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9:50 PM ET, December 1, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Leahculver / The Pownce Blog:
Goodbye Pownce, Hello Six Apart  —  We have some very big news today at Pownce.  We will be closing the service and Mike and I, along with the Pownce technology, have joined Six Apart, the company behind such great blogging software as Movable Type, TypePad and Vox.
RELATED:
Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:
Six Apart acquires and shuts down Pownce  —  Blogging company Six Apart has acquired micro-blogging startup Pownce for undisclosed financial terms.  It looks like one of those acquisitions where the buyer was more interested in the people than the product — the Pownce service will shut down in two weeks.
Discussion: paidContent.org and Evolving Web
Chris Alden / Six Apart News & Events:
Welcome Pownce team!  —  I am pleased to announce that today we are welcoming the Pownce team and technology to Six Apart.  Pownce launched in June of 2007 and opened to the public earlier this year, but, as mentioned on the Pownce blog, Pownce.com will be closing in the next few weeks.
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:   Pownce Deadpooled, Team Moves To Six Apart
Richard Bennett / The Register:
Bittorrent declares war on VoIP, gamers  —  The next internet meltdown  —  Gamers, VoIP and video conference users beware.  The leading BitTorrent software authors have declared war on you - and any users wanting to wring high performance out of their networks.
RELATED:
Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:   BitTorrent at War With VoIP? Hardly
DSLreports:   UDP BitTorrent Will Destroy The Interwebs! …
Live Search:
You asked for it: instant cashback!  —  When we asked users about the improvements they'd like us make to Live Search cashback, many said they want to receive cashback instantly instead of waiting for 60 days.  Well, I'm happy to announce that we've just released the Instant cashback feature with eBay.
RELATED:
Ryan Naraine / Zero Day:
Apple: Mac users should run multiple anti-virus  —  One of Apple's better Mac vs PC ads features a strong message that Windows computers are a magnet for viruses (malware) but Macs are automatically protected.  As PC “ah-choos” his way through an infection, Mac offers a tissue and smugly infers …
RELATED:
Aidan Malley / AppleInsider:
Apple now “encourages” antivirus use for Mac OS X
Discussion: CNET News
Brad Linder / Download Squad:
gOS Cloud - From zero to web browser in just a few seconds  —  gOS is a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu that's designed to make it easy to interface with web-based applications like Gmail, YouTube, and Meebo.  It uses the slightly OS X-like Enlightenment desktop environment …
RELATED:
Pat-Meier Johnson / thinkgos.com:
Good OS Announces Cloud
Discussion: Engadget and 901am
Chris Foresman / Infinite Loop:
Apple offers free licensing for Mini DisplayPort spec  —  When Apple recently introduced its revamped notebook line, it also introduced the world to the Mini DisplayPort.  It turns out that the company is offering no-fee licenses to anyone interested in developing products that use the Mini DisplayPort specification.
RELATED:
Aidan Malley / AppleInsider:
High-quality unboxing photos of Apple's LED Cinema Display
Discussion: CrunchGear
Amazon Web Services Blog:
Amazon SimpleDB Grows Up  —  The private beta test of Amazon SimpleDB has gone really well.  We've learned a lot during the beta and have fine-tuned the feature set in order to make sure that we are meeting the needs of current and future users.  —  Before I delve into the details, let me get one important fact out of the way.
Discussion: TechFlash and PC World
RELATED:
Stephen Shankland / CNET News:
Amazon's database service enters public testing
Discussion: The Register
Amy Schatz / Wall Street Journal:
FCC Head Pushes Free Web Plan  —  Outgoing Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is pushing for action in December on a plan to offer free, pornography-free wireless Internet service to all Americans, despite objections from the wireless industry and some consumer groups.
Andrew D. Smith / Dallas Morning News:
Blockbuster, Microsoft team up on mobile services  —  asmith@dallasnews.com  —  Blockbuster Inc. caught up to the competition last week by introducing a set-top box that brings rentals from the Internet to the television.  —  Now, the Dallas-based company hopes to pass the pack by teaming …
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / CNN:
Mac Internet share hits record 8.87%; Windows drops below 90%  —  Apple's (AAPL) slice of the Internet pie grew measurably in November as both the Mac and the iPhone hit record numbers in a Net Applications Web survey issued overnight Monday and updated Monday morning.
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
FCC leaks tiny VAIO with WWAN — Sony's first netbook?  —  They might not like it, but Sony looks ripe to enter the netbook market in the US.  Unveiled today is the backside of this tiny “notebook PC” as described by the FCC under the model numbers PCG-1P1L and PCG-1P2L (PCG synonymous with Sony's VAIO laptop brand).
Andrew LaVallee / Business Technology:
Reviving F—ed Company  —  Now that we can officially say we're in a recession, it makes sense that there's a resurgence of sites devoted to floundering companies.  —  We have to bleep out some names, but they include LayoffBlog.com, Screwdd F—edStartups, It Died, Timely Demise and web2.0f …
Reuters:
MySpace CEO cautiously optimistic on 2009  —  NEW YORK (Reuters) - MySpace, the online social network owned by News Corp (NWSa.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), can grow advertising revenue in 2009, its chief executive said on Monday, even as the economic crisis erodes big media companies' bottom lines.
Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:
Apple a ‘bright spot’ during lackluster Black Friday kick-off  —  Although this year's holiday shopping season is expected to present challenges for many consumer-oriented hardware companies, Apple is already showing signs of bucking the trend with Black Friday Mac sales reported to be better than expected.
Kathrin Hille / Financial Times:
Legal challenge mounts against Baidu's online business model  —  Baidu, China's largest internet search engine, looks set to face a wave of legal challenges as a group of lawyers is organising a mass complaint against the company's business practices.  —  Led by Li Changqing …
Dave Zatz / Zatz Not Funny!:
Blockbuster OnDemand Unboxing & Setup  —  So much for a day of vacation recovery... UPS just arrived with the new Blockbuster OnDemand movie rental box, by 2Wire.  If you recall, $99 gets you the box and 25 video rental credits.  Once those have been consumed, content begins at $1.99 a pop.
Discussion: CrunchGear, Alley Insider and NewTeeVee
Stuart Cohen / Business Week:
Open Source: The Model Is Broken  —  The open-source business model that relies solely on support and service revenue streams is failing to meet the expectations of investors  —  For anyone who hasn't been paying attention to the software industry lately, I have some bad news.
Long Tran / Yanko Design:
This iPhone is “Touchier” Than Most  —  As wonderful as the iPhone is, it leaves out anyone visually impaired.  This Silicon Touch iPhone case works in tandem with an app to allow special accessibility functions like text to speech and moon type tactile feedback.
John Markoff / Bits:
A Microsoft Veteran Embraces Open Source  —  Keith Curtis has just written a book about the future of software.  —  That in itself isn't unique.  More unusual is that Mr. Curtis, an 11-year veteran of Microsoft, the world's largest software company, believes deeply that open source is the future of software.
Discussion: Microsoft Pri0
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
The Simpsons mocks (m)Apple  —  Few have been spared the satire of Matt Groening's long running animated sitcom.  Last night, The Simpsons took on Apple, or uh, Mapple for a full 6 minutes of lampoonery — a pretty harsh ride at a two-joke per minute pace.  It all starts when the Springfield mall gets …
Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:
Nokia's touchiest week  —  We've arrived in Barcelona, Spain for Nokia World, a week where Nokia talks to its top customers.  —  When we got here a Nokia executive met me and bragged that the Internet has no clue what they will announce this week.  I asked “what about the touch screen cell phone that I've seen rumors about?”
Stephen Shankland / Webware.com:
Google reveals Chrome extensions plan  —  Google has published its plan to build into Chrome what is arguably its most requested feature: the ability to accept extensions that can customize how the open-source Web browser operates.  —  And guess what?  Google's dependence on advertising notwithstanding …
 
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 More Items: 
Brian Caulfield / Forbes:
Why Carl Icahn Didn't Buy Enough Yahoo!
Discussion: BoomTown and Ars Technica
Microsoft:
Xbox 360 Registers Biggest Black Friday in Its History
Discussion: TechFlash and Microsoft Pri0
Elizabeth Woyke / Forbes:
Nokia's Next Move
Jim Goldman / CNBC.com:
CES: A Smaller, Slimmer Expo Is Sign Of The Times
Discussion: Alley Insider
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Obama Puts Change.gov Under Creative Commons
Discussion: Lessig Blog and Creative Commons
Liz Gannes / NewTeeVee:
ExtendMedia Raises $10M for Video Platforms
Discussion: PE Hub Blog, Contentinople and Beet.TV
InfoWorld:
CBS Web site bitten by iFrame hack
BBC:
EU to search out cyber criminals
Discussion: Neowin.net
 Earlier Items: 
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes / Hardware 2.0:
WARP speed for Windows 7
Discussion: Electronista
Brad Stone / Bits:
PayPal Brings Allowances Into the 21st Century
Eric Goldman / Technology & Marketing Law Blog:
Yahoo Countersues American Airlines for Declaratory Judgment
Discussion: Alley Insider
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:
Songbeat: Interesting New Music Service - But is it Legal?
Discussion: TechCrunch
Joshua Davis / Wired News:
Secret Geek A-Team Hacks Back, Defends Worldwide Web
Discussion: Icrontic
Jevon MacDonald / The FASTForward Blog:
The uncertain future of Blogging
Discussion: Mark Evans and Deep Jive Interests
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
The End Of Online Anonymity
Discussion: CNET News and broadstuff
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Huffington Post Nabs $25 Million in Funding-Here's a BoomTown …