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9:15 AM ET, March 26, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Apple's iPhone App Refund Policies Could Bankrupt Developers  —  We reported yesterday about Apple's alleged delay in payments to iPhone app developers, but there is more alarming news from iPhone developers about Apple's refund policies.  Apparently, if iPhone users decide that they want a refund for an app …
RELATED:
Matt Buchanan / Gizmodo:
Giz Explains: How a Brainy Worm Might Jack the World's PCs on April 1  —  It's lurking in millions of PCs around the world.  It's incredibly sophisticated and resilient, with built-in p2p and digital code-signing technology.  It revels in killing security software.  On April 1, the Conficker worm will activate.
Discussion: Threat Level, eWeek and digg.com
RELATED:
Ben Worthen / Digits:
Conficker: Don't Believe the Hype  —  You may have heard about Conficker, the rogue computer program that might do something dreadful on April 1.  The truth is that the threat posed by Conficker is almost entirely theoretical, and that only a handful of dedicated professionals will notice anything …
BIZ / Twitter Blog:
Suggested Users  —  About a month or so ago we noticed a certain percentage of new users were signing up and then not following anyone.  When you don't follow any other accounts on Twitter the product is not as relevant as it could be.  To improve the user experience, we started suggesting some accounts to follow.
RELATED:
MG Siegler / VentureBeat:   Twitter's suggested user list: You don't have to be rich, just famous
Rajat Mukherjee / The Official Google Blog:
Google, at your service  —  It used to be that creating a webpage was a pursuit reserved for the truly tech-savvy, requiring a geek's expertise in HTML, Java, or C++ coding.  —  These days, it's a different story.  Working with a hosting service has made things a great deal easier …
Discussion: Download Squad, Thanks:sinkercat
Stevemar / Development Unfiltered:
Moving Toward an Open Process on Cloud Computing Interoperability  —  Moving Toward an Open Process on Cloud Computing Interoperability  —  From the moment we kicked off our cloud computing effort, openness and interop stood at the forefront.  As those who are using it will tell you …
Discussion: eWeek
RELATED:
Todd Bishop / TechFlash:   Microsoft criticizes secret drafting of cloud-computing manifesto
Philip Elliott / Associated Press:
Obama turns to Web to bypass news media  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - Call it Round Two of the news conference, with a big Internet twist.  —  President Barack Obama took questions from the White House press corps on Tuesday in a prime-time …
Discussion: Agence France Presse
RELATED:
Frank Davies / Mercury News:
Silicon Valley execs meet with politicos
Discussion: CNET News
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Troubles At Imeem, But Company Says No Shutdown Imminent  —  Imeem, the free streaming music site backed by Sequoia Capital, Warner Music and other prominent investors, is rumored to be in serious trouble.  —  Music insiders are saying a shutdown of the company is imminent after a failed attempt to sell the company or raise more cash.
Discussion: Music Ally and hypebot
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Palm: Analysts fall in love with Pre; Big money bets against it  —  Wall Street analysts are beginning to fall in love with Palm and remain upbeat about the Pre's prospects.  These folks are betting that Pre demand—and the WebOS that rides shotgun—will be strong enough to make Palm a player again.
Discussion: The Toybox and PalmAddicts
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Meebo Turns Into One Big Ad, But Users Seem To Like It  —  Web chat service Meebo, always innovative with advertising, is trying out something fairly aggressive: full takeover ads that show a persistent advertisement in the background.  —  The company says that they already got 1% …
Discussion: meeblog
Josh Lowensohn / CNET News:
iGoogle gets video game makers in on the action  —  SAN FRANCISCO—Google on Wednesday unveiled the latest addition to its iGoogle start page service: a collection of themes designed by video game publishers.  The search giant has partnered with nine publishers to come up with a little under …
Amit Agarwal / Digital Inspiration:
Create Flowcharts & Diagrams in Google Docs  —  You can now add drawing objects like flowcharts, arrows, callouts, banners and even freehand scribbles to your documents in Google Docs using the new “Insert Drawing” command available from the menu bar.  —  This new feature in Google Docs is like the …
Justin Smith / Inside Facebook:
Number of US Facebook Users Over 35 Nearly Doubles in Last 60 Days  —  Don't look now, but the number of Americans over 35, 45, and 55 on Facebook is growing fast.  In the last 60 days alone, the number of people over 35 has nearly doubled.  Developers and marketers may want to think about how to serve this group of new users.
Discussion: TECH.BLORGE.com, Thanks:atul
Adam Ostrow / Mashable!:
@BarackObama Updates His Twitter!  —  Barack Obama, Twitter's second most popular user (CNN has passed him), updated his Twitter account today for the first time since taking office.  —  The update is to promote the President's online town hall, which encourages citizens to submit questions via The White House website.
Susie Pan / DigiTimes:
Young Fast to cut into netbook touch panel market in 2H09  —  Taiwan-based touch panel maker Young Fast Optoelectronics started mass production of capacitive touch panels in February and will cut into the netbook touch panel market in the second half of the year, according to company chairman TJ Lin.
Discussion: SlashGear
Robert McMillan / PC World:
Firefox Fix Due Next Week After Attack Is Published  —  Online attack code has been released targeting a critical, unpatched flaw in the Firefox browser.  —  The attack code, written by security researcher Guido Landi was published on several security sites Wednesday, sending Firefox developers scrambling to patch the issue.
Guardian:
'You can fire us on a minute's notice'  —  Amazon's cloud computing evangelist Adam Selipsky is upfront about the risks, but determined to find the silver lining in ‘capital-constrained’ times  —  While other tech companies watch plummeting stock markets with fear, Amazon's Adam Selipsky is quietly enjoying the recession.
Discussion: InfoWorld
Stephen Shankland / CNET News:
Top Google execs: $1 salary, no bonus, no options  —  Wall Street executives feeling harassed by taxpayers outraged at their pay might take note of how Google's ruling triumvirate fared in 2008: $1 in salary each, no bonus, no stock grants, and no stock options.
Bob Tedeschi / New York Times:
What Do Your Minutes Cost?  You Can't Tell by the Cellphone Bill  —  There's a good reason many people don't bother to closely read their cellphone bills.  They're a mess.  —  Even if you have a so-called bucket plan that's meant to simplify things — 450 minutes for $40, say …
Discussion: deal architect
Bill Ray / The Register:
Deadfish iPhones send users into deep freeze  —  When cool isn't cool enough for WiFi  —  Free whitepaper - Virtualization: optimized power and cooling to maximize benefits  —  Some iPhone and iPod Touch users who've upgraded to the latest 2.2.1 firmware are reporting problems connecting to WiFi …
Lucas Mearian / Computerworld:
The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine gets a new data center  —  It's housed in a 20-foot-long metal shipping container  —  Computerworld) The Internet Archive today announced that it has a new computer behind it its library of 151 billion archived Web pages.
Discussion: GigaOM, GMSV, The Register and SlashGear
Nilay Patel / Engadget:
Verizon Alias2 leaks out, features dynamically changing button layout  —  Verizon's original Alias U740 dual-hinge phone may not have rocked any worlds, but it was a clever attempt to provide the best of both a QWERTY keypad and a standard clamshell number pad in a single device …
Electronista:
Western Digital ups slim My Books to 2TB  —  Western Digital today gave all of its single-disk My Book external hard drives new 2TB capacity levels.  The upgrade is equivalent to about 241 hours of full-bitrate HD and is particularly described as useful for Mac users or frequent shoppers from iTunes.
Discussion: Softpedia News, Crave and Engadget
Phil Hollows / FeedBlitz News:
A FeedBurner Alternative: Blitz Your RSS!  —  FeedBlitz today has opened up a brand new RSS management service to the public.  Previously in private beta, the service is designed for publishers, marketers and bloggers who need:  — Greater choice in the RSS management service market;
Discussion: louisgray.com
Kasper Jade / AppleInsider:
Apple close to unveiling guarded Snow Leopard UI overhaul  —  While developers have been privy to pre-releases of Apple's Snow Leopard operating system for quite some time, those distributions have been stripped of several features including a major UI overhaul that the company is now preparing …
Apple:
About the MacBook Pro Graphics Firmware Update 1.0  —  You should download and install the MacBook Pro Graphics Firmware Update 1.0 on your MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2009) computer.  The update addresses the possibility of vertical lines or distorted graphics on the display.  —  Products Affected
 
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 More Items: 
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Red Hat: Customers less scared now
Discussion: Red Hat and Reuters
Joshua Porter / Bokardo:
Demystifying Interaction Design
Brier Dudley / Brier Dudley's blog:
GridNetworks being sold, staying in Seattle
Stephanie Clifford / New York Times:
Your Online Clicks Have Value, for Someone Who Has Something to Sell
Saul Hansell / Bits:
The Economics of Snooping on Internet Traffic
Alexei Oreskovic / MediaFile:
Sun CEO takes stage, ignores IBM deal talk
Gerald Magpily / Dealscape:
Cardin proposes Newspaper Revitalization Act
Discussion: The Constant Observer
 Earlier Items: 
Dawn Kawamoto / CNET News:
Intel CEO says Sun was shopped around
Discussion: Bits, Digits and OSNews
Rich Miller / Data Center Knowledge:
How Google Routes Around Outages
Discussion: WinBeta
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
FTC: We'll “come calling” about deceptive DRM
 

 
From Mediagazer:

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

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

 
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