Check out Mini-Techmeme for simple mobiles or Techmeme Mobile for modern smartphones.
5:55 PM ET, October 19, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Boy Genius Report:
Motorola Droid hands on!  —  We absolutely nailed this puppy to the wall over and over and over again, so it's only fitting we'd be doing the first actual unveiling, right?  We're not going to get too in-depth though, that will come at a later time.  Here are some brief thoughts before the photos:
Apple:
Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results  —  Most Profitable Quarter Ever; Record Mac and iPhone Sales — Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2009 fourth quarter ended September 26, 2009.  The Company posted revenue of $9.87 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.67 billion, or $1.82 per diluted share.
RELATED:
Jeff Aguero / The Official Google Blog:
Flying in a WiFi wonderland: Free Internet from Google on Virgin America flights  —  We know the holiday season seems to come earlier every year (sorry, Halloween), but before you make your final travel plans, we're excited to let you know that we're partnering with Virgin America …
Kevin Michaluk / CrackBerry.com blogs:
First Images: BlackBerry Watch is FOR REAL!  —  Remember that story about a Bluetooth BlackBerry Watch accessory being in the works?  In case you were doubting it, today we can say with certainty that it's happening, it's getting announced soon, and what you're looking at above (another image below) …
FoneFrenzy:
Bigger News for Verizon Than Motorola's Droid  —  This weekend was chocked full of Verizon and Motorola news.  Earlier this month, Verizon and Google had a joint news conference debuting the new Motorola Droid and announcing a partnership to leverage high-speed network and open Android platform for wireless innovation.
RELATED:
Jonny Evans / 9 to 5 Mac:   Apple testing 4G iPhone on Verizon, a blogger claims
springdesign.com:
Spring Design Announces Dual Screen E-book Reader,  —  Hyperlinking Text with Multimedia  —  Secondary color touchscreen supplements text with web-based or any linked multimedia content; Enables users to enhance original text with their own embedded video, audio, photos and notes
Ben Parr / Mashable!:
LEAKED: Details of the Facebook Home Page Redesign [Screenshots]  —  A few weeks ago, we caught wind that Facebook was testing a new homepage design.  Screenshots revealed a few interesting changes, such as a decrease in size for the Facebook Publisher box and a new, Friendfeed-like “Top News” filter for the news feed.
Discussion: Inside Facebook and CNET News, Thanks:taylorbuley
Knot Pipatsrisawat / Facebook Blog:
Giving Groups a Stronger Voice  —  Facebook Groups have long been a part of the Facebook experience as a way for people to organize and discuss particular issues of interest.  However, until now, Group activities have been isolated to the group page and it was often difficult to find out what currently was going on within a group.
Amy Schatz / Digits:
Facebook and Twitter Founders Join Net-Neutrality Wars  —  Fed up with a barrage of letters that arrived at the FCC last week from net-neutrality opponents (or lawmakers urging a cautious approach toward the new rules), a coalition of Internet companies are urging the FCC chairman to hold steady.
RELATED:
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Plastic Logic Offers a (Quick) Look at Its Kindle Killer: Meet the Que  —  Plastic Logic, which has been talking up its coming e-reader for some time now but hasn't actually started selling it, has a little more to say: It will have more to say about its coming e-reader in a few months.
Microsoft:
Microsoft Update on Sidekick Data Restoration  —  The Danger / Microsoft team is continuing to work around the clock on the data restoration process.  We apologize that this is taking so long, but we want to make sure we are doing everything possible to maintain the integrity of your data.
John Carney / Silicon Alley Insider:
Do Rajaratnam's Google Trades Really Amount To Insider Trading?  —  There is room for doubt about whether trades that Raj Rajaratnam made in the stock of Google really count as prohibited insider trading.  —  But the Second Circuit, which will be overseeing the case against Rajaratnam …
Discussion: TechFlash
RELATED:
Tom Krazit / CNET News:
Ad agencies stump for Microsoft-Yahoo search deal  —  An advertising industry association—backed by four of the world's largest ad agencies—sent a letter to the Department of Justice Monday endorsing the Microsoft-Yahoo search deal, saying it “enhances competition.”
Jessica E. Vascellaro / Digits:
Photo-Blogging Site DailyBooth Raises $1 Million  —  Money continues to rain down on “real-time” start-ups-Web sites, like Twitter, that are devoted to helping users share details about their lives as they happen.  The latest example: a fledgling two-person company called DailyBooth …
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Rock Band Hits The App Store  —  The much anticipated and hyped Rock Band for iPhone and iPod Touch is out!  We first scooped the news of the launch of the app a few weeks ago.  Shortly afterwards, Rock Band for the iPhone/iPod touch was officially announced by Electronic Arts.
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
Sony's 360-degree 3D display prototype makes virtual pets more lifelike, expensive  —  In case you missed it, Sony's got a thing for 3D with big plans to push the technology into your living room next year.  While the first application will be applied to the flat screen TV …
Discussion: Maximum PC
Richard Perez-Pena / Media Decoder:
Times Says It Will Cut 100 Newsroom Jobs  —  The New York Times plans to eliminate 100 newsroom jobs - about 8 percent of the total - by year's end, offering buyouts to union and non-union employees, and resorting to layoffs if it cannot get enough people to leave voluntarily, the paper announced on Monday.
Craig Newmark / The Huffington Post:
A Nerd's Take On The Future Of News Media  —  There are a lot of new technologies which already affect news consumption and future business models.  As a nerd, I'm excited by the new tech, particularly mobile, including new display systems and pervasive connectivity.
Thanks:atul
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
Free Silverlight streaming service to be replaced by paid Azure-hosted service  —  Microsoft is discontinuing its free Silverlight Streaming service and replacing it with a paid, Azure-hosted service before the end of calendar 2009.  —  Microsoft is confirming the report I saw on LiveSide.Net …
Noah Shachtman / Danger Room:
Exclusive: U.S. Spies Buy Stake in Firm That Monitors Blogs, Tweets  —  America's spy agencies want to read your blog posts, keep track of your Twitter updates — even check out your book reviews on Amazon.  —  In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the CIA and the wider intelligence community …
Discussion: TechFlash and The Next Web
Ryan Paul / Ars Technica:
SCO fires CEO Darl McBride, architect of litigation strategy  —  In an SEC filing published today, SCO revealed that CEO Darl McBride has been terminated and is no longer with the company.  The decision to fire the controversial CEO is part of a restructuring plan that is based on recommendations …
Claudine Beaumont / Telegraph:
Microsoft to open Apple store rival in Arizona  —  Microsoft's first dedicated high-street store will open in the trendy US town of Scottsdale, Arizona, on Thursday  —  The opening will coincide with the launch of Microsoft's new operating system, Windows 7.
Discussion: Engadget and Mobilewhack.com
Steven Levy / Wired News:
Mob Rule!  How Users Took Over Twitter  —  Last August, the people who putatively run Twitter — the small crew that three years ago launched the world's fastest-growing communications medium — announced a relatively minor change in the way the site functions.
Paul Meller / PC World:
EU Says Europe Must Scan Books as Does Google  —  The European Commission issued a call to arms to European lawmakers and those involved in the process of digitizing books Monday, urging the European Union to create a “pro-competitive European” answer to the legal arrangement Google and others seek to implement in the U.S.
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of Techmeme at 5:55 PM ET, October 19, 2009.

View the current page or another snapshot:


 
 Techmeme Sponsor Posts: 
Meta:
Open Source AI: Available to all, not just the few  —  Meta's open source AI enables small businesses, start-ups, students, researchers and more to download and build with our models at no cost.
Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Zoho:
CIO challenge 5: Can we find an effective solution that also minimizes operational costs?  —  Welcome to the next and final installment of our CIO series!  After what feels like a thousand cups of coffee …
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy  —  Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Sponsor Techmeme
 
 See Also: 
Techmeme: site main
Techmeme River: reverse chronological Techmeme
Techmeme Mobile: for phones
Techmeme Leaderboard: Techmeme's top sources
 
 Subscribe: 
Techmeme RSS feed
Techmeme on X
Techmeme on Mastodon
 
 
 More Items: 
Michael Learmonth / AdAge:
Search-Titan Google Makes Display Play With ROI Tool
Bloomberg:
Apple May Need Earnings of $1.60 a Share for Stock to Climb, Analyst Says
Discussion: CNET News
Mac Slocum / Nieman Journalism Lab:
What lit mag McSweeney's could teach news orgs about the iPhone
Joe Mandese / MediaPost:
Nielsen To Add Internet Meters To Entire TV Ratings Sample: Timing, Integration TBD
Mikael Ricknäs / Computerworld:
MySQL cofounder says Oracle should sell database
Discussion: Monty says and CNET News
 Earlier Items: 
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
Loopt Launches “Loopt Mix”: Less About Networking, More About Dating
Discussion: TechCrunch, Internet2Go and Mashable!
Christopher Mack / Inside Social Games:
Friendster To Add Virtual Currencies
Arnold Zafra / Search Engine Journal:
Waveboard Brings Google Wave to the Mac Desktop, iPhone App to Follow
Thanks:aczafra
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch Europe:
Google loses Europe COO Ben Legg to European Directories
Amy Thomson / Bloomberg:
Verizon Plans to Sell Mobile Service in Discounted TV, Internet Packages
Discussion: TECH.BLORGE.com
 

 
From Mediagazer:

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

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

 
Sister Sites:

Mediagazer
 Top news and commentary for media professionals from all around the web
memeorandum
 What US political commentators are discussing online right now
WeSmirch
 The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page