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2:45 PM ET, October 18, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Verizon Droid Is The Real Deal  —  Verizon and Motorola finally lifted the curtain on their new Droid Android phone yesterday.  Make no mistake, this is Android's flagship product, and the first phone that will pose a significant threat to Apple's iPhone.  And it will be available very soon, possibly as early as the end of this month.
RELATED:
Darren Murph / Engadget:
Verizon's anti-iPhone gets its first commercial: ‘Droid Does’ (update)  —  We knew Verizon Wireless would soon be throwing caution to the wind in an effort to sway uncommitted smartphone buyers towards Big Red, and it looks like the November-bound Motorola Droid will be VZW's anti-iPhone.
Jay Yarow / Silicon Alley Insider:
Sorry, Verizon, No Physical Keyboard On The iPhone Isn't That Big Of A Deal  —  In Verizon's slam ad on the iPhone, it ticks off all the things the iPhone doesn't do.  —  For a big splashy ad, we must say we're a little underwhelmed by the problems the “iDon't” ad lists with the iPhone.
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
This Used To Be My Playground  —  Maybe you've read some of the stories this past week about how FriendFeed's traffic is way down following their sale to Facebook.  The stats don't look good, as the site's traffic may have plummeted as much as 30% following its peak just prior to the sale.
Thanks:atul
RELATED:
scobleizer's posterous:
The Second Life of FriendFeed?  —  Where do I spend my attention?  That's all I have.  Unlike many others in the tech community I don't have a lot of money to invest in companies.  I also don't have coding skills, so can't build stuff, so the only way I can build stuff is to spend …
Discussion: louisgray.com, Thanks:atul
Ashlee Vance / New York Times:
Forecast for Microsoft: Partly Cloudy  —  RAY OZZIE, the chief software architect at Microsoft, bristles when asked whether people think that new versions of his company's flagship software — like Windows and Office — are exciting.  —  “It's tremendously exciting,” he exclaims defensively …
Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey's Squirrel project revealed... as the Square iPhone Payment System  —  Remember the Square iPhone Payment System we told you about back in August?  If you'll recall, the device — which involves an iPhone app and associated dongle — enables an iPhone or iPod touch …
Kurt Kleiner / New Scientist:
New camera promises to capture your whole life  —  A camera you can wear as a pendant to record every moment of your life will soon be launched by a UK-based firm.  —  Originally invented to help jog the memories of people with Alzheimer's disease, it might one day be used by consumers to create …
Kevin Michaluk / CrackBerry.com blogs:
Facebook 1.7 Now Available for Download!  —  * Update: Facebook 1.7 is now live on the App World client as well!  There were some rumors floating around the forums that Facebook 1.7 would make its debut today, and it looks like they panned out to be true!  The update isn't live on App World just yet …
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Coming Soon: a Mozilla App for the iPhone  —  Earlier today when I interviewed Mozilla CEO John Lilly onstage at the Play conference, an annual confab organized by the students of Haas School of Business at the University of Berkeley, he hinted that Mozilla was going to launch a brand …
Paul Carr / TechCrunch:
NSFW: Why Seth MacFarlane's Microsoft Guy is the end of television, and the world  —  “I won't be happy til the whole world hates me.”  Not my words, for once, but those of Seth MacFarlane on stage last year at Carnegie Hall.  The audience laughed, as well they might ("he was on the Internet …
Eric Pfanner / New York Times:
France Moves to Win Back Control of Content  —  PARIS — Like Asterix, the cartoon Gaul who resists the Romans with his pluck — and a magic potion — French publishers and news providers are cooking up original ways to fight the perceived threat of cultural domination by U.S. technology giants like Google and Amazon.
 
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 More Items: 
Schneier on Security:
The Commercial Speech Arms Race
Discussion: Geeking with Greg, Thanks:atul
Natasha Singer / New York Times:
When 2+2 Equals a Privacy Question
J. Nicholas Hoover / InformationWeek:
The Custom URL Shortener
Greg Sandoval / CNET News:
MPAA: Antipiracy is now ‘content protection’
Discussion: TorrentFreak and Techdirt
 Earlier Items: 
Steven Sande / TUAW:
The future of TV on your iPhone is ATSC Mobile DTV
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
3 Nifty iPhone Apps For News Consumption On The Go
Stephen Marche / Wall Street Journal:
The Book That Contains All Books
Discussion: TeleRead and Kindle Review, Thanks:mrinaldesai
Carl Malamud / O'Reilly Radar:
Law.Gov: America's Operating System, Open Source
 

 
From Mediagazer:

James Rogers / MarketWatch:
Paramount Skydance shares jumped 36.7% on Wednesday, and trading volume exploded; CNBC's Jim Cramer called the stock a meme stock early in the day

David Folkenflik / NPR:
A look at the disputes over Kari Lake's official title and power at USAGM, as she uses the title of acting CEO while lawsuits challenge her status

Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
A look at MicroCo, a Hollywood startup aiming to tap into the micro drama craze, as Chinese apps gain US traction with millions of downloads, per Sensor Tower

 
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