Carly: 'My time in the spotlight'

AlwaysOn: A four-part Q&A with former HP chairwoman Carly Fiorina.

Video podcast on tech from USA Today

A video podcast I just found out about called Talking Tech from Ed Baig and Jefferson Graham at USA Today:

Dec. 10: What you need to know when buying a cellphone
Dec. 7: Camcorders take next step with hard drives
Dec. 4: Backing up your digital memories
Nov. 30: Microsoft's 2007 Office and more Zune thoughts
Nov. 27: How to buy a digital camera
Nov. 20: How to buy at high-definition television
Nov. 15: Fujifilm's S6000 with 'face detection.'
Nov. 8: Microsoft's Zune and cellphone alternatives to the iPod
Nov. 1: Tiny redesigned iPod Shuffle is a big value
Oct. 25: The SanDisk Sansa and the Sony Mylo

Skype to begin charging for U.S. calls

NY Times: Skype, the Internet calling service owned by eBay, said that as of Jan. 1 it would begin charging $30 a year for unlimited calls to landline and mobile phones within the United States and Canada. Those calls had been free since last spring. The company is offering a half-price subscription to those who sign up before Jan. 31. Calls from one computer to another have been and will continue to be free.

Craigslist: No plan to run ads

Associated Press: Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster: No plan to run ads. Attitude confounds analysts at media conference.

"The impetus for everything we do comes from users,'' Buckmaster said. "No users are suggesting we run text ads.''

Good for Jim and Craig.

Arrington's 373 feeds

Want to know which RSS feeds that Michael Arrington, founder of TechCrunch (the sixth most linked-to blog on the Web), subscribes to? Here are the 373 feeds, according to Marshall Kirkpatrick, who's been writing for TechCrunch for the past six months. Megite just created a page displaying all the TechCrunch feeds. Says Megite's Matthew Chen: "Enjoy reading through Mike Arrington’s eyes!"

'Take Control of Your Domain Names'

Adam Engst at Take Control Books passes along word about their latest ebook, Glenn Fleishman's "Take Control of Your Domain Names." Says Adam: "It covers a topic that has perplexed even the best of us at times. Glenn demystifies the jargon, explains how domain names work behind the scenes, and gives readers the advice they need to register, configure, and manage domain names. Other sections cover using dynamic DNS, troubleshooting common DNS-related problems, changing registrars or DNS hosts, and buying or selling a domain name. Whether or not readers already have a domain name, they'll learn what's necessary to work with domain names.

The 103-page book costs $10 (more than reasonable), and you can check out a 24-page PDF sample here.

TechCrunch blog ruffling feathers

Dan Fost at SFGate: Michael Arrington, Silicon Valley's 'Mr. Web 2.0,' seeks next big thing. TechCrunch blog ruffles feathers on the Internet beat. (Chronicle photo)

Liking NetVibes

Robert Scoble says he's gobbling up new RSS feeds thanks to the new Google Reader. But I've grown tired of reading RSS feeds through an RSS reader. (And I've been writing about this stuff for years.)

My new info-gathering toy? NetVibes. It's a personalized start page that lets you add as many of your favorite sites (via their RSS feed) as you'd like. MyYahoo has 60 million users, but Netvibes -- launched in early 2006 by Paris-based Tariq Krim -- expects to have 15 million users by year's end. Wow.

With Netvibes, users can quickly change the look of their start page, select content, add RSS feeds, and custom-build features from other Netvibes users. Any email feed can be put on Netvibes. I'm liking it.

I'm also still playing with Megite. They created a page for me showing a few dozen of the feeds I subscribe to (after exporting my OPML file from Bloglines). They also have a "River of News" feed -- based on a post a few months ago by Dave Winer, I'm guessing -- that's pretty nice.

Last week I tried to set up a Google start page, but I was surprised and disappointed that Google doesn't let you couldn't figure out how to add your own RSS feeds to it. They also let you add media partners' content. (How geeky is this page talking about Subscribed Links feeds?)

One Laptop Per Child effort moves forward

NY Times: For $150, Third-World Laptop Stirs Big Debate. (NYT photo of MIT's Walter Bender, left, and Nicholas Negroponte) Excerpt:

The nonprofit project, One Laptop Per Child, [has won] over many skeptics over the last two and a half years. Five countries — Argentina, Brazil, Libya, Nigeria and Thailand — have made tentative commitments to put the computers into the hands of millions of students, with production in Taiwan expected to begin by mid-2007.

The laptop does not come with a  Microsoft Windows operating system or even a hard drive, and the screen is small. And the cost is now closer to $150 than $100. But the price tag, even compared with low-end $500 laptops now widely available, transforms the economic equation for developing countries. ...

The idea is also that children can take on much of the responsibility for maintaining the systems, rather than relying on or creating bureaucracies to do so.

“We believe you have to leverage the kids themselves,” Ms. Jepsen said. “They’re learning machines.” As an example, she pointed to the backlight used by the laptop. Although it is designed to last five years, if it fails it can be replaced as simply as batteries are replaced in a flashlight. It is something a child can do, she said. ...

Mr. Negroponte said the manufacturing cost was now below $150 and that it would fall below $100 by the end of 2008.

Om Malik to launch two new blogs

TechEffect: Om Malik to launch two new blogs.