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11:20 PM ET, August 7, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Michael Liedtke / Associated Press:
Google believes $1B investment in AOL is crumbling  —  SAN FRANCISCO - In an assessment that could lead to a substantial charge against its future profits, Google Inc. believes its $1 billion investment in advertising partner AOL is souring.  —  The Mountain View-based company disclosed …
RELATED:
Rafat Ali / paidContent.org:
Google: AOL's Not Worth $20 Billion Anymore  —  Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has filed its 10-Q quarterly, and some interesting language about how it continues to value its 5 percent stake in AOL: “We review our investment in AOL (NYSE: TWX) for impairment in accordance with FSP SFAS 115-1 …
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider
Eric Auchard / Reuters:
Google admits its AOL investment may be impaired
Discussion: MarketingShift
Tom Krazit / One More Thing:
Much ado about the iPhone's ‘kill switch’  —  The discovery of a “kill switch” inside the iPhone 2.0 software prompted much consternation and little fact-finding.  —  (Credit: Apple)  —  Apple's iPhone “kill switch” has prompted much hand-wringing, despite the fact that no one knows exactly what it does.
RELATED:
L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Apple removes $1,000 featureless iPhone application  —  Eight iPhone owners have joined an elite clan: Their Apple gadget is running a program that cost nearly $1,000.  —  When the iPhone first hit the market in June 2007, those who paid the $499 entry price — and signed the two-year AT&T contract — owned a status symbol.
Discussion: 9 to 5 Mac
Benwilson / iPhone Atlas:
iPhone can phone home and kill apps?
Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:
The myth of the creative class  —  As I near the end of writing my book, one lesson that has struck me is about the will of most people to create, and the new possibilities the Google age brings us.  —  One survey I quote says that 81 percent of us say we have a book in us.
Wired News:
Watch the Olympics Online  —  The 2008 Beijing Olympics will happen while most Americans are sleeping.  While NBC, the games' official media outlet in the United States, will be providing thousands of hours of content on the web, the only way to truly ensure you won't miss too many record-breaking moments …
Discussion: Lifehacker, Furrier.org, BroadDev and PSFK
RELATED:
Kevin J. O'Brien / International Herald Tribune:
Facebook and StudiVZ battle over Germany  —  BERLIN: When Facebook sued the German leader in social networking, StudiVZ, last month, it contended that the company had illegally copied Facebook's “look and feel” with similar graphics and features.  —  “A great deal, if not all …
RELATED:
Rafat Ali / paidContent.org:
Did Facebook Try to Buy German Clone StudiVZ? All Stock Offer
Discussion: Valleywag
Bill Tancer / Hitwise Intelligence:
How Cuil is This?  —  We received numerous requests to update the daily chart from our last post on Cuil.  As expected, as the initial media hype subsided, traffic to the upstart search engine has declined precipitously.  —  As of this Tuesday, August 5th, Cuil.com ranked as the #1034 …
Tiernan Ray / Tech Trader Daily:
Google GPhone Delayed By HTC Issues, Global Equities Says  —  The word from Half Moon bay is that Google's (GOOG) “GPhone” cell-phones, being built by various handset makers, could be delayed from an end-of-year introduction to sometime later in the first quarter of next year, according to Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research.
Juan Carlos Perez / PC World:
Google Apps Hit by Prolonged Gmail Access Problem  —  A technical problem hit an undetermined number of Gmail users, including paying subscribers to the Google Apps hosted software suite, locking them out of their accounts for about 15 hours on Wednesday and early Thursday.
Eliot Phillips / Hack a Day:
Black Hat 2008: FasTrak toll system completely broken  —  FasTrak is the electronic toll collection system used by the state of California.  Motorists can purchase a toll transponder for ~$26 and link the serial number with a debit account to have their tolls deducted automatically.
Discussion: Gizmodo and Switched
Nick / Rough Type:
“Is Google Making Us Stupid?”: sources and notes  —  Since the publication of my essay Is Google Making Us Stupid? in The Atlantic, I've received several requests for pointers to sources and related readings.  I've tried to round them up below.  —  The essay builds on my book The Big Switch …
InfoWorld:
IBM exec predicts the future of Linux, open source  —  With LinuxWorld showcasing the popularity of the open source operating system, and with open source in general finding its legs in the enterprise, Bob Sutor, IBM's vice president of open source and standards, made a slate of predictions …
Katie Marsal / AppleInsider:
New software would let iPhones access iTunes libraries from anywhere  —  A new version of Apple's iPhone Software could provide iPhone and iPod touch users with access to their home computer's entire iTunes media library while on the go without having to first download those media items through …
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Some Mashups Harnessing The Power Of Yahoo's BOSS  —  Yahoo's Search Blog has posted a list of some of the most promising new web apps being built using its BOSS search platform.  BOSS is a radically open API that launched last month that allows developers to utilize much of Yahoo's core search data without …
Christina Clark / Download Squad:
SlingPlayer 2.0 released today  —  Slingbox from SlingMedia is one of my favorite things to use.  Being rather addicted to watching the Food Network and TLC's What Not to Wear it's great to just grab my laptop and check out what's on wherever I am.  My favorite time to use Slingbox?
 
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 More Items: 
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Is the iPhone NDA About Patents?
Discussion: Gadget Lab and webmonkey
Alana Semuels / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Telecommuters get no lovin' from their ISPs, study finds
Discussion: Forrester Research
Canon USA:
CANON U.S.A. INTRODUCES THREE NEW ADDITIONS TO ITS VIXIA HIGH …
Leon Neyfakh / New York Observer:
Dial Press Pays 300K For Tech Journalist's Book on the Most …
Discussion: TechCrunch, Gizmodo and CrunchGear
Sony Ericsson:
Sony Ericsson announces the slim and elegant T700 …
Rodney Rumford / FaceReviews:
New Facebook App Visualization
Joseph Menn / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Social networking sites attract friends, but also enemies
Austin Modine / The Register:
US Patent Office rains on Dell's ‘cloud computing’ trademark
Discussion: eWeek
 Earlier Items: 
Kevin Michaluk / CrackBerry.com blogs:
Will.I.Am's Video “One More Chance” is a BlackBerry Ad
Jeff Bakalar / Crave: The gadget blog:
Asus Eee Stick looks very familiar
Discussion: CrunchGear and iTech News Net
Jack Buser / PlayStation.Blog:
Want into the PlayStation Home Closed Beta Test? Here's How to Apply
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Warner Music to rhythm games: pay up or the music gets it!
Peter Kafka / Silicon Alley Insider:
Web Video Producers: We're Pretty Sure There's A Business Here, Somewhere
Jacqui Cheng / Infinite Loop:
Two weeks until iPhone 3G Launch v2.0
Tom Espiner / CNET News.com:
At Black Hat, Kaminsky details DNS flaw
Katie Marsal / AppleInsider:
Apple poised for special event this September
 

 
From Mediagazer:

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

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

 
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