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11:50 AM ET, February 19, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Toshiba:
Toshiba Announces Discontinuation of HD DVD Businesses  —  Company Remains Focused on Championing Consumer Access to High Definition Content  —  TOKYO—Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop …
RELATED:
Ryan Block / Engadget:
Live from Toshiba's HD DVD press conference in Tokyo  —  Engadget Japan is live at Toshiba's HD DVD press conference in Tokyo right now.  It's nearing 5PM, when the bell is expected to toll for HD DVD, and we can all move on with our new lives as Blu-ray (or download) buying consumers.
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Toshiba delivers its Betamax address
Discussion: All News Feeds and Technology Live
BBC:
Toshiba drops out of HD DVD war
Reuters:
Microsoft targets Web with Yahoo or alone: Gates  —  SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp plans to invest heavily in Web search to compete against Google Inc, even if it fails to acquire Yahoo Inc, the company's chairman Bill Gates said on Monday.  —  Gates, who called Microsoft's offer for Yahoo …
RELATED:
DealBook:
Microsoft to Authorize Proxy Fight at Yahoo  —  In an escalation of its fight for Yahoo, Microsoft will authorize a proxy fight at the Internet company this week, people briefed on the matter told DealBook.  —  The move, expected to cost about $20 million to $30 million …
Christine Monaghan / Apple:
iPod shuffle Now Just $49  —  New 2GB Model Priced at $69  —  Apple® today announced that its iPod® shuffle, the world's most wearable music player, is now even more affordably priced at $49 and that it is introducing a new 2GB model of the iPod shuffle for $69.
RELATED:
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
iPod shuffle price cut, now $49  —  Well, what do you know.  What was $79 just a few minutes ago is now just $49.  Making room for something new are we Apple?  Still no change to iPod touch and iPhone pricing but we'll keep an eye out.  —  [Thanks, Mog]
USA Today:
Verizon to offer flat-fee unlimited wireless plans  —  NEW YORK — Verizon Wireless (VZ) Tuesday will unveil a plan that offers unlimited domestic calling for a flat fee of $99.99 to $139.99 a month.  —  Unlimited plans for BlackBerry devices and other smartphones will start at $129.99 a month.
RELATED:
Verizon:
Verizon Wireless Introduces New Unlimited Plans That Are As Worry Free As The Guarantee  —  New Voice Plans Mean No More Counting Minutes, While New Data Plans Add Affordable New Options  —  BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Verizon Wireless is moving the industry forward with the introduction of game-changing voice and data plans.
Darren Murph / Engadget:
Verizon's unlimited plans get official, not as stellar as previously assumed
Discussion: Electronista and Engadget Mobile
david ascher:
Mozilla Messaging  —  Today we've announced the launch of Mozilla Messaging, the new name for the entity I've been calling MailCo on this blog.  As promised, it's a new subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation, focused on email and internet communications.  We've put up the essential information …
RELATED:
Mozilla:
Mozilla Messaging Starts Up Operations: FAQ
Discussion: Mobility Site
Allen Stern / CenterNetworks:   Mozilla Messaging Launches To Fix Email - Will It Be Enough?
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Scribd's iPaper Plan  —  Scribd, the San Francisco-based start-up that was dubbed “YouTube of Documents” has finally become worthy of that sobriquet.  While I don't care much about community around documents, I love the concept of dead simple sharing of documents.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Microsoft To Give Students Dev Software For Free  —  At a talk tomorrow at Stanford University, Bill Gates will announce that they are making much of their developer software free to college and university students.  The program, called Microsoft DreamSpark, will be run by Joe Wilson, Senior Director of Academic Initiatives.
RELATED:
Arnold Kim / MacRumors:
Apple Depicts Advanced Multitouch Gesturing Control Panel in Mac OS X  —  In case there were any doubts that Apple was exploring the use of advanced multitouch gestures under Mac OS X, a recent Apple patent application authored by Wayne Westerman (of Fingerworks) shows mockups …
Discussion: Gizmodo, GottaBeMobile, 9 to 5 Mac and Digg
RELATED:
Cleve Nettles / 9 to 5 Mac:
Apple updates Xsan
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Google 10K: Warns On Near-Term Revenue  —  Google's 10K included an alarming nugget about the possible ongoing impact of click-improvement programs on the company's near-term revenue.  As you'll recall, one reason Google gave for its light revenue in Q4 was the reduction of “accidental clicks.”
RELATED:
Seamusmccauley / Virtual Economics:
Google's 2007 UK revenues - the UK's single largest advertising channel
Discussion: paidContent
Ionut Alex Chitu / Google Operating System:
The Most Frequently Used Features in Microsoft Office  —  Online office suites like Google Docs are often criticized because they have a very basic feature set, but the advanced features from software packages like Microsoft Office are rarely used.  Jensen Harris, Group Program Manager …
Discussion: Google Blogoscoped
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
HP's UMPC 2133 revealed  —  We've just received these images of HP's rumored UMPC.  Honestly, we have no reason to doubt their authenticity.  The HP Compaq 2133 “lifestyle accessory” features a big, scratch resistant 8.9-inch 1366 x 766 (WXGA) display, ExpressCard/54 slot, Wireless LAN …
Erica Ogg / CNET News.com:
‘DVD Jon’ frees your media with DoubleTwist  —  The man notorious for cracking the DVD code, and Apple's FairPlay DRM, is looking to make a legitimate business out of his expertise.  —  Beginning Tuesday, the first product from his company DoubleTwist Ventures, will enter open beta.
RELATED:
Joel Spolsky / Joel on Software:
Why are the Microsoft Office file formats so complicated?  (And some workarounds)  —  Last week, Microsoft published the binary file formats for Office.  These formats appear to be almost completely insane.  The Excel 97-2003 file format is a 349 page PDF file.  But wait, that's not all there is to it!
Discussion: One Microsoft Way
 
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 More Items: 
Peter Ha / CrunchGear:
Samsung u550 launches on Verizon
Discussion: Electronista
David Ciccone / Mobility Today:
AT&T Palm Centro  —  A powerful device for an entry level user.
Nick Farrell / Inquirer:
Sea cable snappage was sabotage
Discussion: Gizmodo
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
Turns Out Social Networks Aren't Breeding Grounds For Sexual Predators
Discussion: Reuters
Dionne Searcey / Wall Street Journal:
Verizon's HDTV Pitch Is Fuzzy
Chez / Deus Ex Malcontent:
Say What You Will (Requiem for a TV News Career)
Dana Blankenhorn / Open Source:
Cleversafe rolling smoothly toward second quarter launch
Discussion: SYS-CON CANADA
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Google's annual report by the charts
 Earlier Items: 
louisgray.com:
FeedBurner Quietly Kills All-Time RSS Feed Stats
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Rackspace Offers Cloud Computing with Mosso
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Retaining Yahoo Talent: Enhanced Severance?
USA Today:
Do video games have a motion picture-like future?
Discussion: TECH.BLORGE.com
Stefanie Olsen / CNET News.com:
Smile, you're on a bar Webcam
Kim Zetter / Threat Level:
Cayman Islands Bank Gets Wikileaks Taken Offline in U.S.
Dave Winer / Scripting News:
The simplest podcast API ever
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Matthew Keys / The Desk:
DirecTV terminates its Dish acquisition after a group of Dish creditors rejected a modified bond exchange offer

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
A growing number of podcasters, including Tim Ferriss, are moving away from interviews to monologues or co-hosts, as some well-known guests can be overexposed

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
A New York judge finds Sirius XM liable for a difficult subscription cancellation process; Sirius says it will appeal but abide by a new “click-to-cancel” rule

 
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