Techmeme: The Expanding Birthrate Of Web Startups (Fred/A VC)

Top Items:

Why Apple's iTV Will Change Everything — The rumor: Apple will be releasing a revamped/renamed version of their ‘Apple TV’ set-top box, called ‘iTV’. The box will run the Apple iOS (same as the iPhone/iPad), and be priced around $99. — Why will this change everything?

Discussion: Fortune, TUAW, AppleInsider, App Advice, Erictric, TiPb, PadGadget, Silicon Alley Insider, I4U News, Velocity, Redmond Pie, 9 to 5 Mac and Conversion Rater

Jack McKenna / TechCrunch:

You Can Block Any Facebook User Except Mark Zuckerberg — The title of this post kind of says it all. As pointed out by blockzuck.com, you can block anyone on Facebook except CEO Mark Zuckerberg. If you try to do it (we did), you'll get a message saying “General Block failed error: Block failed.”

Discussion: Gawker

Jeff Rivera / GalleyCat:

New York Times Bestseller Seth Godin to No Longer Publish Books Traditionally — New York Times bestselling author and marketing guru, Seth Godin vows to never publish traditionally again. After over 12 books with a legacy publisher, Godin says he's had enough.

Discussion: TeleRead

Kunur Patel / AdAge:

How to Almost Sabotage a Dinner Party With Facebook ‘Places’ — I Thought My Group of Gen-Y Over-Sharing Friends Would Be Fine Being Checked In. I Was Wrong. — Facebook Places went live last night and I decided to give it a whirl soon after being seated for Mediterranean food at a neighborhood restaurant.

Discussion: bijan sabet and Gawker

Paul Carr / TechCrunch:

Forget Ads In Books, Lit-Lovers Face An Even More Hideous Prospect — It's a pity readers don't want to pay for stories about the death of traditional media, because otherwise journalists and commentators would be riding a big fat cash cow. — In recent months it's been impossible to open …

Discussion: TeleRead, Snarkmarket and NevilleHobson.com, more at Mediagazer », Thanks:sierragator

Sean Hollister / Engadget:

Motorola clamps down on Droid X's leaked Android 2.2 upgrade with cease and desist scare — Hoping to spoon-feed your Droid X some Froyo before the official OTA rollout? You'd better do it now — Motorola's sending out cease and desist emails in an attempt to shut the leaked ROM down.

Discussion: IntoMobile, CNET News, Computerworld, Gizmodo, Startup Meme, Boy Genius Report and PhoneDog.com

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:

Chatroulette Taken Down. Get Ready For Chatroulette V.2 — Chatroulette, the service that lets strangers meet over video, has been taken down. A message reads “The experiment #1 is over for now. Thanks for participating - Redesigned and updated version of the website will be launched tomorrow.”

Discussion: Mashable! and The Next Web

Leo Laporte / LOL: The Life of Leo:

Buzz Kill — Something happened tonight that made me question everything I've done with social media since I first joined Twitter in late 2006. — You know me - I'm a complete web whore. I sign up for every site, try every web app, use every service I can find. It's my job, but I also love doing it.

Discussion: The Next Web, Stowe Boyd, LiveSide.net, Andy Beard, The Raw Feed, Howard Owens and TomsTechBlog.com, Thanks:rawmeet

Karl Ritter / Associated Press:

Swedish prosecutors defend WikiLeaks about-face — STOCKHOLM — Swedish prosecutors defended their handling of a rape allegation against the founder of WikiLeaks, saying Sunday that they had made no mistakes in issuing an arrest warrant and withdrawing it less than a day later.

Discussion: BBC and Associated Press

J. Alex Halderman / Freedom to Tinker:

Electronic Voting Researcher Arrested Over Anonymous Source — About four months ago, Ed Felten blogged about a research paper in which Hari Prasad, Rop Gonggrijp, and I detailed serious security flaws in India's electronic voting machines. Indian election authorities have repeatedly claimed …

Mike Swift / Mercury News:

When you google, think Ben Gomes — Like few other people on the planet, Google's Ben Gomes knows what interests the world. — Gomes is the engineer in charge of improving what you see when you Google. From one of the most important but little-known offices in the Googleplex in Mountain View …

Thanks:mattcutts

Fred / A VC:

The Expanding Birthrate Of Web Startups — There is a general consensus that web startups are being created at a faster rate than ever. The impact of accelerator programs like Y Combinator, Techstars, Seedcamp, and dozens more are one factor. The expanding pool of angel, seed, and super seed funds is another.

Thanks:atul

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Exclusive: Viacom Digital Boss Greg Clayman Headed to Rupert Murdoch's iPad Newspaper — Rupert Murdoch's iPad-friendly digital newspaper doesn't have a launch date or a name yet, but it is hiring. News Corp. (NWS) has tapped Greg Clayman, who runs digital distribution for Viacom (VIA) …

Thanks:rawmeet

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5 common accounting mistakes — This is a guest post by Yaali Bizappln Solutions. A lot of businesses manage their customers and finances on separate platforms. This disconnect often leads to missed invoices …

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