Check out Mini-Techmeme for simple mobiles or Techmeme Mobile for modern smartphones.
5:15 PM ET, April 14, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
eBay Inc.:
eBay Inc. Announces Plan for 2010 Initial Public Offering of Skype  —  eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) today announced that it plans to separate Skype from the company, beginning with an initial public offering that is intended to be completed in the first half of 2010.  Specific timing of the IPO will be based on market conditions.
Andrea James / Amazon & the online retail blog:
AmazonFail: An inside look at what happened  —  I've spoken to an Amazon.com employee who works closely with the systems involved in the glitch.  The employee asked me not to share his name because of company policies on talking with the media.  —  On Sunday afternoon at least 20 Amazon.com employees …
RELATED:
SmoothSpan Blog:
AmazonFail Shows Data Matters Too  —  No software company in their right mind would change code and move it to production without extensive testing to make sure the new code wasn't broken.  It's a tried and true business process supported by tools like automated build (gather up all the files …
Discussion: Digits and deal architect
Darren Waters / BBC:
EC starts legal action over Phorm  —  The European Commission has started legal action against Britain over the online advertising technology Phorm.  —  It follows complaints to the EC over how the behavioural advertising service was tested on BT's broadband network without the consent of users.
Andrew Sinkov / Evernote Blog:
Evernote + Twitter = Instant Memories  —  Now you can send your tweets directly into Evernote.  Why is this cool?  Because Twitter is chock-full of great stuff.  Your ideas, thoughts, and experiences mixed together with all of the content from the people you follow: journalism, storytelling …
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Yahoo Could Save $1+ Billion Per Year Outsourcing Search To Microsoft  —  Jefferies analyst Youssef Squali runs the numbers on Yahoo's (YHOO) potential search/display ad deal with Microsoft (MSFT) in a report today.  His notes:  — Outsourcing search infrastructure to Microsoft could save Yahoo $1 billion to $1.3 billion per year.
Discussion: Traffick, tinyComb and Pulse2, Thanks:bobcaswell
PhysOrg.com:
Tweet this: Rapid-fire media may confuse your moral compass  —  Emotions linked to our moral sense awaken slowly in the mind, according to a new study from a neuroscience group led by corresponding author Antonio Damasio, director of the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California.
Discussion: Technologizer and MediaMemo
RELATED:
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:   Twitter Leads to Immorality? C'mon!
Steven Grady / SlashGear:
First non-Apple monitors to feature Mini Display Port announced  —  Want to play with Apple's new video connection standard, but don't want to shell out $800?  Collins America has announced the first new line of LCD monitors to utilize Apple's new Mini Display Port standard.
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Twitter Co-Founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone Speak!  —  BoomTown visited Twitter's San Francisco HQ for a pie-filled tour yesterday.  —  But I also got a chance to sit down to have a chat with two of its founders, CEO Evan Williams and Biz Stone (pictured here, right to left) …
Long Zheng / istartedsomething:
OTA feature updates for Windows Mobile in the works  —  It looks like the days of flashing ROMs for your Windows phones (and nervously sitting on the edge of the chair) are soon to be a thing of the past with a “Device Update” service coming to Windows Mobile.  A recent tantalizing Microsoft job advertisement writes,
RELATED:
Claire Sung / DigiTimes:
TSMC and subsidiaries to benefit from launch of next-generation iPhone  —  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and two of its subsidiaries - packaging and testing house Xintec and color filer (CF) maker VisEra Technologies - are likely to benefit from their roles in the manufacturing …
Tameka Kee / paidContent.org:
Dominos Pranksters Done In By Crowdsourcing  —  Teens have long used YouTube to post videos of themselves doing gags, but in the case of some Dominos employees from North Carolina, uploading clips cost them their jobs in less than a day thanks to the viral power of social media.
Thanks:c_santiago
Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
Fully functional Office 2008 for Mac trial is now available  —  Those who want to try out Office 2008 for Mac but don't want to fork over hundreds of dollars just yet can now use a 30-day trial of the software.  Microsoft's Mac BU made the fully-functional trial available on its website today …
Discussion: AppleInsider, Mac Mojo and MacRumors
Xbox Support Home:
Description of the E74 error message warranty extension … MORE INFORMATION  —  While the majority of Xbox 360 owners continue to have a great experience with their console, we are aware that a very small percentage of our customers have reported receiving an error that displays “E74” on their screen.
Matt Asay / CNET News:
Should Sun buy Novell?  —  Sun Microsystems has adopted an ambitious business model that depends upon commodity open-source downloads serving as loss leaders and gateways for hardware and services revenue.  According to a report in The Register, however, profits have been hard to come by for Sun …
David Kaplan / paidContent.org:
Goom Radio Raises $16M First Round For Broadcast Service  —  Battles between streaming-music sites and the labels over royalties have scared off some internet radio startups, but not all.  One that is persevering is Goom Radio, which has raised over $16 million in first-round funding …
David Saleh Rauf / MySanAntonio.com:
Time Warner delays meter program  —  READ  —  Time Warner Cable Inc. Internet users won't have to worry about shelling out extra cash for downloads anytime soon.  —  Officials with the cable company said Monday they are postponing implementation of a new billing format for San Antonio …
Discussion: eWeek, Stop the Cap! and DSLreports
Sam Diaz / Between the Lines:
Intel: The bottom is in for PC demand  —  Intel reported a first quarter profit of $647 million, or 11 cents per share, on revenue of $7.1 billion, beating Wall Street's estimates and suggesting that the sluggish PC industry may have finally bottomed out.  Analysts had been expecting earnings of two cents on revenue of $6.98 billion.
John Herrman / Gizmodo:
Man Builds Chair That Tweets His Farts, Single-Handedly Justifies Twitter's Existence  —  You know those guys (and gals?) who are just, like, super proud of their farts?  Thanks to this cool guy and Twitter, these a**holes can indulge their disgusting habit without wrecking our noses.
Discussion: CrunchGear
Helen Walters / Business Week:
Can Widgets Save the Television Industry?  —  With Internet Connected television, Yahoo and Samsung try to take a leaf out of Apple's design playbook  —  Convergence has been the buzzword of the media world for years now.  But while mobile might have won many of the recent headlines …
John Timmer / Ars Technica:
E-book reader market gets crowded as Amazon eyes big screen  —  Publishers, booksellers, and wireless companies are all looking at getting in on the e-book market, all while the company that enables it all, E Ink, is getting ready to roll out a much larger screen to all takers.
Discussion: L.A. Times Tech Blog and TeleRead
GSMArena.com:
Samsung S8000 leaked again - this time it speakes Androidish  —  The yet unannounced Samsung S8000 specs seem quite the thing, especially having in mind the handset is rumored as the first Android phone by Samsung.  As you may guess, it features a high-res display, full suite connectivity and sports Samsung's new 3D interface.
Espen Antonsen / CloudAve:
The Problem with URL Shorteners: ow.ly Server Errors  —  If you currently click on a ow.ly shortened URL you will be shown a server error page at ow.ly - not the URL you or the publisher intended you to see.  Proponents of these services have so far ignored the main problem; trusting a third party.
Xavier Ducrohet / Android Developers Blog:
Getting ready for Android 1.5  —  I'm excited to announce that starting today, developers can get an early look at the SDK for the next version of the Android platform.  This new version (which will be 1.5) is based on the cupcake branch from the Android Open Source Project.
Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:
Simple backup service Backblaze now available to all Mac users  —  Backblaze, perhaps the easiest tool available for backing up your hard drive, is moving the Mac version of its service out of beta testing today, making it accessible to anyone with a Mac.  —  The product's appeal is simple …
Randall C. Kennedy / Randall C. Kennedy's blog:
Will Windows 7 be panned by enterprise IT?  —  Randall C. Kennedy mulls over the most recent survey numbers, which show a tepid response from IT shops  —  Windows 7 will change the world!  It will right the wrongs of Vista in the enterprise space while simultaneously winning over the hearts …
Scott Moritz / TheStreet.com:
Tech Rumor of the Day: Cisco Layoffs  —  On a conference call with analysts in February, Chambers said the company's cost management was “in pretty good shape.”  He summarized by saying: “I would read into it more a level of confidence of not doing a major layoff across the board.”
Greg Kumparak / MobileCrunch:
How to take screenshots on the Palm Pre  —  Sure, none of us have the Palm Pre yet - but once you get it, won't you want to take a ton of screenshots to show off to your friends document the experience?  —  On the iPhone, taking a screenshot requires no wonky software or hackery - just hold two buttons.
Discussion: PreCentral.net
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of Techmeme at 5:15 PM ET, April 14, 2009.

View the current page or another snapshot:


 
 Techmeme Sponsor Posts: 
Meta:
Open Source AI: Available to all, not just the few  —  Meta's open source AI enables small businesses, start-ups, students, researchers and more to download and build with our models at no cost.
Zoho:
How remote support can make your Christmas stress-free  —  As Christmas approaches, the air fills with the anticipation of joy, family gatherings, and gift-giving.  While the season brings immense happiness …
Genesys:
Executive Insights: The Era of Contact Center AI Copilots  —  How AI copilots are transforming customer experience and agent performance.
Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
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: 
Quentin Hardy / Forbes:
Google Gets Lucky
Stephen J. Dubner / Freakonomics:
Is It Time to Rename “Digital Piracy”?
Discussion: Techdirt
Giulio Quaggiotto / PSD Blog:
World Bank gets ahead of the pack in the race to open data
Kim Tong-hyung / The Korea Times:
SKT in Need of Better Business Model
Katherine Conrad / bizjournals:
Silicon Valley commercial vacancy rates inch up
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider
Andres Ferrate / ProgrammableWeb:
Microsoft Virtual Earth API Gets Improved 3D, Geocoding, and Performance
Discussion: GPS Obsessed
Ethan / ...My heart's in Accra:
Studying Twitter and the Moldovan protests
 Earlier Items: 
Christopher Boyd / SpywareGuide Greynets Blog:
Instant Messaging Password Stealer Available From Major Download Sites
Chris Preimesberger / eWeek:
Part-timer Bechtolsheim Still a Big-Time Influence in Sun's Product Development
Nicholas Carlson / Silicon Alley Insider:
How Publishers Can Get Advertisers To Spend In A Recession
Liz Gannes / NewTeeVee:
HD Cloud: Video Transcoding Gets Hip
Discussion: TechCrunch and Contentinople
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
StumbleUpon, A Case Study In The Efficient Allocation Of Resources
Discussion: PE Hub Blog, MediaPost and GMSV