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1:40 PM ET, February 20, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Adobe:
Buffer overflow issue in versions 9.0 and earlier of Adobe Reader and Acrobat  —  Vulnerability identifier: APSA09-01  —  A critical vulnerability has been identified in Adobe Reader 9 and Acrobat 9 and earlier versions.  This vulnerability would cause the application to crash …
RELATED:
Dawn Kawamoto / CNET News:
Adobe warns of critical, unpatched security flaw  —  Update at 6:34 a.m. PST: Information from a security firm added.  —  Attackers are making the rounds and exploiting a critical security flaw in Adobe Reader 9 and Acrobat 9.  —  Earlier versions of the PDF-related software are also affected …
Sydney Morning Herald:
Look who leaked U2's new album  —  U2 and, inset, the cover of No Line On The Horizon.  —  Asher Moses  —  Full CD-quality copies of every song on U2's upcoming album, No Line On The Horizon, have been leaked on to the web after Universal Music Australia accidentally put it up for sale on its online music store two weeks early.
RELATED:
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Forget About Those Leaked Downloads, Listen To U2's Entire New Album on MySpace Music  —  I'm not sure if this was moved up in response to leaked copies of U2's newest album, No Line On The Horizon spreading across the Internet, but the entire the album will be streamed for free at MySpace Music.
Matthew Moore / Telegraph:
Google Ocean: Has Atlantis been found off Africa?  —  A “grid of streets” on the seabed at one of the proposed locations of the lost city of Atlantis has been spotted on Google Ocean.  —  The network of criss-cross lines is 620 miles off the coast of north west Africa near the Canary Islands on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.
Discussion: Ogle Earth and GPS Obsessed
RELATED:
BBC:
Hackers target Xbox Live players  —  Xbox Live is being targeted by malicious hackers selling services that kick players off the network.  —  The booting services are proving popular with players who want a way to get revenge on those who beat them in an Xbox Live game.
Discussion: Kotaku, CrunchGear, VG247, Gearlog and Joystiq
9 to 5 Mac:
Is the 5 USB Mac Mini a fake?  —  So, one of our readers, Dave - who happens to be an expert at PCB design, has spent some time looking at the Mac Mini image posted today and he believes it is a fake.  There have been many posts around the web on why.  —  Firstly, the dispersion of artifacts isn't consistant with an unedited image:
RELATED:
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
Most. Boring. Apple. Rumor. Ever.
Discussion: Hardware 2.0, PC World and Webomatica
MG Siegler / VentureBeat:
A snow leopard on Live.com is causing some to lose their minds  —  I saw the story once and I thought: Oh, that's kind of funny.  I saw it twice and I thought: Hmm.  I saw it three times and saw it all over Twitter and thought: This is getting ridiculous.  There must be a shortage of stories …
Brandon LeBlanc / The Windows Blog:
Test Updates for Windows 7 Beta Users  —  Starting February 24, we will be releasing up to 5 test updates to PCs running the Windows 7 Beta (Build 7000) via Windows Update.  These updates allow us to test and verify our ability to deliver and manage the updating of Windows 7.
RELATED:
Ray C. He / Facebook Developers:
Commenting with Facebook Connect  —  Since Facebook Connect launched, we've seen over 6,000 developers make their sites more social using Facebook Connect.  One of the most common features we've seen sites add with Facebook Connect is the ability to allow users to log in with a single click …
Enigmax / TorrentFreak:
Pirate Bay Trial Day 5: Peter's “Political Trial”  —  Friday, the fifth day of the trial and Peter Sunde, aka brokep, is being questioned by the Prosecution.  Håkan Roswall started off by asking Peter if he ever had dealings with The Pirate Bay's (TPB) computer systems - Peter said he did, but in a limited fashion.
Robert L. Mitchell / PC World:
Online Dating: Analyzing the Algorithms of Attraction  —  Just how do eHarmony, Plenty of Fish, True.com and PerfectMatch.com work under the hood?  —  Recommends  —  When Joe wanted to find love, he turned to science.  —  Rather than hang out in bars or hope that random dates worked out …
Cyrus Farivar / PC World:
Microsoft CEO Ballmer Calls on Apple to Be More Open  —  In what only can possibly be the most recent of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's continuing series of pearls of wisdom, the Rambler from Redmond told a panel at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona earlier this week …
Discussion: The Open Road and TG Daily
Michael E. Driscoll / Data Evolution:
How Google and Facebook are using R  —  Last night, I moderated our Bay Area R Users Group kick-off event with a panel discussion entitled “The R and Science of Predictive Analytics”, co-located with the Predictive Analytics World conference here in SF.  —  The panel comprised of four recognized R users from industry:
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Quicken Online Can't Believe Mint Is Doing So Well; Sends Threatening Letter  —  Intuit, the company behind the well-known Quicken suite of money management software that includes Quicken Online, can't believe how well its competitor Mint is doing.  In fact, they were so bewildered …
Discussion: AccMan Pro
Tim Culpan / Bloomberg:
Asustek May Use Google's Android in Netbooks, in Challenge for Microsoft  —  Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) — Asustek Computer Inc., which pioneered the market for sub-$500 laptops, may install Google Inc.'s free Android operating system on its low-cost notebooks, challenging the dominance of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows software.
Paul Meller / PC World:
Skype Calls' Immunity to Police Phone Tapping Threatened  —  Suspicious phone conversations on Skype could be targeted for tapping as part of a pan-European crackdown on what law authorities believe is a massive technical loophole in current wiretapping laws, allowing criminals …
Discussion: Obsessable
PC World:
Conficker Worm Gets an Evil Twin  — The criminals behind the widespread Conficker worm have released a new version of the malware that could signal a major shift in the way the worm operates.  —  The new variant, dubbed Conficker B++, was spotted three days ago by SRI International researchers …
Lalitesh Katragadda / Google LatLong:
Map Making in your language on your website  —  Over the last 7 months, map makers around the world have been busy mapping their locales using Google Map Maker.  From Chile to Vietnam Google Map Makers added cities, villages, lakes, roads and businesses to the map.
Dina Bass / Bloomberg:
Microsoft, Intel Firings Stir Resentment Over Visas for Foreign Workers  —  Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) — Microsoft Corp.'s plan to eliminate U.S. workers after lobbying for more foreigner visas is stirring resentment among lawmakers and employees.  —  As many as 5,000 employees are being shown …
Stephanie Simon / Wall Street Journal:
Parents Give Up Facebook for Lent  —  They're a little too old to give up potato chips, Guitar Hero or Red Bull for Lent.  —  But as Christian parents ponder an appropriate sacrifice, they find themselves mulling a choice they'd have once seen as preposterous: A Facebook fast — not for their teens but for themselves.
Cyrus Farivar / PC World:
How Will the $7.2 Billion Allotted for Broadband Stimulus Be Spent?  —  Though a number of details are vague, many people in tech and telecom circles hope that the $7.2 billion allotment for broadband in the newly enacted federal economic stimulus package marks the beginning of a nationwide broadband strategy.
Discussion: GottaBeMobile.com
Kablenet / The Register:
Hounslow tries STD test result texts  —  U got clp  —  Free whitepaper - Best practices in SOX compliance  —  NHS Hounslow is using the internet and text messaging to encourage more young people to be screened for chlamydia.  —  The west London primary care trust has launched an online service …
Discussion: Gizmodo, PSFK and Maximum PC all
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch UK:
Mix Twitter and Digg, add jokes, get Popjam  —  Popjam is a new ‘social humour’ site which has launched using the Twitter ‘friend/follow’ model of social networking.  In fact - but for the images of LOLcats and videos - it is so similar to Twitter in appearance and operation that it could be mistaken for a pure Twitter clone.
Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
Cable providers eye offering TV shows online: report  —  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc are talking with owners of major cable television networks about ways to give cable subscribers online access to much of the networks' programing, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.
 
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 More Items: 
Sarah Lacy / TechCrunch:
Why the Smart VCs Are Boarding their Jets
Discussion: DealBook, Thanks:dreamsketcher
Anick Jesdanun / Associated Press:
Delay expected in bids for new Internet addresses
Marlon A. Walker / Associated Press:
Facebook has removed 5,500 sex offenders since May
Discussion: The Social and TECH.BLORGE.com
Sascha Segan / PC Magazine:
Acer Promises Free Smartphones (With Contract)
Discussion: Phone Arena and Unwired View
Ina Fried / Beyond Binary:
Microsoft aims to build a better thesaurus
Andrew LaVallee / Digits:
Yelp Disputes Extortion Story
Discussion: CNET News, PR 2.0 and GPS Obsessed
 Earlier Items: 
Blog on Fire:
Fire Eagle Location Streams
Discussion: GPS Obsessed and VentureBeat, Thanks:factoryjoe
Emil Protalinski / Ars Technica:
Windows 7 boot animation customization will not be supported
The Boy Genius / Boy Genius Report:
Paid apps finally infiltrating Android Market?
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Sources: Joy Reid's evening news show on MSNBC, The ReidOut, is being canceled as part of an overhaul orchestrated by the network's new president Rebecca Kutler

Katie Robertson / New York Times:
The AP sues three Trump officials, alleging they violated the First and Fifth Amendments by banning AP reporters in retaliation for the use of “Gulf of Mexico”

Matthew Keys / The Desk:
Altice USA and MSG Networks reach a distribution agreement bringing back the regional sports network to Optimum TV subscribers, after losing access in January

 
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