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5:20 PM ET, September 1, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Business Wire:
eBay Inc. Signs Definitive Agreement to Sell Skype in Deal Valuing Communications Business at $2.75 Billion  —  eBay to Receive Approximately $1.9 Billion in Cash; Retain Approximately 35 Percent Stake  —  SAN JOSE, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY - News) …
RELATED:
Josh Silverman / Skype Blogs:
A new chapter  —  Today, Skype begins a new chapter.  We're spinning off from eBay to become an independent company once again.  This is very exciting news for all of us here at Skype, and I want to give all of you a brief overview of what's happening.  —  A small group of venture capital funds …
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Skype Sale Nears: Why eBay Shareholders Should Be Mad  —  If you're an eBay shareholder, it's time for you to get mad about the sheer incompetency of the management.  First they paid top dollar for Skype back in 2005, making billionaires out of Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis.
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Makes sense now: eBay unloads Skype; Gets $1.9 billion in cash and keeps 35% stake
Discussion: Tech Beat and PC World
Stephanie Ferguson / The Windows Blog:
Windows phones are Coming on October 6th!  —  In just five weeks, you'll have a bunch of new Windows phones to choose from.  But before we show you some of the cool, new phones that will be coming out, I want to explain how we're trying to make phones even better with Windows.
RELATED:
Microsoft:
Microsoft to Deliver New Generation of Windows Phones on Oct. 6  —  Leading mobile operators and phone manufacturers worldwide prepare to introduce an array of sleek new Windows phones.  —  Microsoft Corp. today announced that Windows® phones will be widely available at retail stores worldwide on Oct. 6, 2009.
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten / The Next Web Blog:
Google, Gmail experiencing downtime around the world (updated) … *Update: Gmail/Google Apps Email is currently down, more details at the foot of this post*  —  Several users are complaining on Twitter that Google, Gmail and Doubleclick (owned by Google) are down.
RELATED:
Gmail Blog:
Today's Gmail problems  —  We know many of you are having trouble accessing Gmail right now — we are too, and we definitely feel your pain.  We don't usually post about minor issues here (the Apps status dashboard and the Gmail Help Center are usually where this kind of information goes).
Nicholas Carlson / Silicon Alley Insider:   GMAIL DOWN  —  Gmail.com is down (The IMAP version still works).
Google Enterprise Blog:
Waving hello to Google Apps  —  Google Wave has been generating lots of interest among Google Apps users since we unveiled it in May at Google I/O, our annual developer conference.  Today we're pleased to announce that we'll be opening up access to Google Wave for some schools and businesses as part of the preview this fall.
RELATED:
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:   Google Wave Will Slowly Open Its Doors to Google Apps Users This Fall
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Brainstorm Tech:
Munster: Steve Jobs will host next week's Apple special event  —  Steve Jobs, Oct. 2008.  Photo: Apple Inc.  —  Apple hasn't confirmed it — and not every analyst agrees — but Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster seems pretty certain that Steve Jobs himself will introduce a new line of iPods next week.
RELATED:
Joe / joestump.net:
Pass the lubricant as we're getting f**ked by Apple too  —  Stories of developers being absolutely bent over the barrel and f**ked hard aren't new, but I've got no other recourse so I'm throwing Blunder Move's story into the ring.  What makes our story different?  I'm lucky enough to personally know people at the iTunes store.
RELATED:
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Developers, Be Warned: Apple Has Apparently Trademarked Those Glossy Chat Bubbles
Discussion: The Register
Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:
IE tumbles, Firefox regains market share mojo  —  IE6 numbers take a nose dive; Firefox reaps nearly all the benefit  —  Computerworld - Last month, Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer posted its largest market share loss since November 2008, while Firefox reaped nearly all the benefit, Web metrics company Net Applications said today.
Clearwire News Room:
Clearwire Introduces CLEAR(TM) 4G WiMAX Internet Service in 10 New Markets  —  Super Fast Mobile Internet Service is Available Today in Boise, Idaho; Bellingham, Wash.; and Eight Texas Markets, Including Abilene, Amarillo, Corpus Christi, Killeen/Temple, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, Waco and Wichita Falls
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
Google Chrome OS to Feature Single Sign-On for Chrome Browser  —  ...but What About the Other Web Browsers?  —  We don't know much about the upcoming OS from Google, Chrome OS, so most of the news we read about it involves speculation or, sometimes, rather terrible attempts at faking some supposedly official screenshots.
David Kaplan / paidContent:
The News is NowPublic: Cit-J Site Sold To Anschutz's Examiner.com; Price Around $25 Million  —  You're reading it here first: After several months of trying to get the deal done, Citizen-J site NowPublic is about to be sold to a non-traditional buyer: local news network Examiner.com …
Discussion: CNET News
Zach Epstein / Boy Genius Report:
Palm's location-based advertising patent likely sheds light on background location reporting in webOS  —  Remember last month when a developer revealed some hidden functionality in webOS that periodically reports a user's location back to Palm?  Well as it turns out, the reasoning behind …
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Thread.com Raises $1.2 Million For Facebook-Powered Matchmaking Service  —  If you've ever tried an online dating site like Match.com, there's a good chance that you found your first few interactions with other members to be unnatural — from the awkward initial messages to the fact …
PE Hub Blog:
Khosla Ventures Announces New Funds, Partners  —  Khosla Ventures has closed two new funds with more than $1 billion in capital commitments.  Khosla Ventures III was targeted at $750 million, and will focus on early and mid-stage venture investments in the cleantech and IT spaces.
Chris Mellor / The Register:
EMC co-founder kills himself  —  Street kid, entrepreneur and ambassador  —  Obituary Richard Egan, the colourful and vigorous co-founder of EMC, went into a linen cupboard of his home at the Four Seasons condominiums on Boylston Street, Boston, and shot himself in the head with a shotgun on Friday …
Discussion: New York Times
AT&T:
AT&T Strengthens 3G Wireless Coverage in New York and New Jersey Areas  —  Deployment of 850 MHz Spectrum for 3G in the Metro NY, NJ Areas Substantially Improves In-Building Wireless Coverage, Adds Capacity to Support Surging Demand for Mobile Broadband
Chris Davies / SlashGear:
iriver Story ebook reader revealed  —  Images of iriver's new ebook reader, the Story, have emerged, together with partial specifications for the 6-inch E Ink device.  As well as having a full QWERTY keyboard and a memory card slot content with up to 32GBs, the Story is compatible with PDF …
Discussion: Gizmodo, Fast Company, I4U News and OhGizmo!
Harry McCracken / PC World:
Opera 10: It's Final.  And Worth Trying  —  Opera 10 Web browser packs new features including Turbo mode that spees up browsing on sluggish Net connections.  —  Recommends  —  Opera 10, the newest version of the browser that's arguably the most venerable one going, is now available in its final version.
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Facebook Will Take Another Step Into The Location Game Tomorrow With Nokia  —  There are no shortage of whispers out there right now as to what Facebook's plans for location are.  With rival Twitter having recently announced its geolocation API, the pressure is on the larger network to deliver something.
Discussion: GPS Obsessed
Justin Smith / Inside Facebook:
Facebook Testing New Direct Response Home Page Ad Unit  —  While Facebook has created a variety of home page “engagement ad” units for big brands, Facebook is now testing a new kind of home page ad unit that doesn't drive users to a brand's Facebook Page, but rather prompts users to complete a direct response form.
Lionel Laurent / Forbes:
Nokia Delays U.S. Music Launch  —  The unlimited-download service won't be released this year in the U.S. as planned.  —  LONDON — After promising earlier this year that a 2009 U.S. launch for the service was in the works, Nokia told Forbes on Monday that it has now been pushed back to 2010.
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Napster: Don't Hold Your Breath Waiting for Our Awesome New iPhone App  —  Best Buy's Napster wants you to know that you can now buy music “over the air” and beam it directly to your phone.  Yawn.  —  What about the company's awesome new iPhone app, the one that will let you stream music directly to your handset?
 
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 More Items: 
Leander Kahney / Cult of Mac:
More Evidence That Snow Leopard Is a Touchscreen Operating System
Discussion: TheAppleBlog and GottaBeMobile.com
Ryan Naraine / Zero Day:
Firefox add-on spies on Google usage, search results
Discussion: The Register and threatpost
comScore, Inc.:
Social Networking Sites Account for More than 20 Percent of All …
Associated Press:
iRobot Corp. receives $35.3M US Army contract
John Markoff / New York Times:
After the Transistor, a Leap Into the Microcosm
Discussion: Softpedia News, Thanks:atul
Phone Arena:
HTC Desire 6200 to be a new Google-powered device for Verizon?
 Earlier Items: 
Softpedia News:
Bing Maps Gets 101,486 Kilometers of New Imagery
Discussion: Bing Maps Blog and LiveSide
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Jim Breyer's Midas Touch.  Two Acquisitions in 24 Hours (Marvel And BBN)
Discussion: Boston Globe and VentureBeat
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Serial Entrepreneur Al Warms Debuts Appolicious, Hoping iPhone …
Discussion: VentureBeat, Macworld and ReadWriteWeb
AWS Evangelist / Amazon Web Services Blog:
Amazon Multi-Factor Authentication for AWS Accounts
Discussion: CrunchGear
Xeni Jardin / Boing Boing:
Did Google Street View spot rapist/kidnapper Garrido?
Discussion: Mashable! and Infocult
 

 
From Mediagazer:

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

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

 
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