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2:50 PM ET, June 19, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Crave: The gadget blog:
Live blog: iPhone 3G S launch day  —  The rolling rollout of the iPhone 3G S is under way.  Apple's latest iPhone has been going on sale Friday at 7 a.m. local time in each time zone where it's available.  —  We've got a team of people covering the launch.
RELATED:
Katie Marsal / AppleInsider:
AT&T: iPhone 3G S pre-orders in the “hundreds of thousands”  —  Although some of its retail stores on the east coast have already run dry of their initial allotment of iPhone 3G Ss, Apple's exclusive U.S. wireless provider AT&T tells AppleInsider that it sold “hundreds of thousands” …
Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:
Some AT&T stores sell out of iPhone 3G S in less than an hour  —  While the verdict is still out on how well stocked U.S.-based Apple retail stores will be for this morning's iPhone 3G S launch, some of AT&T's shops are reported to have already run out of their initial allotment of the new handsets.
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 …
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:
David Talbot / Technology Review:
Wikipedia Gets Ready for a Video Upgrade  —  The organization behind Wikipedia is close to launching an editable online video encyclopedia to enhance the current textual one.  The hope is to revolutionize the popular reference site and goad content providers—from public broadcasters to the music industry …
Discussion: Mashable! and Beet.TV, Thanks:atul
RELATED:
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
Wikipedia Getting Video within Months
Discussion: paidContent and Softpedia News
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:
Katie Marsal / AppleInsider:
Apple's iPhone 3G S sports chip with 720p HD video capabilities  —  With Apple's new iPhone 3G S hitting store shelves in Europe overnight, the device was thrown within minutes onto the operating table and gutted, revealing a Samsung-branded system-on-a-chip (SoC) featuring a multi-format codec …
Discussion: Bits, CNET News, IntoMobile and Edible Apple
RELATED:
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 …
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:
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.
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 …
Ian Paul / PC World:
iPhone Tethering: Do You Really Need it?  —  Apple iPhone fans may not have to wait too much longer to get Multimedia Messaging and tethering services from AT&T. A confidential source within AT&T says the carrier will offer MMS by mid-July with tethering to follow about two weeks later, according to Appmodo.
RELATED:
Edward Wong / New York Times:
China Disables Some Google Functions  —  BEIJING — The Chinese government disabled some search engine functions on the Chinese-language Web site of Google on Friday, saying the site was linking too often to pornographic and vulgar content.  Government officials met with managers …
RELATED:
Owen Fletcher / PC World:
China Orders Google to Suspend Foreign Site Searches
Discussion: TECH.BLORGE.com
Ina Fried / CNET News:
Microsoft looks to give MSN fresh wings  —  Although most of the discussion of Microsoft's online business has been around Bing, Microsoft is also working on a fall revamp for MSN, its decade-old portal site.  —  Though often overlooked by Microsoft watchers, the MSN portal remains critically important to Microsoft's online business.
Discussion: VentureBeat and paidContent
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...
Paul Miller / Engadget:
Dell Vostro 1220 leaks out, looks as cool as it sounds  —  It's hard to hate on Dell's Vostro lineup: cheap is cheap, and there's nothing wrong with that.  In truth, it could probably look a lot worse, but there's just something vaguely depressing about these unflattering leaked shots …
Debby / My Sex Professor:
iPhone Vibrator App from MyPleasure.com  —  If you haven't already checked out MyPleasure.com's MyVibe app in the iPhone's app store, you might want to.  Unlike many saucy apps out there, MyVibe is free - and fun.  —  Here's how it works: there's an on/off button that looks like many computer on/offs so it's easily recognizable.
Discussion: Gizmodo
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Occipital Brings Seamless Barcode Scanning To The iPhone With RedLaser  —  Now that the new iPhone 3G S has a video camera, TechStars startup Occipital has released an update to its RedLaser app (iTunes link, $1.99) which speeds up barcode scanning by not requiring you to first take a picture.
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.
 
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 More Items: 
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Dear Wanna-bes, Your Twitter Stardom is Coming to an End
Discussion: Stay N' Alive
Technology Review:
If you thought email is making geographical distance less important, think again.
Lolita C. Baldor / Associated Press:
Militants, ‘hacktivists’ exploit Web, eye recruits
Andrew LaVallee / Digits:
Dell Challenges Apple's Greenness
Discussion: TUAW
internetnews.com:
Debate on Mobile Deals Has CTIA at a Crossroads
Discussion: PC World
Robert Andrews / paidContent:
Wrong-Headed Newspaper Biz Tries Again To Charge For Links
Reuters:
Unicom, Apple close to iPhone deal for China: Merrill
Discussion: Unwired View
Caroline McCarthy / CNET News:
Twitter-clueless Rep. Hoekstra is the new Ted Stevens
 Earlier Items: 
Ryan Paul / Ars Technica:
Amazon code release irrelevant, Kindle is still closed
Discussion: TeleRead
Cliff Edwards / Business Week:
Windows 7: Microsoft vs. the PC Makers
Eurogamer:
No public beta for Battlefield 1943
Discussion: VG247, bit-tech.net and Blue's News
Ryan Tate / Gawker:
Facebook Tell-All Released Into Wild
Jolie O'Dell / ReadWriteWeb:
Twitter Censoring Trending Topics? Isn't It About Time?
Thanks:atul
Kim Hart / Washington Post:
Facebook Taps Privacy Hawk as Lobbyist
Ross Harmes / Flickr Blog:
Nearby on Your Phone  —  We've always liked the idea of showing …
Discussion: NPR Blogs, Thanks:atul
 

 
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

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Sources: NBCUniversal Vice Chairman Bonnie Hammer plans to leave the company at the end of the year; she has been with the company since 2004

 
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