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5:10 AM ET, August 19, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
David Pakman / Silicon Alley Insider:
Why iLike Sold For Peanuts  —  The recent distressed exit of iLike reminds us of the need to build real value in our startups if we hope to create lasting companies and wealth.  —  I have seen cycles that last about 18 months or so in which traction gets substituted for value.
Discussion: TechCrunch and InformationWeek
RELATED:
Ryan Tate / Gawker:
How a ‘Made’ Startup Was Clipped  —  Two years ago, music service iLike appeared to be set: Its CEO said it was “made,” its investor mused it could be a “billion-dollar winner,” and the press was enthralled.  Now the poster child is a cautionary tale.  —  iLike became something of an icon …
Discussion: VentureBeat, All Facebook and TechFlash
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
iLike Also Had Offers From Facebook and Amazon
Discussion: CNET News and Contentinople
Om Malik / GigaOM:
How Smartphones Are Making Wi-Fi Hot Again  —  As many of you know, I recently moved to a new neighborhood in San Francisco.  The move came with its own share of ups and downs, but waiting for broadband was the most challenging for me.  It took almost five days to get the connection hooked up …
Discussion: dailywireless.org
RELATED:
Nate Lanxon / CNET News:
Shocker: Windows 7 to sell in UK for half the US price!  —  We've been doing some investigating, friends — making phone calls, demanding answers.  And it was worth it.  We can confirm something very few people get to confirm: British shoppers aren't going to be totally shafted over software pricing for once.
Discussion: Slashdot
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:
Wikipedia Lauches Official iPhone App  —  The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organization behind the popular Wikipedia, just released its first official iPhone application for Wikipedia.  Wikipedia Mobile, which is available for free in the App Store now (iTunes link), gives users access to iPhone-formatted Wikipedia articles.
Olga Kharif / Business Week:
Can the Apple Touch Sell the Tablet?  —  The Mac and iPhone maker may join a host of tech players hoping to win big in tablet PCs, an area where some of the industry's biggest names have failed  —  Apple may be at the forefront of a renewed effort to bring back the tablet.
RELATED:
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Analyst Claims Two Apple Tablets Coming, One With 6-Inch Screen
Discussion: TeleRead and GottaBeMobile.com
Scott M. Fulton, III / BetaNews:
First Google Chrome 4 reveals the beginnings of cloud synchronization  —  Download Google Chrome Dev channel build 4.0.201.1 from Fileforum now.  —  With Google, one tends to learn the meanings and intentions behind the many events in its development programs pretty much as they happen.
Discussion: internetnews.com
Paul Miller / Engadget:
Sony unveils slimmer PS3: $300, lands in September (updated!)  —  Hardly a surprise, but Sony got on stage today at GamesCom and confirmed what we've all known deep down in our hearts: the new, slimmer PS3 is really real.  It'll be out in the first week of September (September 1 in North America and Europe …
RELATED:
Daniel Shen / DigiTimes:
Microsoft to adopt dual-platform strategy to compete with Android and iPhone, say handset makers  —  Microsoft plans to adopt a dual platform strategy to promote its Windows Mobile OS (operating system) so as to take aims at both Android- and iPhone-based platforms, according to sources at Taiwan handset makers.
Charles Bremner / Times of London:
Google bruises Gallic pride as national library does deal with search giant  —  French pride took a knock today with news that the National Library is giving up a four-year fight for a Gallic riposte to Google and bowing to the might of the Californian search giant.
Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent:
Industry Moves: Microsoft Hires A Former Adobe Flash Evangelist To Pitch Silverlight  —  Mike Downey has spent the greater part of the last nine years singing the praises of Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE) Flash.  Now, Downey is singing the praises of Flash media player-rival Silverlight.
Thanks:c_santiago
Ina Fried / CNET News:
Microsoft asks for stay of Word injunction  —  This story was updated with comment from I4i Chairman Loudon Owen and Microsoft spokesman Kevin Kutz.  —  Microsoft on Tuesday asked an appeals court to halt an injunction that would force the company to stop selling Microsoft Word in its current form.
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:
HP CFO Doesn't See Win 7 Triggering PC Refresh Cycle  —  Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) CFO Cathie Lesjak says the company does not expect the debut of Microsoft (MSFT) Windows 7 to trigger a major PC refresh cycle.  —  “We think it looks like a good product, one that folks will really like …
RELATED:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
FriendFeed Cofounder Paul Buchheit Discusses Facebook Acquisition (video)  —  Robert Scoble and I ran into freshly-acquired FriendFeed cofounder Paul Buchheit at a brunch on Sunday.  I pulled out my trusty Android myTouch and with his permission asked him a few questions about the sale to Facebook a week ago.
Discussion: The SiliconANGLE
Betsy Taylor / Associated Press:
Woman charged with harassment over suggestive post  —  ST. PETERS, Mo. — A Missouri woman is accused of cyberbullying for allegedly posting photos and personal information of a teenage girl on the “Casual Encounters” section of Craigslist after an Internet argument.
Discussion: The Register
Web Ecology Project:
Detecting Sadness in 140 Characters:  —  Sentiment Analysis and Mourning Michael Jackson on Twitter  —  with Michael J. Edwards and Erhardt Graeff  —  Michael Jackson's death created an emotional outpouring of unprecedented magnitude on Twitter.  In this report, we examine 1,860,427 tweets …
Royal Pingdom:
URL shortener speed and reliability shootout  —  With the rise of microblogging, URL shortening services have become extremely popular.  And no wonder; just imagine sharing links on Twitter without one.  Although some of these services have considerably more market share than others …
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
MySpace Disables Auto-Play Of Profile Songs To Get Streaming Costs Under Control  —  MySpace Music, which launched a little less than a year ago, is the one bright spot of growth in an otherwise flatlining MySpace.  —  But all that popularity comes at a price - billions of free streaming songs …
Discussion: Music Ally
Julius Genachowski / blogband:
Welcome to Blogband  —  The National Broadband Plan is one of the most important initiatives that the FCC has ever undertaken.  To foster public dialogue about the National Broadband Plan, we're tapping the power of the Internet to launch a new FCC blog, called Blogband.  What better time to start blogging than now?
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:
Apple: How They Can Sell 50 Million iPhones A Year  —  Apple (AAPL) is on track to sell more than 50 million iPhones a year by the September 2011 fiscal year, Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi asserted in a research note this morning, up from an estimated 20 million in fiscal 2009.
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
CDs still sell: Who are these people?!?  —  Apple's iTunes music juggernaut accounts for 25 percent of music sold.  The rub: Sixty-five percent of you are still buying CDs for your music in the first half of 2009, according to research firm NPD.  —  The big question today: Who are these people still buying CDs?
Suzanne Choney / msnbc.com:
Survey: Average gamer is 35, fat and depressed  —  CDC study finds playing leads to ‘lower extraversion’ in adult gamers  —  A new study says the average age of video-game players in the United States is 35, and oh, by the way: They're overweight and tend to be depressed.
BBC:
Blackberry ‘fastest-growing firm’  —  The maker of the Blackberry mobile phone, Research in Motion (RIM), is the world's fastest-growing company, according to business magazine Fortune.  —  Canada-based RIM has come top of the magazine's latest annual guide to the 100 fastest-growing businesses.
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
The Press Releases of the Damned!  —  In the land of the press release, all news isn't good news-it's fantastic news.  Every product is revolutionary.  Each corporate merger is historic.  Even layoffs are masterstrokes that will turn around troubled companies.
Discussion: Slashdot
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Is Mint Going After Freshbooks?  Its New Features Point In That Direction.  —  Personal finance tracking site Mint.com added a bunch of new budgeting and trending features today.  Mint presents consumers with a financial dashboard based on spending and income data from their bank, credit card, and other financial accounts.
Discussion: BloggingStocks and Bizzia
The ChubbyBrain Blog:
Venture Capital Backed Mobile App Startups Remain Predominantly Mobile OS Agnostic  —  Are venture capital-backed mobile app companies developing their apps on a single mobile OS or are they developing them to work on multiple operating systems?  A look at 2009's venture capital funding activity …
 
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 More Items: 
Aaron Saenz / Singularity Hub:
Commanding Military Drones - Now iPhone Has an App for That
Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
Finn fined just €3,000 for sharing 768MB of music
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
140 Characters?  That's A Lot Of Writing.  Just Post A Picture On DailyBooth
Discussion: TECH.BLORGE.com
 Earlier Items: 
Michael Learmonth / AdAge:
A Display Ad That's Not a Banner Ad
Discussion: ClickZ and the Econsultancy blog, Thanks:mrinaldesai
Andrew Orlowski / The Register:
SpinVox: Patricia Russo joins, quits almost immediately
Discussion: TechCrunch Europe
Edible Apple:
Report: Steve Jobs “very likely” …
Chuq Von Rospach / Palm Developer Network Blog:
Bring Us Your Apps, and Sell Them, Too
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Liam Scott / Voice of America:
Reporters Without Borders sues X in France for “complicity in disseminating false information”, after X failed to block a fake video with RSF's logo

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

 
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