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12:15 PM ET, July 31, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Jessica E. Vascellaro / Wall Street Journal:
Google to Extend Reach With Venture-Capital Arm  —  Ex-Entrepreneur Hired To Assist in Setup; Brand-Name Advantage  —  Google Inc. is working on plans to start a venture-capital arm, according to several people briefed on the discussions.  —  The group will be lead by David Drummond …
RELATED:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Google To Launch Venture Fund  —  The WSJ is reporting that Google is set to launch a venture fund to give it the option of investing in startups instead of just flat out buying them.  The fund will be led by Google's SVP Corporate Development David Drummond and Bill Maris …
Discussion: MYBLOG by Ouriel and The Next Web
Fred / A VC:   Corporate Venture Capital
Bobbie Johnson / Guardian:
Watchdog clears Google's street cameras  —  Google's controversial Street View service - which will offer ground-level pictures of every UK street online -can finally be launched in Britain, after a privacy watchdog said it had no complaints about the service.
RELATED:
The Smoking Gun:
Google: “Complete Privacy Does Not Exist”  —  Defending “Street View” lawsuit, firm says trespasses to be expected  —  Arguing that technology has ensured that “complete privacy does not exist,” Google contends that a Pennsylvania family has no legal grounds to sue the search giant …
BBC:
Google Street View gets go ahead  —  Google's controversial Street View photo-mapping tool has been given the all clear by the UK's privacy watchdog.  —  The system takes pictures of streets and adds them to online maps to let people see what locations look like.
Rafat Ali / paidContent.org:
LG's New Blu-Ray Box Includes Netflix Streaming; “Well Under $500”  —  Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) announced its first direct-to-TV movie partnership with LG Electronics (SEO: 066570) early this year, but was short on details then.  Since then, it launched through a low-cost Roku box.
RELATED:
David Kaplan / paidContent.org:
Forrester Buys JupiterResearch For $23 Million  —  Forrester Research has bought rival tech and media analyst JupiterResearch along with its parent company, JUPR Holdings, from MCG Capital Corporation for $23 million in cash.  The announcement was made by the Jordan, Edmiston Group, which managed the deal.
RELATED:
Business Wire:   Forrester Acquires JupiterResearch
David Schatsky / JupiterResearch:
Forrester Buys Jupiter
Justin Smith / Inside Facebook:
Facebook Launches News Feed Filters - First Look  —  It's been nearly two years since Facebook's News Feed launched.  Tonight, Facebook is turning on the first major change to the News Feed user experience: News Feed filters.  —  News Feed filters are tabs at the top of the News Feed that allow you to view stories of only one type.
Carl Icahn / The Icahn Report:
Concerning the Annual Yahoo! Meeting  —  I will not be attending.  The proxy fight is over and it will not do shareholders or Yahoo! any good to have the annual meeting turn into a media event for no purpose.  Last week, I realized it was impossible to gain enough support from the large institutions …
RELATED:
Caroline McCarthy / The Social:
‘Scrabulous’ gets a nip-tuck, returns as ‘Wordscraper’  —  In the high school cafeteria of Facebook apps, Scrabulous is like that girl who gets in trouble for showing too much skin, only to throw on a hoodie and be let back into the principal's good graces.  Sort of.
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Surprise!  Motorola posts profit; Isn't unraveling as handset sales crater  —  Motorola posted a small profit excluding charges-a small victory, but enough to top Wall Street estimates calling for a loss of 3 cents a share.  The company's enterprise and networking business carried the quarter.
RELATED:
Edward Cody / Washington Post:
IOC Allows China To Limit Reporters' Access to Internet  —  The International Olympic Committee and the Chinese government acknowledged Wednesday that reporters covering the Olympics will be blocked from accessing Internet sites that Chinese authorities consider politically sensitive.
Discussion: Romenesko and New York Times
RELATED:
Steven Schwankert / IDG News Service:
IOC Caves to China Internet Censorship
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Cable On A Roll: Cablevision Posts Blowout Q2, Beats Expectations (CVC)  —  Another strong Q2 from a major cable operator: The Dolans' Cablevision (CVC) beat analysts' sales, profit, and subscriber estimates, showing no weakness from Verizon's increasing FiOS presence.  Shares are trading up 11.2% to $23.63.
Discussion: paidContent.org, Reuters and DSLreports
Wil Shipley / Call Me Fishmeal:
“The Mojave Experiment:” Bad Science, Bad Marketing  —  I guess I should first admit I hate the show Punk'd.  I mean, here's a guy who is famous for lying about his age so he seems hipper, telling us that his show's purpose it to deflate the big egos on other stars, and show them what truly matters in life.
Mat Balez / Google Mobile Blog:
Transit directions: Now on S60 & Windows Mobile  —  A few weeks ago we released Google Maps for mobile with Transit directions for BlackBerry and Java-based handsets.  Now, with the release of version 2.2 of the application for Symbian S60 (3rd edition or later) and Windows Mobile (2005 or later) …
Wall Street Journal:
Newspapers Think Locally for Online Ads  —  Sales Efforts Increase, But ‘Smaller Dollars’ Prove Hard to Chase  —  In an effort to make up for their plunging print-ad revenues, newspaper companies have been scrambling to train their sales teams in the intricacies of selling online ads to local marketers.
Arn / MacRumors:
Apple Seeds 2nd Beta of iPhone 2.1 Firmware to Developers  —  Just a week after the first iPhone 2.1 beta seed, Apple has released another 2.1 firmware release to developers.  The new version appears to include several bug fixes. … Apple has not announced a timeframe for the 2.1 release …
InfoWorld:
Oracle buys Global Knowledge Software  —  Oracle has bought Global Knowledge Software, a developer of enterprise software training automation tools, the companies said Thursday.  —  Global Knowledge Software (GKS) develops tools for building self-service training courses …
 
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 More Items: 
Michael Learmonth / Silicon Alley Insider:
Surprise!  A Big Media Company Finally Says Digital Revenue Actually Matters Now
Discussion: Zatz Not Funny!
Jennifer Leggio / Feeds:
SEC unanimously approves use of corporate blogs to meet Reg FD requirements
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Yo FCC! Are You Doing Anything About Metered Broadband?
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
The Pirate Bay Now Supports Tagging
Discussion: Slyck
Business Wire:
TheStreet.com Reports Second-Quarter Financial Results
Andy Space / 9 to 5 Mac:
Firewire speed set to increase four-fold
Discussion: Gearlog and Electronista
Anick Jesdanun / Associated Press:
Yahoo offers coupons for music that stops working
 Earlier Items: 
Jon / p2pnet:
New Bell Canada throttling plan: Goodbye DSL
Discussion: DSLreports
Taku Imasaki / PlayStation.Blog:
A Grand Update for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
Russell Buckley / MobHappy:
Windows Mobile in the Dunk Tank
John Noble Wilford / New York Times:
Discovering How Greeks Computed in 100 B.C.
Discussion: Switched and Slashdot
Caterina.net:
Joining Hunch  —  After hanging up my purple and yellow cleats …
Discussion: The Social, PDA and TechCrunch
Matt Buchanan / Gizmodo:
Giz Explains: An Illustrated Guide to Every Stupid Cable You Need
Chris Anderson / The Long Tail:
HOW BIG IS THE FREE ECONOMY?
Discussion: P2P Foundation and open
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
JavaFX SDK preview launches: Can Sun play the RIA game?
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Evan Drellich / New York Times:
The MLB is planning national packages for streaming companies to bid on in 2028, when its national TV deals with ESPN, Fox, and Turner expire

Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
Tubi launches Scenes, a mobile feature that lets viewers watch 60-to-90-second trailer-style clips from its library to help with content discovery

Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Analyzing Comcast's spinoff of cable networks, purposefully structured with low debt: the move might be a signal to the industry that it's time to consolidate

 
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