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12:20 PM ET, October 19, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
OMG Britney!  On Twitter!  —  This is perhaps the most exciting news since the May launch of TomCruise.com: I'd like to welcome Britney Spears to our world.  She (or rather her people) have launched both a Twitter account and a bloggy sort of site with near constant updates on her fascinating life.
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Caroline McCarthy / Webware.com:
Tweet me, baby, one more time  —  When we heard that pop singer Britney Spears was reinventing herself, we didn't know it involved a Twitter account.  —  But it's true—go to the newly revamped BritneySpears.com, and check it out.  You can “Friend Britney” not only on Facebook, YouTube …
Randall Stross / New York Times:
Why This Storm May Stay Away From Apple  —  VIOLENT waves are tossing about the world's largest financial institutions like toys made of balsa.  The dark skies ahead can't be anything but a recession.  Sheets of cold rain have already been smacking the retail sector.
Discussion: Pulse 2.0
Daniel Lyons / Newsweek:
Why Is Jerry Yang Still in Charge?  —  Lately, Yahoo seems to stumble from one idea to the next, with no grand vision or plan for the company.  —  From the magazine issue dated Oct 27, 2008  —  Eight months ago, Yahoo!CEO Jerry Yang had a chance to sell his company to Microsoft for $43 billion.
David Leppard / Times of London:
Passports will be needed to buy mobile phones  —  Everyone who buys a mobile telephone will be forced to register their identity on a national database under government plans to extend massively the powers of state surveillance.  —  Phone buyers would have to present a passport …
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Apple 2.0:
Apple Q4 earnings smackdown  —  Andy Zaky has a bone to pick with Wall Street — or rather, with the professional analysts who cover Apple (AAPL) at Morgan Stanley (MS), Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC), and the rest.  —  “I could write a book on what Wall Street analysts don't know,” he says.
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider
Dare Obasanjo aka Carnage4Life:
Cloud Computing and Vendor Lock-In  —  Tim Bray has a thought provoking post on embracing cloud computing entitled Get In the Cloud where he brings up the problem of vendor lock-in.  He writes … Tim's post is about cloud platforms but I think it is useful to talk about avoiding lock …
Discussion: SmoothSpan Blog and tecosystems
Miguel Helft / New York Times:
Changing That Home Page?  Take Baby Steps  —  A FEW weeks ago, Yahoo began what may be its biggest overhaul of its home page.  But if you are among the roughly 100 million Americans who stop by Yahoo.com every month, the odds are that you haven't noticed any changes.
Jai Molloy / Technician's Blog:
BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 (Code name: Kickstart)...  So I haven't posted anything in a while but rest assured I am alive and well.  —  Today I have a little surprise for everyone (unless you read before you click).  I managed to get my mitts on a BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 …
Melissa / yprofileblog.com:
Managing your alias and profile  —  Many of you have expressed your concern with the newest version of profiles, and believe me, we're reading and hearing your comments and are committed to helping you maximize your experience with the new profiles.  —  First off, we want to apologize straight away …
David Chartier / Ars Technica:
Google monetizes start page, vocal minority gets vocal  —  If you love something, set it free.  Then, if you're lucky, maybe you can figure out a way to make money with it.  Despite what appears to be a vocal minority that is unhappy with the changes, that's what Google may have finally …
Discussion: Guardian and Micro Persuasion
Ryan Block:
New MacBook Pro: now with 20% less battery power  —  Apple touted some pretty decent battery life numbers at the new MacBook / MacBook Pro press event this week: up to five hours on the Pro with discrete graphics off, and four hours with it on (both surely assuming ideal low-power conditions).
Discussion: Gizmodo, MacRumors and Infinite Loop
Fred / A VC:
The Stupidest Answer In The World  —  There's a great article in the NY Times Magazine section today about Obama's quest to win the white male vote which was written by Matt Bai.  In it Obama addresses the “bitter quote”: … I made a boneheaded move this week as well with this quote …
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 More Items: 
Frank Washburn / GigaOM:
Where's the Money In Casual Web Game Development?
Discussion: Clickety Clack
Michelle Meyers / CNET News:
Move over pinochle, Web surfing stimulates aging brains
Steve Gillmor / TechCrunchIT:
FriendFeed to add Realtime APIs next week
 Earlier Items: 
Cameron Baker / TheTechLounge:
Mitsubishi LaserVue 65" HDTV - We Meet Again
Discussion: Gizmodo, I4U News and Engadget HD
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Destruction Of Bloglines Now Complete; Founder Prepares To Switch To Google Reader
Discussion: TomsTechBlog.com
Ryan Singel / Threat Level:
‘Anonymous’ Member Unmasked, Charged With Web Attack on Scientology