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7:50 PM ET, April 28, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Wolfram/Alpha's demo: Search results meet analytics  —  Updated: Stephen Wolfram, creator of the Wolfram/Alpha search engine, on Tuesday demonstrated his much ballyhooed “computational knowledge engine” at a talk at Harvard University.  Wolfram likened his effort to reproducing …
Discussion: Bits and Guardian
RELATED:
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
After Being Upstaged By Google, Wolfram Alpha Fires Back With A Leaked Screenshot  —  Today was supposed to be a big coming out party for stealthy search engine Wolfram Alpha.  Computer scientist Stephen Wolfram gave the first public demonstration of his knowledge mining search engine at Harvard.
Discussion: Wolfram and Joho the Blog
Ola Rosling / The Official Google Blog:
Adding search power to public data  —  Earthquakes are not the only thing that can shake Silicon Valley.  After the dot-com bubble burst back in 2000 the unemployment rate of Santa Clara county went up to 9.1%.  During the last couple of months, it has gone up again:
RELATED:
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:
Google Launches Public Data Search & Charts During Wolfram Alpha Demo  —  During the Wolfram Alpha demonstration today, the Google Blog announced the launch of their own structured data search feature that allows you to find and compare public data.  —  Searches such as [unemployment rate new york] …
Zach Epstein / Boy Genius Report:
Microsoft and Verizon reportedly cooking up an iPhone competitor  —  Just what the world needs... Another iPhone killer.  If the Wall Street Journal's report is to be believed, it looks like that USA Today story may have omitted a relatively important detail regarding Verizon's “iPhone” offering — it might not be an iPhone at all.
RELATED:
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Microsoft Planning iPhone Rival  —  Microsoft (MSFT) can finally stop denying its plans to get into the cellphone business.  The company is working with Verizon Wireless to launch an iPhone rival early next year, the WSJ reports.  —  There's a good chance this will flop …
Brier Dudley / Seattle Times:
Microsoft debuts Vine in Seattle: Twitter+Facebook on steroids  —  It's been awhile since Microsoft introduced a game-changing social Web application, but Vine — a service that's debuting today with a beta test in Seattle — could be a contender.  —  Vine is a hyperlocal, personalized message and alert system.
RELATED:
RELATED:
Lee Mathews / Download Squad:
Office 2007 SP2 ships, adds Open Document and PDF support
Rajen Sheth / Google Enterprise Blog:
What we talk about when we talk about cloud computing  —  Recently, McKinsey & Company published a study on cloud computing as part of a symposium for The Uptime Institute, an organization dedicated to supporting the enterprise data center industry.  We share McKinsey's interest in helping …
VentureBeat:
Verizon flirts with Apple, but Android is already girlfriend material  —  There's been lots of speculation that Verizon, the largest U.S. phone network, is flirting with Apple, with the idea of introducing an iPhone on Verizon's network next year.  —  Verizon is building out a new fourth …
RELATED:
Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM:
Why We Don't Believe Rumors of an Apple/Verizon Love Child
Security Research & Defense:
AutoRun changes in Windows 7  —  As some of our readers are well aware, Conficker and other malware is taking advantage of the AutoRun functionality as a spreading mechanism.  Furthermore, over the last couple of months, there has been a significant increase of this threat, as more malware is abusing this functionality.
Matt Marshall / VentureBeat:
OnlineBootyCall is great for hooking up, but can it be more?  —  Website OnlineBootycall.com offers no-strings-attached introductions for sexual encounters, tasteless as that might be for some of you.  It's not filled with porn.  It just gets to the point: It asks you to fill out a form …
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Android Backward Compatibility Talk Begins.  This Is Starting To Sound Complicated.  —  Love the iPhone or hate the iPhone, at least you know what you're getting out of the box is a device that will work with all the apps in the App Store.  That's been the case so far with Google's Android platform …
The Boy Genius / Boy Genius Report:
BlackBerry Tour hitting Verizon Wireless in July?  —  BlackBerry Tour?  Oh yeah.  Now that that's been confirmed, we're on to bigger and better things — release dates!  The latest information we've heard is that the BlackBerry Tour is shaping up to be released on Verizon in the month of July.
Jason Chen / Gizmodo:
Palm's Casting a Pre Viral Video Right Now, Hints At Pre Release Date  —  If you're a male in Seattle from the age of 24 to 34, you may have the chance to star in a Palm Pre viral ad.  Update  —  Funny, cool and nerdy.  Is that you?  If so, contact your agent and ask him to get you in.
Discussion: PreCentral.net, Crave and Palm WebOS
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Mint Turns Personal Finance Into A Game.  It's Better Than It Sounds  —  Mint, the popular personal finance site that won 2007's TechCrunch40, is launching a new feature called “Financial Fitness” which, strange as it may sound, adds an element of gaming to the service.
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
The Pirate Bay verdict goes English, and we dish the dirt  —  The Pirate Bay ruling has been translated into English, and it's full of little surprises.  Ars dives in to answer the big questions: who possessed those Klomifen tablets, how much did the state pay to defend The Pirate Bay admins …
comScore:
Hulu Continues Ascent in U.S. Online Video Market, Breaking Into Top 3 Properties by Videos Viewed for First Time in March  —  Average U.S. Viewer Watched 5.5 Hours of Online Video During the Month,  —  According to comScore Video Metrix  —  comScore (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring …
Robert / Wakoopa blog:
The State of Apps - Q1 2009  —  I'm happy to announce the release of the inaugural edition of our quarterly software trends report, named The State of Apps.  —  Since we started with Wakoopa, we've acquired over 525 million hours of software usage data from 75,000 members.
Discussion: TechCrunch, GigaOM and VentureBeat
Raju Vegesna / Zoho Blogs:
Introducing Zoho Mobile  —  Over the past year or two we have had some initiatives on mobile capabilities for selected Zoho applications.  With Zoho Mobile, we are aggregating all our previous initiatives with consistent user interface and extending it to multiple applications and mobile platforms.
Softpedia News:
Windows 7 Pirates Will Be Kept Safe and Cozy by Microsoft  —  Just as pirates of previous Windows releases  —  Pirated copies of Windows 7 will be kept just as safe as non-genuine variants of previous Windows releases, by Microsoft via security updates.  Responding to questions related …
Discussion: The Windows Blog
Symbian Smart Phones World:
Nokia N97 Seriously Dragged Down By Disappointing Hardware Components!  —  OK folks, the dream is over unfortunately, Nokia N97, a phone that is expected to be one of the most desirable devices on the planet this year is seriously dragged down by a disappointing processor and other hardware components for the price!
Discussion: Phone Arena, Nokia S60 and SlashGear
Matt Holliday / Inside Facebook:
Shaq Jumps Into the Facebook Game After Conquering Twitter  —  Already among the most popular Twitter users with more than 820,000 followers, NBA superstar Shaquille O'Neal has started sharing content on his Facebook public profile and added more than 150,000 fans in just the last two weeks.
Mike Musgrove / Washington Post:
Mixx Looks to Go Beyond the News  —  New Service ‘Sifter’ to Pair Companies With Online Users  —  The McLean-based news site Mixx.com is hoping to persuade consumer product developers to draw on the wisdom of the Web as it launches a service today that pairs its online community of news junkies …
Discussion: TechCrunch
Taylor Buley / Forbes:
Facebook's Trademark Troubles  —  The social network loses the case to trademark one of its ad products.  —  BURLINGAME, Calif. — If Facebook is trying to make a name for its nascent advertising platform, why didn't it fight to keep its Social Ads trademark?
Amol Sharma / Digits:
Report: iPhone Users Spend 9.6 Minutes per App  —  Greystripe, an ad network for mobile applications and games, has a new report showing how consumers are using free iPhone applications.  —  Associated Press  —  A Macworld poster touting iPhone apps  —  Among the interesting findings:
Thanks:atul
Kevin Drawbaugh / Reuters:
Online gambling bill coming: Frank  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, said on Tuesday he would introduce a bill next week to overturn a three-year-old U.S. ban on Internet gambling.
Brian Womack / Bloomberg:
Facebook Has Enough Money to Survive Web Advertising Slump, Sandberg Says  —  Facebook Inc. has plenty of money to overcome the economic slump and is adding new forms of interactive advertising that will boost sales 70 percent this year, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said.
Marion Maneker / The Big Money:
Still Haven't Found What They're Looking For  —  Bono and the unlikeliest private-equity shop ever.  —  The imminent release of the Palm Pre—the most exciting smart phone launch this year—has brought about unexpected hopes for a revival of the nearly left-for-dead smart phone maker.
Greg Sandoval / CNET News:
MPAA: RealNetworks could strip DVD copy limits  —  Updated at 12:56 p.m. PDT to clarify MPAA's arguments.  —  The film industry in court Tuesday tried to show a federal judge that the software known as RealDVD entrusts its creator, Real Networks, with the job of protecting digital film copies from piracy.
Discussion: Electronista and NewTeeVee
 
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 More Items: 
Andrew Albanese / Publishers Weekly:
Google Deadline Delayed Four Months as Steinbeck Motion Granted
Discussion: Search Engine Land and SiliconBeat
Reuters:
IBM raises dividend, to buy back more shares
Chris Davies / SlashGear:
Upcoming Averatec 10-inch netbook may use Android
Discussion: Crave and Electronista
Sarah Rabil / Bloomberg:
Time Warner May Say It's Nearing AOL Resolution, Unwinding Failed Merger
 Earlier Items: 
New York Times:
U.S. Steps Up Effort on Digital Defenses
Discussion: Danger Room
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Socialthing Starts Spreading Across 75 AOL Sites
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb and Mashable!
Camille Ricketts / VentureBeat:
Coming soon: A new, smarter Google News?
Jason Scott / ASCII:
Geocities: Lessons So Far
Discussion: hughstimson.org
 

 
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”

Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
National World, one of the UK's biggest newspaper groups, gets a £56.2M buyout offer from shareholder Media Concierge, a 40% premium to its Nov. 21 stock price

Max Goldbart / Deadline:
The English Premier League ends its content partnership with IMG and plans to bring content production and distribution in-house in 2026

 
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