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5:10 AM ET, February 17, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Mark Zuckerberg / Facebook Blog:
On Facebook, People Own and Control Their Information  —  A couple of weeks ago, we updated our terms of use to clarify a few points for our users.  A number of people have raised questions about our changes, so I'd like to address those here.  I'll also take the opportunity to explain how we think about people's information.
RELATED:
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Zuckerberg On Who Owns User Data On Facebook: It's Complicated
Discussion: Consumerist
Jesus Diaz / Gizmodo:
Windows Mobile 6.5 Hands On: The New Interface Rocks  —  I like the new Windows Mobile 6.5 interface, specially the new home screen, which is brilliantly executed.  Running on the new HTC Touch Diamond 2, everything looked smoother, cleaner, and matched the iPhone's lick factor.
RELATED:
Microsoft:
Microsoft Reveals New Windows® Phones With Marketplace and My Phone Services
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
The Pirate Bay Trial - First Day in Court  —  The day started this morning at 08:30, with Pirate Bay founders Gottfrid Svartholm Warg (aka Anakata), Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi (aka Brokep) and Fredrik Neij (TiAMO) arriving at the court with the S23K bus.  The bus will operate as their press-center in the weeks to come.
RELATED:
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Labels want $13 million from Pirate Bay as trial starts
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:   Court Tweets, Pirate Flags and Free Candy
Richard Wray / Guardian:
Universal mobile phone charger unveiled as industry gets greener  —  The mobile phone industry plans to introduce a universal charger as part of a drive to improves its previously patchy environmental record.  —  The plan from industry body the GSM Association (GSMA) is just one of a raft of …
Rory Cellan-Jones / dot.life blog:
Game-changers - Google or Apple?  —  Two years ago all the talk at the Mobile World Congress was of the imminent arrival of the Apple iPhone, and how it was going to change the industry.  One year ago, all the talk was of Google's open-source Android operating system, and what a radical impact that might have.
RELATED:
Eric Zeman / InformationWeek:
MWC 2009: Android Forgets To Join The Party
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Justin.tv Is Redirecting Porn Queries Into Cash  —  In the down economy, startups are trying everything they can think of to keep a steady flow of revenue coming in.  For popular live-streaming video site Justin.tv, it looks like one of these measures is to try to capitalize …
Discussion: the Econsultancy blog
Ben Worthen / Wall Street Journal:
Oracle Goes on a Recession Buying Spree  —  While most American corporations pinch pennies, Oracle Corp. is quietly going on a shopping spree.  —  The software giant completed 10 acquisitions in the past year, ranging from a maker of insurance-policy-writing tools, to a designer of …
Marguerite Reardon / Webware.com:
Skype strikes deal with Nokia  —  BARCELONA—Skype is racking up deals with mobile handset makers here at GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009.  —  On Tuesday, the company, which is owned by eBay, announced a partnership with Nokia, the largest cell phone maker in the world, to put the Skype Internet calling software onto its phones.
Charles Hudson / Charles Hudson's Weblog:
THE DATABASE OF INTENTIONS IS MORE VALUABLE THAN THE DATABASE OF MUSINGS FOR NOW (GOOGLE AND TWITTER)  —  I've been very curious to read this weekend's stream of people commenting on Twitter's business model and what it will look like.  I read this one in Forbes - it talks about how being able …
Agence France Presse:
Bill Gates grant to extend mobile banking to poor  —  BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) — Microsoft founder Bill Gates has agreed to help fund a massive rollout of projects enabling poor mobile phone users to transfer money using their handsets, an industry body announced Tuesday.
Discussion: PR Newswire
RELATED:
Mark Hendrickson / TechCrunch:
TechStars Fills Void Left By Y Combinator With New Incubator In Boston  —  Boulder, Colorado-based startup incubator TechStars has decided to open a second office in Boston where it will run a concurrent mentorship program starting this summer.  —  The Boston program …
Dan Goodin / The Register:
Satellite-hacking boffin sees the unseeable  —  Lady Di gossip plucked from sky  —  White-hat hacker Adam Laurie knows better than to think email, video-on-demand, and other content from Sky Broadcasting and other satellite TV providers is a private matter between him and the company.
Cade Metz / The Register:
Apple's Mac OS X update breaks Perl  —  Never trust a vendor  —  Apple's latest Mac OS X security update has a knack for breaking Perl, according to Mac users from across the web.  —  “I've just done the update using Software update and just about everything I look at is working …
Discussion: perl.org lists
Joseph Tartakoff / The Microsoft Blog:
CBS Sports picks Microsoft's Silverlight for March Madness  —  CBSSports.com has chosen Microsoft's Silverlight media player to stream March Madness games on its site in high quality.  —  Last year, more than 4.8 million unique users watched March Madness college baskeball games …
Discussion: SportsBusiness Journal and Pulse2
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
Mobile World Congress: One Day, Sixteen New Phones  —  Phones.  More phones.  Phones that look a lot like iPhones, except for the ones that don't.  Phones that may never show up in the good old US of A. Phones that are full of style, and ones that seem to be devoid of discernible personality.
Discussion: CNET News and infoSync World
Paul Carr:
Can you guess what my column's going to be about this week?  —  Backstory: I decided to email Andrew Orlowski from The Register to make sure he knew that his hatchet job on Twestival was misleading.  The following is the email thread.  Normally I wouldn't re-publish emails sent …
Discussion: The Register
Ross Miller / Engadget:
Acer unveils Tempo smartphone series, forgets Windows Mobile 6.5  —  Not long after we spotted four new Acer phones in Barcelona has the company officially unveiled the Tempo X960, F900, M900, and DX900 smartphones, albeit with a few typo-laden spec sheets.  Interestingly, all of them are …
Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Social Atoms and the Twitter Ecosystem  —  When Twitter first hit my radar screen sometime back in 2007, I (like many others) immediately dismissed it as a gimmicky little time-waster with no real value.  I mean, a message limit of 140 characters?  Lame.  And what was it for?  Nothing, apparently.
Jon Healey / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
NAB reaches webcasting deal with SoundExchange  —  Two down, four or more to go.  SoundExchange, the firm that collects royalties on behalf of labels and performing artists, announced a compromise today with the National Assn. of Broadcasters that settles a nearly 2-year-old dispute over royalties for online radio simulcasts.
Discussion: nab.org
 
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 More Items: 
Bloomberg:
Italian Government's Internet Bill May Limit Free Speech, Tiscali Says
Richard Waters / Financial Times:
Cash injection lifts fledgling technologies
Joel Hruska / Ars Technica:
EU commissioner calls for unified mobile cable standard
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
Venture Capitalist Explains How Patents Can Be A Tax On Innovation
Discussion: OnlyOnce, Thanks:atul
Colleen Barry / Associated Press:
Product launches are muted at wireless show
Ryan Paul / Ars Technica:
Sun targets Flash, brings JavaFX to mobile devices
Discussion: Obsessable
 Earlier Items: 
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:
Twe2: Free Twitter SMS Updates For Europe and the Rest of the World
Discussion: TheNextWeb.com, Thanks:atul
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
What Went Wrong with Fennec, a.k.a. Firefox Mobile?
Thanks:blogfisher
Jay Yarow / Silicon Alley Insider:
Bloomberg And Reuters Clobbered
Discussion: Beyond Search and Gawker, Thanks:sampad
Chris Messina / FactoryCity:
What really happened at Ma.gnolia and lessons learned
Prince McLean / AppleInsider:
Netbooks killing off sickly Windows PC sales
 

 
From Mediagazer:

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

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

 
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