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3:50 PM ET, October 20, 2010

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Brian Barrett / Gizmodo:
New MacBook Airs: Faster, Lighter, Instant On, 30 Day Standby Power  —  It's been two years since the last MacBook Air refresh, but Apple's made up for lost time: the redesigned MacBook Air weighs 2.9 pounds, lasts 30 days on standby power, and rocks complete unibody construction.  And a storage secret.
RELATED:
Jesus Diaz / Gizmodo:
Mac OS X Lion: Sneak Peek Analysis  —  Mac OS X 10.7 Lion is here.  As we predicted, Apple's operating system is going in the same direction as the iPad—and for good reason.  Here is a visual guide to the main features unveiled today.  Updating live  —  Mac OS X Lion is another step …
Chris Burns / SlashGear:
Apple FaceTime for the Desktop and Laptop Announced, Beta Available Today  —  Apple announces FaceTime, the first video calling on mobile devices. 19 million Facetime devices shipped in the first 4 months they've been out.  Not only can you use FaceTime on these mobile devices now, you can use them on your laptop or desktop.
Nicholas Deleon / CrunchGear:
Say Hello To The Mac App Store: Like The iOS App Store, But For Your Mac  —  There will be a Mac App Store in Mac OS X Lion.  It will be much the same as the current App Store found in iOS devices.  It will open in 90 days.  —  Apple says the various Apps will be managed in something called the Launchpad.
Vlad Savov / Engadget:
Apple announces iLife '11, $49 upgrade or free with every new Mac, available today  —  There you have it.  Shockingly enough, iMovie, iPhoto, and GarageBand have all been modernized sufficiently to merit having their names appended with '11. iPhoto '11 is taking the early demo lead in the live event, with hot new slideshow themes.
Donna Tapellini / Consumer Reports Electronics Blog:
Live from Apple: iPhoto 11 gets Facebook enhancements, better book publishing
Discussion: TUAW
Darren Murph / Engadget:
Verizon to sell Galaxy Tab starting November 11th for $599.99  —  Well, we finally have a price on this thing!  America's largest carrier has announced plans to sell Samsung's Galaxy Tab for... $599.99.  The 3G, Android 2.2-based unit (which will be loaded with V CAST apps, of course) …
RELATED:
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Google Engineer Builds Facebook Disconnect  —  Tired of the endless unsolicited entreaties to “Connect via Facebook” as you surf the web?  Excited for Y Connect and want to keep a clean palate beforehand?  Scared about Facebook not necessarily having your best interests at heart when it comes to privacy?
Reuters:
Electronic Arts to buy Chillingo for $20 mln-source  —  Electronic Arts (ERTS.O) will buy Chillingo, the British publisher of the popular mobile game, Angry Birds, for $20 million in cash, a source close to the deal said on Wednesday.  —  An EA spokeswoman confirmed the agreement but did not disclose the price.
RELATED:
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
EA Buys ‘Angry Birds’ Publisher Chillingo For $20 Million, Doesn't Get ‘Angry Birds’
Discussion: VG247
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Developer Joe Hewitt Tears Into Android's Definition Of “Open”  —  In Silicon Valley, there are few developers more respected than Joe Hewitt — he helped create Firefox, he built the indispensible development tool FireBug, and he was also responsible for both Facebook's ‘Touch’ mobile website …
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Google Ventures Invests In Local Deals Site Signpost  —  No, it's not what you're thinking — Google Ventures didn't just invest in a Groupon clone.  But the search giant's VC arm is taking a stake in a local deals startup called Signpost, which looks to help you find the best deals in your neighborhood (more on that in a moment).
Vlad Savov / Engadget:
Lenovo says no Android tablet in US until Honeycomb; no Windows 7 tablet, period  —  If you happen to be enthusiastic about Lenovo, tablets, and your American residency, look away now.  Lenovo still plans to ship the Android-based LePad in China some time soonish, but its US roadmap can pretty much be summed up as “wait and see.”
David Gelles / blogs.ft.com:
Square doesn't work with iPhone4 (Updated)  —  Square, the much-hyped mobile credit card processing system created by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has a big problem: it doesn't work with the iPhone4.  —  In a blog post buried deep in the support section of Square's website …
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, Thanks:dgelles
Avner Ronen / Boxee Blog:
Boxee Box Ships on Nov 10th, RSVP for the launch event in NYC  —  We just got final confirmation from D-Link that the Boxee Box will start shipping on Nov 10th.  Boxee and D-Link will have a launch event in NYC to celebrate and demo the Boxee Box, complete with Boxee 1.0.
Om Malik / GigaOM:
State of the Internet: Mobile Web's Explosive Growth  —  In 1999, it was the rapid growth of wired web services that was the top story.  Fast-forward to today, and it's the massive and seemingly unstoppable growth of the mobile Internet that's all the rage.
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb and Beet.TV
Ashlee Vance / New York Times:
Microsoft to Unbundle Software in Deal With City  —  New York City has put the squeeze on Microsoft, negotiating a bulk software purchasing deal that should lower technology costs for the city and give government workers access to more modern applications.  —  Instead of having dozens …
Dan Goodin / The Register:
Compromise turns Kaspersky site into malware hub  —  Hackers exploit buggy app  —  The US website for anti-virus provider Kaspersky was caught pushing malware to its users for three and a half hours on Sunday after it was compromised by criminal hackers.  —  The attack first came to light …
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Google Demo Slam Hopes To Be American Idol For Tech Demos  —  A couple days ago, we noted the existence of demoslam.com, a mysterious little website operated by Google.  Since it only contained a temporary landing page powered by Flash, it was hard to tell exactly what it would be.  But now we know.
Greg Sandoval / CNET News:
Studios once owned Netflix, bailed too soon  —  What would have happened had the studios held on to the Netflix stock they once owned?  —  The Wrap, a blog that covers Hollywood, reminded us in a story today that in the 1990's Warner Bros. was looking for leverage in negotiations with video-rental chain, Blockbuster.
Discussion: The Wrap
Greg Sandoval / Media Maverick:
Porn studio a step closer to revealing pirates' IDs  —  Few film companies are assailing piracy with the vigor of Third World Media.  —  Third World Media (TMW), a porn studio headquartered north of Los Angeles, filed a lawsuit two weeks ago against 1,568 unnamed individuals …
Caroline McCarthy / CNET News:
Facebook files three antispam lawsuits  —  Facebook announced today that it has filed suit against two individuals and a company that it says are responsible for propagating deceptive spam offers across the massive social network, including some that encouraged members to spam their friends in turn.
Discussion: VatorNews, Facebook and ClickZ
DigiTimes:
iPad impact not serious, says Acer chairman  —  Acer chairman JT Wang, at a recent summit in Taiwan, commented that the competitive impact of iPad upon notebooks is not as serious as many people have imagined and demand for netbooks appears to be stable around the world except in the US and UK.
Declan McCullagh / CNET News:
Google ditches all Street View Wi-Fi scanning  —  Google has no plans to resume using its Street View cars to collect information about the location of Wi-Fi networks, a practice that led to a flurry of privacy probes after the company said it unintentionally captured fragments of unencrypted data.
RELATED:
Lance Whitney / CNET News:
TomTom, HTC team up on mobile navigation  —  TomTom and HTC are teaming up in a bid to offer quicker and more accurate maps and directions for HTC mobile phone customers.  —  The two companies announced today that HTC Locations, the smartphone maker's new mapping and navigation service …
 
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 More Items: 
Jerry Brito / Technology Liberation Front:
What is the evidence for cybersecurity regulation?
Kelly Hodgkins / IntoMobile:
Samsung working on a new platform for mobile phones and TVs
Discussion: Reuters, PR Newswire and MobileBurn.com
Evelyn Rusli / TechCrunch:
Widgetbox Mobile Launches, Create Mobile Web Apps In A Snap
Discussion: MediaPost
Enterprise Desktop Alliance:
Macs Will Increase Their Market Share in the Enterprise by 57%
Discussion: Macworld, 9 to 5 Mac and THINQ.co.uk
Kevin C. Tofel / GigaOM:
Mozilla Wants Everyone to Have a Web App Store
cdixon's posterous:
A few comments on Paul Graham re superangels
Discussion: Paul Graham
Keith Plocek / Social Keith:
The Digg Effect v4
Kim Hart / The Politico:
Tech industry waits for President Obama
Discussion: MediaPost Raw
 Earlier Items: 
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Kiva Partners With Visa To Expand Micro-Loans To U.S. Small Businesses
Discussion: VatorNews, Thanks:rawmeet
Nick Saint / The Business Insider:
Bezos-Backed Doxo Launches Paperless Billing Service
Matt Hamblen / Computerworld:
Sprint admits losing WiMax users early on
Discussion: PC World
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines Blog:
Salesforce.com's Benioff unplugged: Supervendors suck, Oracle, Zuckerberg as Gates
Discussion: eWeek and ReadWriteWeb
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Exclusive: Yahoo's Head of Mobile, North America Leaves, as U.S. Unit Reorgs
Josh Ong / AppleInsider:
New photos claim to show Apple's prototype CDMA Verizon iPhone
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
ATD Welcomes Ina Fried as Our New Mobile Reporter
Discussion: Pulse2
 

 
From Mediagazer:

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”

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

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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