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12:15 PM ET, September 20, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Brad Stone / New York Times:
Can Amazon Be Wal-Mart of the Web?  —  THE hum of 102 rooftop air conditioners and a chorus of beeping electric carts provide the acoustic backdrop in Amazon.com's 605,000-square-foot distribution facility on this city's west side.  But the center's employees can almost always hear Terry Jones.
RELATED:
Eric Engleman / TechFlash:
Amazon creates own house brand of consumer electronics  —  Amazon.com has been quietly building a private label strategy for the last couple years, creating house brands around kitchen tools (Pinzon), outdoor furniture (Strathwood), bed and bath products (Pike Street) and power tools (Denali).
Discussion: Bits
Paul Miller / Engadget:
Zune HD a major sellout?  —  Let it be known: we liked the Zune HD before it was popular, before all the poseurs jumped on the bandwagon with their tight-fitting jeans and their hairstyles.  If various stores on the internet are to be believed, the Zune HD is selling out in a pretty big way.
Cleve Nettles / 9 to 5 Mac:
Off Topic: Microsoft will reveal two iPhone competitors in 2010  —  It isn't really our area of expertise, but we've gotten word that Microsoft will unleash two new Smartphones, probably at CES in January 2010.  Developed under the project “Pink” moniker, these two slider phones stem …
Nick Heath / CNET News:
Why virus writers are turning to open source  —  Malware developers are going open source in an effort to make their malicious software more useful to fraudsters.  —  By giving criminal coders free access to malware that steals financial and personal details, the malicious software developers …
Discussion: digg.com
Cade Metz / The Register:
Google Apps sics crawlers on public docs and sheets  —  Beware what you publish  —  Google will soon allow search engines to crawl and index documents, spreadsheets, and presentations published to the web via its online office suite, Google Apps.  —  On Friday, in a letter to Google Apps users …
Discussion: Webware.com
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols / Computerworld:
WiMax in 2010: Too little, too late?  —  WiMax is finally making wide-area wireless broadband a reality in many cities — but another technology is fast encroaching.  —  Computerworld - By the end of 2010, users in more than 80 U.S. cities may be able to ditch their cable modems …
Michael Bettiol / Boy Genius Report:
We've got the goods on some upcoming AT&T smartphones from HTC and Garmin-ASUS  —  While many of you spent last night watching grown men pummel one another into submission, we here at BGR put in some over time so we could get to the bottom of the pricing of some upcoming AT&T smartphones.
Discussion: Gizmodo and WMPoweruser.com
Oliver J. Chiang / Forbes:
Creating A Hit IPhone Game  —  How to “Swarm” to the top of the App Store.  —  BURLINGAME, Calif. — David Whatley's fast-paced action-strategy game “geoDefense Swarm” is the latest to top the iPhone App Store.  —  Priced at 99 cents, “Swarm,” which was released Sept. 14 …
Paul Carr / TechCrunch:
WITTC50?:  Will there be a TechCrunch50 next year?  What Jason wants, Jason Getz  —  So here we go then, the fourth and final part of my award-winning TechCrunch50 coverage; the all-important ‘round-up’.  This is where I ask appropriately round-uppy questions like “what did we learn this week? …
Discussion: P2P Foundation and Pulse2
Justin Smith / Inside Facebook:
Josh Elman Leaving Facebook, Returning to More “Hands-On” Product Role  —  Facebook Platform Program Manager Josh Elman, who has been with the company since early 2008, has decided to leave Facebook.  Elman, who worked on the launch of Facebook Connect and has been focused on helping large developers …
Discussion: All Facebook, Thanks:atul
Tony Plohetski / Austin American-Statesman:
Police ready to ‘take on’ commenters, chief says  —  People who misrepresent themselves as officials in online comments could face civil, criminal penalties, Acevedo says.  —  Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo says he and some of his officers have been harassed, lied about and had their identities falsely used …
Caroline McCarthy / The Social:
Facebook Beacon has poked its last  —  It's finally over for Beacon, the ill-fated advertising program that the social network initially launched with splashy Madison Avenue fanfare nearly two years ago.  —  The social network has settled a year-old class action lawsuit that targeted …
RELATED:
Eric Eldon / Inside Facebook:
Facebook settles Beacon case: No more Beacon, but there's a $9.5M “privacy fund”
 
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 More Items: 
Kevin Walsh / GigaOM:
With Broadband, Quality Should Trump Penetration
Greg Sandoval / CNET News:
Jammie Thomas lawyers file suit against Scribd
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Once Again, Facebook Owns ‘Talk Like A Pirate Day’ On The Web
Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
Microsoft Reader, back from dead
 Earlier Items: 
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
The Importance Of Enthusiasm In Any Product
Discussion: Daring Fireball, Teds Take and digg.com, Thanks:atul
David Kravets / Threat Level:
Court: Disloyal Computing Is Not Illegal
Google Watch:
Why Didn't Google Throw Apple Under The Bus From The Start?
Discussion: PC World, TechSpot, OSNews and 901am
Henry Newman / Enterprise Storage Forum News:
RAID's Days May Be Numbered
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter:
Internal memo: Hearst Magazines president announces layoffs as part of a decision to “reallocate resources” to “continue our focus on digital innovation”

Lachlan Cartwright / The Ankler:
Sources: MSNBC renewed Rachel Maddow's contract early this fall, but with a pay cut; MSNBC bosses' plan to shake up daytime and weekend programming

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced she will leave the agency on January 20; she was the first woman to be confirmed to lead the agency

 
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