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6:50 PM ET, October 28, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Verizon:
Hello Humans: Droid By Motorola Arrives Next Week  —  BASKING RIDGE, NJ, and LIBERTYVILLE, IL - High-speed Web browsing, voice-activated search, customizable large screen, access to thousands of Android applications and hundreds of widgets and the best 3G mobile network in the country: DROID by Motorola arrives on Nov. 6.
RELATED:
Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:
Motorola DROID first hands-on! (update: video, impressions, more pics)  —  We've got the DROID in our hands... and it is sweet.  Moto claims that this is the thinnest full QWERTY on the market, and we're apt to believe it.  The phone is incredibly slick and solid, and we're definitely looking forward to putting it through its paces.
Saul Hansell / New York Times:
Finding the Smartphone Inside Motorola  —  LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. — Sanjay Jha's honeymoon as co-chief executive at Motorola lasted just a few minutes into his first meeting with employees back in 2008.  —  “Why should we trust you?” one employee blurted.  The frustration was understandable.
Discussion: GigaOM
Keith Ito / The Official Google Blog:
Announcing Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0  —  (Cross-posted with the Google Mobile Blog)  —  Since 2005, millions of people have relied on Google Maps for mobile to get directions on the go.  However, there's always been one problem: Once you're behind the wheel, a list of driving directions just isn't that easy to use.
RELATED:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Google Redefines GPS Navigation Landscape: Google Maps Navigation For Android 2.0  —  If you weren't sure about switching to an Android phone in the near future, this might put you over the edge.  Google Maps Navigation is an absolutely killer app.  And it is only available for Android 2.0 phones.
Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:
Apple predicted to sacrifice ‘sweetheart’ AT&T deal for Verizon  —  If Apple ends its exclusive carrier agreement with AT&T next year, it will likely mark the end of its estimated $450 carrier subsidy for the iPhone, a new analysis has forecast.  —  In a new note to investors …
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
D-Day For Facebook App Developers  —  Facebook is holding a Developer Garage today at its offices in Palo Alto, and a number of new app policies will be formally announced.  Some of the changes, though, are so dramatic that Facebook has briefed the bigger app developers in advance.
Discussion: All Facebook and Inside Facebook
RELATED:
Ethan Beard / Facebook Developers:
Facebook Platform: A Roadmap for the Future  —  At Facebook, we focus on providing our developer community with simple building blocks to speed innovation and create an environment where small teams quickly push new products that can rapidly disrupt industries.
Discussion: TechCrunch
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Exclusive: CBS Digital CEO Smith to Leave to Start a Silicon Valley Advisory Firm (First Customer?  CBS)  —  Quincy Smith, the high-profile CEO of CBS Interactive, is planning on leaving his job at the media giant in January to start an advisory firm in Silicon Valley, according to several sources.
RELATED:
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:   CBS Digital Boss Quincy Smith's Not-Quite Exit Interview: “Hulu's a Great Service.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Brainstorm Tech:
Apple's 2009 ad budget: Half a billion  —  Those Get-a-Mac spots aren't cheap, but they deliver a lot of bang for the buck  —  Apple (AAPL) shells out a ton of money for advertising.  In fiscal 2009 it spent $501 million, according to the 10-K form filed Tuesday.  That's up from $486 million in 2008 and $467 million in 2007.
Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
Microsoft's ‘Signature PCs’ show its vision of computing perfection  —  People visiting Microsoft's new store in Scottsdale, Ariz., have started noticing something interesting, apart from its shameless similarities to Apple's retail outlets.  The computers on display in the Microsoft Store come without …
BBC:
Net pirates to be ‘disconnected’  —  People who persistently download illegal content will be cut off from the net, Business Secretary Peter Mandelson has announced.  —  Speaking at a government-sponsored forum to debate copyright issues he said the UK would introduce a similar policy to France.
RELATED:
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Stalqer Peers Into Your iPhone For A New Level Of Location-Based Creepiness  —  Foursquare and Loopt have put location-based social networks on the map, and have potentially created a viable business model as well.  Now there's a new kid on the block, called Stalqer, which best described as a Foursquare on steroids.
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Is the LinkedIn Platform Dead?  —  LinkedIn, the business social network, hopped on the platform bandwagon this time last year by opening up its network to developers.  It was a move I was excited to see Reid Hoffman's crew make.  LinkedIn, unlike some of the other professional networks that came before it, is actually very useful.
Thanks:atul
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Intel and Numonyx report a breakthrough in new kind of memory chip  —  Intel and startup Numonyx said today they have accomplished a breakthrough in a new kind of memory chip that combines the best features of a variety of memory types.  Numonyx (founded in 2000) has been working on something called …
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Brizzly Gets A New Coat: Facebook  —  Since its beta launch this summer, Brizzly has been hands-down one of the best ways to interact with Twitter.  The web app puts a new and intuitive user interface over Twitter's data, which allows you to do things like see pictures inline in your stream …
AppleInsider:
TomTom Car Kit, navigation software will not work with iPod touch  —  The forthcoming TomTom Car Kit navigation dock will not enable GPS functionality for the corresponding App Store software on the iPod touch and first-generation iPhone.  —  Company officials confirmed to AppleInsider Wednesday …
Discussion: Macworld, App Advice, MacRumors and I4U News
Prince McLean / AppleInsider:
Apple stores upgrading from Windows-based EasyPay to iPod touch  —  Multiple sources have noted that Apple will be transitioning its retail store EasyPay handheld checkout systems from Windows-based PDA devices to iPod touch hardware for the 2009 holiday season.
Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent:
Yahoo, Microsoft Extend Deadline To Negotiate Search Deal  —  Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) and Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) say in an SEC filing they will extend “the period to negotiate and execute” their search ad agreement, which they had initially said they would complete by Tuesday.
Discussion: CNET News
Tom Conrad / Pandora:
Share Pandora with Your Friends on Facebook, Twitter, and Beyond  —  When I think about my connection with music, I think about three impulses: the impulse to discover, the impulse to buy, and the impulse to share.  Here at Pandora we've had the discover and buy bits covered for some time …
Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:
Mozilla fixes 16 flaws with Firefox 3.5.4  —  Security update also patches 9 bugs in older Firefox 3.0  —  Computerworld - Mozilla today patched 16 vulnerabilities in Firefox, 11 of them critical, as it updated the open-source browser to version 3.5.4.  —  The 11 critical Firefox 3.5 vulnerabilities …
Toktumi VoIP News:
Is the BlackBerry Doomed?  —  Apple's astounding 4th quarter fiscal results (reported Oct 19th) and its climb past $200 per share comes in stark contrast to Research in Motion's (RIM) earnings reported September 25th.  Their stock is now trading 20% lower than it was a month ago and the outlook for the future appears grim.
Discussion: The Toybox, Traffick, Electronista and MacDailyNews, Thanks:atul
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Exclusive Picture Of Unlaunched Apple Tablet (circa 1990)  —  Yeah ok it isn't that Apple Tablet.  But this is a picture, taken around 1990, of the Apple Pen Mac, a little known and never launched Apple tablet project.  As far as we can tell there is no other image of this device anywhere on the Internet …
Discussion: Gearlog, Thanks:thinkmantra
Matt Marshall / VentureBeat:
Augmented reality company Layar gets $1M boost, launches on Symbian  —  Layar, which has forged early leadership in the nascent but inspiring field of “augmented reality,” is about to finish raising a round of more than $1 million.  —  The Dutch company, which superimposes images and other data …
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb
Jon Fortt / Brainstorm Tech:
The anti-iTunes arms dealer  —  Online jukebox Lala hooks up with Facebook and Google.  Together, can they mount a serious challenge to Apple?  —  Apple rules music retail for now: iTunes passed Wal-Mart (WMT) last year to become the top-grossing music store in the world.
Liz Gannes / NewTeeVee:
ScanScout Completes $8.5M Funding, Sets Up Shop in Singapore  —  Video ad network ScanScout today said it had (finally) closed its Series B round by bringing in funding from Singapore-based EDB Investments.  We'd previously written about the round in March, when the company had raised $5.1 million …
 
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 More Items: 
Greg Kumparak / MobileCrunch:
Virgin Mobile kills off all sign of Helio …
Discussion: Obsessable, I4U News and Engadget
Ryan Nakashima / Associated Press:
Disney iPhone app makes photos the key to content
Lance Whitney / CNET News:
More security breaches hit midsize companies
Discussion: Maximum PC and Security Bytes
Greg Kumparak / MobileCrunch:
Sprint Drops Call Forwarding Fees With Google Voice In Mind
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Two Yahoo Music Veterans Resurface with DashBox, a Service You'l …
Discussion: paidContent
Felicia R. Lee / New York Times:
Serving Literature by the Tweet
internetnews.com:
Apple to Nokia: We're Ready to Rumble
Discussion: Reuters and mocoNews
 Earlier Items: 
Dean Pullen / Inquirer:
Microsoft pulls the Xbox 360 Sky Player
Serkan Toto / CrunchGear:
Tire maker Bridgestone shows world's first flexible e-book reader
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Want 50Mbps Internet in your town? Threaten to roll out your own
Discussion: NPR Blogs
John Resig:
Google Groups is Dead