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5:00 PM ET, January 29, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Google's Newspaper Ads: Big Hopes For Small Barcodes (GOOG)  —  Google's efforts to get into the newspaper ad business have yet to yield much.  One tool it hopes will eventually change that: Small, square barcodes, like the one at the right, at the bottom of print ads.
RELATED:
Joel Spolsky / Joel on Software:
CueCat is back!  —  Google: “2D barcodes are an especially exciting part of this because they allow readers to “click” on interesting print ads with their cellphones and seamlessly connect to relevant online content."  —  Years ago, I went out on a limb and dismissed a similar scheme thus …
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
U2 Manager Says Google And Its Hippie Friends Should Pay The Recording Industry  —  from the still-haven't-found-what-i'm-looking- for... dept  —  While the IFPI and the RIAA have been actively pushing for ISP liability for file sharing, it appears some in the industry are taking it even further.
RELATED:
Ben Fenton / Financial Times:
U2 manager urges ISPs to help fight web piracy  —  The music industry should shift the focus of its battle with internet piracy towards the technological industries which have “built multibillion dollar industries on the back of our content without paying for it”, according to Paul McGuinness, manager of rock group U2.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Our Tech President Endorsements: Barack Obama and John McCain  —  It's sadly clear that our current leaders have little understanding of technology and why it's important to our economy and culture.  That has to change.  —  We've been interviewing 2008 presidential candidates for the last few months …
RELATED:
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:   YouTube + Digg + Obama = YouBama
Aude Lagorce / MarketWatch:
Motorola may exit its handset business: analyst  —  LONDON (MarketWatch) — There is a possibility that Motorola, Inc. (MOT:, , ) may exit the handset business and concentrate on becoming an enterprise and government company, Richard Windsor, an analyst with Nomura International, told clients a in note published on Tuesday.
RELATED:
barracudanetworks.com:
Legal Defense of Free and Open Source Software  —  The purpose of this Web page is to inform the community of Barracuda Networks' plans to defend itself and the free and open source software (FOSS) community from a patent threat by Trend Micro.  In addition, we wanted to share …
RELATED:
Ryan Paul / Ars Technica:
Barracuda defends open-source antivirus from patent attack
Discussion: InfoWorld
Brad Stone / Bits:
Slashdot Founder Questions Crowd's Wisdom  —  One of the oldest rivals to the community news site Digg is pointing to recent unrest at the site as evidence that the social news model is flawed.  —  Last week, frequent users of Digg protested changes in its algorithms that were designed …
Discussion: Profy.Com and The Last Podcast
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:
VMware Down 30% As Growth Disappoints; Now What?  —  VMware (VMW) shares have plunged more than 30% today following the company's announcement late yesterday of both a $5 million revenue shortfall compared with Street expectations in the fourth quarter and a 2008 growth projection that left the Street wanting more.
Kenneth C. Green / Inside Higher Ed:
The Movie Industry's 300% Error  —  A week ago today, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) issued what had to be a hugely embarrassing news release acknowledging that an aggressively promoted and widely cited research report commissioned by the MPAA in 2005 significantly overstated …
Discussion: p2pnet
Wall Street Journal:
Sprint Revives Clearwire Talks  —  Sprint Nextel has revived serious discussions with startup Clearwire to form a joint venture that would bring in funding from the likes of Intel, Google and Best Buy to build a high-speed wireless network using WiMax technology.
Kip Kniskern / LiveSide:
Wall Street Journal signs up with Microsoft for Contextual and Paid Search advertising  —  Microsoft will become the exclusive third-party ad provider for the Wall Street Journal network of sites, including The Wall Street Journal Online, Barrons.com, MarketWatch.com, AllThingsD.com and others.
Steve Williams / Digg the Blog:
Digg Joins the DataPortability Project  —  Digg has joined the DataPortability Project, a group of websites cooperating to help you securely use your data however you want.  Why?  Because you own your data.  It's that simple.  From the start, Digg has supported the idea that you own your own data.
Sam / a gthing science project:
The True Cost of SMS Messages  —  I just found out that AT&T (A-fee&fee?) is raising their text message pricing.  When I first signed up for AT&T 6 or so years ago it cost 10 cents to send an SMS message, and it was free to receive them.  —  When AT&T switched to Cingular the price of sending …
Ed Bott / Ed Bott's Microsoft Report:
Windows 7 = Vista Release 2  —  All the kerfuffle over Windows 7 - leaked memos, shaky handheld video clips of leaked builds, equally shaky tentative release schedules - is amusing.  I don't have any inside information to offer, only a perspective drawn from 17 years of watching the Windows development process in action.
 
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 More Items: 
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols / eWeek:
Come On! VMware's Quarter Wasn't that Bad
Discussion: Hardware 2.0 and PodTech.net
Agence France Presse:
China's mobile network: a big brother surveillance tool?
Discussion: Techdirt and CNET News.com
Wendy Tanaka / Forbes:
Google Expected To Report Stellar Earnings
Discussion: WebProNews
Nilay Patel / Engadget:
How much would you pay to be the first Optimus Maximus owner?
Discussion: Gizmodo and Hardware 2.0
Peter Ha / CrunchGear:
Continental announces in-flight Wi-Fi
Schneier on Security:
Security vs. Privacy
Discussion: Techdirt
Emily Price / Download Squad:
Destroy the web with NetDisaster - Today's Time Waster
Discussion: Webware.com
Business Wire:
ShoZu Raises $12 Million in Series C Funding; Round Led by New …
 Earlier Items: 
Inside CRM:
50 Social Sites That Every Business Needs a Presence on
Discussion: ResourceShelf
CNN:
Apple gains in premarket; Piper Jaffray reiterates buy, $250 price target
Discussion: Macsimum News
Ryan Paul / Ars Technica:
Firefox share up over 20% in Europe, mostly at expense of IE
Discussion: TechSpot News and IT Facts
BBC:
Quarter of US iPhones ‘unlocked’
John Graham-Cumming:
How many users does Digg have?
Discussion: TechCrunch and The Next Web
Brent Csutoras / Search Engine Land:
How To Create Compelling Social Media Profiles
Enigmax / TorrentFreak:
Rapidshare To Be Forced to Shut Down Following Court Defeat?
Matt Cutts / Gadgets, Google, and SEO:
11 Power Tips for Gmail
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter:
Internal memo: Hearst Magazines president announces layoffs as part of a decision to “reallocate resources” to “continue our focus on digital innovation”

Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
National World, one of the UK's biggest newspaper groups, gets a £56.2M buyout offer from shareholder Media Concierge, a 40% premium to its Nov. 21 stock price

Lachlan Cartwright / The Ankler:
Sources: MSNBC renewed Rachel Maddow's contract early this fall, but with a pay cut; MSNBC bosses' plan to shake up daytime and weekend programming

 
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