Techmeme: There Are Stories Out There On Twitter, Flickr, YouTube — Build Them With Storify (MG Siegler/TechCrunch)

4:40 AM ET, September 28, 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.

Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:

Techcrunch Disrupted by AOL: The end of an era in tech blogging? — The news/rumor that Techcrunch is up for sale quickly made the rounds at the Techcrunch Disrupt conference this afternoon. GigaOm started it with a post that a sale to AOL is close at hand.

Discussion: Bits

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 …

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent: Michael Arrington And TechCrunch Could Wind Up At AOL After All

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo: The Pros and Cons of a TechCrunch/AOL Deal

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: paidContent, asymco, IntoMobile, Softpedia News, BuzzingUp, TechFlash, TomsTechBlog.com, Kindle Review, Phone Arena, Engadget, Electronista, GottaBeMobile, Daring Fireball and Ubergizmo

MG Siegler / TechCrunch:

Rumor: An Amazon Android Tablet May Follow The Amazon Android App Store — Okay, we know now that Amazon is on the verge of releasing an Android-based app store. But last week, before we knew that, we got an interesting tip that such a move was coming soon — this week, actually.

Discussion: I4U News, BuzzingUp, Kindle Review, Go Rumors and Electronista

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: MobileContentToday, TechCrunch, The Next Web, Changing Way, Pulse2, Andy Beard, Stowe Boyd, Techie Buzz, TechFlash, WinBeta and Voices on All Things Digital, more at Mediagazer »

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

Discussion: VentureBeat

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: Search Engine Land, GigaOM, Lifehacker, TechCrunch, Techie Buzz and Pulse2

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 …

Ronen Halevy / BerryReview.com: BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet OS (QNX) Highlights

Eric Zeman / InformationWeek: First Impressions Of BlackBerry PlayBook

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

Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:

Apple Has Already Approved The Official Google Voice App For iPhone, Expect It Soon — The App Store review office at 1 Infinite Loop has officially frozen over: we've gotten word that the official Google Voice application is on its way to the iPhone in the next few weeks.

Discussion: MacRumors and Gizmodo

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: Bloomberg, MacRumors, Electronista, Ubergizmo and iClarified

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!, Pulse2, The Next Web, SiliconANGLE, webpronews.com, Going Social Now, MediaPost, msnbc.com, The Huffington Post, VatorNews, Lost Remote, Silicon Alley Insider, Gawker and AdAge, more at Mediagazer »

Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Twitter to Start Selling Followers

Discussion: The Next Web and The Huffington Post

MG Siegler / TechCrunch:

There Are Stories Out There On Twitter, Flickr, YouTube — Build Them With Storify — The main reason I love services like Tumblr and Posterous is that they make personal blogging simple. While you certainly still can write long-winded pieces about whatever you want, you can also just use …

Discussion: VentureBeat, PSFK and Scobleizer, more at Mediagazer »

Boy Genius Report:

New HTC, full-QWERTY device destined for Verizon breaks cover — Hi there HTC Android fans, we have another present for you! We've just been sent in a handful of images of a new, unseen HTC handset that is destined for Verizon Wireless. This sleek, all-black, full-QWERTY Android 2.2 handset …

Discussion: Engadget, Electronista, Softpedia News, Fone Arena, Google Android News …, MobileTechWorld, Thoughts from the Sidelines, Phone Arena, Android and Me, SlashPhone, MobileCrunch, IntoMobile, PhoneDog.com, Android Phone Fans, PhoneNews.com, Phones Review, Androinica and Ubergizmo

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

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

OneTrueFan Is The Foursquare For Websites — The Foursquare model of checking into a location, earning badges and tapping into your social network to share that location has become one that has been able to be applied to other platforms. For example, GetGlue allows users to check-in to shows …

Discussion: Andy Beard, louisgray.com and 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, Gawker, AceShowBiz.com and Pulse2, more at Mediagazer »

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

Peter Thiel: Facebook Won't IPO Until 2012 At The Earliest — Facebook's first investor Peter Thiel told Fox Business today that Facebook will not IPO until 2012. Earlier this summer, Bloomberg reported that Facebook was holding off on its IPO for another two years and Thiel seems to confirm this line of thinking.

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

Andrew Ross Sorkin / New York Times: The Value of a Piece of Facebook

Donald Melanson / Engadget:

HP's Bradley: HP isn't trying to be Apple, will sell 15 million webOS printers next year — It's no secret that HP's Todd Bradley is one of the leading candidates to succeed ousted CEO Mark Hurd, and it doesn't look like he was doing much to dissuade that notion at the now happening TechCrunch Disrupt conference.

Discussion: Technologizer, TechCrunch, Everything webOS, SlashGear, SiliconANGLE, PreCentral.net, Relevant Results, Electronista, the smartphone wars and GigaOM

Nick O'Neill / All Facebook:

Facebook Ads Become Dramatically More Transparent — This evening Facebook added a new level of transparency to their ads with the addition of a single line of text: the URL of the page that the ad is promoting. Prior to now there was a huge gap in transparency within ads in that advertisements …

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Exclusive: Here's A Deal That Is Happening-AOL Buying Web Video Distributor 5Min — Here's a deal we can confirm: AOL is buying Web video startup 5Min Media. — I don't have a price for the transaction, but sources say AOL (AOL) plans to announce the deal Tuesday morning.

Discussion: paidContent and Silicon Alley Insider

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, Phone Arena, Electronista, BetaNews, Computerworld, eWeek, ReadWriteWeb and webpronews.com, Thanks:rawmeet

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

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