A curated selection of the day’s most newsworthy tech stories from all over the Web.
- Though Mark Zuckerberg has stated he’s in no rush to take Facebook public, a 100-page deal memo from Goldman Sachs reveals the social network intends to pass that key 500-shareholder mark this year, putting it in a position to either go public or begin disclosing its financial results by early 2012. (CNNMoney)
- Apple’s Mac App store launched yesterday with more than 1,000 apps ranging from iLife and Aperture 3 to Angry Birds and Chopper 2. Pricing varies wildly. While Aperture 3 is priced to move at $80 — $120 less than normal — other apps like Bejeweled 3 go for $20 and an animated graphic novel of Romeo and Juliet sells for a whopping $25. Maybe that’s why it’s already been hacked with Kickback software. (Fortune and Gizmodo)
- “Smart TVs,” TV units with computer-worthy processors and mobile-like apps, are dominating CES this week. But will they take off, or will the newest living room fad stay just that? Opinions seem to differ. Rovi exec Richard Bullwinkle thinks Smart TVs could compartmentalize content and inhibit discovery, while TiVo VP Jim Denney says they could do the exact opposite. (Wall Street Journal)
- Barnes & Noble’s total online holiday sales were up 67%, with $229 million, compared with the same time last year. The company attributes much of that jump to selling out its entire inventory of Nook ereaders. (TechCrunch)
- The Sony Playstation Phone will reportedly sport hardware specs that put the Playstation Portable to shame: a 1 GHz Snapdragon QSD8255 CPU, a Qualcomm Adreno 205 GPU, 4-inch 854 x 480 resolution LCD, 5 megapixel autofocus cam with LED flash, 512 MB of RAM, a micro SD slot, and micro-USB. To see it action, check out these these supposed hands-on videos. (Engadget and Gizmodo)
- Twitterers in Japan set an all-time record in number of Tweets sent per second (TPS) with 6,939 TPS sent four second after midnight on January 1st. (Twitter Blog)
- Given how 300,000 Android devices are now being activated daily, it’s no surprise Android has surpassed Apple for smartphone market share, at least in the U.S. As of last November, 26% of all smartphone subscribers owned Android devices, while 25% were iPhone users. (Fortune)
- Skype has reportedly agreed to buy mobile streaming video company Qik for between $100 million and $150 million. (Silicon Alley Insider)
- Salesforce.com bought DimDim for $31 million. The open source web conference service works via browser without the need for any desktop software. (TechCrunch)
- At Verizon’s CES event, the mobile carrier gave the audience a thorough walkthrough of Android 3.0, which looks like it’s rocking a dedicated Gmail widget, GTalk, a better books app, a new version of Maps, and a better software keyboard layout. Here’s a couple of YouTube clips breaking things down.
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5LNJ9rjTlY]
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk3wGXmtQBU]
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i_IkO_L0zc]
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHZWAE1kKzY]
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66u7lzve1e8]
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU1Y62IP-b4]
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