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3:45 PM ET, October 8, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Walter S. Mossberg / Personal Technology:
A Windows to Help You Forget  —  In just two weeks, on Oct. 22, Microsoft's long operating-system nightmare will be over.  The company will release Windows 7, a faster and much better operating system than the little-loved Windows Vista, which did a lot to harm both the company's reputation …
RELATED:
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Brainstorm Tech:
What's wrong with Windows 7  —  Reading between the lines of Walt Mossberg's review  —  It's a given that Windows 7, scheduled for release in two weeks, is an improvement over Vista.  But how does it stack up against Apple's (AAPL) Snow Leopard?  —  The definitive word comes …
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
Ballmer: Testers didn't ring Vista warning bells; Could the same …
Discussion: Gizmodo
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Twitter Talking Separately to Microsoft and Google About Big Data-Mining Deals  —  Is there gold in them thar tweets?  —  Maybe so, because-according to sources familiar with the situation-Twitter is in advanced talks with Microsoft and Google separately about striking data-mining deals …
RELATED:
Ryan Tate / Gawker:
Selling Your Tweets to the Enemy  —  Tech bloggers are in a tizzy over the prospect of tech giants Google or Microsoft getting real-time access to the thoughts of Twitterers, but Valleywag has learned that cash-hungry Twitter is already selling access to its “firehose” of data.
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Twitter Down, Again, Just Like the Old Days  —  Unless the 400 or more people I follow on Twitter have all gone mute at the same time, I suspect that something's wrong with Twitter, since I haven't seen a new message for the last hour or so.  A quick scan of Facebook-and Twitter's own search engine-indicates …
RELATED:
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Stuck In The Twitter Jam?  Try This Hidden Route.  —  So, I'm a late riser most days (I like to go to bed late, real late).  And today when I awoke, I thought it was a Vanilla Sky dream situation — but rather than Tom Cruise being the last person on Earth, I thought I was.
Andrew LaVallee / Digits:
IPhone Tethering Still Unavailable, AT&T Says  —  AT&T subscribers still won't be able to use their iPhones as wireless modems for their computers, despite the carrier's reversed position on Internet-phone applications. … Tethering, the process of using an Internet-enabled mobile device …
Steve Gillmor / TechCrunchIT:
Ozzie on the realtime wave  —  In June, I spent several days on the Microsoft campus talking with Microsoft executives about the impact of realtime and the emerging era of cloud computing.  My conversation with Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie began with a discussion of the recently unveiled Google Wave …
Discussion: paidContent and The Equity Kicker
Jennifer Vilaga / Fast Company:
FTC Responds to Blogger Fears: “That $11,000 Fine is Not True”  —  As you've likely heard by now, the Federal Trade Commission is trying to reign in freebie-grabbing bloggers and graft-happy social media users masquerading as unbiased critics.  The agency announced an update to the FTC Act of 1980 …
RELATED:
Chris Ziegler / Engadget:
BlackBerry Bold 2 to be announced October 21 for T-Mobile, AT&T  —  We have it on good authority that T-Mobile and AT&T both currently plan on announcing the Bold 2 — also known as the Onyx — on October 21.  As a refresher, this would be the touchpad-driven piece with model number 9700 that's …
John Poirier / Reuters:
Lawmakers seek FCC probe into Google Voice  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives called on the Federal Communications Commission to investigate Google Inc's ability to block calls to rural telephone exchanges.
Reza Ziaei / Google Mobile Blog:
Introducing Search Options for mobile  —  Finding the exact information you need sometimes requires filtering and refining your search results.  Earlier in the year, we launched a collection of tools called Search Options which enable you to easily and quickly do this from a computer.
Stephen Shankland / Crave:
Intel's Light Peak optical links could arrive in 2010  —  In September, Intel showed off Light Peak as if it were the latest the latest hot idea out of the labs.  But the fiber-optic communication technology could well be coming to near you next year rather than in some distant sci-fi future.
Philipp Lenssen / Google Blogoscoped:
Join the Minimalist Google Homepage Prototype  —  You might have heard of the new experiment Google is running for its homepage, showing only logo and search box (and apparently search buttons, at times) unless your mouse moves over the page.  To join this prototype, you can go to google.com …
Fred / Electronic Frontier Foundation:
It's My Browser, and I'll Auto-Click if I Want To  —  Free file hosting provider MediaFire seems to think that, when you follow a link to download a file from its service, it has the right to control your browser.  This is yet another example of a web site owner forgetting that it's your computer …
Matt Asay / CNET News:
Cisco becomes a major Linux server vendor overnight  —  In the battle for supremacy among the software industry's Big Four, Cisco may be placing the biggest bets and angling for the biggest returns.  Some still think of Cisco as a networking hardware vendor, but hardware is simply Cisco's beachhead …
Discussion: Bits, searchnetworking … and NoMoreServers.com, Thanks:atul
Greg Kumparak / MobileCrunch:
Yes, Rock Band is coming to iPhone.  Here's proof.  [Updated]  —  A few weeks back, we got a press release from EA's PR company.  It was tucked within an attachment titled “Rock Band Verizon iPhone Fact Sheet_V3.docx”.  As if seeing “iPhone” behind “Verizon” wasn't strange enough …
Venture Capital Dispatch:
VC Fund-Raising Drops, Marketing Not Worth ‘Brain Damage’  —  Just like their portfolio companies, venture capital firms continue to find it difficult to raise funding compared with last year.  —  Through the end of the third quarter, 83 venture funds raised $8 billion …
Steve Gillmor / TechCrunchIT:
Ozzie FUSEs social media teams in Microsoft reorg  —  For months now we've been wondering when Microsoft was going to start making moves in the social media space.  Rumors of talks with Twitter have been swirling at all levels of the company, but now a subtle re-org may shed light …
Rafat Ali / paidContent:
Twitter's Official Series E Raise: $100 Million Plus Six Dollars  —  That's according to its SEC filing just in.  If they can use some multiple of that $6 to fix the problem today, all is forgiven.  This filing also confirms the amount, which the company didn't disclose when it announced the round officially on Sep 25th.
Discussion: silicontap.com
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Apple Releases iPhone OS 3.1.2 [Updated]  —  Apple today released iPhone OS 3.1.2, addressing several issues regarding waking from sleep, network service disruption, and crashing during video streaming. iPhone users should connect their iPhones to iTunes and click the “Check for Update” button to obtain the new version.
Steve Lohr / Bits:
Google Apps: A Long Road Ahead  —  Google's efforts to cater to corporate and government customers — the enterprise market — have long been seen as half-hearted.  Google is a consumer company, after all, so the enterprise side of the business looked to be the poor relation.
Discussion: Forrester Research and NoMoreServers.com, Thanks:mgcreed
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes / Hardware 2.0:
End of the line for NVIDIA chipsets, and that's official  —  GPU giant NVIDIA has confirmed that the company is putting the brakes on the Nforce chipset line because of legal wranglings with Intel.  —  According to an spokesman, NVIDIA will “postpone further chipset investments”.
Ppk / QuirksBlog:
There is no WebKit on Mobile  —  Last week I spent a lot of time on WebKit in order to produce a comprehensive comparison of all WebKits.  My purpose was to prove there is no “WebKit on Mobile,” and to gain some more insight in the complicated relations between the various WebKits.
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Ooyala announces live video streaming feature  —  Aiming to be a one-stop shop for web video, Ooyala is announcing a live video streaming feature for its video technology users.  —  The Mountain View, Calif.-based company says it will make it easy for content publishers to create …
Discussion: Contentinople, NewTeeVee and VatorNews, Thanks:atul
Joanna Stern / Gizmodo:
Sony Vaio X: World's Lightest Laptop $1300 (Actually Affordable, For a Vaio)  —  Sony's X comes out from its dark hiding spot.  Not only is the 11-inch carbon fiber notebook super slim, but it's actually affordable on the Sony scale of economy, starting at $1,300.  (Update: It's got netbook guts.)
Larry Hardesty / MIT News Office:
Securing the web  —  More and more, malicious hackers are exploiting web site security holes to attack their victims' computers.  Programmers try to identify those holes in advance and plug them with code that performs security checks; but if they find a hundred holes and miss one, their programs are still insecure.
 
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 More Items: 
Erica Naone / Technology Review:
What's Next for the Netflix Algorithms?
Jolie O'Dell / ReadWriteWeb:
Yahoo! Revamps Mobile Homepage with Better RSS & Multimedia Content
Daniel Ek / Spotify:
Overnight success takes a long time...
Thanks:mgcreed
Emma Barnett / Telegraph:
YouTube to sign landmark content deal with Channel 4
Michael McWhertor / Kotaku:
Activision Lays Off Shaba's Ranks, Closes Studio
Paul Bonanos / GigaOM:
Amie Street Raises $3.9M Series B Round
Discussion: TechCrunch and paidContent
 Earlier Items: 
Robert Andrews / paidContent:
Dailymotion Raises Another $22 Million As Costs Prove Challenging
Discussion: NewTeeVee and TechCrunch Europe
Robert Miller / Skype Blogs:
Skype and eBay Win Appeal in Patent Case
Business Wire:
Burst Media Acquires Giant Realm
Discussion: paidContent and CenterNetworks
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Should Twitter Buy Oneforty?
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
Best Buy Announces MobileMe Competitor “mIQ”
Discussion: mocoNews
 

 
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”

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

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

 
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