Check out Mini-Techmeme for simple mobiles or Techmeme Mobile for modern smartphones.
4:55 PM ET, February 20, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
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 …
RELATED:
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Andreessen on Charlie Rose: “I Am Creating A Fund.”  (Full Video)  —  Marc Andreessen appeared on Charlie Rose last night.  (The entire interview is embedded above).  He gave Rose a primer on everything from Facebook and cloud computing to the mobile Web.  But he also tells Rose: “I'm creating a fund.”
Discussion: VentureBeat and A VC
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
Declan McCullagh / CNET News:
Data retention bills to benefit copyright holders  —  If a new federal proposal announced this week requiring Internet providers and Wi-Fi access points to keep records on users for two years becomes law, police would not be the only ones to benefit.  —  So would individuals …
Discussion: AppScout
RELATED:
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
Congress Wants WiFi Owners To Keep Log Files For 2 Years... For The Children
Discussion: CNET News
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:
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:
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.
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
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 …
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.
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
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: Digits, NewTeeVee and DSLreports
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
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:
Emil Protalinski / Ars Technica:
Rumor: public to get Windows 7 RC build on April 10, 2009  —  If all goes according to plan, the Windows 7 Release Candidate build will be released to the public on April 10, 2009.  —  After rumors sprang up across the blogosphere of a Windows 7 build 7048, we debunked them and along …
InfoWorld:
Microsoft Visual Studio to boost SharePoint  —  Developers building solutions based on Microsoft's SharePoint collaboration and business process platform will gain expanded support in the planned Visual Studio 2010 development environment, which will feature templates and an extensibility API …
Anupreeta Das / MediaFile:
Tech cos to H-1B workers: We feel your pain  —  Technology companies, which have laid off hundreds of thousands of workers, are already feeling the heat from politicians about their support of the H-1B foreign worker program at a time when many Americans are jobless.
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Bad News For Google: U.S. Search Share Stabilizing  —  Since it burst onto the scene almost a decade ago, Google (GOOG) has grown revenue in three ways:  — Search market growth (number of searches)  — Search share growth (share of market)  — Revenue per search growth (paid click and price per click growth)
Emel Mutlu / Inside AdWords:
A change to our display URL policy  —  Beginning the week of February 24, we'll implement a change to our AdWords policy regarding multiple display URL domains per ad group.  Please read on to determine whether your AdWords account will be affected by this change.
Discussion: Search Engine Land and WebProNews
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of Techmeme at 4:55 PM ET, February 20, 2009.

View the current page or another snapshot:


Page version:
 
 Techmeme Sponsor Posts: 
Termina:
AI Powered Diligence at Scale  —  VCs and founders deploy Termina AI Scans on >12% of all known series A+ deals to uncover hidden risks and opportunities.  Explore how you too can invest and build better companies with AI.
Zoho:
Zoho Notebook: The best free note-taking app for Mac  —  If you're a Mac user, you know the value of a tool that just fits when it's designed to keep up with you.  That's exactly what Zoho Notebook delivers.
SBS Comms:
Expect Better: SBS Comms  —  The media landscape is changing fast, so don't be slow — out with the old, in with the new.  SBS helps tech companies like GitHub, Cloudflare, Flexport, Ramp and more modernize comms and secure impactful results.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
Sponsor Techmeme
 
 See Also: 
Techmeme: site main
Techmeme River: reverse chronological Techmeme
Techmeme Mobile: for phones
Techmeme Leaderboard: Techmeme's top sources
 
 Subscribe: 
Techmeme RSS feed
Techmeme on X
Techmeme on Mastodon
 
 
 More Items: 
Gina Keating / Reuters:
California's video game law ruled unconstitutional
Discussion: Reuters and Silicon Alley Insider
internetnews.com:
Top Web 2.0 Security Threats
Mary Pilon / Digits:
Exploring Twitter Ties
Thanks:atul
Kim Zetter / Threat Level:
Clues to Massive Hacks Hidden in Plain Sight
Discussion: BetaNews
Elizabeth Woyke / Forbes:
Creating LG's Watch Phone
Cyrus Farivar / PC World:
Microsoft CEO Ballmer Calls on Apple to Be More Open
Discussion: The Open Road
 Earlier Items: 
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch UK:
Mix Twitter and Digg, add jokes, get Popjam
Robert L. Mitchell / PC World:
Online Dating: Analyzing the Algorithms of Attraction
Discussion: Susan Mernit's Blog and WebProNews
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
Michael E. Driscoll / Data Evolution:
How Google and Facebook are using R
Dina Bass / Bloomberg:
Microsoft, Intel Firings Stir Resentment Over Visas for Foreign Workers
 

 
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

 
Sister Sites:

Mediagazer
 Top news and commentary for media professionals from all around the web
memeorandum
 What US political commentators are discussing online right now
WeSmirch
 The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page