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2:30 PM ET, August 3, 2010

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Alex Wagner / PhoneDog.com:
BlackBerry Torch for AT&T: available August 12 for $199.99 … It may have been outed early a couple of times this morning, but now the BlackBerry Torch 9800 is officially official, complete with pricing and availability.  The Torch will be available on AT&T beginning August 12th for $199.99 with a two-year contract.
Discussion: Pulse2
RELATED:
Katie Marsal / AppleInsider:
RIM attempts to create Apple-like buzz with BlackBerry Torch event  —  In an uncharacteristic move, Research in Motion held a media event Tuesday in New York City to generate buzz for its new BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone, an AT&T handset with a multi-touch screen and slide-out keyboard.
Greg Sandoval / CNET News:
Apple's plan for Lala cloudier than ever  —  SAN FRANCISCO—A speedy launch of an iTunes cloud-music service hasn't materialized the way many at the large record companies expected.  —  The thinking among some music insiders was that once Apple acquired the proper music licenses …
Alex Chitu / Google Operating System:
Google Multiple Sign-in, Now Available  —  Google is rolling out a feature I mentioned in a previous post: signing in to multiple Google accounts simultaneously from the same browser.  When you go to the Google accounts page, you might see a new option: “multiple sign-in”.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:
With iPad, Apple is No. 3 in portables  —  If you count tablets as notebook PCs, Apple just passed Asus, Lenovo, Toshiba and Dell  —  Click to enlarge.  Source: Deutsche Bank  —  Apple is usually considered an also-ran in the global PC market.  —  But the chart at right …
Jesus Diaz / Gizmodo:
Apple Security Breach Gives Complete Access to Your iPhone  —  Right now, if you visit a web page and load a simple PDF file, you may give total control of your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad to a hacker.  The security bug affects all iOS 4 devices and the iPad.  —  The vulnerability is easily exploitable.
John Schwartz / New York Times:
F.B.I., Challenging Use of Seal, Gets Back a Primer on the Law  —  The Federal Bureau of Investigation has taken on everyone from Al Capone to John Dillinger to the Unabomber.  Its latest adversary: Wikipedia.  —  The bureau wrote a letter in July to the Wikimedia Foundation …
Marc A. Thiessen / Washington Post:
WikiLeaks must be stopped  —  Let's be clear: WikiLeaks is not a news organization; it is a criminal enterprise.  Its reason for existence is to obtain classified national security information and disseminate it as widely as possible — including to the United States' enemies.
RELATED:
Declan McCullagh / CNET News:
Wikileaks draws criticism, censorship threats
Discussion: Geek.com, ArabCrunch English and p2pnet
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Check-In On Foursquare Without Taking Your Phone Out Of Your Pocket  —  Heavy Foursquare users, you have a new app to get immediately.  Future Checkin is an app that allows you to check-in to your favorite Foursquare venues automatically when you're near them.
Mark Gurman / 9 to 5 Mac:
Here's how much data 3G FaceTime uses  —  Many people are curious to know how much data FaceTime over 3G actually uses.  We put two iPhone 4s to the test, one running FaceTime over 3G, and took before and after screenshots of the data.  As you will see, if you do the math …
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Spotify Who?  Rdio Launches In The US And Canada, Lands More Indie Music Deals  —  It's been two months to the day since Rdio launched in the States - check out Erick's review if you're interested in learning more about the (awesome) social music service.  —  But until today …
Om Malik / GigaOM:
How Big is Amazon's Cloud Computing Business?  Find Out  —  It goes without saying that with its array of web services, Amazon has transformed the computing landscape and nurtured what is generically known as the cloud computing industry.  By turning expensive storage and computing hardware …
Associated Press:
UAE crackdown on BlackBerry services to extend to foreign visitors  —  DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — The United Arab Emirates' crackdown on BlackBerry services will extend to foreign visitors, putting the government's concerns over the smartphones in direct conflict with the country's ambitions to be a business and tourism haven.
RELATED:
Economist:
The end of Wintel  —  As Microsoft and Intel move apart, computing becomes multipolar  —  THEY were the Macbeths of information technology (IT): a wicked couple who seized power and abused it in bloody and avaricious ways.  Or so critics of Microsoft and Intel used to say …
Discussion: Daring Fireball
Chris Pendleton / Bing Maps Blog:
Bing Maps Adds OpenStreetMap  —  OpenStreetMap (OSM) is the newest layer for Bing Maps and the newest Bing Map App in the gallery.  The map app, dubbed simply, “OpenStreetMap” loads OSM maps as a new map style option.  OpenStreetMap follows a similar concept as Wikipedia …
Scott Rosenberg / Scott Rosenberg's Wordyard:
You are not an eyeball: Why tracking is the ad biz's last gasp  —  Marketers are following you around on the Internet.  They don't know your name but they know what you do, what you buy, where you buy it, what you're interested in, and more.  The sites you visit collect this information …
Discussion: GigaOM and Salon
BBC:
Web attack knows where you live  —  The attack exploits the way routers handle requests for ID information  —  One visit to a booby-trapped website could direct attackers to a person's home, a security expert has shown.  —  The attack, thought up by hacker Samy Kamkar …
Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Status.net Gets $1.4M to Take Open-Source Twitter Into the Enterprise  —  Status.net, which distributes open-source microblogging software similar to Twitter, has closed a round of financing that it plans to use to take its services into the enterprise market.
Electronista:
BlackBerry 6 coming to Bold and Pearl 3G, Storm left out  —  RIM as part of the BlackBerry Torch launch provided details of the upgrade plan for BlackBerry 6.  The new OS will reach the Bold 9700, the Bold 9650 and the Pearl 3G as well as future devices.  A timetable hasn't been set, but it should reach devices in the “months ahead.”
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
UPDATED: eMusic Gets a New CEO, Promises Cloud-Based Locker Service For 2011  —  UPDATE: eMusic also says it plans to test a cloud-based “locker” service for its music this year, with a full rollout scheduled for 2011.  More details below.  —  Digital music service eMusic has a new CEO: Digital veteran Adam Klein.
Discussion: paidContent
Marina Zhunich / European Public Policy Blog:
Worrying restrictions on Internet access in Russia  —  Online freedom of expression is a global issue and threats to it come from all over the world.  Just last week, we faced a challenge from far-off Siberia.  A district court in a city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the Russian Far East …
 
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 More Items: 
Audrey Watters / ReadWriteWeb:
Venture Capital Human Capital Report Examines Who Gets Funded
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Echo Brings Comments To Your Homepage With Real-Time River
Noah Shachtman / Danger Room:
Latest Launch Brings China Closer to ‘GPS’ Of Its Own
Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent:
Affiliate Link Startup VigLink Buys Rival DrivingRevenue
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
AOL Sublets Huge Building From Google, Wants Startups To Move In
Adrianne Jeffries / ReadWriteWeb:
Twitter to Require Password Reset for Those Who Bought Followers
Discussion: Softpedia News
 Earlier Items: 
Janko Roettgers / NewTeeVee:
Ustream Hands Over Users' IP Addresses to UFC
Discussion: CrunchGear, Pulse2 and ReadWriteWeb
Ryan Tate / Gawker:
Will Wired Proclaim ‘The Web is Dead?’
Nick Bilton / Bits:
No E-Books Allowed in This Establishment
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter:
Internal memo: Hearst Magazines president announces layoffs as part of a decision to “reallocate resources” to “continue our focus on digital innovation”

Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
National World, one of the UK's biggest newspaper groups, gets a £56.2M buyout offer from shareholder Media Concierge, a 40% premium to its Nov. 21 stock price

Lachlan Cartwright / The Ankler:
Sources: MSNBC renewed Rachel Maddow's contract early this fall, but with a pay cut; MSNBC bosses' plan to shake up daytime and weekend programming

 
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