TechCrunch:

Starting in January 2012, Facebook will gradually begin showing Sponsored Stories social ads in the main news feed of the web version of the site, a representative of the company tells us. Facebook hasn’t shown ads in the news feed since 2008, so this has big ramifications for advertisers and the user experience.

Twitter did it first, but that does not make it okay.

(Source: techmeme.com)

VentureBeat:

This is actually a major update that will turn Kayak‘s free iPhone app into a unified app optimized for all iOS devices, including the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. The two-year-old standalone iPad app will be phased out, which means Kayak faces the tricky task of making sure all of its users switch to the new app.

Kayak’s app for the Mac OS X App Store is also fantastic. I wonder why more businesses do not offer apps for OS X in addition to iOS?

A big roadblock could be Apple’s lack of support for the Mac OS X App Store. Things would certainly change if being a “universal” app meant functionality on iPhone, iPad and OS X.

Maybe one day.

(Source: techmeme.com)

NBC Sports:

The Super Bowl, Pro Bowl and NBC’s wild-card playoff games will be streamed online and on mobile phones for the first time, the NFL announced Tuesday.

Last year, 111 million people tuned in to watch the Super Bowl live on NBC. This year, the National Football league decided that in addition to broadcasting the the event on television it will also stream it online.

I wonder how many more people will tune because of this news?

(Source: mediagazer.com)

Brian S. Hall:

I wrote earlier today that, at it’s current price of $13.44, that $RIMM is worth a mere $7.04 billion.

Apple ($AAPL), by contrast, is worth $354 billion. More than 50X.

Per analysis from Trefis, iTunes and App Store each contribute approximately 2% to Apple’s market cap. For those doing the math at home, that means App Store contributes $7.08 billion to Apple’s market cap.

And, yes, $7.08 billion is more than $7.04 billion. »»

Unbelievable.

Research In Motion has been in a downward spiral ever since Steve Jobs did the impossible and produced the iPhone. Today, Brian S. Hall is claiming that RIMM’s market cap has fallen below the value of Apple’s iOS App Store. Ouch.

Analysts are not always right, but I suspect Hall’s numbers are close enough. RIMM is not worth much, that’s for sure.

(Source: techmeme.com)

AT&T:

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) said today that after a thorough review of options it has agreed with Deutsche Telekom AG to end its bid to acquire T-Mobile USA, which began in March of this year. »»

:-/

(Source: techmeme.com)

PC Mag:

“Google’s Android Update Alliance Is Already Dead” »»

Dude, really?

I understand how difficult it must be to port over new versions of Android to old hardware, but most of the phones that PC Mag lists are barely a year old.

With this knowledge in hand, consumers are going to start making more educated purchasing decisions — they are going to start buying more iPhones. Whether it be the entry-level iPhone 3GS or the more sophisticated iPhone 4S, you know that Apple is going to provide you with an update to your hardware. 

Apple wins, Android loses.

(Source: techmeme.com)

Network World:

The federal National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) called for the first-ever nationwide ban on the use of any personal electronic devices while driving a car. »»

The NTSB wants to ban people from using smartphones while driving cars. This had to happen sooner or later. There were more than 3,000 deaths last year that were directly attributed to smartphone use while operating a motor vehicle. That number has grown exponentially year-over-year for the last few years. Smartphone use is the new drunk driving. 

That is not to say that smartphones are more dangerous than alcohol. It is a question of prevalence. Driving while using a smartphone is mostly legal, so many people do it. Driving drunk is not only dangerous, but also illegal. For that reason, fewer people drive drunk than drive while using a smartphone. Though driving drunk is more dangerous, less people do it, so less people get hurt.

The NTSB is suggesting that we ban smartphone use while operating a motor vehicle, just as we have done with alcohol. Their hope is that this will dramatically reduce the amount of smartphone-related driving deaths that occur each year. I second the NTSB’s motion. By driving while using a smartphone, you are not only putting your own life in danger, but also the lives of those around you.

Not cool.

(Source: techmeme.com)