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6:10 PM ET, July 12, 2010

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Consumer Reports Electronics Blog:
Lab tests: Why Consumer Reports can't recommend the iPhone 4  —  Lab test: Apple iPhone 4 design defect confirmed  —  It's official.  Consumer Reports' engineers have just completed testing the iPhone 4, and have confirmed that there is a problem with its reception.
RELATED:
Nick Bilton / Bits:
Consumer Reports Says iPhone 4 Has Design Flaw  —  Updated Added link to earlier Consumer Reports blog post and comments from Michael Gikas, senior editor of electronics at Consumer Reports.  3:14 p.m. Added request for comment from AT&T and Apple.  —  Consumer Reports said in a blog post …
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft's Ballmer: Windows 7 slates are coming this year  —  Microsoft isn't going to sit idly by and let slates from Apple and various Android backers run away with this market.  —  Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told the 14,000 partners during his July 12 keynote at the Worldwide Partner Conference …
RELATED:
Tom Warren / Neowin.net:
Windows 7 SP1 public beta released  —  Microsoft announced on Monday that the first Windows 7 Service Pack 1 public beta is now available.  —  Speaking at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference in Washington, Corporate Vice President of Windows & Windows Live - Tami Reller announced the public beta.
Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
Microsoft's new Windows Azure ‘appliance’ to be tested by eBay  —  Microsoft is looking spread the reach of its fledgling Windows Azure cloud-computing initiative with the announcement of a “platform appliance” that its industry partners and large customers will be able to use to run …
Nick Eaton / The Microsoft Blog:
WPC: ‘We missed a generation with Windows Mobile,’ Ballmer says
Discussion: The Windows Blog and Electronista
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft launches a CRM app store
Discussion: PC World
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Skype Blocks, Threatens To Sue Fring (Update: Skype Says Fring Is Lying)  —  Late last week, mobile communication services provider fring released an updated iPhone app that enabled iPhone 4 owners to engage in unrestricted 2-way video calling over Wi-Fi or 3G internet with other iPhone, Android or Symbian devices.
RELATED:
Robert Miller / The Big Blog:
Fring's mis-use of Skype software was damaging to our brand and reputation  —  An hour or so ago, Fring reported on their blog that we had blocked their access to Skype.  I want to make one thing absolutely clear: this is untrue.  —  Fring was using Skype software in a way it wasn't designed to be used …
Tom / fring:
Skype Cowardly Blocks fring  —  For 4 years we have led mobile communication innovation, most recently with video calling on any advanced Smartphone and network.  —  Now that fring expanded capacity to support the huge demand for video calling for all users, Skype has blocked us from doing so.
Mark Friedman / The Official Google Blog:
App Inventor for Android  —  App Inventor is a new tool in Google Labs that makes it easy for anyone—programmers and non-programmers, professionals and students—to create mobile applications for Android-powered devices.  And today, we're extending invitations to the general public.
RELATED:
Steve Lohr / New York Times:
Google's Do-It-Yourself App Creation Software  —  Google is bringing Android software development to the masses.  —  The company will offer a software tool, starting Monday, that is intended to make it easy for people to write applications for its Android smartphones.
Sharon Machlis / Computerworld:
Google's App Inventor for Android is a game-changer
Discussion: TechStartups.com
Research In Motion / Inside BlackBerry:
BlackBerry 6: Another Sneak Peek  —  In the almost ten years I've worked at Research In Motion (RIM), I've never been as excited about a BlackBerry® software launch as I am for BlackBerry 6, which is on track for release this summer.  I'm absolutely in love with the BlackBerry 6 experience …
Claire Cain Miller / New York Times:
Techmeme Offers Tech News at Internet Speed  —  SAN FRANCISCO — News lovers in Washington can't live without Mike Allen at Politico.  Hollywood squabbles over the relative merits of Sharon Waxman's TheWrap versus Nikki Finke's Deadline.  The newspaper industry reads the news collected by Jim Romenesko.
Niraj Sheth / Wall Street Journal:
Shortages of Phone Hindering Sprint 4G  —  Sprint Nextel Corp.'s big bet on its super-fast 4G network is running into stronger-than-expected head winds, Chief Executive Dan Hesse said in an interview.  —  Sprint is still the only U.S. carrier with a 4G network, which offers users faster speeds for data and video.
RELATED:
Niraj Sheth / Digits:   Draining Power on the Evo 4G? Sprint Suggests Another Battery
Jemima Kiss / Guardian:
Waging war on Wordpress: Posterous prepares the switch  —  Blogger, Wordpress and Typepad ruled the blogging roost for years, but a combination of Twitter, social networking and the rise of lite blogging have been eating away at long-form blog platforms.  —  Twitter has played a significant role …
Agence France Presse:
Samsung targets Apple iPhone, wants top spot back  —  PARIS (AFP) - South Korean technology giant Samsung Electronics said on Monday that it hoped to regain its number one spot by value in the French mobile phone handset market from Apple by September this year
John Cook / TechFlash:
The venture capital well is running dry ... for the VCs  —  Entrepreneurs aren't the only ones struggling to find capital in these choppy economic times.  The venture capitalists who write the checks are encountering their own hard realities on the fundraising trail.
Discussion: Digital Daily
Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:
HP's Phil McKinney previews printed displays and other mobile tech  —  Phil McKinney, chief technology officer of Hewlett Packard's personal systems group, offered some broad hints today about HP's mobile strategy while speaking at VentureBeat's MobileBeat 2010 conference conference in San Francisco.
Discussion: SiliconBeat, CNET News and Gadget Lab
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
After Some Flashy Investing, Is Andreessen Horowitz's Next Move a Big New Fund?  —  Since it launched almost exactly a year ago with a $300 million fund, the venture firm of Andreessen Horowitz has cut a rather high-profile path through the Silicon Valley investing community.
Thanks:atul
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Boom!  Foursquare Crosses 2 Million Users  —  It appears that Foursquare has just crossed the 2 million users mark this morning.  The location based social network has been growing fast, adding 100,000 users per week.  Only three months ago, Foursquare passed one million users after taking a year to accumulate one million members.
 
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 More Items: 
Liz Shannon Miller / NewTeeVee:
YouTube Partner Grants Aren't That New And Aren't That Easy to Get
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
TweetDeck Turns Two, Desktop App Passes 15 Million Downloads
Stephen Lawson / Computerworld:
Open mobile still on the way, AT&T's CTO says
Discussion: IntoMobile and VentureBeat
Rachel King / ZDNet:
mSpot debuts mobile Movies for iPad application
Monica Chen / DigiTimes:
Pegatron reportedly lands Apple desktop orders; announces June results
Discussion: 9 to 5 Mac, Cult of Mac and Geek.com
Nicholas Deleon / TechCrunch:
NOOKstudy: B & Ns' Foray Into The Education Market
 Earlier Items: 
Owen Fletcher / Digits:
Apple's Wi-Fi-Enabled iPhone Clears a Hurdle in China
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
My Fantasy Foursquare Life
Steve Souders / High Performance Web Sites:
Diffable: only download the deltas
Discussion: techno.blog
Michael Cooney / Network World:
Researchers tout new weapon in Internet censorship arms race
Discussion: GigaOM
Kevin Poulsen / Threat Level:
FBI Raids ‘Electronik Tribulation Army’ Over Witness Intimidation
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
James Harding says the Tortoise-Observer deal could create a profitable media group and there isn't a guaranteed future for the Observer with the Guardian

Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Analyzing Comcast's spinoff of cable networks, purposefully structured with low debt: the move might be a signal to the industry that it's time to consolidate

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Sources: Comcast execs told staff that MSNBC may have to change its identity as part of the spinoff, including losing access to NBC News' newsgathering process
 
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