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4:30 PM ET, May 15, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
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.
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.
RELATED:
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:
Online Stats: Hulu Says Nielsen's Numbers are Wrong
Discussion: TECH.BLORGE.com
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:
Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:
Tick, tick, tick  —  The Observer's John Koblin reports …
Discussion: Epicenter
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
Phone Arena:
Project Charlie - three secret AT&T devices bound for Best Buy  —  Published on: Today by PhoneArena Team  —  Keep in mind that the information in this article is not official.  —  We've received some news from a Best Buy insider about some new phones that may be on the horizon for the electronics retailer.
RELATED:
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 …
Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:
Sorry, Twitter, Prop. 8 has not been overturned  —  This just in from Twitter — California's Prop. 8, which amended the state constitution to ban gay marriage, has been overturned by the state Supreme Court.  Since I'm a typical San Francisco liberal, you can probably guess how I reacted.
Discussion: TechCrunch and Daggle
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.
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
David Sarno / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
WolframAlpha launch runs into ‘a small snag,’ says creator  —  The much-anticipated WolframAlpha knowledge engine has run into a technical snag that may delay its launch, initially scheduled to be broadcast live today at 5 p.m. PDT / 8 p.m. EDT.  —  In an interview today, Stephen Wolfram …
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.
macles*:
Acer Aspire One 571  —  Another Aspire One, but this one is quite a bit different.  —  Not so much on the outside, as the chassis is apparently based on the D150 or D250.  It also shares the same internal specifications, but has some additional components.
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 …
Edible Apple:
Rumor: Next iPod refresh scheduled for September, iPod Touch AND Nano to get camera  —  The next iPod refresh is set for September and will see the addition of a camera to the iPod Touch, according to a recent report from Hardmac.  Recent reports suggest that the next iPhone will sport …
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 …
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 …
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
Non-touch: Still on the Windows Mobile 7 feature list?  —  It's been quite the week for rumors and tips on things Windows Mobile and Zune-related.  Why not close out the week with one more?  —  Microsoft history buffs may recall that in January 2008, word leaked out (via …
Discussion: WMExperts, WMPoweruser.com and Gizmodo
Adam C. Engst / TidBITS:
GPS Accuracy Could Start Dropping in 2010  —  [Updated to clarify that Mike Craymer merely alerted us to the GAO report; he's not responsible for identifying the problems with GPS.  -Adam]  —  We've all become accustomed to using the Global Positioning System, or GPS, whether via our iPhones …
Blassey / Brad's Blog:
Fennec Alpha 1 for Windows Mobile  —  We are pleased to announce that Fennec Alpha 1 for Windows Mobile 6 is available for download by developers and testers.  This is an early developer release intended for testing purposes only.  We would like to invite interested Windows Mobile developers …
Economist:
Tossed by a gale  —  It isn't just newspapers: much of the established news industry is being blown away.  Yet news is thriving  —  PERHAPS the surest sign that newspapers are doomed is that politicians, so often their targets, are beginning to feel sorry for them.
Biz / Twitter Blog:
The Replies Kerfuffle  —  Twitter evolves and thrives on how folks use it.  Some of our best features are invented by users, so listening is extremely valuable.  Replies and conversations are awesome and we fully intend to support and encourage their growth.
Dan Goodin / The Register:
Unsafe at any speed: Memcpy() banished in Redmond  —  Larry?  Steve?  Linus?  —  Memcpy() and brethren, your days are numbered.  At least in development shops that aspire to secure coding.  —  Microsoft plans to formally banish the popular programming function that's been responsible …
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Federated Media Will Search for New Leader Says Founder and CEO Battelle (Plus a Web Squared and Double-D Video!)  —  John Battelle (pictured here), the founder, Chairman and CEO of Federated Media Publishing, told his staff this morning that he will begin a search for a new top exec to take the company into its next stage of growth.
Discussion: TechCrunch, VentureBeat and FM Blog
 
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 More Items: 
Todd Ogasawara / MobileContentToday:
AT&T Claims Twice as Many Smartphone Users as Any Other Carrier …
Nick O'Neill / All Facebook:
Facebook Working On Similar Feed Stories Feature
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb
Casey Chan / Android Central:
T-Mobile's Android 1.5 Cupcake Update Release Schedule Revealed ?
Discussion: jkOnTheRun and IntoMobile
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Google Friend Connect Adds Recommendations Gadget
Discussion: Social Web Blog and Regular Geek, Thanks:atul
Marisa Taylor / Digits:
The Real-Time Local News
John Cook / TechFlash:
1000 Markets is an Etsy rival with backing from PayPal founders
Thanks:toddbishop
Priya Ganapati / Gadget Lab:
Hands On: New Cool-er E-Book Reader Turns Up the Heat
Discussion: T3.com News, open and TeleRead
Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:
The New York Times Finds Print-Like Engagement with New “Reader”
 Earlier Items: 
DealBook:
V.C.'s Ignore Business Plans, Study Finds
Thanks:atul
New York Post:
AT FORBES MEDIA, THE KNIVES ARE COMING
Graham Cluley / Graham Cluley's blog:
Malicious JSRedir-R script found to be biggest malware threat on the web
Discussion: Softpedia News and The Register
Louis Gray:
Don't Tempt the Online Mob. They Come Bearing Pitchforks.
Thanks:atul
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
CHART OF THE DAY: YouPorn Still On Top Of Competition
 

 
From Mediagazer:

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

Brian Stelter / CNN:
In a letter to Bob Iger, incoming FCC chair Brendan Carr raised concerns about ABC's negotiations with its affiliated stations, public trust in media, and more

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Netflix will host NFL Christmas games, including Beyonce's Halftime show, for only three hours after streaming them live; replays will be available on NFL+

 
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