More from TechRepublic | | Five tips for being more productive when working from home Even if you're well-suited to work from home, maintaining your productivity can be a challenge. Here are some suggestions for making sure you're as effective and efficient as possible. Read more | Stocking stuffer ideas for geeks If you're still looking for stocking stuffers or perhaps coworker or hostess gifts for your favorite geeks, Nicole Bremer Nash and Edmond Woychowsky have some great suggestions for under $40. Read more | A techie's Christmas carol When four spirits visit one miserly old tech, his views of the holiday season and the IT industry change overnight. We hope you enjoy this lighthearted spoof of Charles Dickens' holiday classic. Read more | News from ZDNet | | FCC chair gives preliminary approval to Comcast-NBC Universal merger FCC Chairman Julius Genchowski has issued a draft order approving the Comcast-NBC Universal merger - with conditions - and is putting the deal up for a vote among the rest of the commission, according to a Washington Post report. There are reportedly five areas of concerns, including distribution of Comcast... Read more | Google buys old Port Authority, NYC fiber hub for $1.9 billion Even for Google, $1.9 billion for an NYC landmark 50% bigger than the Empire State Building is hardly loose pocket change. Read more | Windows 7? On ARM Tablets? I don't think so! Seriously, Windows 7 on ARM-powered tablets? Is Ballmer off his meds? Tablets belong to Apple and Linux. Read more | Quickoffice adds full PowerPoint support for the iPad Quickoffice just rolled out a free update for their iPad software that includes PowerPoint editing and creation. You can pick up the suite now for just $14.99. Read more | Cityville: This is why Google needs to change the game Google doesn't need Cityville, but Cityville represents one of Google's major weaknesses. Does anyone want to open a franchise in my town? Read more | Hulu yanks IPO, mulls other subscription plans Once the hottest thing on the Web, Hulu is now retrenching as the video-streaming market matures and shifts. According to a Wall Street Journal article, the company -- which includes the parent companies of Fox, NBC, and ABC as investors -- has decided against filing an IPO to raise money... Read more | Report: Newspapers make big gains in online video streams Newspapers are gaining ground when it comes to online video offerings, beating their television counterparts in several key metrics, according to an online video report commissioned by BrightCove and TubeMugul. In particular, the report noted that newspapers saw a 51 percent jump from last quarter in the number of titles... Read more | Oh, the irony. European Commission, an ACTA proponent, fined for copyright infringement It's kind of ironic that the European Commission, a proponent of the international trade agreement to enforce intellectual property rights, is being slapped with a fine of 12 million euros for infringing on the copyrights of a software company. A European Union court has ruled against the European Commission, the... Read more | |  |  | About this newsletter | The Sanity Check newsletter is my daily update on the technology world. You'll get my opinions, rants, reviews, user polls, and hand-picked stories of the day. Jason Hiner TechRepublic Editor in Chief
|  | | My Twitter feed: @jasonhiner | A techie's Christmas carol When four spirits visit one miserly old tech, his views of the holiday season and the IT industry change overnight. We hope you enjoy this lighthearted spoof of Charles Dickens' holiday classic. | | |