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6:35 PM ET, November 14, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
John Markoff / New York Times:
Google Is Taking Questions (Spoken, via iPhone)  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Pushing ahead in the decades-long effort to get computers to understand human speech, Google researchers have added sophisticated voice recognition technology to the company's search software for the Apple iPhone.
RELATED:
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
How Long Does Google Baby the iPhone?
Discussion: NEWSFACTOR, Webware.com and Gizmodo
Business Wire:
Sun Microsystems Aligns Business with Global Economic Climate and Amplifies Growth Opportunities Across Open Source Platforms  —  SANTA CLARA, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAVA - News) today announced a series of changes designed to align its cost model …
RELATED:
Margaret Kane / CNET News:
Sun restructures, lays off up to 6,000  —  Sun Microsystems has announced a restructuring that will involve layoffs of 15 percent to 18 percent of its global workforce.  —  The company also announced a reorganization of its software operations and the departure of Rich Green, executive vice president of software.
Dan Lyons / Real Dan Lyons Web Site:
Sun to cut 6,000  —  See the press release here.  It's classic Sun doublespeak.
Discussion: Business 2.0 Press
Jose Antonio Vargas / Washington Post:
The YouTube Presidency  —  The White House has gone YouTube.  —  Today, President-elect Obama will record the weekly Democratic address not just on radio but also on video — a first.  The address, typically four minutes long, will be turned into a YouTube video and posted on Obama's transition site …
RELATED:
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Obama to Address the Nation Each Week on YouTube
Discussion: HeyJude
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Apple 2.0:
IBM must put up $3 million in Papermaster case  —  IBM only had to pay a $350 filing fee to sue Mark Papermaster, the 25-year IBM (IBM) veteran hired by Steve Jobs last month to run Apple's (AAPL) iPod and iPhone division.  —  It's going to cost them a lot more to pursue the case.
Discussion: AppleInsider and Digital Daily
RELATED:
Paul McDougall / InformationWeek:
Revenge Of The Papermaster: Apple Exec Countersues IBM  —  Newly appointed iPhone chief claims a noncompete agreement he signed with former employer Big Blue is invalid.  —  Mark Papermaster, the microchip expert that a court last week ordered to stop working at Apple while it hears a breach …
Ian Paul / PC World:
Microsoft Opens Online Store: I'm Not Impressed  —  It's opening day for Microsoft's Microsoft Store.  But don't expect to find any opening day bargains.  I compared, and Microsoft is charging considerably more for many software titles compared to legitimate online vendors like Amazon selling identical products.
RELATED:
Dawn Kawamoto / CNET News:
Microsoft launches second retail site
Discussion: Download Squad, Channel 10 and I4U News
Business Technology:
How Old Is Your Work Computer?  —  It used to be that every three years, workers would get brand new computers from their businesses' tech departments.  But for many those days are over.  —  The reason: Delaying computer upgrades is one of the easiest ways for a tech department to cut its budget.
Jordan Golson / Industry Standard:
Nick Denton: Pay-for-page-views was too successful  —  When asked what he would have done differently with Valleywag after it was announced that the site was closing, Gawker Media head-honcho Denton said he “probably wouldn't have paid out those big bonuses to [writers] at the start of the year!”
Martin Peers / Wall Street Journal:
Google's Consumers Are Checking Out  —  Google's business model is revealing its Achilles' heel.  —  The Internet giant's big perceived advantage over traditional media has long been its consumer-driven business model.  Whereas traditional media has more of a marketer-driven approach …
Discussion: Valleywag
Eric Krangel / Alley Insider:
October Game Sales: Nintendo Wii Kicking PS3 Butt  —  Nintendo (NTDOY) is eating Microsoft (MSFT) and Sony's (SNE) lunch in the console wars, the NPD Group says.  —  Look at the sales figures for consoles in October:  — Wii: 803,000 consoles  — Xbox 360: 370,000  — PS3: 190,000
RELATED:
Slash Lane / AppleInsider:
Apple sued over hairline cracks in iPhone 3G casings  —  Apple is facing yet another lawsuit over the performance of its iPhone 3G on AT&T's network but with added allegations that the company is ignoring the occurrence of hairline cracks in the handset's enclosure.
Betsy Schiffman / Epicenter:
Tech Job Losses in 2008 Could Be Highest Since 2003: Report  —  Last quarter saw the highest number of tech layoffs in nearly five years, according to a report from Challenger Gray & Christmas, an executive outplacement firm that tracks job losses in electronics, telecom and computer industries.
WindowsForDevices.com:
Smart camera sports Atom  —  Matrox Imaging announced a Windows CE “smart camera” that uses a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor.  The Iris GT features 256MB of RAM, 1GB of flash storage, a gigabit Ethernet port, USB 2.0 and RS232 serial ports, plus an opto-coupled trigger input and strobe output, says Matrox.
Royal Pingdom:
The world's most super-designed data center - fit for a James Bond villain  —  This underground data center has greenhouses, waterfalls, German submarine engines, simulated daylight and can withstand a hit from a hydrogen bomb.  It looks like the secret HQ of a James Bond villain.  —  And it is real.
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:
Compete: Google Docs & Spreadsheets Keeps Growing, But User Engagment is Flat  —  It's been a little bit more than two years now since Google merged Google Spreadsheets with Writely, and while there has been a lot of talk about online office suites, the latest data from Compete indicates …
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Citrix buys venture-backed Vapps for $26.6 million  —  Citrix said today it bought audio-conferencing services firm Vapps for $26.6 million in cash.  If Vapps continues to perform well, it will get an additional $4.4 million from Citrix.  Counting options, the value of the deal is $34 million at most.
Discussion: PE Hub News
Vivek Wadhwa / Business Week:
Engineering: Suddenly Sexy for College Grads  —  As the financial crisis deepens, science and math grads who once flocked to investment banking are now considering jobs in engineering  —  Early in his college career, Tyler Bosmeny assumed that after graduating, he would do what hundreds …
Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
New court documents reveal internal Microsoft fighting over Vista, Intel  —  A new court filing reveals disputes at Microsoft's highest levels leading up to Windows Vista's release — including CEO Steve Ballmer describing former Windows chief Jim Allchin as “apoplectic” …
John Leyden / The Register:
AVG slaps Trojan label on Adobe Flash  —  Third false alarm follows upgrade offer  —  AVG, the popular anti-virus package, has falsely identified Adobe Flash as potentially malicious.  The snafu comes just days after AVG slapped a bogus Trojan warning on a core Windows component.
 
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 More Items: 
MediaShift:
Can Crowdfunding Help Save the Journalism Business?
Jessica Dolcourt / CNET News:
Weather Channel's iPhone app hails videocasts
Discussion: IntoMobile and Engadget
Craig Rubens / GigaOM:
Bond Comes to Your iPhone
Discussion: TechCrunch and VentureBeat
Clint Boulton / eWeek:
Serena to Dump Microsoft Exchange for Google Gmail, the Cloud
Discussion: CloudAve and fiercecio.comwatch
Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Is the VC Model Broken? Far From it
Discussion: Bloomberg and PE Hub Blog
Ashlee Vance / New York Times:
Crisis Spreads to Tech Sector as Sun Plans to Cut Work Force
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider
 Earlier Items: 
Alex Castle / Maximum PC all:
Why is Google Running Ads for Known Malware Sites?
Discussion: DailyTech, Slashdot and TechSpot
Tom Krazit / CNET News:
Businesses warming up to the iPhone
Discussion: The Toybox and wmpoweruser.com
Kim Dixon / Reuters:
Lawmaker Plans Bill on Web Neutrality
Kate Greene / Technology Review:
The Coming Wireless Revolution
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
GirlInYourShirt: $75 Buys Your Startup Marketing For A Day
Discussion: AppScout and The Drama 2.0 Show
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
The Very Curious Microsoft-Facebook User Data Relationship
Discussion: VentureBeat, The Real McCrea and MSN
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
Memo: CBS News President and CEO Wendy McMahon is stepping down from the network, saying “it's become clear the company and I do not agree on the path forward”

Andrew Webster / The Verge:
Netflix says Season 56 of Sesame Street will be available on Netflix “later this year”; Sesame Street had searched for a streamer since Max dropped it in 2024

Samantha Schmidt / Washington Post:
Journalists from El Salvador's top independent investigative news outlet El Faro say they have left the country amid Nayib Bukele's crackdown on dissent

 
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