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11:05 AM ET, August 14, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Miguel Helft / New York Times:
Netscape Founder Backs New Browser  —  SAN FRANCISCO — It has been 15 years since Marc Andreessen developed the Netscape Internet browser that introduced millions of people to the Internet.  —  After its early success, Netscape was roundly defeated by Microsoft in the so-called browser wars …
RELATED:
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
RockMelt: Netscape's Andreessen Backing Stealth Facebook Browser  —  Netscape founder Marc Andreessen is backing a new browser dedicated to browsing Facebook, called RockMelt, according to rumors we've heard from reputable sources.  A semi-independent desktop client for Facebook?
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Zune Apps  —  In my brief comments yesterday on the new touchscreen Zune HD that is set to debut September 15, I noted: … I mean, why not?  The software platform has quickly become a major driving force behind the sales growth of the iPhone and iPod Touch.  Microsoft is a software platform company.
Jackie / Qik:
Qik for iPhone 3GS - now live and free from the App Store!  —  You've been asking for it, and now it's here: Qik for the iPhone 3GS can now be downloaded - for free! - directly from the App Store.  —  If you already have Qik on your iPhone, you should know that this version is a little different.
Biz / Twitter Blog:
Project Retweet: Phase One  —  Some of Twitter's best features are emergent—people inventing simple but creative ways to share, discover, and communicate.  One such convention is retweeting.  When you want to call more attention to a particular tweet, you copy/paste it as your own …
RELATED:
Jennifer Van Grove / Mashable!:   Project Retweet: The End of RTs as We Know Them?
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Twitter Is Revamping Retweets, Launches A Retweet API
Discussion: Mashable! and digg.com, Thanks:sizzler_chetan
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
A Sad Day.  Goodbye, Riya  —  Facial recognition service Riya will shut down on August 21, 2009, says founder Munjal Shah in an email to users this morning.  We are adding it to the TechCrunch DeadPool.  —  This was one of the original services that defined the early Web 2.0 movement.
Discussion: silicontap.com, Thanks:brickythebrick
Jim Dalrymple / The Loop:
Sources confirm no Apple tablet at Sept. event, coming in 2010  —  Speculation of an Apple event in September broke earlier today, but The Loop has learned the event will not include the introduction of the rumored Apple tablet.  —  Very reliable sources familiar with the product …
RELATED:
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Here It Comes.  But What Is It, Exactly?  Apple Plans Keynote Event for September.
Tom Krazit / CNET News:
Google's Varian: Search scale is ‘bogus’  —  Google's Hal Varian would likely have raised an eyebrow at a term paper submitted by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on the search market.  —  Varian, currently on leave from the University of California at Berkeley to serve as Google's chief economist …
Discussion: Search Engine Land
Nate Lanxon / CNET News:
Google Chrome 4.0: Fastest OS X browser by 34 per cent  —  Safari, eat Google's dust — its Chrome Web browser — under its developmental title Chromium — has hit version 4.0 on the Mac, and our tests confirm it's the fastest browser in the world on both PC and now on Mac OS X.
Discussion: The Toybox, Web Browsers and Gizmodo
Jose Nazario / Arbor Networks Security:
Twitter-based Botnet Command Channel  —  UPDATED TO ADD STATS  —  While digging around I found a botnet that uses Twitter as its command and control structure.  Basically what it does is use the status messages to send out new links to contact, then these contain new commands or executables to download and run.
Bobbie Johnson / Guardian:
Microsoft: Firefox's billion claim is ‘interesting math’  —  Internet Explorer chief ‘encourages people to be somewhat sceptical’ of claims by competitor  —  A senior Microsoft executive has called into question the claim by rival web browser Firefox that it has been downloaded a billion times.
Cecilia Kang / Washington Post:
Major Carriers Shun Broadband Stimulus  —  The Obama administration made a national priority of spreading high-speed Internet access to every American home and offered stimulus money to help companies pay for it, but the biggest network operators are staying away from the program.
The How-To Geek / Lifehacker:
Digsby Joins the Dark Side, Uses Your PC to Make Money  —  The popular Digsby instant messenger client not only bundles half a dozen “optional” crapware applications, it's also using your computer to crawl the web, do stock market research, and more.  It's time to uninstall.
David Pogue / Pogue's Posts:
‘Take Back the Beep’ Campaign: An Update  —  It's been two weeks since I started “Take Back the Beep,” a campaign to flood the four big wireless companies with complaints.  I want them to eliminate (or make optional) those time-wasting, redundant, airtime-eating, 15-second recorded instructions …
Discussion: The Register, Engadget, Gizmodo and DVICE
Jon Jordan / The Pocket Gamer iPhone gaming podcast:
PSPgo games will be as cheap as iPhone games  —  Between 1 - 5 Euros  —  With the rumour mill speeding up prior to Sony's press conference at the Gamescom show in Cologne, Germany, next week, news has been leaked concerning the price of PSP games for the soon-to-be revitalised PlayStation Network (PSN).
James Sherwood / The Register:
First Samsung Android phone out next week  —  Exclusive Samsung's first Android-based mobile phone - the Galaxy i7500 - will be launched next week, Register Hardware has discovered.  —  Samsung's Galaxy: out next week on O2  —  Staff at a handful of O2 retail outlets consulted …
Discussion: Electricpig and Samsung Hub
Roy Mark / eWeek:
IBM Expands System z Solutions  —  The IBM System z Solution Edition Series helps mainframe customers deploy new enterprise workloads, adds new programs to help customers migrate from Sun and HP servers to IBM's Linux platform, and builds on IBM's existing SAP offering.
Discussion: PR Newswire and Between the Lines
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Massive AOL Layoffs?  Not Imminent-But Top-to-Bottom Cost Exam Definitely in Process  —  After a while-in a BoomTown mangling of the old cliché-if you are a nail, everything begins to look like a hammer.  —  So, it is probably inevitable that the next thing for much-beleaguered AOL staffers …
Discussion: AdExchanger.com
David Sarno / Los Angeles Times:
YouTube to show Sony's “Ghostbusters” this week for film's 25th anniversary  —  YouTube and Sony are crossing the streams.  —  Starting tonight at 9 p.m. PDT, YouTube will host a weeklong showing of Sony's comedy classic “Ghostbusters” in honor of the film's 25th anniversary.
Discussion: PC World and MediaMemo
Heaven Kim / Google Mobile Blog:
The Iterative Web App: Outbox for Emails in Limbo  —  On April 7th, we announced a new version of Gmail for mobile for iPhone and Android-powered devices.  Among the improvements was a complete redesign of the web application's underlying code which allows us to more rapidly develop and release …
Monica Chen / DigiTimes:
Nvidia to launch new chipsets for Intel- and AMD-based notebooks in 1Q10  —  Nvidia plans to launch two new chipsets, the MCP89 and MCP99 for Intel-based notebooks, and MCP85 for AMD notebooks, in the first quarter of 2010, according sources at notebook makers.
Discussion: 9 to 5 Mac and SlashGear
Robin Goad / Hitwise Intelligence:
Content driven websites receive 73% more traffic than transactional ones  —  The chart on this slide illustrates the percentage of all UK Internet visits accounted for by the largest and most significant online categories - and how this situation has changed over the last three years.
Discussion: WebProNews and paidContent
Michael Horowitz / Computerworld:
Consumer Reports at it again  —  Back in May, I criticized a review Consumer Reports magazine did of netbook computers (What Consumer Reports didn't tell you about netbooks).  It was a fairly long critique.  —  Many computer articles in the magazine strike me as amateurish.
Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
Facebook privacy: a guide  —  Everywhere you look (even here at Ars), there are articles about people making poor decisions about what kinds of info and how much to share on sites like Facebook.  The Internet is no longer a place where you can hide out easily—friends, family …
Discussion: Applicant and TECH.BLORGE.com
Richard Waters / Financial Times:
Rebound still unsure despite tech IPOs  —  Wall Street's jaded appetite for the shares of new technology companies has shown signs of recovery in recent days, with the successful launch of the two biggest tech initial public offerings of the past year.  —  However, with the overall number …
 
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 More Items: 
Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:
Journalism Online Offers Up ‘Letters Of Intent’ …
Discussion: Beet.TV and Recovering Journalist
Joe McDonald / Associated Press:
China Unicom Denies It's Buying 5M iPhones
Daniel Terdiman / CNET News:
Video game sales in free fall
Discussion: Wall Street Journal
Harlan Yu / Freedom to Tinker:
Introducing RECAP: Turning PACER Around
Discussion: TechCrunch and recapthelaw.org
Paul Sweeting / GigaOM:
With Sony's ePub Move, Adobe Wins
Discussion: Techdirt and InformationWeek
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
YC-Funded GraffitiGeo: Foursquare Meets Yelp, With A Dash Of Augmented Reality
Discussion: VentureBeat and ReadWriteWeb
Corynne / Electronic Frontier Foundation:
Snatching Rights On the Playa
Discussion: MediaPost, Techdirt and Boing Boing
 Earlier Items: 
Kim-Mai Cutler / VentureBeat:
Benchmark took “almost all equity” with FriendFeed sale to Facebook
MediaShift:
Using the ‘Steal-O-Meter’ to Gauge if Stories Steal or Promote
Farhad Manjoo / Slate:
Microblogging has become too important for one company to rule the field.
Discussion: Twitterrati
Andrew LaVallee / Digits:
LOLcats Go Off-Broadway
Karl Bode / DSLreports:
5 Signs Our Broadband Plan May Already Be In Trouble …
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
The Onion, backed by some Sandy Hook families and Everytown for Gun Safety, buys Infowars in a bankruptcy auction, and plans a January 2025 relaunch as a parody

Matthew Keys / The Desk:
Disney said Disney+ Q4 ARPU in the US and Canada, down 1% QoQ to $7.70, was affected partly by new wholesale arrangements with some distributors

The Hollywood Reporter:
Disney expects to spend $24B on content in 2025, up from $23.4B in 2024, due to sports programming expenses rising after NFL rate increases and NBA contracts

 
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