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5:50 PM ET, February 8, 2010

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Chris Gourlay / Times of London:
Google leaps language barrier with translator phone  —  GOOGLE is developing software for the first phone capable of translating foreign languages almost instantly — like the Babel Fish in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  —  By building on existing technologies in voice recognition …
Matt Phillips / MarketBeat:
Apple Management: iPad Prices Could Change … Apple intends to stay “nimble” on pricing of the iPad, possibly lowering prices if the newly unveiled tablet device fails to gain traction among consumers.  —  That was just one of the items in a note out Sunday night from Credit Suisse recounting meetings with Apple executives.
Nicholas Carlson / Silicon Alley Insider:
Google Launching Twitter-Killer For Gmail!  (GOOG)  —  Google could launch a Twitter-killer as soon as this week, the Wall Street Journal reports.  —  Google already allows Gmail users to update their status.  The prompt reads, “let people know what you're up to, or share links to photos, videos, and Web pages.”
RELATED:
Ben Parr / Mashable!:
Google Could Unveil Gmail's Social Features Tomorrow  —  We learned earlier today that Google is launching a social status update feature in Gmail.  While details are sparse, The Wall Street Journal reports that it is a new Gmail module that could integrate status updates as well as content from YouTube …
Discussion: GigaOM
Chris Ziegler / Engadget:
Motorola Droid's next update to be Android 2.1, includes multitouch browser  —  We've just gotten the inside line on the next Droid update that's making the rounds through Verizon's testing department from one of our trusted sources, and overall, it looks like this should take users 95 percent …
RELATED:
Chris Ziegler / Engadget:
Motorola: Droid update to Android 2.1 ‘will start to roll out this week’  —  We knew Android 2.1 was coming for the Droid, but we'll confess — we didn't expect it to come this soon.  Motorola is now reporting via its official Facebook page that it's “happy to relay the 2.1 upgrade to Droid …
Discussion: Phone Scoop and Android Central
RELATED:
AppleInsider:
Purported 4th gen Apple iPhone parts show largely unchanged design  —  New pictures claimed to be parts for a prototype fourth-generation iPhone show a front panel slightly taller than the current model, along with some other minor internal design tweaks.  —  iPhone repair Web site iResQ posted photos …
Discussion: Electronista
Charles Arthur / Guardian:
The iPhone is the new Internet Explorer 6, says mobile developer  —  On the flip side of the debate about whether Flash is ill, in rude health, or simply untroubled by Apple's wilful refusal to countenance it on the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad, we have an analysis from Peter-Paul Koch, a …
RELATED:
Ppk / QuirksBlog:
The iPhone obsession  —  Since my attempts at capturing web …
Thanks:arjo
Jeffrey Oldham / The Official Google Blog:
2010 Super Bowl: Some search touchdowns  —  While 106 American football players sought yardage in the 2010 Super Bowl, millions of people sought information related to the big game from Google search.  We looked at some game-day search trends and data* to see what football fans were searching for this year.
Discussion: Domain Name News, Thanks:mrinaldesai
RELATED:
Chris Nuttall / blogs.ft.com:
Dotcoms, tech dominate Super Bowl XLIV ads
Discussion: TechCrunch and MediaPost
Ryan Tate / Gawker:
The iPad Tweet That Enraged Steve Jobs?  —  There was inevitably some cultural friction when Apple's secretive CEO took his new iPad around to New York's professionally indiscreet media.  Exhibit A is a single tweet from a Wall Street Journal editor, which purportedly made Steve Jobs go ballistic:
Electronista:
Nook to reach Barnes & Noble shops this Wednesday  —  Barnes & Noble today said that the Nook will at last reach its retail shops.  While it has had demo units in stores since launch in the fall, the bookseller now says it expects most locations to have units directly available to buy on Wednesday the 10th.
RELATED:
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:   Barnes & Noble's Nook Finally Limps Into Stores. Too Late?
Nick Bilton / Bits:
Job Postings Hint at Amazon's Plans for the Kindle  —  It looks like color screens and Wi-Fi might be the next additions to Amazon's Kindle.  —  Last week, Brad Stone and I reported that Amazon had acquired the New York based multi-touch screen company Touchco to integrate into Lab126, the Kindle hardware division.
Pwarden / PeteSearch:
How to split up the US  —  As I've been digging deeper into the data I've gathered on 210 million public Facebook profiles, I've been fascinated by some of the patterns that have emerged.  My latest visualization shows the information by location, with connections drawn between places that share friends.
Discussion: Brian Solis, Thanks:atul
All Facebook:
My Three And A Half Month Facebook Job Interview  —  Against the tide of Silicon Valley's job layoffs, Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg was quoted late August 2009 — in a number of media outlets that referred to a Bloomberg report — as planning to hire as many as 500 new staff members in 2009.
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider
Jolie O'Dell / ReadWriteWeb:
Verizon Blocks 4chan  —  According to 4chan's Twitter account and status update blog, they have been “explicitly blocked” by the Verizon wireless network.  —  If you're unfamiliar with 4chan and why an ISP/wireless company would block it, read more about it on Wikipedia.
David Carr / New York Times:
Plentiful Content, So Cheap  —  Last Wednesday, I met with an executive from Demand Media, a company that generates content based on popular Web searches and other data.  Since then, I've spent about 20 hours reading past articles, calling people for background, doing interviews …
Cade Metz / The Register:
Google doppelgänger casts riddle over interwebs  —  Why is Google routing the world through ‘Googol’?  —  Sometime in the middle of October, Google silently launched a new net domain - a barely-disguised doppelgänger to the familiar google.com - and according to the latest stats …
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Apple To Upgrade MacBook Pros Tuesday Ahead Of Macworld Conference?  (AAPL)  —  Apple may finally announce a new MacBook Pro lineup tomorrow, perhaps including new, faster Intel chips, as the Macworld conference gets underway in San Francisco.  —  “An anonymous source who works for Apple …
Discussion: Bloomberg, 9 to 5 Mac and CrunchGear
Cecilia Kang / Post Tech:
Netflix warns loophole, Comcast-NBC merger could hurt open Internet  —  Netflix's main business — DVDs delivered by mail — couldn't be more 1990s.  But increasingly, the company's streaming online video service has emerged as a threat to cable and satellite television providers.
Jonny Evans / 9 to 5 Mac:
Hackers ship Pwnage Tool for 3.1.3 for iPhone  —  The iPhone Dev-Team has introduced PwnageTool 3.1.5 for Mac OS X which now supports Apple's recently-released iPhone OS 3.1.3.  —  “Phone 3GS users (regardless of unlock) should stay away from this and all 3.1.3 jailbreak tools unless you know you have your …
Tim Bajarin / PC Magazine:
Apple's iPad: A Blessing and Curse for Publishing  —  Apple's new tablet may revolutionize the publishing industry, much to the benefit and detriment of big houses.  —  The publishing industry was drooling over the Apple iPad long before the product was actually announced.
Discussion: MacDailyNews
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Tapulous launches new iPhone game, Riddim Ribbon  —  Tapulous has managed to maintain a strong business on the iPhone with its Tap Tap Revenge music games, despite the entry of RockBand from the big guys, MTV Networks and Electronic Arts.  Now Tapulous wants to hit another home run with a new music app for the iPhone.
Kim Yoo-chul / The Korea Times:
Display Wars Heat Up Amid 3D TV Boom  —  Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, the world's two-biggest makers of flat-screen television sets, are in a head-to-head competition for leadership in the next-generation flat-screen market, analysts and company representatives said Monday.
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
The Bids Are In for AOL's Sale of ICQ-It's Down to a “U.N.” of Four Buyers  —  AOL has taken another step closer to selling off its ICQ instant messaging service, culling seven bids to four “serious” ones, said sources close to the situation.  —  The price for the service is hovering …
 
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 More Items: 
Jon Fortt / Brainstorm Tech:
Toyota's low-risk dialogue on Digg
Ina Fried / CNET News:
Microsoft denies Windows 7 battery problem
Discussion: MSDN Blogs and The Register
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:
Android Market Share Doubles - Will Overtake Palm Soon
Discussion: comScore, Inc. and The Next Web, Thanks:fredericl
Camille Ricketts / VentureBeat:
Flixster continues rapid growth with new $12.5M
Discussion: TechCrunch
Associated Press:
Spain's Telefonica considers charging Google
Amy Thomson / Bloomberg:
Sprint May Buy MetroPCS, Collins Stewart Analyst Says
Shane McGlaun / SlashGear:
Samsung Super AMOLED screen to show up on mobile phone at MWC
Discussion: Phone Arena
 Earlier Items: 
Eric Pfanner / New York Times:
In Secret, Nations Work Toward Crackdown on Piracy
Heidi Blake / Telegraph:
British Library to offer 19th Century first editions for free download …
Douglas MacMillan / Business Week:
Google's Display-Ad Sales Should Top $1 Billion
Discussion: BloggingStocks