Check out Mini-Techmeme for simple mobiles or Techmeme Mobile for modern smartphones.
9:50 AM ET, November 3, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Venture Capital Dispatch:
The First Mobile Device Dedicated Exclusively To Twitter  —  When the team at Twitter Inc. hatched the idea of producing a mobile device dedicated to “tweeting” they contacted Jonathan Kaplan, founder of a gadget company that experienced one of the most successful exits for venture investors in 2009.
Vladislav Savov / Engadget:
Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 announced, we go hands-on  —  The first Android device from Sony Ericsson may have undergone an upgrade in the naming department, jumping from X3 all the way to XPERIA X10 (probably to avoid confusion with Nokia's X3 handset), but what lies under the hood is reassuringly in line with what we've been hearing.
Google Chrome Blog:
Bookmark sync and more speed in the latest beta release  —  Fresh from a Halloween weekend, we're excited to introduce a brand new beta for Google Chrome, which includes a few new treats and cool tricks for our users.  —  For those of you who use several computers — for example …
RELATED:
Jesus Diaz / Gizmodo:
This Is a Next-Generation iPhone 4 Part, China Ontrade Claims  —  China Ontrade calls this the iPhone 4 Generation Midboard.  Not very exciting, but the last time they announced a next-generation iPhone part, they were right.  A month later, the iPhone 3GS appeared with exactly those parts.
Rebecca Lefort / Telegraph:
Mystery of Argleton the ‘Google’ town that only exists online  —  Argleton, a ‘phantom town’ in Lancashire that appears on Google Maps and online directories but doesn't actually exist, has puzzled internet experts.  —  The town appears on Google Maps in the middle of fields close to the M58 motorway, just south of Ormskirk.
Steve Lohr / Bits:
Best Buy Prepares for the Post-DVD Era  —  Best Buy sells a lot of DVDs, but it is taking another step to get ready for the day when that business shifts online.  —  The giant electronics retailer on Tuesday is announcing a partnership with Sonic Solutions' Roxio CinemaNow service to deliver …
Business Wire:
Spring Design Files Lawsuit against Barnes & Noble: Nook Violates Alex Intellectual Property  —  CUPERTINO, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Spring Design today filed a lawsuit to protect its Alex™ e-book intellectual property.  The lawsuit asserts Barnes & Noble misappropriated trade secrets …
Chris Foresman / Ars Technica:
Dutch hacker holds jailbroken iPhones “hostage” for €5  —  Though jailbreaking an iPhone certainly opens up opportunities to add functionality that Apple doesn't approve of, it can also make an iPhone less secure.  Several Dutch iPhone users found that out the hard way after a hacker attacked …
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
RockYou Joins The No Scams Parade.  But What's Facebook Up To?  —  Zynga changed their lead gen scam policy this morning (the whole Scamville background is here, see updates at bottom as well).  And now RockYou is taking steps to clean up their act to, according to an email we've been forwarded.
Discussion: The Paradigm Shift
RELATED:
Google Wave Developer Blog:
WaveSandbox.com: Federate This  —  When we first unveiled Google Wave a few months ago, one of the fundamental concepts we discussed was the vision for wave as an open communications protocol.  We are happy to announce that the developer instance of Google Wave is now available …
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Pinching and the Droid  —  Joshua Topolsky, writing for Engadget, gives the Droid a very positive review overall.  But regarding something I'd been wondering about, here's what he writes about multi-touch: … I, alas, don't have a Droid in hand, but my understanding of the multi-touch situation is as follows.
Discussion: Gearlog, The iPhone Blog, Gizmodo and SlashGear, Thanks:atul
Kevin Poulsen / Threat Level:
Feds Charge Cable Modem Modder With ‘Aiding Computer Intrusion’  —  An Oregon hardware hacker and author has been hit with federal criminal charges arising from his longstanding business of selling unlocked cable modems that can be used to steal extra speed from a broadband provider, or obtain free service.
Discussion: DSLreports, Macworld and Softpedia News
John Paczkowski / Digital Daily:
Was the iPhone's Launch in China Really a Bust?  —  Apple's internationally coveted iPhone finally arrived at market in China last week and by most accounts, it's debut was uncharacteristically muted.  —  There is “no sign of the sort of sellout reception that greeted the smart phone …
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Twitter Reveals More Lists Power With A Widget  —  Since it was turned on for all users late last week, everyone is talking about Twitter's new Lists feature.  Most people seem to like it, but some have no idea what it's good for.  Perhaps those people will understand a bit more about Lists potential …
Alex Chitu / Google Operating System:
Preview Google's Search Results  —  Google added a new option to the web search toolbelt: page previews.  If you click on “Show options” and select “Page previews” after performing a search, Google will show a longer snippet and a thumbnail for each search result.
Discussion: Softpedia News and The Next Web, Thanks:atul
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch Europe:
Turkish government claims Google owes €32 million in taxes  —  [Turkey] Following an investigation that lasted over a year, Turkish authorities are fining Internet giant Google a total of 71 million Turkish Lira (approx. €32 million or USD $47 million) for supposedly dodging the national tax system.
Erica Naone / Technology Review:
An App so You'll Never Forget  —  Adaptive-learning algorithms calculate how often people need to see information to remember it.  —  A language-learning application that's already big in Japan is coming to the U.S. in the form of a new iPhone app.  Smart.fm, based in Tokyo …
Discussion: VentureBeat
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Apple's iTunes Pitch: TV for $30 a Month  —  Would you pay $30 a month to watch TV via iTunes?  —  That's the pitch Apple has been making to TV networks in recent weeks.  The company is trying to round up support for a monthly subscription service that would deliver TV programs via its multimedia software, multiple sources tell me.
Dan Cohen / Gear Diary:
Adobe To iPhone Users- “Want Flash?  Don't Blame Us”  —  This might not be new but I certainly don't recall seeing this message before...  I went to watch something on my iPhone earlier and couldn't.  Turns out it was flash and, as you likely know, the iPhone doesn't support flash.  That's nothing new.
Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:
The future of news is entrepreneurial.  —  There's a lot in that statement.  It says: The future of news is not institutional... The news of tomorrow has yet to be built.... The structure - the ecosystem - of news will not be dominated by a few corporations but likely will be made up of networks …
Thanks:atul
Newsdesk / Tower Ticker:
Tribune Co. papers rewiring for experimental week without AP  —  The Chicago Tribune and other Tribune Co. newspapers plan to utilize as little content from the Associated Press as practical during the week of Nov. 8.  —  The goal, as the papers review costs and needs …
Galen Gruman / InfoWorld:
Want a Droid for work e-mail?  It'll cost you extra  —  Accessing Exchange e-mail over the new ‘iPhone killer’ costs an extra $15 per month  —  The industry is abuzz over the Motorola Droid, the first Google Android 2.0-based smartphone, to be released on Friday, Nov. 6, in the United States …
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
60 Minutes Puts Forth Laughable, Factually Incorrect MPAA Propaganda On Movie Piracy  —  31 years ago, in 1978, the television program 60 Minutes put on an episode about the awful threat of “video piracy” to the movie industry.  Featuring the MPAA's Jack Valenti, the episode focused …
Discussion: TorrentFreak
Dave Rosenberg / CNET News:
Turning Twitter into an application server  —  As much as Twitter is a powerful communication and social application, it's a relatively simple Web app.  As part of a new contest sponsored by Engine Yard, Ruby on Rails developers are going to turn Twitter into their own application server.
Thanks:enauzer
Betina Chan-Martin / Hulu Blog:
Coming Soon: Your Resource for Good Things to Come  —  Here at Hulu, we prioritize our features based largely on the feedback we receive from our users, and some of your most common questions are related to our streaming schedule for shows that are currently airing on TV.
Discussion: WebProNews and AppScout
Mark / dive into mark:
Why do we have an IMG element?  —  On February 25, 1993, Marc Andreessen wrote: … Xbm and Xpm were popular graphics formats on Unix systems.  They are still supported in modern browsers.  (I tested in Internet Explorer 8 and Google Chrome.)  —  “X Mosaic” was one of the earliest web browsers.
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of Techmeme at 9:50 AM ET, November 3, 2009.

View the current page or another snapshot:


 
 Techmeme Sponsor Posts: 
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:
Passkeys Week for a passwordless future: Learn how Zoho is embracing passkeys  —  Passkeys are the modern-day alternative authentication method that was introduced to replace traditional passwords for enhanced security and convenience.
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy  —  Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more  —  We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics.  Download reports immediately for just $100.
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: 
Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:
Marvell Syncs With E Ink On New E-Reader Tech Aimed At Mass Market
Discussion: Technologizer and CNET News
Thomas Ricker / Engadget Mobile:
Sprint launches Samsung Moment, Android empire expands by one
Discussion: Mobilewhack.com
BBC:
Brussels criticises UK on privacy
Discussion: Neowin.net
Glyn Moody / Computerworld UK:
EU Wants to Re-define “Closed” as “Nearly Open”
Paul Krill / InfoWorld:
Unisys official says cloud computing can save money by eliminating U.S. jobs
Discussion: Network World
 Earlier Items: 
Cade Metz / The Register:
Yahoo! open sources uber web server
Discussion: CNET News and TechCrunch
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Brainstorm Tech:
The iPhone dons a suit and tie
Discussion: TUAW, AppleInsider, MacNN and The Loop, Thanks:mrinaldesai
Nick Eaton / The Microsoft Blog:
‘Sherlock Holmes’ replaces Microsoft as ‘Family Guy’ sponsor
Discussion: Underwire
Ina Fried / CNET News:
Inside one of the world's largest data centers
Discussion: Data Center Knowledge