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7:05 PM ET, August 12, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
The Official Google Blog:
I scream, you scream, we all scream for iGoogle social!  —  We launched iGoogle in 2005 as a way for people to quickly and easily personalize their Google experience with all the information on the web that was most useful to them.  Now tens of millions of people choose to use their iGoogle homepage …
RELATED:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
iGoogle Releases Social Gadgets  —  iGoogle, a personalized homepage that competes with My Yahoo, My MSN, My AOL, Netvibes and others, will release 19 new in-house and third party iGoogle widgets today that add new social and sharing features to users of the service.
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:
Ina Fried / CNET News:
I4i says not out to destroy Microsoft Word  —  The chairman of the company that has won a landmark injunction against Microsoft says his goal is not to see Microsoft Word pulled from store shelves.  —  In fact, I4i Chairman Loudon Owen said he is one of the hundreds of millions of people …
Discussion: Computerworld and Engadget, Thanks:mrinaldesai
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:
Joe Wilcox / BetaNews:
Microsoft and Nokia do the right thing for the wrong reasons
Discussion: The Microsoft Blog
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 …
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Dvorak Raises Doubts About U.S. CIO Kundra.  White House Calls the Report “Highly Inaccurate” & “a Lie.”  Kundra Speaks up  —  Updated: Earlier this morning, veteran technology journalist John Dvorak posted an article on his blog with the headline: Is U.S. Chief Information Officer (CIO) Vivek Kundra a Phony?
RELATED:
John C Dvorak / Dvorak Uncensored:
Special Report: Is US Chief Information Officer (CIO) Vivek Kundra a Phony?
Dieter Bohn / PreCentral.net:
FYI: The Pre Reports Your Location to Palm  —  Joey Hess has taken a closer look at the code inside webOS that reports information back to Palm and found some details on what the Pre is sending back to headquarters.  Specifically, it appears that the Pre uploads (at least) the following information to Palm on a daily basis:
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.
Discussion: BusinessWeek and I4U News
RELATED:
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 Revenue …
Discussion: Dealscape and paidContent
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Personal Finance Startup Mint Raises $14 Million  —  Update: Mint.com has raised $14 million in financing, according to a SEC filing.  —  DAG Ventures led the round; Founder's Fund and existing investors Benchmark Capital, Shasta Ventures, First Round Capital, and Sherpalo also participated.
Discussion: TechCrunch, VentureBeat and paidContent
Gartner:
Gartner Says Worldwide Mobile Phone Sales Declined 6 Per Cent and Smartphones Grew 27 Per Cent in Second Quarter of 2009  —  Inventory Destocking Continues with 13.9 Million Units Shed by the Channel  —  Worldwide mobile phone sales totalled 286.1 million units in the second quarter of 2009 …
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:
Apple To Offer $899 Tablet With OLED Screen?  —  The rumors of the much-anticipated, yet-to-be-confirmed Apple (AAPL) tablet continued to pile up.  —  The latest version comes from that old rumormonger, Trip Chowdhry, proprietor of the boutique research firm Global Equities Research.
Discussion: 9 to 5 Mac and EverythingiCafe
Zachary M. Seward / Nieman Journalism Lab:
Why The Associated Press plans to hold some web content off the wire  —  In a break with tradition, The Associated Press plans to prevent members and customers from publishing some AP content on their websites.  Instead, those news organizations would link to the content on a central AP website …
Discussion: Beyond Search and Common Sense Journalism, Thanks:atul
David Kravets / Threat Level:
Another Court Deals Major Blow to DVD Copying  —  A California appeals court on Wednesday overturned a lower court ruling that had paved the way for a $10,000 DVD copying system called Kaleidescape and other products from the company with the same name.  —  The 6th District Court of Appeal in San Jose …
Discussion: Technologizer and CrunchGear
RELATED:
Greg Sandoval / CNET News:
Kaleidescape loses, DVD copying falls again
Efficient Frontier Insights:
Is Bing on a Roll?  —  As the industry comes together this week at the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose, we thought it was appropriate to take another look at Bing trends to see if they were holding, folding or on the uptick.  —  We last reported a 13% increase in paid click share for Microsoft.
Nicholas Carlson / Silicon Alley Insider:
Google Helped Twitter Deal With Attacks  —  Google and Twitter might be cozier than we thought.  —  With Facebook and FriendFeed getting together, people are starting to wonder if Twitter will need a sugar-daddy with deep pockets to thrive.  We've nominated Google and suggested it spend $1 billion to do the job.
Luke Plunkett / Kotaku:
Elite 360 Dropping In Price, RIP Pro Model  —  Looks like we have an execution date for the Xbox 360 Pro model, with this shot from a Meijer catalogue due on August 30 indicating the 360 Elite is in line for a Pro-sized price cut.  —  You'll remember, of course, that the origins of this rumour …
Josh Lowensohn / CNET News:
Docstoc opens up a shop for publishers  —  Online document host Docstoc on Wednesday is opening up an online store for publishers to sell their wares.  The company is acting both as the host and the payment platform, along with the viewing technology for the documents.
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Facebook Grew Twice As Fast As Twitter In July  —  If it wasn't bad enough that Facebook bought FriendFeed on Monday and turned on real-time search to better compete against Twitter in the Stream Wars, and is playing around with a lite version that resembles Twitter even more, now Twitter really has something to worry about.
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
Agence France Presse:
French teenager hurt by shattering iPhone  —  A French teenager suffered an eye injury when his girlfriend's iPhone shattered, a few weeks after a similar incident involving an iPod in Britain, his mother said Wednesday.  —  The phone began making a hissing noise and the screen suddenly broke …
Discussion: The Register and CrunchGear
Kasper Jade / AppleInsider:
Sources detail changes to Snow Leopard installation process  —  People familiar with Apple's upcoming Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard operating system are corroborating reports this week that the software has achieved Golden Master status, adding some additional insight on various enhancements …
Discussion: MacRumors
Rich Miller / Data Center Knowledge:
A Data Center Shortage for Silicon Valley?  —  If Silicon Valley winds up with a shortage of wholesale data center space, it can blame Washington.  Data center projects planned for Santa Clara, Calif. are now taking a back seat to the red-hot northern Virginia market, where the Obama …
Thanks:atul
Peter Burrows / Business Week:
Why Apple Is More Valuable Than Google  —  A look at what's behind the Mac and iPhone maker's now firm market-cap edge on the Web-search leader, and how it could one day challenge Microsoft  —  Now that Apple (AAPL) has once again passed Google (GOOG) in market value, can the consumer-electronics maker maintain its lead?
Discussion: Brainstorm Tech
 
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 More Items: 
eMarketer:
The Online Video Advertising Picture Clears Up
Discussion: NewTeeVee
Andrew Allemann / Domain Name Wire:
ICANN: Domain Tasting Down 99.7%
John Herrman / Gizmodo:
8GB iPhone 3GS Rumor Refuses to Die (Because It Might Actually Be True)
Discussion: MacRumors
Dan Moren / Macworld:
AirPort Client Update improves MacBook wireless performance
Discussion: eWeek and Ars Technica
Lee Mathews / Download Squad:
Google Chrome to reach v4 before Firefox? Work begins on Chromium 4.0
Discussion: TechCrunch and Lifehacker
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Mass Firings At AOL Next Week?
 Earlier Items: 
Dave Ohara / Green Data Center Blog:
Apple Recruits eBay Data Center Executive Olivier Sanche …
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Poor Google Knol Has Gone From A Wikipedia Killer To A Craigslist Wannabe
Discussion: Beyond Search, Thanks:sizzler_chetan
PC Magazine:
Hands On with the Zune HD, Plus Video
Discussion: Engadget and SlashGear
Bobbie Johnson / Guardian:
Wikipedia approaches its limits
Discussion: TeleRead
Jeff Atwood / Coding Horror:
Are You a Digital Sharecropper?
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:
How Do iPhone Users Find New Apps?
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider and mocoNews, Thanks:mrinaldesai
Dan Nosowitz / Gizmodo:
Zune HD Release Date and Packaging Leaked, Will Hit Stores September 15th
 

 
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

John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Substack, very deliberately, tries to have it both ways by saying publications on their platform are independent while presenting them all as parts of Substack

 
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