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11:35 PM ET, September 27, 2010

Techmeme

 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.
RELATED:
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 …
RELATED:
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.
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 …
RELATED:
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 …
RELATED:
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.
RELATED:
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Twitter to Start Selling Followers
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.
RELATED:
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 …
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 $20 million Discovery Fund that will do seed fundings of start-ups.
RELATED:
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Qwiki Just May Be The Future Of Information Consumption.  And It's Here Now.  —  In the late 1980s, Apple created a few concept videos about a device they called the Computer Knowledge Navigator.  These videos came up recently when Apple unveiled the iPad, because the machine in the videos is a tablet computer.
Discussion: VentureBeat
RELATED:
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Tweetmeme Founder's Datasift Helps You Find A Needle In A Tweetstack
Discussion: VentureBeat
James Hibberd / The Hollywood Reporter:
Another Twitter feed gets CBS comedy deal  —  Exclu: Call it “$#*!  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 …
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 …
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 …
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.
 
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 More Items: 
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:
Bing iPhone App Adds Flight Price Predictions & Better Maps
Discussion: Search Blog, App Advice and TechCrunch
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Leave Money In Real Places For Your Foursquare Friends With Gifi
Discussion: VentureBeat
Chris Crum / webpronews.com:
Facebook Likes Just Officially Became More Important to Search
Elinor Mills / CNET News:
Microsoft beefs up Hotmail password security
Discussion: The Windows Blog and LiveSide.net
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Badgeville Wants To Layer Social Gaming (And Yes, Badges) Across The Entire Web
Discussion: VentureBeat and The Next Web
David Kaplan / paidContent:
AOL's Project Devil Aims To Update The Banner Once And For All
Discussion: webpronews.com
Ben / MailChimp Email Marketing Blog:
Going Freemium: One Year Later
 Earlier Items: 
Reuters:
Cisco to debut consumer gear
Discussion: Beet.TV
Claire Cain Miller / Bits:
A Badge That Tells Consumers, ‘Trust This App’
Mike Melanson / ReadWriteWeb:
Censored Maps Hard-Wired on Chinese iPhone 4
Discussion: Shanghaiist and The Map Room
Caroline McCarthy / The Social:
Mark Zuckerberg, comic book action hero?
Discussion: All Facebook and techrockies.com
Nick Saint / Silicon Alley Insider:
We Just Watched A Movie In 3D On An iPhone, And It Was Awesome
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Analyzing Comcast's spinoff of cable networks, purposefully structured with low debt: the move might be a signal to the industry that it's time to consolidate

Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
Tubi launches Scenes, a mobile feature that lets viewers watch 60-to-90-second trailer-style clips from its library to help with content discovery

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
James Harding says the Tortoise-Observer deal could create a profitable media group and there isn't a guaranteed future for the Observer with the Guardian

 
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