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2:50 PM ET, August 27, 2010

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Jessica Guynn / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Google buys Angstro and hires founder to help build social networking service  —  Highly respected entrepreneur and Internet researcher Rohit Khare has sold his company Angstro to Google and taken a job at the Internet giant to help build its social networking product Google Me.
Miguel Helft / New York Times:
Developer of Tablets Loses Apple as Customer  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Apple severed ties with a small Silicon Valley design firm that for nearly a decade had helped with the development of some of its products, after the firm showcased its own prototype tablet computer.
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Index Ventures Buys Into Etsy, Triples Valuation To Nearly $300 Million  —  Crafty commerce site Etsy just raised another $20 million in its fifth venture round (that would be the Series E).  Index Ventures is the new investor leading the round, with partner Danny Rimer getting an observer's seat on the board.
RELATED:
Fred / A VC:
Angel Liquidity  —  Lots of talk these days about new forms of angel/seed capital.
Discussion: TechCrunch Europe, Thanks:atul
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Former Googler Adam Freed Takes COO Job at Etsy, As It Crafts More Funding
Discussion: VentureBeat
Stuart Parmenter / The Mozilla Blog:
Fennec Alpha Released for Android and Nokia N900  —  The Alpha release of the next major version of Fennec is now available for Android and Nokia N900 users to download and test.  Fennec (codename for Firefox mobile) is the first mobile browser to offer add-ons and is built on the same technology that powers desktop Firefox.
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Guess Who Is Trying To Trademark The Word “Face”?  (And Guess Who Is Trying To Stop It?)  —  When it comes to trademarks, Facebook is proving to be a bully.  It is going after Teachbook in court for using a similar name, and already forced Placebook to change its name.  But that is only half the story.
Jeremy Horwitz / iLounge:
Brand New Details On the iPod touch 4G  —  According to a source who would have reason to know, the fourth-generation iPod touch is changing back shapes—sorry, readers who have been posting with love for the dome-like curved iPod touch 2G/3G back, but that's going away.
RELATED:
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Leaked Case Design Suggests iPod Nano May Gain Smaller Square Form Factor
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft Blog:
A billion to launch Windows Phone 7?  I bet Microsoft is paying a lot more  —  Combining guesswork with analyst estimates, TechCrunch is reporting that Microsoft may spend as much as a billion dollars to launch and develop Windows Phone 7 in its first year.  —  Microsoft, as you'd expect, isn't commenting on that figure.
RELATED:
Kim-Mai Cutler / TechCrunch:
Microsoft To Pay More Than Half A Billion Dollars To Jump-Start Windows Phone 7
Emily Wood / The Official Google Blog:
Find out what's hot on search with the Google Beat  —  Every day, there are more than a billion searches for information on Google.  Have you ever wondered what those searches are about—or whether what you're searching for also happens to be on the minds of millions of others across the country?
Dionne Searcey / Wall Street Journal:
Paul Allen Sues Apple, Others Over Patents  —  A firm run by Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen is suing Apple Inc., Google Inc. and 9 other companies alleging they are violating patents developed at a Silicon Valley lab Mr. Allen financed more than a decade ago.
Peter Kirn / Create Digital Motion:
Apple-Centric Observers Get the Facts Wrong: H.264 Still Ain't Free  —  Addendum to the previous story: an “end user” and an “application” are not the same thing.  Watching comments from some users dumping on Firefox and Opera because they don't understand this is painful.
Miguel Helft / New York Times:
Charges Settled Over Fake Reviews on iTunes  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Savvy Internet users know that glowing online reviews of things like books or restaurants can't always be trusted.  But federal regulators are giving notice that if you stand to gain financially from the review you are writing, you should be up front about it.
RELATED:
Greg Sandoval / CNET News:
Netflix soars as Blockbuster plans bankruptcy  —  Remember walking the aisles to find a movie?  Those days appear to be ending.  —  As if fights for survival, video-rental chain Blockbuster is preparing to file bankruptcy next month, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
Matthew Humphries / Geek.com:
Lenovo to release Ebox game console in China next year  —  In a surprise move it is being reported that PC manufacturer Lenovo has decided to develop a games console for the Chinese market.  —  The China Daily newspaper is reporting that 40 Lenovo staff have been allocated to the project …
RELATED:
Paul Lamkin / Pocket-lint:
ViewSonic Android tablet: Pictures emerge  —  Earlier this week, we at Pocket-lint brought you the news that ViewSonic is planning a big (well, little in size but big in attitude) tablet launch at IFA.  —  And now we've been sent these pics from our inside man, showing off a ViewSonic tablet in all of its glossy glory.
Alex Chitu / Google Operating System:
Don't Click this Button in Google Voice!  —  Warning: This tip is only for Gmail users outside US.  —  Google says that the latest Gmail feature that allows you to make phone calls is only available in the US, but that's not true.  If you set Gmail's interface language to English (US) …
Discussion: eWeek, Download Squad, Technolog, Geek.com and Techdows, Thanks:rawmeet
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Lawsuit Says Teens Should Not Be Allowed To Like Ads On Facebook  —  Some people don't like ads.  But a new class action lawsuit in California against Facebook (embedded below) thinks it should be illegal for teenagers to like any ads without first obtaining parental consent.
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider
Leena Rao / TechCrunchIT:
The Bidding War For 3PAR Continues; HP Offers $2 Billion In Cash  —  Here we go again-again.  HP just offered $2 billion, or $30 per share in cash for data storage company 3PAR.  This morning, Dell announced that 3PAR had accepted its increased offer to acquire the storage leader for $27 per share in cash …
JR Raphael / Computerworld:
Confirmed: Verizon's Droid Incredible Froyo rollout starts today  —  After all the rumors and speculation, it's finally official: Android 2.2 will hit Verizon's Droid Incredible today.  —  Verizon confirmed the start of the rollout on its @VZWSupport Twitter account just moments ago:
Allison O'Mahony / The Windows Blog:
Windows Live Sync to be named Windows Live Mesh  —  In June, we announced that as part of Windows Live Essentials beta, we brought together two programs, Windows Live Sync and the Live Mesh beta, into one: Windows Live Sync beta.  We focused on four things with our beta release:
 
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 More Items: 
Mary Branscombe / ZDNet:
Hotmail Exchange ActiveSync
Discussion: jkOnTheRun, WMExperts and CNET News
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Who writes pro-cable Internet legislation? Cable does
Discussion: Techdirt and DSLreports
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines Blog:
Intel cuts outlook; Consumer PC demand weak
Tony Bradley / Computerworld:
Putting Google Realtime to Real-World Use
Scott Austin / Venture Capital Dispatch:
Kleiner Perkins Sitting Pretty In Event Of ArcSight Sale
Discussion: Wall Street Journal and DealBook
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
SCVNGR Launches Support For Facebook Places
 Earlier Items: 
Help Net Security:
25% of new worms are designed to spread through USB devices
Discussion: Computerworld and eWeek
Adam DuVander / ProgrammableWeb:
Yahoo Okays Revenue Streams in its Social Streams
Ivaylo Popov / Google Code Blog:
Google Buzz API adds Track and some improvements
Discussion: SiliconANGLE, Thanks:chrismessina
Pete Warden / HubSpot:
The March Of Twitter: Analysis of How And Where Twitter Spread
Discussion: Guardian and PeteSearch, Thanks:atul
foursquare:
Am I mayor yet?
 

 
From Mediagazer:

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

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”

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced she will leave the agency on January 20; she was the first woman to be confirmed to lead the agency
 
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