Stephen Shankland / Webware.com:
Google fakes out Hotmail for Chrome support  —  Google has added a patch to its latest beta and stable versions of Chrome to make the browser work better with Microsoft’s Hotmail site.  —  With the patch, Chrome tells Microsoft’s site it’s actually Apple’s Safari browser …

Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Is Dell’s Phone Called The MePhone?  (DELL)  —  We’ve received a few tips from someone who claims to be close to Dell (DELL) about the company’s entry into the smartphone market.  We don’t know if they’re true, but they’re not unreasonable, so we decided to share them for discussion.

Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Retail stinks, but Amazon doesn’t; E-tailer delivers strong fourth quarter  —  Amazon managed to get stronger even as retailers across the U.S. struggled amid weak holiday sales.  —  The company reported fourth quarter earnings of $225 million, or 52 cents a share, on revenue of $6.7 billion, up 18 […]

Business Wire:
Amazon.com Announces Fourth Quarter Sales up 18% to $6.70 Billion; 2008 Free Cash Flow Grows 16% to $1.36 Billion  —  SEATTLE—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - News) today announced financial results for its fourth quarter ended December 31, 2008.

Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
Days to 1 million: the smartphone wars  —  In a fit of editorial sobriety, reader Noel just sent us this handy “1 million devices sold” graphic above.  The image demonstrates the speed (in terms of days) at which each competing handset achieved the magic milestone.

Christopher Breen / Macworld:
iTunes Plus upgrades go à la carte  —  If you’ve been skipping the daily double-wet-cappuccino in order to save enough money to upgrade your iTunes library to the DRM-free iTunes Plus format, you can put coffee back on the menu.  Apple has dispensed with the iTunes Store all-or-nothing upgrade policy.

Stuart Dredge / Pocket Gamer.biz:
Rumour: Apple planning $19.99 games section on App Store  —  But only with a restricted number of publishers  —  Product:  —  Manufacturer:  —  Apple is planning to introduce a premium games section to its App Store where it will sell a range of iPhone games for $19.99, sources tell PocketGamer.biz.

Stuart Dredge / Mobile phone games industry, news …:
Rumour: Apple planning $19.99 games section on App Store  —  But only with a restricted number of publishers  —  Product:  —  Manufacturer:  —  Apple is planning to introduce a premium games section to its App Store where it will sell a range of iPhone games for […]

Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:
Flash and AIR: Record downloads, winning platform race  —  Adobe Flash, the company’s platform for web applications and video, is already on virtually every computer everywhere, but the latest version is on an even faster track to world domination.  Flash Player 10 and AIR have been downloaded …

Andrew Orlowski / The Register:
Digital Britain: A tax, a quango and ISP snooping  —  All in a day’s work for the modern bureaucrat  —  Digital Britain Did anyone expect more from Stephen Carter CBE?  The former Ofcom boss and No.10 strategy chief (sic) has spent his career moving between the world of advertising and […]