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12:30 PM ET, May 16, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Data Portability: It's The New Walled Garden  —  The scuffle today between Facebook and Google has very little to do with user privacy and everything to do with user control.  A huge battle is underway between Google, MySpace and Facebook around control of user profiles and, therefore, users themselves.
RELATED:
Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:
Facebook has a point where it comes to your privacy  —  My ex-boss, John Furrier, goes after Facebook after Facebook blocked Google's Friend Connect from using its API to inport friends from Facebook into Google's Friend Connect.  —  I saw Dave Morin, who runs Facebook's developer platform, at Google's event Monday night.
Andy Space / 9 to 5 Mac:
MacBook upgrade set for Q3  —  Apple is moving toward the release of a redesigned MacBook, a new report emanating from the company's Asian Mac manufacturers claims.  —  AU Optronics Corp. and Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp. have been signed-up to produce flat-panel screens for the new MacBook models …
Discussion: Electronista
RELATED:
Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:
Orange to offer 3G iPhone in Africa, Mid East, and Europe  —  Orange, the exclusive provider of iPhones in France, announced Friday a new deal with Apple that will see it expand distribution and service of the device to additional European countries, the Middle East, and parts of Africa.
Reuters:
Orange to sell iPhone in Europe, Mid East, Africa
Dawn Kawamoto / CNET News.com:
Jerry Yang prepares troops for proxy battle  —  Editors note: This post was updated Friday, May 16, at 5:50 a.m. to include a letter sent to Yahoo executives concerning the proxy fight.  —  With billionaire investor Carl Icahn launching a proxy fight Thursday to unseat Yahoo's board of directors …
RELATED:
Business Wire:
Yahoo! Responds to Carl Icahn's Intention to Nominate Candidates for Election to Yahoo!'s Board of Directors  —  SUNNYVALE, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - News), a leading global Internet company, today sent the following letter in response to Carl Icahn's announcement regarding …
Peter Kafka / Silicon Alley Insider:
Jerry To Yahoos: Please Keep Working!  Jerry To Bosses: Here's What To Say (YHOO)  —  Carl Icahn's moves prompted a flurry of paperwork at Sunnyvale yesterday: First Roy Bostock responded to Carl, then Jerry Yang sent out two memos — one to all the proles, and one just for “SVPs and above”.
Discussion: Valleywag
Wade Roush / Xconomy:
Bender Creates Sugar Labs—New Foundation to Adapt OLPC's Laptop Interface for Other Machines  —  Wade Roush wrote:  —  Walter Bender, the former president of software and content for the One Laptop Per Child Foundation, contacted Xconomy this morning to alert us to the creation of Sugar Labs …
Discussion: Engadget
RELATED:
Steve Lohr / New York Times:
Microsoft Joins Effort for Laptops for Children
Ina Fried / Beyond Binary:
Microsoft, OLPC officially team up
Discussion: TechSpot and Electronista
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Poor Children Of The World No Longer Will Have To Struggle With Linux
Discussion: Webreakstuff
New York Post:
YAHOO! SEEKING OPEN ALLIANCE WITH GOOGLE  —  Yahoo! executives are scrambling to finalize a search-advertising pact with Google in the face of a fresh challenge to its independence from billionaire investor Carl Icahn, The Post has learned.  —  According to two sources close to the situation …
Ben Kuchera / Ars Technica:
Nintendo Wii outsells 360, PS3, PS2, PSP combined in April  —  The NPD console sales numbers have been released for April, stuffed with fascinating content.  How did the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Grand Theft Auto stack up against each other?  Did Mario Kart Wii sell as many copies as expected?
Umair Haque:
Facebook and The Future of Competition  —  Last week, I discussed Facebook's relentless evil, how that was a profound strategic error, and why the costs of evil are starting to outweigh the benefits - for everyone, not just Facebook.  —  Now, that's a pretty unorthodox argument, and I took a lot of heat for it: what is evil, anyways?
Philipp Lenssen / Google Blogoscoped:
Google's Laser Logo  —  This is one of the weirder and more interesting logos to show on the Google homepage: in disco neon colors, Google today celebrates the anniversary of the first laser.  Wikipedia explains (footnotes removes, my emphasis):  —  A laser is an electronic-optical device that emits coherent light radiation.
Discussion: Search Engine Land
Matthew Broersma / CNET News.com:
Mono offers open-source spin on Silverlight  —  The Novell-led Mono project this week made the first, though incomplete, public release of Moonlight, an open-source implementation of Microsoft's Silverlight, a browser plug-in that competes with products such as Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, Adobe Shockwave, JavaFX, and Apple QuickTime.
Discussion: Raph's Website and Linux.com
Stephanie Clifford / New York Times:
Yahoo and WPP in Partnership  —  YAHOO plans to announce Friday that it has formed a partnership with the WPP Group, the advertising holding company, that will give WPP's clients a broader swath of Web sites where they can aim their messages.  —  Under the deal, the thousands of Web publishers …
Kim Zetter / Threat Level:
Experts Say MySpace Suicide Indictment Sets ‘Scary’ Legal Precedent  —  In their eagerness to visit justice on a 49-year-old woman involved in the Megan Meier MySpace suicide tragedy, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles are resorting to a novel and dangerous interpretation …
Shadowmite.com Blog:
Treo 800 Prototype picture  —  Someone stopped into our chat room today with this to show us:  —  Its a CDMA WM Treo 800, but according to our source in the Ukraine it is also known as the Palm Zeppelin.  More details will follow, as we are unsure of the pixel count on the screen as well as several other important details.
 
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 More Items: 
Mark Sweney / Guardian:
Apple wins two black pencils at D&AD design awards
Discussion: MacUser and The Mac Observer
Danny McPherson / Security to the Core:
NSA.gov Hosed?  —  Someone nudged me a little while ago and asked …
Discussion: The Register and InfoWorld
Brian Garrity / New York Post:
SONY BMG SET FOR FURTHER SOUR NOTES
Fiona Morrow / Globe and Mail:
Death spurs headphone debate
Discussion: Switched, Gizmodo and TechRadar.com
IAB:
Internet Advertising Revenues Top $21 Billion in '07, Reaching Record High
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Why CBS Bought CNET, And Not The Other Way Around
Anthony James / Yanko Design:
Treo meets iPhone
Discussion: textually.org and Ubergizmo
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Danish Mobile Social Network ZYB Acquired By Vodafone For €31.5 million
 Earlier Items: 
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Flash P2P: Now That's Disruptive
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Exclusive Look at Plazes for iPhone
John Battelle / John Battelle's Searchblog:
GOOGLE. DOES. NOT MARKET. EXCEPT WHEN IT DOES.
Joel Johnson / Boing Boing Gadgets:
From Atari Joyboard to Wii Fit: 25 years of “exergaming”
Smashing Magazine:
More (Really) Stunning Desktop Wallpapers
Ryan Spoon:
Disqus - After 5 Days on Disqus, I'm Turning Back to Wordpress Comments
Eliot Van Buskirk / Listening Post:
Music Industry Gurus' Five Point Plan to Save their Business
Bruce Schneier / Guardian:
Taking your laptop into the US? Be sure to hide all your data first
Discussion: TechRadar.com and Slashdot
 

 
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”

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced she will leave the agency on January 20; she was the first woman to be confirmed to lead the agency

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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