Techmeme: Adobe Soars On NYT Report Microsoft May Bid; Stock Halted … (Eric Savitz/Tech Trader Daily)

9:40 PM ET, October 7, 2010

Top Items:

Nick Bilton / Bits:

What Did Microsoft and Adobe Chiefs Talk About? — Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive, recently showed up with a small entourage of deputies at Adobe's offices to hold a secret meeting with Adobe's chief executive, Shantanu Narayen. The meeting, which lasted more than an hour …

Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:

Adobe Soars On NYT Report Microsoft May Bid; Stock Halted By Circuit Breakers (Updated) — Is Microsoft (MSFT) considering buying Adobe Systems (ADBE)? — The New York Times raises that possibility today. In a blog post, the Times reports that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer showed …

Discussion: Computerworld and Silicon Alley Insider

Ryan Block / gdgt:

With Antennagate over, is Glassgate next for the iPhone 4? — Whether or not you've experienced the iPhone 4's famed death grip, or even believe it's a real phenomenon (and based on extensive personal experience I can assure you that it is), the whole Antennagate scandal undoubtedly left …

Discussion: Podcasting News, AppleInsider, Engadget, Crave, Silicon Alley Insider, Hardware 2.0 Blog, Gizmodo, TheAppleBlog, Neowin.net, Phone Arena, IntoMobile, Cult of Mac, Erictric, Geek.com, iLounge, MacRumors, everythingiCafe and Edible Apple, Thanks:atul

MG Siegler / TechCrunch:

Man Who Somehow Failed To Delete Facebook Account Complains About New Feature — Wait a second. It seems that everyone is missing one key element of the latest faux-controversy about Facebook. What is Jason Calacanis doing back on Facebook? — Calacanis kicked off the latest bitching session today …

Discussion: The Jason Calacanis Weblog

Jason Calacanis / The Jason Calacanis Weblog:

Email I sent to Zuckerberg & Sheryl over “FORCE JOIN” Groups on Facebook — This company is trusted with 500 people's data (and growing)? — Really? — Wow. — Forwarded message — From: Jason Calacanis

Discussion: Fast Company, WebProNews, BlogPost, GigaOM, L.A. Times Tech Blog, msnbc.com, Search Engine Land, Rakesh Agrawal's Blog, Gawker, UMBC ebiquity, The Firewall, ReadWriteWeb and Facebook Blog

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Facebook Groups: Privacy Blunder or Twitter Replacement? — Facebook rolled out a comprehensive upgrade to its Groups feature on Wednesday, but judging by some of the responses from both high-profile users and regular Facebook fans, the ability to “tag” anyone and add them to a group automatically …

Discussion: Search Engine Land, Inside Facebook, TechCrunch, Technologizer, Silicon Alley Insider, blogs.chron.com and Scobleizer

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Conspiracies, Privacy, Spam And NAMBLA: Facebook Groups Are Fun!

Discussion: Fast Company and UMBC ebiquity

Stuart Parmenter / The Mozilla Blog:

Firefox 4 Beta for Android and Maemo is Now Available — Our first Firefox 4 beta for mobile is now available to download and test. It's built on the same technology platform as Firefox for the desktop and optimized for browsing on a mobile phone. Firefox beta for mobile comes …

Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, Download Squad, BetaNews, Boy Genius Report, Neowin.net, Erictric, Electronista, AndroidGuys, Android Phone Fans, The Next Web, Asa Dotzler and ConceivablyTech

Nick Eaton / The Microsoft Blog:

Verizon prez: ‘Microsoft is not at the forefront of our mind’ — Some juicy remarks today from Lowell McAdam, president and COO of Verizon Communications and CEO of Verizon Wireless, about Microsoft and its standing — or lack thereof — in the mobile business.

Discussion: Computerworld, The Next Web and Engadget

Marguerite Reardon / CNET News:
Verizon's McAdam talks 4G (Q&A)

Discussion: MobileTechWorld, The Seattle Times, GMSV, msnbc.com, MSDN Blogs, WMPoweruser.com and Engadget, Thanks:rawmeet

Jennifer Valentino-DeVries / Digits:

Former FTC Employee Files Complaint Over Google Privacy — A former Federal Trade Commission employee has filed a complaint with the agency accusing Google Inc. of not adequately protecting the privacy of consumers' search queries. — The complaint was filed September 6 by Christopher Soghoian …

Nicholas Deleon / CrunchGear:

Am I Blind, Or Am I Just Not ‘Seeing’ What's So Great About Google TV? — You can't see it, but I'm tapping out over here. Why? Because for the life of me I cannot understand the hype surrounding Google TV (and by extension, the Logitech Revue and other, similar items).

Discussion: Rakesh Agrawal's Blog and eWeek

Stan Medvedenko / Sony Insider:
Sizes And Pricing for Sony Google TV Family Leaked

Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:

Verizon, Apple quarreled over iPhone retail options, digital content — Major sticking points in negotiations between Verizon and Apple have reportedly been the wireless carrier's interest in allowing retail partners to sell the iPhone, and Verizon's promotion of its V Cast digital video-on-demand store.

Discussion: PC World, MediaPost, CNNMoney.com, Faster Forward, DailyTech, Gawker, Redmond Pie, Gearlog and MacDailyNews

Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:

Bit.ly Raises $10 Million Series B, Still Growing Like Crazy — It looks like short links are here to stay, at least for a while longer. Bit.ly, the largest independent link shortening service out there, closed a $10 million Series B financing. The round was led by RRE Ventures, with AOL Ventures also becoming a new investor.

Discussion: paidContent, bit.ly blog, VentureBeat, MediaMemo and Silicon Alley Insider

Greg Sandoval / CNET News:

Spotify crashes into Apple on way to U.S. — These are some swinging Swedes, the guys at Spotify. — Founded in Stockholm in 2006, Spotify has already conquered Europe's digital music scene with the help of a revolutionary desktop service and now desperately wants to make the jump to the United States.

Discussion: Crave, Electronista and ClickZ

Yehuda Katz / Katz Got Your Tongue?:

What's Wrong with “HTML5″ — In the past year or so, the term “HTML5″ has increasingly been picked up by the tech press as the successor to “DHTML”, “Web 2.0″ or “Ajax”. When used by the tech press, it is becoming a generic term for “the next generation of web technology” …

Discussion: Inquirer, Erictric and Webmonkey

James Joaquin / Xmarks Blog:

Xmarks Victory for the Users, by the Users — The past ten days have been an amazing lesson in the power of community. Not in the “web 2.0 social graph” sense - I'm talking about old school community with users speaking up, speaking out and banding together. Thank you Xmarks users.

Discussion: CNET News and The Next Web

Ben Drawbaugh / Engadget:

AT&T U-verse customers can use Xbox 360 as a set-top box starting November 7th — If you'd given up hope of using your 360 to watch AT&T U-Verse after over three years of waiting, we wouldn't think any less of you; but for those still holding on to the dream of one less set-top box under the TV …

Discussion: Electronista

Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:

Google News Testing Twitter Integration With “Friends” — Google is apparently testing a new feature that lets you connect your Twitter account to Google News. Some people are seeing a “Friends” box on the right hand side of Google News. — The friends box asks you to enter your Twitter username and click “Save.”

Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, GigaOM, WebProNews, TechCrunch, The Blog Herald and Search Engine Watch, more at Mediagazer »

Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:

Debunk: Leaked iPad photo doesn't show next gen design — By now you may have seen some photos of an alleged iPad casing doing the rounds that is purported to be the next generation of Apple's tablet. In the pics, you can clearly see that there are two distinct slots for the company's 30 pin dock connector …

Discussion: App Advice, Mission:Repair Blog, eWeek, MacStories, Gizmodo, MacRumors, TiPb and The Next Web

Bruce Schneier / Schneier on Security:

Stuxnet — Computer security experts are often surprised at which stories get picked up by the mainstream media. Sometimes it makes no sense. Why this particular data breach, vulnerability, or worm and not others? Sometimes it's obvious. In the case of Stuxnet, there's a great story.

Discussion: rc3.org

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:

Japan's DeNA Mulling $400+ Million Acquisition of ngmoco — Japanese gaming company DeNA is considering an acquisition of San Francisco-based ngmoco, we've heard from multiple sources. The price, says one source, is north of $400 million, although that probably includes …

Discussion: VentureBeat, Touch Arcade and www.pocketgamer.biz

Darren Murph / Engadget:

Skype's Android shackles are broken, 3G calling hacked into reality — Well, that didn't take long. Just days after the official Skype application finally landed in the Android Market, along comes an .apk that's far more salacious for Americans. Thanks to xeudoxus over at Droid Forums …

Discussion: Gizmodo, ReadWriteWeb, Phone Arena and Electronista

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

Warner Bros. Claims That Annoying Customers With 28-Day Rental Delay Is Working — Warner Bros. studio was among the more adamant about getting Netflix, Redbox and others to delay rentals of movies until 28-days after the DVD release, in the hopes that it would drive more people to buy.

Discussion: DSLreports and MediaMemo

Hiawatha Bray / Boston Globe:

Akamai employee charged with fraud — An employee of Cambridge Internet company Akamai Technologies Inc. was arrested yesterday and charged with wire fraud after allegedly trying to sell confidential information about the firm to a foreign government, according to the US attorney's office.

Discussion: CNET News and Hillicon Valley

Kevin Krause / Android Phone Fans:

AT&T Early Upgrade Fee for Smartphones Goes from $75 to $200 — Hardly a week goes by that a new smartphone option doesn't pop up for major carriers, and with new choices comes higher consumer desire to upgrade early. AT&T is keenly aware of this, and the company that just added a handful …

Discussion: Boy Genius Report, LAPTOP Magazine, Android Community and CloudAve

Alexei Oreskovic / MediaFile:

New Yahoo app to challenge Apple FaceTime on iPhone — Apple has based a great deal of its iPhone 4 marketing blitz around its so-called FaceTime video calling technology. — But Yahoo is about to challenge Apple for the mobile video calling crown, with plans to brings video chat to iPhones …

Discussion: Yodel Anecdotal and TUAW

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