websites will be added in the future.

Source:   TechCrunch
Author:   Erick Schonfeld
Link:   http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/01/24/chirp-launches…

Has open source sold out?  —  As open source goes mainstream, big commercial software companies reap as much revenue as scrappy independents  —  Has the open source software movement become a victim of its own success?  A provocative new study by a longtime software analyst suggests …

Source:   InfoWorld
Author:   Bill Snyder
Link:   http://weblog.infoworld.com/tech-bottom-line/archives…

Move over, Red Hat.  Open source ain’t what it used to be  —  Has the open source software movement become a victim of its own success?  A provocative new study by a longtime software analyst suggests that the giants of the commercial software world are cashing in on the popularity …

Source:   InfoWorld
Author:   Bill […]

Music Biz Pushes Piracy Blame To ISPs; Digital Sales Up 40 Percent  —  We said in December the music industry would this year start to shift blame for piracy on to ISPs.  As of today - and buoyed by recent similar French moves - the business is going after access providers in a big way.

Source: […]

IFPI publishes Digital Music Report 2008  —  ‘REVOLUTION, INNOVATION, RESPONSIBILITY’ … Governments are starting to accept that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should take a far bigger role in protecting music on the internet, but urgent action is needed to translate this into reality …

Source:   IFPI
Link:   http://www.ifpi.org/content/section_resources/dmr2008…

Linux-less Eee PC launched in Japan  —  Asus has formally launched its bonsai laptop, the Eee PC, in Japan, pre-installing the machine with Windows XP Home Edition rather than Linux.  —  The machine’s specifications proved to be those of the standard 4GB solid-state disc model - the Eee PC 701 …

Source:   The Register
Author:   […]

The AT&T leaves: Wireless strong; U-Verse buildout continues; Outlook in tact  —  AT&T reported its fourth quarter earnings and the big takeaways are that wireless growth is strong and enterprise spending is chugging along.  —  AT&T’s earnings report garnered a little more attention …

Source:   Between the Lines
Author:   Larry Dignan
Link:   http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=7693

The Skinny on the MacBook Air  —  Size matters, but has Apple gone too far?  —  Early in my writing career, I had an assignment to follow around a mohel—the guy who does ritual circumcisions in the Jewish tradition.  My subject learned the trade by watching his dad, a renowned figure in the field.

Source:   […]

Gates Calls for Kind Capitalism  —  Famously Competitive, Billionaire Now Urges Business to Aid the Poor  —  Free enterprise has been good to Bill Gates.  But later today, the Microsoft Corp. chairman will call for a revision of capitalism.  —  In a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos …

Source:   Wall Street Journal
Author: […]

MacBook Air: The sexy kind of skinny but with some flaws  —  Apple has earned a sterling reputation designing beautiful products that usually perform as splendidly as they look.  —  The MacBook Air laptop that CEO Steve Jobs unveiled last week turns heads.

Source:   USA Today
Link:   http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/edwardbaig…