Bobbie Johnson / Guardian:
Now Flickr is hit by Yahoo layoffs  —  Thought the Yahoo layoffs were over?  Not quite… today it seems that George Oates, a high-profile member of the Flickr team and one of the site’s early employees, was told that she was being given the chop too.  She’s recently been in Australia […]

Alex Pham / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Santa visits Nintendo early: Wii sales more than doubled in November  —  Nintendo sold more than 2 million Wii game consoles in the U.S. last month, more than double the number it sold in November 2007, according to Reggie Fils-Aime, president of the Japanese company’s North American division.

Katie Marsal / AppleInsider:
Apple’s Mac OS X 10.5.6 Update may be around the corner  —  Apple this week is believed throwing the finishing touches on Mac OS X 10.5.6, the last planned maintenance and security update for Leopard during the 2008 calendar year.  —  Developers on Wednesday were reportedly equipped …

Lalitesh Katragadda / Google LatLong:
Map making in new worlds  —  We are pleased to announce the launch of Google Map Maker, mapmaker.google.com, for 43 new countries and territories, including Argentina, Costa Rica, and Fiji.  Map Maker now allows people to create complete maps for 164 countries across the world.

Nicholas Carlson / Silicon Alley Insider:
Did Accel Just Raise Money For A Facebook Bailout?  —  VC firm Accel Partners just closed two funds worth more than $1 billion.  —  $525 million will go toward a London-based fund for European startups.  —  The rest — about $480 million — will create the Accel Growth Fund, […]

The Official Google Blog:
Google Chrome (BETA)  —  Since we first released Google Chrome, the development team has been hard at work improving the stability and overall performance of the browser.  In just 100 days, we have reached more than 10 million active users around the world (on all seven continents, no less) and released […]

Ryan Paul / Ars Technica:
Google releases Chrome 1.0  —  Update: Google has announced that Chrome is no longer a beta.  Chrome 1.0 is now available for download for Windows; Google says it is working on support for Mac OS X and Linux.  —  When Google first began to expand beyond search, the company pioneered […]

JG Mason / Gadgetell:
Breaking: Apple left out?  AT&T brings back iPhone online and at-home activation  —  Yes!  AT&T is now offering the iPhone online with home activation.  I found this by looking for info on another phone, but found this advert when landing on their site.  At first, I figured I was reading it […]

Slash Lane / AppleInsider:
Apple working on 3D Mac OS X user interface (images)  —  A series of Apple patent filings published this week reveal the Mac maker has spent a considerable amount of time outlining a new multi-dimensional interface for Mac OS X that would make better use of screen real estate by increasing […]

Kelly Hodgkins / Boy Genius Report:
AT&T now offers iPhone 3G home activation, for real this time  —  All you potential iPhone 3G buyers who loathe the thought of having to go into an AT&T store to activate your newly purchased phone can rejoice today as AT&T has finally enabled home activation for the iPhone […]