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3:20 PM ET, July 7, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
The Official Google Blog:
Google Apps is out of beta (yes, really)  —  We're often asked why so many Google applications seem to be perpetually in beta.  For example, Gmail has worn the beta tag more than five years.  We realize this situation puzzles some people, particularly those who subscribe to the traditional definition of …
RELATED:
Miguel Helft / Bits:
Gmail and Other Google Apps Finally Shed ‘Beta’ Label  —  What took Google so long?  —  Like many software products, Google's Gmail service was first released with a “beta” label on it.  In the software industry, a product that is in beta is still in its testing phase.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Google Apps Standard Edition Findable Again  —  Last night we reported that Google had stripped all references and links to the free version of Google Apps from the landing page for the product.  New users had just one option - to sign up for the Premier version and pay $50 per user per year after a 14 day free trial.
RELATED:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
What The Hell Happened To The Free Version Of Google Apps?  —  The free version of Google Apps is history.  The current sign up page makes no mention of the previously free Standard edition.  Instead, new users get a 14 day free trial, and then must pay $50 per user per year after that trial.
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Facebook's Own Estimates Show Declining Student Numbers; Now More Grandparents Than High School Users  —  How fickle are kids these days?  Just when all the grown ups started figuring out Facebook, college and high school users have declined in absolute number by 20% and 15% respectively …
RELATED:
Douglas MacMillan / Tech Beat:
Facebook Flight? No, Graduation Season
Discussion: PC World and Softpedia News
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Push Gmail Comes To The iPhone — Through An App (If It's Accepted)  —  You'd think on a phone that can do as many cool things as the iPhone, push email through one of the world's most popular email services, Gmail, would be one of them.  But for some reason, Google and Apple haven't turned …
Ross Miller / Engadget:
Sony Vaio W netbook now official in US, coming August for $499  —  Not so much of a surprise now, but Sony's bringing its 10.1-inch Vaio W stateside as well, and yes, according to the Sony reps we talked to, this time they really do mean to call it a netbook, unlike its Vaio P brethren.
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Pandora (And Other Internet Radio) Has Officially Been Saved  —  After two years of uncertainty, Pandora's future has finally been secured.  —  For those not familiar with what was going on, basically the streaming rates for Internet radio were in danger of being raised to levels …
RELATED:
Claire Cain Miller / New York Times:   Music Labels Reach Royalty Deal With Online Stations
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Hey, Online Display Ads Don't Suck After All!  —  Since the dawn of time, advertisers have been worried about the efficacy of online display ads.  This is in part because, in the mid-1990s, they were taught that online display ads had one purpose in life, which was to get people to click on them.
Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:
Demand for Apple's 13" MacBook Pro may be outpacing supply  —  Apple's newly-coined 13-inch MacBook Pros appear to be off to a hot start, with the company reportedly having difficulty keeping some of the new models in stock as it enters the heart of the back-to-school buying season.
Arn / MacRumors:
Apple Celebrates First Anniversary of App Store  —  Apple has started celebrating the first anniversary of the App Store with a special section on iTunes [link] highlighting their favorite applications and games.  While the App Store officially launched on July 11th 2008 …
Matt Asay / CNET News:
VideoLAN releases VLC 1.0.0: Your media will never be the same  —  On April 3, arguably the world's best media player, VideoLAN's VLC media player (VLC), hit version 0.9.9.  A few months and over 78 million downloads later, VideoLAN has announced VLC 1.0.0 ("Goldeneye").  —  Your media will never be the same.
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Slide Cuts Ad Staff, Shifts Focus  —  Max Levchin's Slide, a San Francisco-based startup that caught the Facebook application wave early, is making a strategic shift, refocusing its revenue efforts on higher-margin premium advertising that include brand sponsorships for many of its well-known applications such as Super Poke.
RELATED:
Nicholas Carlson / Silicon Alley Insider:   Slide Is Now A $500 Million Sponsored-App Maker
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Apple 2.0:
Where have all the white iPhones gone?  —  It's the reverse of Henry Ford's line about the Model T. Today you can buy any iPhone you want, as long as it's not white.  —  Apple (AAPL) has been having trouble keeping the entry-level white iPhone in stock since the new 3GS went on sale two and a half weeks ago.
Miguel de Icaza:
From Microsoft: C# and CLI under the Community Promise  —  First the big news: Microsoft will be applying the Community Promise patent licensing to both C# and the CLI.  —  The announcement was done by Peter Galli at Microsoft over at Port25 and it states (emphasis is mine):
Discussion: Sean Michael Kerner and OSNews
RELATED:
Sarah Rabil / Bloomberg:
Jackson Memorial Service Internet Viewing May Match Obama's Inauguration  —  Michael Jackson's memorial service may draw at least as many online viewers as the record-setting inauguration of President Barack Obama.  —  MSNBC.com expects traffic for its live video stream to be “near record-breaking …
Discussion: Digits and Technology Live
RELATED:
Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:
IAC's Match Agrees To Buy People Media For $80 Million  —  Broad-based online dating site Match.com is buying into the targeted subscription dating business with the acquisition of People Media from private equity firm American Capital Ltd. and various investors for $80 million in cash.
John Timmer / Ars Technica:
New algorithm guesses SSNs using date and place of birth  —  Two researchers have found that a pair of antifraud methods intended to increase the chances of detecting bogus social security numbers has actually allowed the statistical reconstruction of the number using information that many people place on social networking sites.
Laurie Sullivan / MediaPost:
Amazon Patents Detail Kindle Advertising Model  —  Would you buy a Kindle ebook reader from Amazon if you received a free, ad-supported version of a book for each physical copy purchased?  The U.S. Patent Office has published several Amazon patents in the past 30 days that could lead the online bookseller in that direction.
Ryan Paul / Ars Technica:
Firefox stability to get a boost with multiprocess browsing  —  Mozilla has launched a new project called Electrolysis that aims to bring multiprocess browsing to Firefox.  According to Mozilla, splitting up the page rendering workload into multiple processes will improve the browser's performance, security, and stability.
Discussion: eWeek and Techgeist
Spencer Ante / Tech Beat:
Made Men: Why Venture Capitalists Sponsor Other VCs  —  The big news out this week in the venture capital market is the launch of Andreessen Horowitz, a new $300 million venture capital fund co-founded by Marc Andreeseen, a tech visionary who founded Netscape Communications, the startup that triggered the Internet tsunami.
Discussion: The Equity Kicker and MarkJournal
Martin LaMonica / CNET News:
Microsoft opens Hohm to energy monitoring  —  Microsoft opened up its Hohm Web application on Monday to U.S. users, a site that gives people a starting point for cutting home energy use.  —  The launch of Hohm, still in beta, was marred at least for some people, including me …
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Feedburner Founder/CEO Dick Costolo To Leave Google  —  It's always hard to hold onto those pesky entrepreneurs after you acquire their company - the best ones always get restless and bail.  Feedburner cofounder and CEO Dick Costolo will be leaving Google within the week, we've confirmed.
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider, Thanks:mrinaldesai
macles*:
Acer Aspire Timeline 1810T  —  It's not an Acer Aspire One, but it's close enough.  —  You could however easily mistake it for the Aspire One 751, as it's based on the same chassis with a few modifications.  It also shares the 11.6" screen with 1366x768 resolution.
 
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 More Items: 
Matthew Newman / Bloomberg:
Microsoft, EU Said to Be in Talks to Settle Two Antitrust Investigations
Discussion: All about Microsoft and CNET News
China Journal:
Online Ambassador: Chinese Province to Appoint “Internet Spokesperson”
Evan Hessel / Forbes:
Making Facebook Pay
Jason Mick / DailyTech:
Mozilla May Finally Move to a 64-Bit Browser With Firefox 3.6
Jay Hathaway / Download Squad:
Prowl: get Growl notifications on your iPhone, with push
Discussion: Macworld and Gizmodo
 Earlier Items: 
Yukari Iwatani Kane / Wall Street Journal:
How I Spent My Summer: Hacking Into iPhones With Friends
Discussion: WinX Blog
Joe Mandese / MediaPost:
Office Depot's Circuitous Route: Takes ‘Circular’ …
Discussion: NewTeeVee
Andrew Keen / Internet Evolution:
Google Will Star in Emerging News Model
Discussion: Internet Evolution
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Hear That? It's The Sound Of Your New Hearing Aid, The iPhone
Discussion: GottaBeMobile.com
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Analyzing Comcast's spinoff of cable networks, purposefully structured with low debt: the move might be a signal to the industry that it's time to consolidate

Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
Tubi launches Scenes, a mobile feature that lets viewers watch 60-to-90-second trailer-style clips from its library to help with content discovery

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
James Harding says the Tortoise-Observer deal could create a profitable media group and there isn't a guaranteed future for the Observer with the Guardian

 
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