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8:40 PM ET, December 20, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Brittany Murphy's Death & Google's Real Time Search Results  —  The death of actress Brittany Murphy is probably the first test for Google's new real time search results.  Earlier this year, when Michael Jackson died, it took several minutes for the news to make it into Google despite …
Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:
Poor iPhone reception graduates to SNL ‘Weekend Update’ joke status  —  “It was reported this week that Google would soon launch its own cellphone as a challenge to the iPhone.  Also a challenge to the iPhone?  Making phone calls.”  —  Cue uproarious applause.  —  Update: Video after the break!
Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:
Exclusive: Justin.tv to Launch Pay-Per-View Service  —  Justin.tv, the big live Web video site, which says it has 35 million monthly views, will launch a pay-per-view platform next month for a few content creators and then roll it out across the entire network in Q2.
Discussion: Mashable!
Simon Bowers / Guardian:
Google's subsidiaries allow company to avoid £450m tax  —  Revenues from customers in Britain were diverted to Google Ireland Limited  —  Google, which has an estimated 90% market share of UK internet searches, last year used a cross-border network of subsidiary companies to ensure …
Discussion: Technovia
Joseph Menn / Financial Times:
Store set to be apple of master's eye  —  In 2007 Steve Jobs launched the iPhone with a fanfare of fiery rhetoric.  —  The iPhone, Apple's chief executive claimed, was three “revolutionary” devices in one.  Combining a touch-controlled iPod media player, a phone and an “internet communicator” …
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider
Charlie Stross / Charlie's Diary:
Gadget Patrol: 21st century phone  —  (This isn't a product review, it's a big-picture overview brought to you from the universe of “Halting State”.)  —  It shouldn't be news to anyone that smartphones — as a category — really took off in the second half of the noughties.
Paul Bradshaw / E-Media Tidbits:
In the E-mail Era, Who Owns the Interview?  —  Some time ago I was interviewed via e-mail for an article and, as I often do, after providing answers to the nine questions, I asked the following: “Mind if I republish these answers in full on my blog after the piece goes live?”
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
The World Has Changed.  Is Jigsaw Still Evil?  —  In 2006 I was horrified by Jigsaw, a website that encouraged users to upload people's contact information (often from business cards) for money - $1 per contact.  Other people then bought that contact information.
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Even Without Its Own Google Phone, Android Gains Ground in the Smartphone Ad Market  —  As Google prepares to launch its own Android phone next year, a quick update on the progress of the Android handsets the search king doesn't sell itself: They're moving pretty quickly.
Paul Miller / Engadget:
Stable Android 2.1 hacked onto Droid, speeds through those extra home screens  —  Staying warm out there?  Got a cup of hot cocoa in hand?  Good, because Mr. Greek35T over at AllDroid has a stable version of the (previously rough-around-the-edges) Android 2.1 ROM ready for all you Droid users to play around with.
Discussion: Gadgetell and Phone Arena
Fred / A VC:
Trading Deals, A Lost Art?  —  Bijan wrote a good post yesterday called We Gotta Do A Deal Together in which he outlined the common practice of VC's showing each other investment opportunities.  That's how I got to know Bijan.  He showed us Tumblr.  And we reciprocated with Twitter where we serve on the board together.
Discussion: Feld Thoughts and bijan sabet, Thanks:atul
Lee Mathews / Download Squad:
Opera 10.5 pre-alpha leaks: Windows 7 integration, per-tab private browsing  —  While version 10.5 has not been released yet by Opera officially, there's a pre-alpha build that has been turned loose by someone.  It seems legit enough: help -> about reports that the browser is version 10.5 internal, build 20192.
 
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 More Items: 
Steven Scheer / Reuters:
O2 to buy Israel's Jajah for $200 mln -report
Discussion: TechCrunch and The Next Web, Thanks:atul
Simon Willison / Simon Willison's Weblog:
Crowdsourced document analysis and MP expenses
Discussion: rc3.org
Kevin J. O'Brien / New York Times:
As Going Gets Tough, Nokia Brings Out Legal Guns
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Smart Customer Service Lessons: Responding Faster To Complaints …
Popular Mechanics:
How James Cameron's Innovative New 3D Tech Created Avatar
Discussion: TechCrunch and GeekTonic
David Chartier / Macworld:
Twitter client Kiwi lets you style, hide, organize tweets
 Earlier Items: 
Andy Ihnatko / Chicago Sun Times:
Need a last-minute gift? Go get yourself an eBook reader
Discussion: TeleRead
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
David Pogue Weighs In On Ebook DRM: Non-DRM'd Ebook Increased His Sales
Discussion: TeleRead
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Etsy Buys Retail Product Ad Platform Adtuitive, Gains Five New Programmers
Kevin Kelleher / GigaOM:
For Palm, Yet Another Wrenching Crisis
Discussion: Internet2Go and Seeking Alpha
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Google To Acquire DocVerse; Office War Heats Up
Associated Press:
Stock windfall for Google employees
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider
 

 
From Mediagazer:

New York Times:
Court docs detail a smear campaign against actor Blake Lively via media articles and social media posts after she accused director Justin Baldoni of misconduct

Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:
A deep dive into Paramount's sale to Skydance; sources: Skydance may integrate Pluto into Paramount+, and CBS head George Cheeks is expected to be head of TV

Kimberly Nordyke / The Hollywood Reporter:
News Corp and Telstra agree to sell Australian pay TV company Foxtel Group to sports streaming platform DAZN in a deal worth ~$2.1B

 
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