Techmeme: What Happens At Y Combinator — (We realized recently that a lot … (Paul Graham/Y Combinator)

11:35 PM ET, September 27, 2010

Top Items:

Om Malik / GigaOM:

Breaking: AOL Close to Buying TechCrunch — AOL, the New York-based online media company, is on the verge of acquiring TechCrunch, the online blogging network started by former attorney, Michael Arrington. The deal is at a sensitive stage and might fall apart yet, but I don't think so.

Discussion: MediaMemo, paidContent, Wall Street Journal, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Tech Trader Daily, At Your Servers, VentureBeat, Bay Area BizTalk, Silicon Alley Insider, Gawker, The Seattle Times, The Blog Herald, broadstuff and PE Hub Blog, more at Mediagazer », Thanks:bpedro

Nicholas Carlson / Silicon Alley Insider:

AOL Tried To Buy TechCrunch Twice Before — If AOL is as close to buying TechCrunch as GigaOm reports, it wouldn't be the first time. — A source close to the negotiations tells us AOL has tried to buy TechCrunch twice in the blog's five year history. — First, former AOL CEO Randy …

Dharmesh Mehta / The Windows Blog:

WordPress.com and Windows Live partnering together and providing an upgrade for 30 million Windows Live Spaces customers — Over the last few weeks, we've spent a good bit of time talking about our approach to partnering with the web, and as part of that, how we're deeply integrating …

Paul Kim / WordPress News:

Welcome Windows Live Spaces Bloggers — We're excited to announce that WordPress.com is now the default blogging platform for Windows Live Spaces users. We've worked with our partners at Microsoft to create a simple migration service for Spaces bloggers to easily bring all their posts, comments, and photos to WordPress.com.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Changing Way, Andy Beard, Techie Buzz, Pulse2, Stowe Boyd, Voices on All Things Digital and WinBeta, more at Mediagazer »

Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft Blog:
Microsoft makes it official: Windows Live is no longer a blogging platform

Discussion: VentureBeat

MG Siegler / TechCrunch:

Yep, Amazon Launching Their Own App Store For Android Too — Earlier today, after several tips, we guessed that Amazon may be close to launching its own app store for Android — yes, another Android app store. Sources we reached out to weren't sure about what exactly Amazon was launching …

Discussion: mocoNews, IntoMobile, TomsTechBlog.com, Phone Arena, BuzzingUp, Engadget, Electronista, The Digital Reader, Kindle Review, Daring Fireball, GottaBeMobile and ListWare

MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Rumor: An Amazon Android Tablet May Follow The Amazon Android App Store

Discussion: BuzzingUp

John Paczkowski / Digital Daily:

RIM Unveils BlackBerry Playbook Tablet — Research in Motion co-CEO Mike Lazaridis had his “one more thing” moment today at the company's 2010 DevCon conference. Near end of his opening keynote address today Lazaridis, after making a number of big announcements — in-app payments for BlackBerry apps …

Eric Zeman / InformationWeek:

First Impressions Of BlackBerry PlayBook — Research In Motion kept its PlayBook tablet computer locked behind glass, but InformationWeek still gave it a good once-over to see what it is all about. Read our thoughts here. — Unfortunately, the PlayBook was locked up behind glass …

Chris Ziegler / Engadget:
RIM announces WebWorks development kit, in-app payments, ad platform, and BBM API

Todd Agulnick / Xmarks Blog:

End of the Road for Xmarks — As I write this, it's a typical Sunday here at Xmarks. The synchronization service continues operating quietly, the servers chugging along syncing browser data for our 2 million users across their 5 million desktops. The day isn't over yet, but we're on track to add just under 3000 new accounts today.

Discussion: GigaOM, TechCrunch, Lifehacker and Pulse2

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Exclusive: Want Twitter to Help You Find More Followers? Pay Up For a “Promoted Account.” — Twitter is still working to get its first two ad products up and running. But it's going to launch a third, anyway: Tomorrow the company will show off “Promoted Accounts” at an ad industry conference in New York.

Discussion: Mashable!, The Next Web, msnbc.com, webpronews.com, Lost Remote, The Huffington Post and AdAge, more at Mediagazer »

Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Twitter to Start Selling Followers

Discussion: The Next Web and The Huffington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Josh Ong / AppleInsider:

Goldman Sachs says Apple planning thinner iPad with camera, mini usb — A team of analysts for investment bank Goldman Sachs said Monday that their sources lead them to believe Apple will introduce a second-generation iPad during the spring of 2011 that will feature a camera, mini USB and a lighter design.

Discussion: MacRumors, Electronista and iClarified

Andrew Ross Sorkin / New York Times:

The Value of a Piece of Facebook — Yep, it was another deal hatched in Sun Valley. — During Allen & Company's annual mogul-fest in the Idaho mountains in July, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, devised a plan with Mayor Cory A. Booker of Newark to donate a $100 million challenge grant for the city's troubled schools.

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Peter Thiel: Facebook Won't IPO Until 2012 At The Earliest

Discussion: Inside Facebook, The Next Web, GigaOM, SelectStart, Tech Trader Daily, webpronews.com and Rob Hof's Blog

Olga Kharif / Business Week:

Apple Threatens Search Giants' Mobile Ad Shares — Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! have swiftly lost share in the U.S. mobile advertising market to Apple's new iAd. Independent rivals such as Jumptap and Millennial Media are gaining, too — Apple (AAPL) may be gaining share …

Spiegel Online:

WikiLeaks Spokesman Quits — Daniel Schmitt, who has revealed that his true name is Daniel Domscheit-Berg, says WikiLeaks has a structural problem. “I no longer want to take responsibility for it,” he says. — In an interview with SPIEGEL, Daniel Schmitt — the 32-year-old German spokesman …

Discussion: New York Times

Royal Pingdom:

Hold on a second, is Blackberry growing as fast as Android? — There has been much said about the imminent demise of RIM's Blackberry in the face of the unstoppable momentum of Android (and previously the iPhone). But here's an interesting piece of information: According to data from Statcounter …

Discussion: IntoMobile, Electronista, ReadWriteWeb, BetaNews, eWeek, Computerworld and webpronews.com, Thanks:rawmeet

Pui-Wing Tam / Digits:

A Q&A With Reid Hoffman About Greylock's Discovery Fund — Earlier Monday, Greylock Partners venture capitalist and longtime entrepreneur Reid Hoffman announced that Greylock is launching a $20 million Discovery Fund that will do seed fundings of start-ups.

MG Siegler / TechCrunch:

Qwiki Just May Be The Future Of Information Consumption. And It's Here Now. — In the late 1980s, Apple created a few concept videos about a device they called the Computer Knowledge Navigator. These videos came up recently when Apple unveiled the iPad, because the machine in the videos is a tablet computer.

Discussion: VentureBeat

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Tweetmeme Founder's Datasift Helps You Find A Needle In A Tweetstack

Discussion: VentureBeat

James Hibberd / The Hollywood Reporter:

Another Twitter feed gets CBS comedy deal — Exclu: Call it “$#*! My Roommate Says.” — CBS is developing two new comedies, including a project based off a Twitter feed produced by social-media master Ashton Kutcher. — Following on the successful launch of its Twitter-inspired comedy “$#*!

Discussion: CBS News and Gawker

Paul Graham / Y Combinator:

What Happens At Y Combinator — (We realized recently that a lot of people don't understand very well what YC does, so I wrote something explaining that in detail. Since YC has been shaped by the needs of hundreds of early stage startups, this should be interesting not just to potential applicants …

Thanks:atul

Bloomberg:

Sony, Warner, Disney Said to Plan $30 Home Film-Viewing Option — Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Co. are in talks with the largest cable TV systems to offer films for as much as $30 per showing soon after they run in theaters. — The studios are talking with In Demand …

Discussion: NewTeeVee, Electronista, PC World, Stage Two, CrunchGear, fierceonlinevideo.com …, DailyFinance and CNET News, more at Mediagazer »

Journalism.org:

WHEN TECHNOLOGY MAKES HEADLINES — THE MEDIA'S DOUBLE VISION ABOUT THE DIGITAL AGE — The mainstream news media have offered the American public a divided view of how information technology influences society, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Dan Rayburn / Business of Video:

Confirmed: Hulu Coming To Roku Streaming Boxes — Last week I got sent a photo of a Hulu channel on the Roku home screen and have confirmed that Hulu will be coming to Roku devices shortly. While both Roku and Hulu said “no comment” when I asked them about it, I was able to confirm …

Discussion: NewTeeVee, VentureBeat, CrunchGear, GeekTonic, eHomeUpgrade, The Business Of Online Video and Hacking NetFlix, Thanks:danrayburn

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:

Kno To Build A Single Screen, Education-Focused Tablet — Kno Inc, the company that recently received $ 46 million from Andreessen Horowitz, Silicon Valley Bank and TriplePoint Capital to build “the most powerful tablet anyone has ever made” announces at TC Disrupt that it will also be building …

Discussion: Engadget, ReadWriteWeb, Gadget Lab, Bits, GottaBeMobile, BoomTown, SlashGear, Silicon Alley Insider, Techland, Obsessable, Electronista, Pulse2, CNET News and Liliputing, Thanks:robertchute

MG Siegler / TechCrunch:

Peter Thiel Has New Initiative To Pay Kids To “Stop Out Of School” — Today at our TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, Clarium Capital President Peter Thiel sat down with our own Sarah Lacy to talk about a whole range of issues. But at the end of the dicussion, he disclosed a bit of news.

Discussion: Venture Capital Dispatch, Gawker, VentureBeat and Silicon Alley Insider

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