Check out Mini-Techmeme for simple mobiles or Techmeme Mobile for modern smartphones.
8:05 AM ET, August 25, 2010

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Bloomberg:
Apple Said to Prepare New 99-Cent TV Show Rental Service  —  Apple Inc. is in advanced talks with News Corp. to let iTunes users rent TV shows for 99 cents and is in discussions with other media companies about similar deals, said three people familiar with the plan.
RELATED:
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:
99¢ TV shows coming Sept. 7 - report
Tom Krazit / CNET News:
Google testing voice calling in Gmail  —  Google could be ready to turn Gmail into a communications hub by adding the ability to make phone calls from the Google Chat interface.  —  CNET has learned that Google is testing a Web-based service within Gmail that will allow users to place phone calls from their inboxes.
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Facebook Follow: The Twitter-Eater, The Preemptive Google Me-Killer  —  Up until a few months ago, I was using Facebook the same way I was using Twitter.  That is, I was allowing anyone to follow me.  But it was different.  With Twitter, anyone can follow me without my approval.
Discussion: Telegraph
RELATED:
Eric Eldon / Inside Facebook:   Facebook Updates Friend List Interface Again, Hoping to Increase Usage
Arron La:
Android Revenue - Advanced Task Manager  —  Background  —  “Advanced Task Manager” is an Android application I created in February 2009.  At that time, it was needed mainly to kill running services that a number of applications spawned but never ended.  Some of these services would start …
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Google Finance Now Looks Better In Your Mobile Browser  —  If you go to Google Finance on your iPhone or Android via the mobile browser, it looks a lot like an app.  You can enter a ticker symbol or company name in the search box at the top to generate a current price and stock chart.
Aza Raskin / Aza on Design:
Firefox Panorama: Tab Candy Evolved  —  I am happy to announce that Tab Candy is coming to Firefox 4.  Starting today, Tab Candy will be called Firefox Panorama and be available as a feature in Firefox betas.  Head to the Firefox 4 feature list, or watch the video below …
RELATED:
Adrianne Jeffries / ReadWriteWeb:
Orkut Now Encouraging Users to Project Different Personas to Different People  —  The Google-owned social network Orkut is not well-known in the U.S., but it's extremely popular in India and Brazil - that is, until Facebook started catching up.  But Orkut just announced a new feature that makes it look pretty good.
RELATED:
Amir Efrati / Digits:
Google Makes Change to Orkut as Facebook Wins in India
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
‘Angry Birds’ iPhone Game To Get Line Of Toys, Possibly Movie  —  According to Variety, Rovio, the company that makes ‘Angry Birds’ has been shopping the beloved iPhone game around Hollywood, and currently rolling out some franchising deals. … While we can't say anything definite …
Surur / WMPoweruser.com:
Phone to console real time gaming coming to Windows Phone 7  —  In a surprisingly information-packed interview at Microsoft's X'10 event in Toronto, RGBFilter managed to get the Microsoft rep, Greg Milligan, Mobility Solutions Manager.  Microsoft Canada to admit to quite a scoop.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Motorola Snaps Up 280 North For $20 Million  —  Motorola has acquired Y Combinator startup 280 North, we've confirmed.  We haven't confirmed, but have heard from multiple sources, that the price is around $20 million.  This is a sizable exit for the founders - the company has raised just $250,000 in a 2008 angel round.
Slash Lane / AppleInsider:
Third-party iPad clamshell keyboard case revealed in FCC filing  —  A new third-party iPad peripheral coming soon to the U.S. will turn Apple's touchscreen tablet into more of a traditional laptop form factor, with a clamshell case that provides tactile input via an attached Bluetooth keyboard.
Chris Ziegler / Engadget:
Exclusive: HTC's Windows Phone 7-equipped T8788 breaks cover for AT&T  —  In case you needed any more evidence that AT&T is going all-in with Windows Phone 7, take a gander at this little beast, a phone known only as the HTC T8788 at this point (rest assured, you'll get a snappy, memorable …
Ryan Singel / Epicenter:
Ad Firm Sued for Allegedly Re-Creating Deleted Cookies  —  Specificmedia, one of the net's largest ad-serving and tracking companies, has been hit with a federal lawsuit accusing the company of violating computer intrusion laws by secretly re-creating cookies deleted by users.
Discussion: Between the Lines Blog, Thanks:atul
The JobsBloggers / Microsoft JobsBlog:
The Top Three hottest new majors for a career in technology  —  Have you ever wondered what fields of study are hot right now in the world of technology?  Or maybe you're starting to think about declaring your major and you're looking for some real world guidance?
Brian Caulfield / Velocity:
Is Facebook About To Use ARM Chips In Its Data Centers?  No!  —  For any geek — or anyone who pays attention at all to the fortunes of big tech companies — it was a truly tantalizing rumor.  Too bad it turned out to be untrue.  No, Facebook is not planning to switch to servers based on the same ARM design used in Apple's iPhone.
Audrey Watters / ReadWriteWeb:
Where the Startups Are, By Zip Code  —  As part of our “Never Mind the Valley” series here, we often feature communities outside the Silicon Valley that have become thriving centers for entrepreneurship.  We've profiled cities like Boston, Montreal, and Austin.
Discussion: PeteSearch
Keith Andrew / PocketGamer:
Qwiboo's Vladimir Roth on why piracy is thriving on iPad  —  Consumers don't like duplication.  For the second time in as many weeks, a developer has been able to use OpenFeint's leaderboards to determine just how many people are pirating its games.Over the weekend, Qwiboo founder Vladimir Roth used Twitter …
Discussion: TUAW, The Next Web and ReadWriteWeb
John Timmer / Ars Technica:
Users are still idiots, cough up personal data despite warnings  —  Study after study has shown that users are the weak link when it comes to security.  Some of it, however, is not their fault: best security practices often go against everything we know about human behavior or mental capacity.
Arthur Brice / CNN:
3 Colombian teens on Facebook hit list killed in past 10 days  —  The hit list on Facebook gave the people named three days to leave the town of Puerto Asis, Colombia, or be executed  —  (CNN) — Three teens who were on a 69-name hit list posted on Facebook have been killed in the past 10 days …
Discussion: Gawker and NPR
Jessica Guynn / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Square hires Keith Rabois, Silicon Valley veteran and investor  —  Keith Rabois is paying it forward.  —  Not only did Google land technology to help boost its social networking ambitions when it bought Slide this month, it got PayPal veteran and Internet superstar Max Levchin as well.
Matt Richtel / New York Times:
Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime  —  SAN FRANCISCO — It's 1 p.m. on a Thursday and Dianne Bates, 40, juggles three screens.  She listens to a few songs on her iPod, then taps out a quick e-mail on her iPhone and turns her attention to the high-definition television.
Discussion: THINQ.co.uk
Brian Barrett / Gizmodo:
Please Stop Making New Phones With Old Firmware  —  We've reached the point where buying a “new” Android phone could still mean you're using firmware that's 18 months old.  There's got to be a better way.  —  Today's release of the Android 1.5-laden Dell Aero might be the most recent …
Greg Kumparak / MobileCrunch:
Virgin Mobile shifts up their MiFi plan: $40.  Unlimited.  Contract-free.  Glorious.  —  Man, these pre-paid carriers are really learning to pull on a geek's heartstrings.  Just months ago, Boost launched the US' first Android-powered prepaid phone, the Moto i1.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Sketchy Startup Promises Facebook Stock To Investors  —  Oh, this is a huge mess in the making.  A company called Freevi that has already had it's hand slapped for securities laws violations by the State of California is trying to raise funds from investors by promising to “secure” the investment with Facebook stock.
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of Techmeme at 8:05 AM ET, August 25, 2010.

View the current page or another snapshot:


 
 Techmeme Sponsor Posts: 
Meta:
Open Source AI: Available to all, not just the few  —  Meta's open source AI enables small businesses, start-ups, students, researchers and more to download and build with our models at no cost.
Zoho:
The crossroads of AI and SaaS  —  Enabling businesses of all sizes to build products in-house and disqualifying SaaS tools that are not AI-powered.  In a span of just two years, AI has made a name for itself as the key driver for innovation.
Genesys:
Executive Insights: The Era of Contact Center AI Copilots  —  How AI copilots are transforming customer experience and agent performance.
Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Sponsor Techmeme
 
 See Also: 
Techmeme: site main
Techmeme River: reverse chronological Techmeme
Techmeme Mobile: for phones
Techmeme Leaderboard: Techmeme's top sources
 
 Subscribe: 
Techmeme RSS feed
Techmeme on X
Techmeme on Mastodon
 
 
 More Items: 
Jessica Heslam / Boston Herald:
Martha Coakley tells Craigslist: Abandon adult sex ads
Joseph Menn / Financial Times:
Alibaba makes a second US purchase
Discussion: Computerworld and The Register
Joel Rosenblatt / Bloomberg:
Apple Manager Devine Must Allow Access to Safe Deposit Boxes
Sarah Lacy / TechCrunch:
Elevation Moving to Acquire a Large Stake in Pandora
Natasha Murashev / All Facebook:
What Your “Cool” Facebook Friend Is Really Like
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
Iomega Portable Hard Drives Hit the Big USB 3.0
Discussion: Iomega, SlashGear, Gizmodo and Electronista
 Earlier Items: 
Ed Bott / Ed Bott's Microsoft Report Blog:
Fact check: malware did not bring down a passenger jet
Agence France Presse:
Toshiba to launch first glasses-free 3D TV
Jonny Evans / Computerworld:
Why ‘open’ Android may lose the Apple iOS wars
Discussion: Computerworld
Shashi Seth / Yahoo! Search Blog:
Yahoo! Transitions Organic Search Back-End to Microsoft Platform