Techmeme: Digital Diplomacy — It was a Wednesday night in San Francisco's … (Jesse Lichtenstein/New York Times)

1:55 PM ET, July 18, 2010

Top Items:

Official statement from Research In Motion in response to Apple's iPhone 4 Antennagate propaganda! — I hoped this was coming. Here it is. A joint statement from RIM Co-CEOs in response to misleading comments from Apple made Friday by Steve Jobs at the iPhone 4 press conference:

Stuart Miles / Pocket-lint:

HTC: Droid Eris complaints nothing compared to iPhone 4 — EXCLUSIVE: HTC starts its fightback against Apple — While HTC?hasn't yet come back with an official comment in respect to Apple's decision to highlight the Droid Eris' performance at its emergency press conference …

Discussion: Android Phone Fans, Mobile Tech Addicts, Gizmodo, Google Android News …, IntoMobile, Engadget, MacStories and Mashable!

Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:

Reactions to Steve Jobs' performance — A sampling of opinions — the good, the bad and the ugly — Given how much attention Apple (AAPL) was getting before Steve Jobs' “Antennagate” press conference Friday — CNBC greeted it with a countdown clock and eight simultaneous talking heads …

Discussion: IntoMobile and Digits

Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:

AwayFind Makes Sure You See The Emails That Matter — Email overload is a problem that's as common as it is difficult to solve. Fortunately, everyone know it's a problem, and there are plenty of startups (and webmail providers themselves) looking to fix it. One recent entry to the space is AwayFind.

Discussion: New York Times and Technology Review

Farhad Manjoo / Slate:

Apple's condescending iPhone 4 press conference. — On Thursday, I hoped that Apple CEO Steve Jobs would admit there's a problem with the new iPhone's antenna and apologize for pretending there wasn't. I didn't get that apology. Not even close. Instead, in a defensive press conference …

Discussion: PC World, Scripting News, Raw Meat, Pat Phelan, Electricpig, 148Apps, IntoMobile, Apple Outsider, Computerworld, Boing Boing and TidBITS

Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:

Inside Apple's ‘black lab’ wireless testing facilities — It's not surprising that after Apple finished explaining the iPhone 4 antenna issues to the press today, the company wanted to go one step further and say “yes, actually, we do test the hell out of these phones before we release them to the public.”

Discussion: TechCrunch, Zatz Not Funny!, Gadget Lab, iClarified, MacRumors, Daring Fireball, Gizmodo, LiewCF.com, IntoMobile, Geek.com, Laughing Squid, Bits and Unwired View

Om Malik / GigaOM:

Four Business Tips From Apple & Steve Jobs — This morning, Apple hosted a press event which included a 45-minute Q&A session with CEO Steve Jobs. (Watch the video.) Jobs, who returned from a vacation in Hawaii to host this conference, was pretty open (i.e. he was spinning a little less and was fractionally more candid.)

Discussion: Fortune, jkOnTheRun and CenterNetworks

Paul Miller / Engadget:
Apple to give away free cases to iPhone 4 users

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
A Raging, Rambling Debate About Antennagate, Followed By A Fanboy Intervention

Discussion: broadstuff, Wall Street Journal, MacStories, Daring Fireball and MobileCrunch

Jenna Wortham / New York Times:

As Older Users Join Facebook, Network Grapples With Death — Courtney Purvin got a shock when she visited Facebook last month. The site was suggesting that she get back in touch with an old family friend who played piano at her wedding four years ago. — The friend had died in April.

Discussion: CNET News and The Atlantic Online, Thanks:rawmeet

Steve Lohr / New York Times:

You Want My Personal Data? Reward Me for It — LIFE, as they say, imitates art. And the way things work commercially today across much of the Web recalls that chapter in “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” where Tom cajoles his guileless friends into whitewashing Aunt Polly's fence.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Jesse Lichtenstein / New York Times:

Digital Diplomacy — It was a Wednesday night in San Francisco's SoMa neighborhood, and Jared Cohen, the youngest member of the State Department's policy planning staff, and Alec Ross, the first senior adviser for innovation to the secretary of state, were taking their tweeting very seriously.

Discussion: techPresident, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic Online and Hillicon Valley, Thanks:atul

Adrian Chen / Gawker:

The Art of Trolling: Inside a 4chan Smear Campaign — Last night, the users of 4Chan.org's notorious /b/ message board decided declared war on the lead singer of an obscure electro-pop band. More than 12 hours later, they're still waging it. This is how the Internet's worst trolls works.

Discussion: dygiscape, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:

A new America through broadband — The Texas State Board of Education voted in May to adopt a controversial set of guidelines for social studies and history textbooks. Countless hours of debate and indignation — and countless words in newspapers and on blogs — were dedicated to such questions …

Discussion: Mobility Site and Post Tech

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