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3:40 PM ET, February 20, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Caroline McCarthy / The Social:
OMG!  Did Google Earth find Atlantis?  —  Google is officially denying widespread Internet rumors that its Google Earth software located the mythical sunken city of Atlantis off the coast of Africa.  Either that, or Google is totally trying to hide something.
RELATED:
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.
Sarah Lacy / TechCrunch:
Why the Smart VCs Are Boarding their Jets  —  I started my career as a finance reporter covering wonky subjects like banks, bonds and agribusiness.  I ended up in Silicon Valley covering tech, because it was the late 1990s, and I was doing what finance reporters are supposed to do: Follow the money.
Discussion: eWeek, ecpm blog and DealBook, Thanks:dreamsketcher
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.
RELATED:
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.
Alexander Haislip / PE Hub Blog:
Andreessen Launches VC Fund  —  Marc Andreessen confirmed that he has launched a venture capital fund with former Opsware executive Ben Horowitz after running an angel fund with him since 2007.  —  Andreessen, who became synonymous with Internet success programming the browsing software that drove Netscape …
Discussion: BoomTown
RELATED:
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Andreessen on Charlie Rose: “I Am Creating A Fund.” (Full Video)
Discussion: A VC
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:
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.
RELATED:
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Pirate Bay: survey says that 80% of our torrents are legal
Discussion: The Local
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
The Cable Companies' Evil Plan To Take Down Hulu  —  Cable companies have watched online video upstarts like Hulu and YouTube take attention away from their most important business — cable TV services — with little response so far.  —  But in a new effort to keep cable TV subscribers from fleeing …
Discussion: Webware.com, DSLreports and NewTeeVee
RELATED:
Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
Cable providers eye offering TV shows online: report
Discussion: VentureBeat
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.
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.
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 …
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 …
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider
RELATED:
Andrew Nusca / Between the Lines:
New Conficker variant looks same, acts differently
Alexei Oreskovic / Reuters:
Google shareholders lose that loving feeling  —  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc (GOOG.O) is famous for pampering its employees, but some shareholders feel like they're getting a raw deal.  —  The sore spot became evident after the Web search leader decided last month to reset the price …
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:
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.
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
Elizabeth Woyke / Forbes:
Creating LG's Watch Phone  —  The company's designers reveal the story behind the eye-catching phone—and why Samsung's earlier design didn't succeed.  —  Few phones have fired up the public's imagination like LG Electronics' Watch Phone.  The device, which packs advanced cellphone features …
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 …
Discussion: Susan Mernit's Blog and WebProNews
Brian Caulfield / Forbes:
Ditch Your iPhone  —  With the first wave of iPhone contracts expiring in June, consumers have plenty of other options.  —  Imagine a smart phone that worked on only one carrier's network.  Now add in the cost of a wallet-draining $20 monthly data plan.  The thing has no keyboard …
Discussion: Technologizer
 
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 More Items: 
Kim Zetter / Threat Level:
Group Spots Giant Hacks by Combing Small Newspapers
Discussion: BetaNews
Marlon A. Walker / Associated Press:
Facebook has removed 5,500 sex offenders since May
Ina Fried / Beyond Binary:
Microsoft aims to build a better thesaurus
Kablenet / The Register:
Hounslow tries STD test result texts
Discussion: Gizmodo, PSFK, Obsessable and Maximum PC all
Paul Meller / PC World:
Skype Calls' Immunity to Police Phone Tapping Threatened
Discussion: Obsessable
 Earlier Items: 
Cyrus Farivar / PC World:
How Will the $7.2 Billion Allotted for Broadband Stimulus Be Spent?
Discussion: GottaBeMobile.com
Michael E. Driscoll / Data Evolution:
How Google and Facebook are using R
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Quicken Online Can't Believe Mint Is Doing So Well; Sends Threatening Letter
Discussion: AccMan Pro
Ray C. He / Facebook Developers:
Commenting with Facebook Connect
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Analyzing Comcast's spinoff of cable networks, purposefully structured with low debt: the move might be a signal to the industry that it's time to consolidate

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
James Harding says the Tortoise-Observer deal could create a profitable media group and there isn't a guaranteed future for the Observer with the Guardian

Manuela Vega / Toronto Star:
Rogers Sports & Media lays off more than two dozen employees in its radio and podcasting divisions, citing declining revenue and challenges in advertising

 
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