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10:15 AM ET, June 19, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Jwchen / CNET News:
Live blog: iPhone 3G S launch day  —  Apple's iPhone 3G S goes on sale Friday at 7 a.m. in all time zones, and we have a team of people in New York and the San Francisco Bay Area covering the launch.  —  At Apple and AT&T stores in Manhattan, eager first-day buyers try to get their hands on Apple's upgraded smartphone Friday morning.
RELATED:
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
iPhone 3G S fizzles out for global retail  —  What a difference 18 months makes, eh?  The relative short line for today's iPhone 3G S launch at Apple's flagship Regent Street store in London could be attributed to any number of factors: the economy, the steep cost of upgrade for iPhone 3G owners …
Andy Penfold / PC World:
Apple iPhone 3G S: Unboxing Pics  —  If you're thinking of treating yourself to an iPhone 3G S, here's what you will find inside the box.  —  Recommends  —  The iPhone 3G S is here, and before you get to play with it you must first negotiate Apple's legendary and super-ergonomic packaging.
Discussion: Gadget Lab and Between the Lines
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Thomas verdict: willful infringement, $1.92 million penalty  —  Jammie Thomas-Rasset's federal retrial concluded today as a jury found her liable for willful copyright infringement, awarding the record labels nearly $2 million in damages.  —  A new lawyer, a new jury, and a new trial were not enough to save Jammie Thomas-Rasset.
RELATED:
Stan Schroeder / Mashable!:
Ever Downloaded a Copyrighted Song?  You Owe Infinity Dollars  —  In one of the most ridiculous verdicts I've seen, the jury decided that Jammie Thomas-Rasset, the first woman who was charged with copyright infringmenet and offered to settle but decided to fight the RIAA …
Discussion: p2pnet
Franz Och / The Official Google Blog:
Google translates Persian  —  Today, we added Persian (Farsi) to Google Translate.  This means you can now translate any text from Persian into English and from English into Persian — whether it's a news story, a website, a blog, an email, a tweet or a Facebook message.
RELATED:
Eric Kwan / Facebook Blog:
Launching Facebook in Persian  —  Since the Iranian election last week, people around the world have increasingly been sharing news and information on Facebook about the results and its aftermath.  Much of the content created and shared has been in Persian—the native language of Iran …
Michael McWhertor / Kotaku:
Microsoft: There Will Be “No New Console”  —  Today, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer indicated that the company would be releasing a new Xbox 360 in 2010, one featuring a built-in camera.  That seemingly confirmed a new hardware configuration with the company's Project Natal built-in.  Microsoft's official word?
RELATED:
Dan Sabbagh / Times of London:
Sony should beware — Activision chief is not simply playing games  —  Bobby Kotick and a partner bought the once-struggling Activision for $440,000 in 1991, at a time when it was losing $30 million on $10 million in revenues.  Now the world's biggest independent computer games company …
Brooke Crothers / CNET News:
iPhone 3G S: First peek under the hood  —  What makes the iPhone 3G S tick, and why is it the “fastest iPhone ever,” as Apple claims.  Rapid Repair tears down the iPhone in Paris, providing some clues.  —  First, a quick glance at Apple's claims for the iPhone 3G S. The ad copy …
RELATED:
Katie Marsal / AppleInsider:
Apple's iPhone 3G S sports chip with 720p HD video capabilities
Jeff Bertolucci / PC World:
Why Doesn't Anyone Want a Blu-ray Player?  —  Blu-ray may have won the war against HD-DVD, but American consumers aren't exactly warming to the high-definition disc format.  —  According to a new Harris Poll, more U.S. homes have a Blu-ray or HD-DVD player compared to a year ago, but adoption is slow.
RELATED:
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Steve Ballmer Is Making A Bad $10 Billion Bet  —  Steve Ballmer says he is willing to invest 5%-10% of Microsoft's operating income over the next five years on search.  —  That's a boatload of money.  —  Specifically, assuming Microsoft's operating income stays constant (it will likely grow), it's $5.5-$11 billion.
Craig Labovitz / Arbor Networks Security:
Iranian Traffic Engineering  —  The outcome of the Iranian elections now hangs in the balance and perhaps, also on the availability of the Internet (or at least Twitter and Facebook according to the US State Department).  —  Based on significant Internet engineering changes over the last week, the Iranian government seems to agree...
RELATED:
Caroline McCarthy / CNET News:
With Iran crisis, Twitter's youth is over
Discussion: Danger Room and Net Effect
Ed Bott / Ed Bott's Microsoft Report:
How good is Microsoft's free antivirus software?  —  Microsoft has officially unveiled its long-awaited consumer antivirus offering.  Formerly code-named “Morro,” it's now been christened Microsoft Security Essentials, and it will enter public beta testing next week.
Discussion: Gizmodo
RELATED:
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
Microsoft Security Essentials: What wannabe testers need to know
Jolie O'Dell / ReadWriteWeb:
Twitter Censoring Trending Topics?  Isn't It About Time?  —  Tonight, the bored and lonely segment of Twitter users banded together to push three sexy, raunchy, and totally inappropriate terms into the trending topics leaderboard.  —  Within minutes (as far as we could tell) …
Thanks:atul
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Google Flipper Is About To Jump Out Of The Water  —  Google is about to launch a new Google Labs project it calls Flipper, we've learned.  No, it's not a dolphin.  As you can see in the screenshot, it looks like the project is a more visual way to read Google News, or to “flip through it,” as it were.
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
That Was Quick: Veodia Acquires Screen Capturing Startup ScreenToaster  —  ScreenToaster, easily one of the best web-based screen recording tools out there, is now in the hands of enterprise video platform provider Veodia.  The San Mateo, CA based company - backed by $8.3 million in venture capital …
Ryan Tate / Gawker:
Facebook Tell-All Released Into Wild  —  Facebook's creation myth has left the building, or so we hear: Fortune is said to be readying an excerpt of Ben Mezrich's tell-all book and movie about the social network.  And another publication is, naturally, trying to ruin the scoop.
Eurogamer:
No public beta for Battlefield 1943  —  EA DICE producer Gordon Van Dyke has said a trial version of Battlefield 1943 will be offered to compensate for the lack of a public beta - an inevitability on Xbox Live Arcade, but not always so on PlayStation Network.  So that's good news.
Discussion: bit-tech.net, VG247 and Blue's News
Owen Fletcher / PC World:
China Orders Google to Suspend Foreign Site Searches  —  China has ordered Google to suspend its foreign Web site search service after warning that the company's filtering of pornography was too weak, state media said Friday.  —  Google was also ordered to revamp its service immediately …
Discussion: TECH.BLORGE.com
Ross Harmes / Flickr Blog:
Nearby on Your Phone  —  We've always liked the idea of showing you photos taken in a particular place; for example, here are some photos taken at or near the Flickr 5.25 party.  —  Today we're bringing that ability to the smartphone mobile site.  For those devices that support it …
Discussion: NPR Blogs, Thanks:atul
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
The Pre App Catalog Is Tracking Way, Way Behind Apple's App Store.  And It's Palm's Fault.  —  One month after the launch of the App Store in 2008, Apple had seen over 60 million downloads of its apps.  The Palm Pre hasn't been out for a month yet, but it's about halfway there, so how close is it to that number?
Kim Zetter / Threat Level:
TJX Hacker Was Awash in Cash; His Penniless Coder Faces Prison  —  Accused TJX hacker kingpin Albert Gonzalez called his credit card theft ring “Operation Get Rich or Die Tryin.”  —  He spent $75,000 on a birthday party for himself and once complained that he had to manually count $340,000 …
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Appmodo: Official AT&T iPhone Tethering to Cost $55 Per Month  —  Appmodo: … That sounds outrageously high to me, unless they mean $55 total, not $55 in addition to the existing $30 data plan.  If they want $85 a month for tethered data, that's larceny.  What are carriers in other countries charging?
Cliff Edwards / Business Week:
Windows 7: Microsoft vs. the PC Makers  —  A battle is shaping up over the pricing of the next version of Windows as both sides struggle to profit while hardware prices fall and sales stay flat  —  As Microsoft (MSFT) prepares to launch a new version of its Windows operating system this fall …
 
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 More Items: 
Amit Agarwal / Digital Inspiration:
Taking a Cue from Digg, Google Introduces Ads in Orkut That You Can Trash
Thanks:atul
Debby / My Sex Professor:
iPhone Vibrator App from MyPleasure.com
Discussion: Gizmodo
Kim Hart / Washington Post:
Facebook Taps Privacy Hawk as Lobbyist
Rafat Ali / paidContent:
Newser Gets $2.5 Million in First-Round Funding
Discussion: The Huffington Post, Beet.TV and Gawker, Thanks:atul
Sharon Vaknin / CNET News:
Nokia powering up self-charging cell phone
Discussion: bit-tech.net and digg.com
Electronista:
iPhone, Pre demand surges; BlackBerry tumbles
Discussion: The iPhone Blog and Apple 2.0
 Earlier Items: 
Jolie O'Dell / ReadWriteWeb:
Tags as Far as the Eye Can See: New York Times to Publish Index as Linked Data
Discussion: The Semantic Web, Thanks:atul
Tony Stubblebine / Stubbleblog:
The Real Lessons From Twitter
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
A New York judge finds Sirius XM liable for a difficult subscription cancellation process; Sirius says it will appeal but abide by a new “click-to-cancel” rule

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
A growing number of podcasters, including Tim Ferriss, are moving away from interviews to monologues or co-hosts, as some well-known guests can be overexposed

Matthew Keys / The Desk:
DirecTV terminates its Dish acquisition after a group of Dish creditors rejected a modified bond exchange offer

 
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