Techmeme: Sprint Plans Open App Store (Stephen Lawson/PC World)

4:25 AM ET, October 29, 2009

Top Items:

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.

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:

Strategy of New Chief at Motorola Appears Poised to Pay Off — LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. —Sanjay Jha's honeymoon as co-chief executive at Motorola lasted just a few minutes into his first meeting with employees in 2008. — “Why should we trust you?” one employee blurted. The frustration was understandable.

Discussion: Gadgetwise, MobileTechWorld, VentureBeat, GigaOM, Technology Review, Gizmodo, Android Central, Macworld and Android Phone Fans

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.

Darren Murph / Engadget:
Motorola DROID official on Verizon: $199 on contract, coming November 6th (video)

Discussion: NEWSFACTOR, Android Central, T3.com News, TUAW, Switched and The Tech Report

Murali Viswanathan / The Official Google Blog:

Making search more musical — Every day we get millions of search queries about music. You want to know more about your favorite artists, find that new album or iconic song or figure out the name of that tune stuck in your head. In fact, according to Insights for Search, two of the top 10 queries in the U.S. are music-related.

Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
It's Almost Here: Exclusive Video Of Lala's Upcoming iPhone App

Discussion: 9 to 5 Mac and EverythingiCafe

Jon Fortt / Brainstorm Tech:
The anti-iTunes arms dealer

Discussion: Hitwise Intelligence, TechCrunch, Newsome.Org, ReadWriteWeb, AppScout, Geek.com, paidContent, Google Watch, NEWS.com.au, Electronista and Tech Trader Daily

Alex Pham / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Google launches music search with Lala, Pandora, Rhapsody, imeem and MySpace

Discussion: Search Engine Land and Silicon Valley Watcher

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: Digits, ReadWriteWeb, CNET News and VentureBeat

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: PC World, All Facebook and Inside Facebook

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:

It's Complicated, But MicroHoo Hasn't Fallen and Will Get Up (Now, Lay Off Jerry Yang) — In what should come as a shock to almost no one, the detailed negotiations to complete the Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo (YHOO) search and online advertising final agreement is more complicated …

Discussion: paidContent

Nicholas Carlson / Silicon Alley Insider:
Microsoft And Yahoo Delay Signing Search Deal

Discussion: paidContent, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim and Between the Lines

Dan Rayburn / The Business Of Online Video:

Confirmed: Netflix Streaming Coming To The Wii Very Shortly — Last week I received some images that showed Netflix streaming on a Wii console. I didn't run with the story at the time as I didn't know if the images were legit and it's taken me until today to confirm they are in fact real.

Discussion: Engadget, SlipperyBrick.com, NewTeeVee and GoNintendo

Brad Stone / Bits:

Amazon PayPhrase Tries to Make Paying Online Easier — Amazon.com is trying to take some pain out of the process of buying stuff online. I'm not sure that the new service it is introducing tonight, PayPhrase, accomplishes that, but it may be an important building block for the future of Amazon's fledgling subsidiary, Amazon Payments.

Discussion: Technologizer and TechFlash

Dan Fost / L.A. Times Tech Blog:

Google co-founder Sergey Brin wants more computers in schools — Sergey Brin. Credit: Google. — High school dropout Sergey Brin has a few ideas on how the educational system should be improved. Not surprisingly from a guy who co-founded Google, where he still serves as president …

Discussion: Silicon Valley Watcher, Forbes and Maximum PC

Walter S. Mossberg / Personal Technology:

Operating Systems Offer New Choices in PC Shopping — Now that both Microsoft and Apple have finally shipped the new versions of their operating systems, Windows 7 and Snow Leopard, respectively, it's time for my annual fall computer-buying guide. — This guide stresses laptops …

Discussion: Electronista, Ars Technica, geeksmack.net and TUAW

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.

Discussion: App Advice, ifoAppleStore and The Next Web, Thanks:mrinaldesai

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.

Discussion: Electronista, Silicon Alley Insider and Macsimum News

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

Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:

YouTube Phasing Out Accounts, Google Login Will Be Required [Updated] — YouTube has begun warning users that they will soon be required to login with a Google account, instead of their old YouTube accounts. Just as people freaked out when Flickr changed the locks on the doors and required …

Discussion: The Next Web

Erica Naone / Technology Review:

Software That Fixes Itself — A new tool aims to fix misbehaving programs without shutting them down. — Martin Rinard, a professor of computer science at MIT, is unabashed about the ultimate goal of his group's research: “delivering an immortal, invulnerable program.”

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.

Discussion: paidContent, CNET News, Contentinople and Silicon Alley Insider

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
CBS Digital Boss Quincy Smith's Not-Quite Exit Interview: “Hulu's a Great Service.

Discussion: paidContent

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 …

Discussion: The Register, Intel, eWeek, CNET News, Computerworld and Between the Lines

Cecilia Kang / Post Tech:

Google tells FCC it's still blocking calls, but fewer of them — Google told the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday that it's still blocking some high-cost phone calls, but its engineers have figured out a way to reduce the phone numbers affected to fewer than 100.

Discussion: Google Public Policy Blog, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, BetaNews, Mobilewhack.com and Phone Scoop

Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:

After net neutrality, will we need “Google neutrality?” — A leading US academic on network economics argues that net neutrality is a good thing—but ISPs aren't the only potential gatekeepers on the 'Net. “Search neutrality” might well be needed next. — The Federal Communications Commission …

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