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12:50 PM ET, November 20, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Randall C. Kennedy / InfoWorld:
Why Chrome OS will fail — big time  —  A lack of flexibility will doom Google's latest ego trip to the dustbin of history  —  The Chrome OS is here — sort of.  This week, Google was kind of enough to give the world a sneak peek at its nascent desktop operating system.
RELATED:
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Want To Try Out Google Chrome OS For Yourself?  Here's How.  —  The public debut of Google Chrome OS today has the press abuzz over the potential of the new web-based operating system.  And now that it's open sourced, you have the chance to try it out for yourself.
Vladislav Savov / Engadget:
Google Chrome OS available as free VMWare download (update: first impressions)  —  Seriously, how awesome have the past few hours been?  Engadget turns the design stakes up to 11, Google finally dishes the dirt on Chrome OS, and now you can even download the forthcoming software to have a fiddle with yourself.
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Brizzly Opens To All.  And Snatches Someone From Facebook.  —  Brizzly was first unveiled in private beta at our first CrunchUp event in July, so it's only appropriate that today, the day of our next CrunchUp, it's being opened to the public.  Now, to be clear, the product is still technically in beta …
Kenji Hall / Business Week:
Sony Unveils Its Answer to Apple's iTunes  —  The tech giant will launch an online store selling music, movies, books, and other downloadable applications for mobile products  —  Sony (SNE) is taking a page from Apple's playbook (AAPL).  On Nov. 19, Sony said it plans to launch …
CBC News:
Depressed woman loses benefits over Facebook photos  —  A Quebec woman on long-term sick leave is fighting to have her benefits reinstated after her employer's insurance company cut them, she says, because of photos posted on Facebook.  —  Nathalie Blanchard, 29, has been on leave from her job …
Kevin Michaluk / CrackBerry.com blogs:
Live Images of the New 3G BlackBerry Pearl 9100!!  —  First Live Photos of the new BlackBerry Pearl 9100!!  —  OoohHHH BaBy!!  Any BlackBerry Pearl fans out there?  I know there are.  And I know so many of you have been waiting for Research in Motion to release an updated version …
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
What Twitter's New Geolocation Makes Possible  —  Twitter turned on its long-awaited Geolocation API today, meaning that users can opt-in to having their messages annotated with their exact locations.  The significance of this is made clear by comparing it with last week's release of 500 million …
Daniel Brusilovsky / CrunchGear:
Jobs to The Little App Factory: Name change “Not that big of a deal”  —  The Little App Factory seems to have a big problem on their hands.  The company received a letter from Baker & McKenzie, representing Apple, asking that The Little App Factory change the name of one of their most successful applications.
Marco.org:
Hope  —  I've mostly stopped writing about the dismal App Store approval process and the issues it causes because I've felt hopeless.  Nothing has changed.  Nothing has improved.  Despite some token status-reporting “improvement” attempts, nearly everything about the App Store is the same, or worse, than it was a year ago.
RELATED:
Matt McGee / Search Engine Land:
Google Builds Out A National Real Estate Search Engine  —  While the National Association of REALTORS® is planning to launch its own national property database sometime next year, Google seems to have just stolen the NAR's thunder.  How?  By rolling out individual “place pages” for every property that's listed in Google Maps.
Ina Fried / CNET News:
Ballmer: Windows 7 selling like hotcakes  —  Windows 7 isn't just getting good reviews, it's also selling well, CEO Steve Ballmer told shareholders Thursday.  —  Delivering opening remarks at Microsoft's shareholder meeting, Ballmer said that Windows 7 was off to a “fantastic start.”
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Google Tackles Its “UI Jazz” Problem, Tests Streamlining Search Options Feature  —  Sometime later today, a small number of Google users will see a new look to Google's Search Options feature.  If all goes well, the cleaner display may be launched across Google after the New Year.
Google Mobile Blog:
New Google News for mobile  —  At Google, we are committed to giving you a consistent user experience across products and devices, and we really value the feedback you've given us about Google News for mobile.  Today we're excited to announce a completely new Google News offering for iPhone, Android, and Palm Pre users.
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Mozilla: Still too dependent on Google for revenue; Can it diversify?  —  Mozilla reported its 2008 audited financials and the organization behind the Firefox browser delivered consolidated revenue of $78.6 million, up 5 percent from 2007.  And the revenue picture looks even better if you exclude …
Chris Ziegler / Engadget:
Verizon's Samsung Omnia II launching December 2 for $200  —  It may no longer be the first to launch in North America (that distinct honor now belongs to Bell), but we can finally say with some confidence that Verizon's version of the Samsung Omnia II isn't that far off.
Chris Albrecht / NewTeeVee:
PLYmedia to Provide Live Captions to Online Vid Partners  —  For once, everyone getting on board with an online video trend is a good thing.  Following on the heels of Google's announcement yesterday that it will add automatic captioning to YouTube videos, PLYmedia today …
Taylor Wimberly / Android and Me:
Motorola Motus specs magically appear  —  Who says lightning doesn't strike twice?  Right after we received the first picture of the new Motorola Motus, another anonymous tipster sent in the full hardware specs.  I'll let you guys add the commentary on this one.  —  Motorola Motus specs:
Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:
Microsoft denies it built ‘backdoor’ in Windows 7  —  Don't worry, company tells users; NSA involved only in security compliance standards  —  Computerworld - Microsoft today denied that it has built a backdoor into Windows 7, a concern that surfaced yesterday after a senior National Security Agency …
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Infoaxe Launches Real-Time Search Engine Based On Web History Platform  —  There are a number of real-time search engines in the space, including Collecta and OneRiot.  Today, at the Real-Time CrunchUp, Infoaxe debuts its real time search engine.  —  What makes Infoaxe unique is that it doesn't tap …
Discussion: GigaOM and AltSearchEngines
Elinor Mills / CNET News:
Cisco launches iPhone security app  —  Cisco is offering a free iPhone app that will allow people to get customized alerts on new security threats and other information for safe Web browsing.  —  The app, which will be available on Friday in the Apple iTunes store, provides information …
Electronista:
T-Mobile looking to team up with other US carrier?  —  T-Mobile's US branch may land a deal with another carrier to grow its network much more rapidly, a rumor maintained on Friday.  Sources for the German paper Handelsblatt claimed that Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile's parent, is in the …
Discussion: Reuters, FierceWireless and TmoNews
Electronista:
Dell slips out Studio 17 with touchscreen  —  Dell today quietly slipped the Studio 17 Touch into its lineup as its first touchscreen notebook.  The 17-inch system adds multi-touch input and carries Dell's own suite of touch apps, such as its photo browser.
 
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 More Items: 
Rafat Ali / paidContent:
Online Marketing/Media Firm Quinstreet Files for $250 Million IPO
Paul Meller / Computerworld:
EU gives Oracle extra time to respond to Sun inquiry
Discussion: The Register and Open Source
Mark Walsh / MediaPost:
Most Mobile Users Indifferent To Or Don't Want Ads
Discussion: MediaMemo and FierceMobileContent
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Google's News Experiments & The Quest To Solve The “Read State” Issue
Chris Pendleton / Bing Maps Blog:
Bing Maps China Expands Reach
Discussion: Softpedia News and LiveSide
John Leyden / The Register:
MS discovers flaw in Google plug-in for IE
Discussion: Ars Technica and eWeek
 Earlier Items: 
Aaron Ricadela / Business Week:
Can Adobe Beat Back the Hackers?
Rory Cellan-Jones / dot.life:
The Digital Economy Bill - does it add up?
Kevin Poulsen / Threat Level:
Feds Charge 3 With Comcast.net Hijacking
Ryan Tate / valleywag - Gawker:
Facebook Named in Federal Class-Action Suit over Scammy Zynga Ads
Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:
Adobe's Acrobat.com comes to smartphones
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, Examiner and CNET News
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
French Tweet: Twitter Goes French In Time For LeWeb