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12:25 PM ET, August 12, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Nick Eaton / The Microsoft Blog:
Judge: Microsoft can't sell Word anymore  —  A Texas judge ruled Tuesday that Microsoft cannot sell one of its flagship products, Word, in the United States because of patent infringement.  —  You read that right: Microsoft cannot sell Word, the judge ruled.
RELATED:
Nancy Gohring / Computerworld:
Injunction on Microsoft Word unlikely to halt sales
Discussion: TechFlash, CNET News and Technologizer
Pete Cashmore / Mashable!:   Judge: Microsoft Banned from Selling Word in the US
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Facebook Begins Testing Facebook Lite, A Faster Simpler Version Of The Service  —  It looks like Facebook has tonight turned on a feature called “Facebook Lite” for some users to test out.  We're getting bombarded by tips about it, and some of us are seeing it as well.
RELATED:
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
What Facebook Lite Actually Is.  Hint: It's Not Twitter Or FriendFeed.  —  So, the web pretty much exploded tonight over the appearance of something called “Facebook Lite,” a new service that's apparently being beta tested by Facebook.  But users who received the message that they were invited …
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Schiller Reaches Out Again To Acknowledge App Store Problems  —  A few weeks ago, we wrote about Steven Frank, a well-known Mac developer who was giving up his iPhone over his disgust with the ways Apple is managing the App Store.  (This was right before Mike also gave up his iPhone).
RELATED:
Katie Marsal / AppleInsider:
Apple's Schiller to angry developer: “We hear you”
Discussion: FierceMobileContent and AppScout
Microsoft:
Microsoft and Nokia Form Global Alliance to Design, Develop and Market Mobile Productivity Solutions  —  Companies will collaborate to bring Microsoft Office Mobile and related communications and collaboration software and services to Nokia smartphones.  —  The worldwide leader in software …
RELATED:
Jonny Evans / 9 to 5 Mac:
Unreleased Apple product sighted in California - no images (yet)  —  There's definitely an unreleased Apple product looming - and while that bald statement is pretty much an eternal truism, product marketing plans for this one are advanced, a report this morning explains.
Avner Ronen / boxee blog:
Boxee gets a $6M catalyst  —  We are happy to announce that Boxee closed a $6M round of financing led by Boston-based General Catalyst with participation by prior investors Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures.  Neil Sequeira from General Catalyst will join our board.
RELATED:
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Web Video Darling Boxee Gets Another $6 Million: Are Zero Revenues and Big Plans Worth $25 Million?  —  Yet another sign that revenue-free startups can still attract investors, given the right pitch: Boxee, the software company that makes it easy to get Web video onto your TV, has raised a $6 million B round led by General Catalyst.
Discussion: paidContent
Brad Stone / Bits:
RealNetworks Barred From Selling DVD Copy Maker  —  RealNetworks, the Seattle-based digital media company, portrays itself as fighting for people's right to legally make backup copies of the DVDs they own.  It appears to have lost at least the first and perhaps most important round of the battle.
RELATED:
Fred / Electronic Frontier Foundation:
Judge Rules Against RealDVD
Discussion: Guardian, p2pnet and freakbits.com
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:   As Expected, Judge Still Bans Real From Selling RealDVD
Dan Nosowitz / Gizmodo:
Zune HD Release Date and Packaging Leaked, Will Hit Stores September 15th  —  Some loyal Giz readers and Best Buy employees sent us a couple shots of the much-anticipated Zune HD's packaging, and they clearly state that the gorgeous PMP will be available on September 15th.  Break out the wallets, people.
John Herrman / Gizmodo:
T-Mobile HTC Touch Pro2 Review: Wait, How Much?  —  T-Mobile's take on the HTC Touch Pro2, a 3.6-inch-screened, slide-out-QWERTYed refresh to the company's flagship Windows Mobile phone.  —  The price: $349 with a 2-year contract, after instant rebate, making it T-Mobile's most expensive phone
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Is a Perfect Storm Forming For Distributed Social Networking?  —  Maybe it's better to host your own.  That's the thinking coming from a growing number of early technology adopters as service after service goes down, sells out or otherwise frustrates the users who have published their content online …
Discussion: Know It All, Mashable! and The SiliconANGLE, Thanks:atul
RELATED:
Jorge Escobar / jungleG:   After FriendFeed's Sale, Trust In Social Sites Has Been Shattered
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Poor Google Knol Has Gone From A Wikipedia Killer To A Craigslist Wannabe  —  We've known for a while that Google's Knol is no Wikipedia killer, but now the knowledge-sharing site is being reduced to a sad Craigslist wannabe.  The original idea behind Knol was that people …
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
The Top 100 Search Terms Queried by Kids  —  Security firm Symantec has identified the top 100 searches conducted by children online.  Popular items in the list include some expected entries like YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace as well as queries for popular pop idols like Michael Jackson and Miley Cyrus.
Discussion: Security Watch
Bobbie Johnson / Guardian:
Wikipedia approaches its limits  —  The online encyclopedia is about to hit 3m articles in English - but growth is stalling as ‘inclusionists’ and ‘deletionists’ fight for control  —  Yet again, Wikipedia is about to break new ground.  The website that has become one of the biggest open repositories …
Discussion: TeleRead
PC Magazine:
Hands On with the Zune HD, Plus Video  —  Earlier today, José Piñero, Zune's new senior director of marketing, swung by the PCMag.com Labs to preview the brand-new Zune HD for us.  —  While there are still lots of unanswered questions (Piñero wouldn't confirm pricing or capacities …
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
After Ten Years In Business, MyWebGrocer Raises $13 Million In Series A  —  It is not often that a company waits ten years to take its first venture capital.  MyWebGrocer, which was founded in 1999, raised $13 million today in a series A investment from the Stripes Group, a private equity firm in New York City.
Jeff Atwood / Coding Horror:
Are You a Digital Sharecropper?  —  Will Work for Praise: The Web's Free-Labor Economy describes how many of today's websites are built by the users themselves: … This raises some disturbing parallels.  Are users being turned into digital sharecroppers?
Emil Protalinski / Ars Technica:
Xbox gaming platform may soon span Web, console, mobile  —  A new job posting suggests that Microsoft is looking to create a gaming platform that goes beyond just the Xbox 360.  Way beyond.  —  According to a job posting from August 10, 2009, Microsoft is looking for a LIVE Community Director in the Entertainment & Devices Division.
Discussion: VG247, SlashGear, Kotaku and digg.com
Cade Metz / The Register:
Google File System II: Dawn of the Multiplying Master Nodes  —  A sequel two years in the making  —  Increase responsiveness and effectiveness in your organizations  —  As its custom-built file system strains under the weight of an online empire it was never designed to support, Google is brewing a replacement.
Discussion: Search Engine Land
 
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 More Items: 
Peter Burrows / Business Week:
Why Apple Is More Valuable Than Google
Discussion: Brainstorm Tech
Liz Gannes / NewTeeVee:
In UK, TV Companies Beat Web Companies on Their Turf
Chris Williams / The Register:
Two convicted for refusal to decrypt data
Discussion: Slashdot
Chris Pendleton / Bing Maps Blog:
Publish Your Photosynth to Facebook
Discussion: LiveSide and Softpedia News
Paul Krill / LinuxWorld.com:
Oracle offers virtualization template tool
Discussion: The Register
Monica Chen / DigiTimes:
Intel moving to 32nm
Discussion: SlashGear
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:
How Do iPhone Users Find New Apps?
 Earlier Items: 
Nigel Whitfield / The Register:
How to hack a Sony Reader
Discussion: Boing Boing Gadgets and TeleRead
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
What If All Web Ads Were Blocked? Ten Speculative Scenarios
Discussion: ABCNEWS
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
Why Streamy Could be the Next FriendFeed
Discussion: Mashable! and Lifestream Blog
Lars Bastholm / Business Week:
The Content Crisis  —  As media ads dry up, phone outfits …
Discussion: Patricia Handschiegel, Thanks:mrinaldesai
Kent German / Crave: The gadget blog:
Is iPhone MMS imminent?
Discussion: iPhone Buzz, InformationWeek and MacNN
tr.im URLs:
tr.im Resurrected  —  We have restored tr.im, and re-opened its website.
 

 
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

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

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

 
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