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3:35 PM ET, August 14, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Peter Burrows / Business Week:
What May Be Behind the iPhone 3G Glitches  —  Dropped calls and choppy Web surfing on Apple's latest smartphone may stem from an Infineon chip.  A fix is on the way  —  Complaints over dropped calls and choppy Web connections on Apple's iPhone 3G have sparked a wave of debate in the blogosphere over the root cause of the problems.
RELATED:
Peter Burrows / Byte of the Apple:
Coming in September: Better 3G In The iPhone 3G  —  As we reported last night, two reliable sources say Apple will issue a software fix that will address the widespread complaints regarding lost calls and inconsistent 3G access with the iPhone 3G.  The problem (and it is a real issue …
Discussion: InformationWeek Weblog and Crave
Jim Goldman / Tech Check with Jim Goldman:
Netflix Goes Dark And Finds It's No Place To Be  —  It started this morning with an email apology from online movie rental powerhouse Netflix, confirming to its 8.4 million users that the company was suffering a shipping and distribution outage.  —  I called the company this morning …
RELATED:
Rafe Needleman / Webware.com:
Netflix users suffering service's longest outage ever  —  Netflix, and its customers, are currently experiencing the worst system failure in the DVD shipper's history.  The company shipped no discs on Tuesday, only “a few” yesterday, and so far none today.  Affected customers are receiving e-mails telling them their discs are delayed.
Discussion: Webomatica
Nick Wingfield / Wall Street Journal:
Netflix Suffers Major Outage
Vasanth Sridharan / Silicon Alley Insider:
Indie Game Developer Finds Success On Xbox 360 — Est.  $825K Sales In First Week  —  Console game developers — people who make games for the Xbox, PlayStation, etc. — have mostly been big companies — EA, Activision, etc. — because of the high cost of game development and retail distribution.
Discussion: p2pnet, Gearlog and Gizmodo
RELATED:
Jonathan Blow / Braid:
Stats: The First Week of Braid
Discussion: Destructoid
MG Siegler / VentureBeat:
Twitter kills SMS service in some countries over costs.  Will someone kill SMS already?  —  I've got some bad news for you if you're addicted to the micro-messaging service Twitter and don't live in the United States, Canada or India: You're about to get shafted.
RELATED:
Sarah Lacy:
Stop Whining UK; Twitter Is Building a Business
Discussion: GigaOM and Inquirer
Steve Rubel / Micro Persuasion:   The Risk in Using Twitter as a Public Utility
BIZ / Twitter Blog:
Changes for Some SMS Users—Good and Bad News
Nancy Gohring / Network World:
Facebook faces class-action suit over Beacon  —  A class-action suit filed in California charges Facebook and a handful of other companies, including Blockbuster, Fandango and Overstock, with violating online privacy and computer fraud laws related to Facebook's controversial Beacon system.
RELATED:
Vasanth Sridharan / Silicon Alley Insider:
Facebook Faces Class Action Suit Over Beacon Ad System
Discussion: TechCrunch and AppScout
Jack Davis / Docu-Drama:
Heinen settles with SEC over Apple option backdating complaint  —  In doing so, Heinen neither admitted or denied the Commission's allegations.  —  According to the complaint, “Heinen caused Apple to fraudulently backdate two large options grants to senior executives of Apple …
RELATED:
Dan Gallagher / MarketWatch:
Former Apple general counsel settles backdating charges
Discussion: InfoWorld and MacUser
Markus Jakobsson / Markus Jakobsson's blog:
What is worse than reusing passwords?  —  9 I like it!  —  Do you use the same password all over the place?  Yes, you probably do - whether you know it or not.  —  The fact is, while some people still casually use the same password for many sites, almost all of us reuse what we may think of as …
John Markoff / New York Times:
Ruling Is a Victory for Supporters of Free Software  —  SAN FRANCISCO — A legal dispute involving model railroad hobbyists has resulted in a major courtroom victory for the free software movement also known as open-source software.  —  In a ruling Wednesday, the federal appeals court …
RELATED:
Saul Hansell / Bits:
AT&T Mulls Watching You Surf  —  AT&T is “carefully considering” monitoring the Web-surfing activities of customers who use its Internet service, the company said in a letter in response to an inquiry from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.  —  While the company said it hadn't tested …
Christopher Price / PhoneNews.com:
MacBook Air Revision Imminent, Penryn, More Power  —  PhoneNews.com can confirm that Apple is preparing to release an new revision of the MacBook Air.  While that in and of itself is not a surprise to many, we can confirm some of the specifications of the unit.  —  Much of the MacBook Air's external design will not change.
Alex Davis / Courier-Journal:
Courier-Journal to lay off about 15, leave other jobs vacant  —  The Courier-Journal will lay off about 15 employees and leave other positions vacant as part of a broader cost-cutting move by the newspaper's parent, Gannett Co., the newspaper announced today.
Paul McDougall / InformationWeek:
Psystar ‘Definitely Still Shipping’ Mac Clones  —  In further defiance of Apple, Psystar also this week said it is making Leopard OS restore disks available to its customers.  —  In the latest sign that it has no intention of backing down in its copyright dispute with computing giant Apple …
Matthaus Krzykowski / VentureBeat:
Sources: HTC's Google Android phone is “weeks away” from launching  —  Over the past few days, we've gotten multiple confirmations from reliable sources that the first phone built on Google's Android platform will launch in the next several weeks.  It will be an HTC phone, likely the HTC Dream …
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider and iTWire
Emil Protalinski / One Microsoft Way:
A closer look at the technology behind the Microsoft Sphere  —  Back in March when we first got a whiff of the Microsoft Sphere, we were intrigued that the software giant had managed to take the technology used in the Microsoft Surface, and put it to use in a sphere.
Discussion: GottaBeMobile
Danielle Belopotosky / Bits:
Samsung Puts a Little Corn Into Its Cellphones  —  Samsung is hoping to steal a little of the Olympic spotlight in Beijing on Thursday as it unveils its latest “eco-phone.”  The E200 Eco is the third phone Samsung has introduced this year with parts made from bioplastics — materials extracted from corn.
 
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 More Items: 
DarkZero:
Sony to have 1:1 motion-tracking sword game by Xmas
Claudine Beaumont / Telegraph Connected:
BlackBerry Bold set for August 16 launch on Orange network
Lee Mathews / Download Squad:
Anti-Malware Toolkit Keeps Your Aresenal Up-To-Date
Joel Hruska / Ars Technica:
You've got jail! AOL spammer sentenced to seven years
Discussion: InfoWorld and TechSpot
Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:
Mac OS X 10.5.5 bug fix list grows with build 9F13 seed
Discussion: TUAW
Chris Foresman / Infinite Loop:
Now Playing, formerly Box Office, is back on the App Store
Jon / p2pnet:
RIAA pays Tanyan Andersen $107,951
Discussion: DailyTech
Vancouver Sun:
Radical layoffs at Radical Entertainment
 Earlier Items: 
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:
Here's An Idea: Stream Sirius Radio On Your iPhone
Mary A. C. Fallon / DEMO.com:
JAJAH calls wake up computers powered by new Intel boards
David Chartier / Ars Technica:
One month later: Google Lively? Not so much
Chris Morrison / VentureBeat:
Twitter joins the Olympics, as a Chinese journalist cries out for help
Declan McCullagh / The Iconoclast:
Wanted: Writers for D.C. tech lobby group, secrecy mandatory
Tom Brennan / Mad Cap:
Googling Eric Schmidt
Tony Smith / The Register:
Intel releases USB 3.0 controller interface spec
Discussion: Gizmodo, Computerworld and Slashdot
CBC News:
Cineplex big screens available to Xbox gamers
Discussion: Global Nerdy and Kotaku
 

 
From Mediagazer:

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

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

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

 
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