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11:50 AM ET, November 20, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:
BlackBerry Storm review  —  By now most of us have heard this story in one fashion or another: when Steve Jobs and Apple were in the planning stages of the iPhone, the first carrier they brought the device to was America's largest network, Verizon.  Even if you haven't heard how the tale ends …
RELATED:
The Boy Genius / Boy Genius Report:
Verizon BlackBerry Storm review  —  The BlackBerry Storm.  It feels like ages ago since we first broke news of this bad boy, but the release is finally right around the corner.  Literally, it's tomorrow!  Need we say more?  Heck yeah!  We've got a pretty substantial review on the device …
Walter S. Mossberg / Personal Technology:
BlackBerry's Storm Presses Into the Touch-Phone Fray  —  To its fiercest devotees, one of the best things about the BlackBerry is its carefully designed physical keyboard, which the skilled BlackBerry addict can play like a violin.  These folks scorn Apple's popular iPhone …
The Official Google Blog:
Lively no more  —  In July we launched Lively in Google Labs because we wanted users to be able to interact with their friends and express themselves online in new ways.  Google has always been supportive of this kind of experimentation because we believe it's the best way to create groundbreaking products …
RELATED:
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Google Kills Lively
Apple:
Apple TV: About Apple TV software updates  —  Products Affected  —  Apple TV  —  Refer the table below for Apple TV Software Update 2.3 features:  —  How To  —  AirTunes Streaming from Apple TV  —  Music can be streamed via AirTunes to Airport Express speakers or other Apple TVs in your house.
RELATED:
Cory Bohon / TUAW:
Apple TV update 2.3 released
Discussion: Engadget and Moonwatcher
Yahoo! Search Blog:
Gluing Together the Best Content on the Web  —  You may have heard about our experimental visual display of search results on Yahoo! India, called Glue™ Pages.  Tonight we're launching a similar, but slightly different experience in the U.S. with Yahoo! Glue™ beta.
RELATED:
Brooke Crothers / CNET News:
Samsung launches 256GB solid-state drive  —  Samsung on Wednesday night said it has begun mass-producing 256GB solid-state drives.  This size tops the largest-capacity SSDs found in laptops today.  —  Samsung currently offers 64GB and 128GB SSDs for laptops.
Discussion: Inquirer and Gizmodo
RELATED:
Business Wire:
Samsung Now Producing 256GB Solid State Drive; Substantial …
Discussion: Engadget
Microsoft:
Microsoft Announces New Zune Pass Music Subscription Model  —  Consumers can now keep the tracks they love.  —  Zune, Microsoft Corp.'s digital music and entertainment service, today announced landmark agreements with major and independent music labels to bring significant new value to the subscription music model.
RELATED:
Ina Fried / Beyond Binary:
Microsoft, labels try to revive subscriptions  —  With fewer consumers than hoped for signing up for all-you-can-eat music subscriptions, Microsoft and the record industry are trying to make the option more appealing.  —  As of Wednesday, those who pay for the $14.95 a month Zune Pass subscription …
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Google Mobile Uses Private iPhone APIs  —  Google's just-released and much-publicized update to their Google Mobile iPhone app features some very clever interaction design for the voice search feature.  There is an on-screen button you can tap to initiate a voice search manually, but …
RELATED:
Kate Greene / Technology Review:   How Google's Ear Hears
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
Facebook Sued For Patent Infringement  —  It's pretty much a rite of passage for any tech company these days, as you get larger and more recognized, some company that has an overly broad and probably obvious patent will sue you for patent infringement.  For the company in question …
RELATED:
PR Newswire:
Leader Sues Facebook for Patent Infringement
Adam Ostrow / Mashable!:
Mufin Now Open to All: Discover Music by Sound Analysis on iTunes and Facebook  —  Mufin, the music recommendation engine that suggests songs based on their sound characteristics, is now open to everyone in public beta.  With the launch, Mufin is also introducing two new applications: Mufin for iTunes and Mufin for Facebook.
Tamar Lewin / New York Times:
Teenagers' Internet Socializing Not a Bad Thing  —  Good news for worried parents: All those hours their teenagers spend socializing on the Internet are not a bad thing, according to a new study by the MacArthur Foundation.  —  “It may look as though kids are wasting a lot of time hanging …
New York Times:
Web Sites Wage Holiday Price Wars  —  SAN FRANCISCO — As deserted malls and department stores struggle to court cash-short consumers with steep discounts this holiday season, a similar and even more ferocious price war is being waged online.  —  Internet retailers, trying to navigate …
Discussion: Alley Insider
Mike Snider / USA Today:
‘Grand Theft Auto’ yields road to the ‘Lost and Damned’  —  The upcoming episode of the video game Grand Theft Auto IV looks to be a wild one.  —  GTA IV, which was released in April for the Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3, focused on former Eastern European soldier Niko Bellic …
Noah Shachtman / Danger Room:
Under Worm Assault, Military Bans Disks, USB Drives  —  The Defense Department's geeks are spooked by a rapidly spreading worm crawling across their networks.  So they've suspended the use of so-called thumb drives, CDs, flash media cards, and all other removable data storage devices from their nets …
Discussion: The Register
Justin Berka / Infinite Loop:
Apple's customer service gets highest marks among callers  —  When it comes to customer service satisfaction, Apple can normally be found towards the top of the list.  The company seems to be holding on to its spot thanks to a recent survey conducted by a company called Vocal Laboratories (or VocaLabs).
Discussion: MacBlogz and MacUser
IEBlog:
IE8: What's After Beta 2  —  The announcement of IE8 Beta 2 started an important and public phase of the product development cycle getting broad public feedback.  The team is providing detailed information and answering questions about the product in many different places.
 
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 More Items: 
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
The Twelve Greatest Defunct Tech Magazines Ever
Discussion: MAKE Magazine
Michael J. Miller / Forward Thinking:
Requiem for PC Magazine (Print)
Royal Pingdom:
Linux distros and Apple beat Microsoft's homepage uptime
Discussion: Open Source
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Ian Rogers On The Death Of The Music CD Business: “I Don't Care.”
Discussion: hypebot and Coolfer
Nicholas Carlson / Alley Insider:
Want In The Obama Administration? Get A Blog
Jeff Young / Chronicle of Higher Education:
Boston College Will Stop Offering New Students E-Mail Accounts
 Earlier Items: 
Michael Rose / TUAW:
MacBook Pro users getting bitten by HDCP
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Qik And Strands Each Trim 10 Percent Of Staff
Scott Ferguson / eWeek:
After the Layoffs: Collecting 52,000 Laptop and Desktop Computers
MG Siegler / VentureBeat:
SimCity for the iPhone may ruin my life (in a good way)
Discussion: Kotaku
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
SnapTell: Instant Product Lookup From The iPhone. You Want This.
Discussion: PSFK and Startup Meme
 

 
From Mediagazer:

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

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

 
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