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12:55 PM ET, May 15, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Kevin Michaluk / CrackBerry.com blogs:
Exclusive: First Look at the BlackBerry Storm 2!!  —  ** Images Removed at Request **  —  * Update: [MORE PHOTOS ADDED!]  Sooo much Storm 2 goodness it's ridiculous.  BOOM.  Here it is CrackBerry Nation, your FIRST look at the BlackBerry Storm TWO.  I'm not even sure what to say here …
RELATED:
Jacob Schulman / Engadget Mobile:
Exclusive BlackBerry Storm 2 shots!  —  What's this we have here?  A trusted source just hit us with a slew of beauty shots of the Storm 2 that leaked a little bit ago.  Not much else to say at this point until we can get one in our hands — the photos really speak for themselves.
Dan Friedman / Inside AdWords:
Update to U.S. ad text trademark policy  —  Imagine opening your Sunday paper and seeing ads from a large supermarket chain that didn't list actual products for sale; instead, they simply listed the categories of products available - offers like “Buy discount cola” and “Snacks on sale.”
RELATED:
Miguel Helft / New York Times:
Companies Object to Google Policy on Trademarks  —  SAN FRANCISCO — When Audrey Spangenberg idly typed “FirePond,” the name of her small software company, into Google this year, she was not happy with what she saw.  —  Her company's site came up as the top search listing.
AdAge:
Google Lifts Ban on Trademark Terms for Search Ads
Discussion: eWeek
Brian Stelter / New York Times:
Hulu Questions Count of Its Audience  —  Does Hulu, the Web's most popular place for TV viewing, reach nine million people a month or 42 million?  —  Millions of dollars in advertising revenue may hinge on the answer.  But no one seems to know for sure how big the site's audience is.
Claire Cain Miller / Bits:
Do Web Entrepreneurs Still Need Venture Capitalists?  —  Is venture capital becoming obsolete for Web start-ups?  —  Yes, according to Robert Hendershott, a professor of private equity and entrepreneurship at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University.
RELATED:
Rory Maher / paidContent.org:
Think Entrepreneurs Don't Need VCs? Think Again
Discussion: paidContent and mocoNews
The Official Google Blog:
This is your pilot speaking.  Now, about that holding pattern...  Imagine if you were trying to fly from New York to San Francisco, but your plane was routed through an airport in Asia.  And a bunch of other planes were sent that way too, so your flight was backed up and your journey took much longer than expected.
RELATED:
John Koblin / New York Observer:
New York Times Considers Two Plans to Charge for Content on the Web  —  By the end of June, The New York Times will come to a decision on how to charge for some of its content on the Web, The Observer has learned.  —  Executive editor Bill Keller said at a meeting with staff on Wednesday …
RELATED:
Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:
The New York Times Finds Print-Like Engagement with New “Reader”
news.teamxbox.com:
Microsoft Working on Digital Entertainment Handheld  —  When I got the first piece of information regarding a Microsoft digital entertainment handheld last year, I wanted to be sure it wasn't just a wild gossip.  In a time when people is afraid of losing their jobs because of the global recession …
Royal Pingdom:
Congratulations, Google staff: $210k in profit per head in 2008  —  Google had $209,624 in profit per employee in 2008, which beats all the other large tech companies we looked at, including big hitters like Microsoft, Apple, Intel and IBM.  —  (As you may know, we have been taking a closer look …
Matt McGee / Search Engine Land:
Quietly, Google Updates Its Blog Search Algorithm  —  There's no official announcement (yet), but Google tells Search Engine Land that it's made several improvements under the hood of Google Blog Search.  —  In an email conversation, Google's Jeremy Hylton — head of the search quality group …
Discussion: Mashable! and broadstuff, Thanks:mattmcgee
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
Palm Pre pics released into the wild by Sprint freedom fighter  —  You know, if you're going to post pics of yourself onto the Internet goofing around with the Palm Pre in a Sprint back-office, Engadget's going to be there to post them.  However, if you're dumb enough not to block out your face …
Adam C. Engst / TidBITS:
GPS Accuracy Could Start Dropping in 2010  —  We've all become accustomed to using the Global Positioning System, or GPS, whether via our iPhones, car navigation devices, handheld GPS units, or even watch-based devices like the Garmin Forerunner series.  The GPS system went into full operation …
BBC:
EU proposal could ‘stifle’ games  —  The future of games development has been called into question after the EU Commission suggested developers provide a two year guarantee.  —  Commissioners Viviane Reding and Meglena Kuneva want to expand the EU Sales and Guarantees Directive.
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
About Those iPhone App Store Revenue Numbers  —  I don't think it's a stretch to say that Apple's App Store has been more successful than even Apple ever imagined.  It entered a market that had been completely controlled by carriers and handed the keys over to third-party developers to make their own apps.
Ashlee Vance / Bits:
Once a Chip Curmudgeon, Dell Gives Via a Spin  —  A couple of years ago, Dell looked equal parts laggard and self-defeating Intel-loyalist when it ended up as the last big server maker to add popular chips from Advanced Micro Devices as options for customers.
Discussion: GigaOM
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
CHART OF THE DAY: YouPorn Still On Top Of Competition  —  A year ago, YouPorn had taken off as the top user-uploaded adult video site, attracting 3 million U.S. unique visitors in April '08, up 1300% year-over-year, according to Compete.  A year later, YouPorn is still the king of kinky.
Paul Miller / Engadget:
Tony Hawk's new ‘Ride’ game includes motion-sensing skateboard controller for shredding your mom's new carpet  —  We'd heard rumblings that Tony Hawk was working on something with motion controls — which seems only natural after EA's Skate hit the scene with its intuitive Flickit control scheme …
Michael McWhertor / Kotaku:
Take-Two Sues Duke Nukem Forever Devs Over Failure To Deliver  —  The 12-year-long development soap opera that was Duke Nukem Forever ended on a disappointing note.  More disappointing for publisher Take-Two Interactive, which invested over $12 million in the game.  Understandably, Take-Two is suing 3D Realms.
Sylvie Barak / Inquirer:
Fujitsu unveils world's fastest CPU  —  Take that, Intel!  —  WHEN IT RAINS, it pours for Intel, it seems, with Chipzilla receiving bad news not only on the legal front but also on the tech front as well this week, as Fujitsu has just unveiled a new CPU thought to be the world's fastest yet.
Graham Cluley / Graham Cluley's blog:
Malicious JSRedir-R script found to be biggest malware threat on the web  —  Research done by experts in SophosLabs has revealed that a new web-based threat has blown all previous web-based malware out of the water, being found six times more often than its nearest rival.
Discussion: The Register and Softpedia News
Laura June / Engadget:
Random House now disabling text-to-speech function of Kindle e-books  —  The much-touted and extremely controversial story of the text-to-speech function of Amazon's Kindle 2 could fill a very large e-book.  The tale continues to get longer still, as at least one major publisher …
New York Post:
AT FORBES MEDIA, THE KNIVES ARE COMING  —  ROGER McNamee, co-founder of the investment firm Elevation Partners and one of the driving forces behind its decision to buy a big stake in Forbes Media 2½ years ago, has resigned from the Forbes board.  —  The resignation is the clearest sign yet …
Daniel Emery / BBC:
Hackers ‘destroy’ flight sim site  —  Flight simulator site Avsim has been “destroyed” by malicious hackers.  —  The site, which launched in 1996, covered all aspects of flight simulation, although its main focus was on Microsoft's Flight Simulator.  —  The attack took down the site's …
DealBook:
V.C.'s Ignore Business Plans, Study Finds  —  Go ahead and write that 50-page business plan about your fledgling venture if it helps you to focus.  Just do not bother showing it to venture capitalists, because it will do nothing to improve your chances of getting financing.
Thanks:atul
 
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 More Items: 
Sinead Carew / MediaFile:
RIM says phones will still trump netbooks
Paul McDougall / InformationWeek:
Windows 7 Boosts Hyper-Threading Support
Chris Williams / The Register:
Beeb tech boss seeks to expand TV licence online
Discussion: Electricpig.co.uk
Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
DSi, PS2, Xbox 360 and other notes from April game data
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
Wait... Wouldn't Micropayments Be Bad For Journalism?
Louis Gray:
Don't Tempt the Online Mob. They Come Bearing Pitchforks.
Thanks:atul
Matthew Lasar / Ars Technica:
Did the FCC cook the books on broadband over power lines?
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
Nokia launching ‘high-end handset’ with capacitive touchscreen in Q3?
 Earlier Items: 
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Trouble Ahead For Blip.fm?
Discussion: Download Squad and Blip.fm Blog
Gavin Clarke / The Register:
MySQL daddy seeks post-Sun Oracle independence
Discussion: Computerworld UK and Ars Technica
Kristen Nicole / All Facebook:
Face.com Scans 13 Million Facebook Photos Every Day
Discussion: TechCrunch and Mashable!
The Official Google Blog:
Behind the scenes of the Search Options panel
Discussion: Mashable! and blogs.ft.com
 

 
From Mediagazer:

New York Times:
Court docs detail a smear campaign against actor Blake Lively via media articles and social media posts after she accused director Justin Baldoni of misconduct

Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:
A deep dive into Paramount's sale to Skydance; sources: Skydance may integrate Pluto into Paramount+, and CBS head George Cheeks is expected to be head of TV

Kimberly Nordyke / The Hollywood Reporter:
News Corp and Telstra agree to sell Australian pay TV company Foxtel Group to sports streaming platform DAZN in a deal worth ~$2.1B

 
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