Top Items:

Tis A Season To Copy — Just came back from the best Starbucks on the planet - the one outside 50 California Street. They are all decked out already with holiday trimmings, and that put me in a jolly mood. Hence the headline! With enough caffeine pumping, let me take a gander at one of the most provacative headlines of the day.
Discussion:
michael parekh on IT
RELATED ITEMS:

Google building Yahoo 2.0? — Jeremy Zawodny posted (in reaction to Reading the Google Tea Leaves) his opinion that Google is building Yahoo 2.0.: … Dave Winer responded quite astutely: … I really look at the whole thing another way. Google is replaying Yahoo's playbook circa 1996.

Intelliseek: Using the Outdated Terminology... It's Users, Not Consumers — Updated: I've added this post on using the term, 'Amateur' to describe those who 'lovingly create media' instead of professional. Check it out as well. And it was Kevin Marks idea.
RELATED ITEMS:

UPDATE: Google Weighing Test Of Print Ads In Newspapers — NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Google Inc. (GOOG) is considering testing print advertisements in Chicago newspapers, in a sign that the Internet giant, to date seen primarily as a threat to traditional media, could also become an ally.
Discussion:
PaidContent.org
RELATED ITEM:

Katamari creator dreams of playgrounds — A man widely considered to be one of the most imaginative and creative figures in the world of video games has bad news for his fans. — He cannot see a long-term future in making games. Instead the creator of the bizarre, surreal Katamari Damacy game wants to design playgrounds.
Discussion:
Joystiq

Exclusive: Microsoft Hits Windows Vista Beta 2 Delays — Sources at the company told me this week that Microsoft will soon delay the release of Windows Vista Beta 2 from December 7, 2005 to sometime in January or February 2006. However, because the Vista development schedule is extremely time constrained …

TechCrunch Meetup #4 - Riya Launch Party — Riya is holding its launch party here at the TechCrunch house next Friday, November 18, 2005. If you are in the area, make sure to drop by. Our last party/meetup was a blowout and I expect this one to be even bigger.
RELATED ITEM:

Nintendo hints at coming price war — Revolution may lowball competitors to help attract consumer eyes. — Game Over is a weekly column by Chris Morris — NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - While the Xbox 360 is going to be dominating the media spotlight for the next few weeks (and possibly months) …

Paying attention to the post-memo blogs — In the aftermath of the Ray Ozzie and Bill Gates memos and emails I am seeing a few trends in the reaction. Five blogs in particular got my attention: — 1) Steve Gillmor's Don't Mention It — 2) Joshua Porter's Why Should I Trust Microsoft with My Attention Metadata?
RELATED ITEM:

Man buys virtual space station for $100,000 — NEW YORK — In one of the largest sales yet of property in an online game, a Miami resident has bought a virtual space station for $100,000 and wants to turn it into a cross between Jurassic Park and a disco. — Jon Jacobs, a director …
Discussion:
The Gadgets Blog

Apple's Growing Army of Converts — Windows users are trying Macs in increasing numbers — and it's not just a function of the iPod "halo effect — Nothing fires up a group of Mac users like the chance to score a convert — except maybe the chance to offer an opinion on what Mac someone should buy.
Discussion:
Paul Thurrott's Internet Nexus

Internet holds only future for newspapers, experts warn — MADRID (AFP) - Newspapers have no future without online and digital services, media executives heard at a World Association of Newspapers meeting in Madrid. — "We are getting the whole organisation ready for a digital future," …
Discussion:
PaidContent.org

Microsoft's Secret Bug Squasher — It turns out that a good portion of all those Windows crashes over the years are not caused by the operating system itself, but by buggy device drivers — low-level pieces of code that allow the operating system to communicate with external devices …

DRM - Digital Rights Minimization — The latest episode in the war between music companies and their paying customers (the one where Sony decides it's OK to surreptitiously take over your PC so you can't make a copy of the music you thought you bought from them) has finally pushed me over the edge.

OpenDocument format gathers steam — Big guns in the software industry are massing behind OpenDocument as government customers show more interest in alternatives to Microsoft's desktop software. — IBM and Sun Microsystems convened a meeting in Armonk, N.Y., on Friday to discuss …

Beyond TV 4 now available — Oh yes, it's here. — We've covered some of what's new in Beyond TV 4 in previous blogs, so if you need the quick rundown of what's been going on, check out our previous posts: — Beyond TV 4, coming to a website near you — New HDTV PVR products bundled with Beyond TV