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4:00 AM ET, December 4, 2010

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Melissa Harris / Chicago Breaking Business:
Sources: Groupon rejects Google's offer; will stay independent  —  The deal didn't tip after all.  Chicago-based Groupon Inc. has eschewed an acquisition offer from Google Inc. and is staying independent, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the situation.
RELATED:
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Groupon Annual Revenues Actually $2 Billion  —  According to sources close to the situation, Groupon's actual run rate for this year is clocking in at $2 billion in revenue, rather than the widely quoted $500 million.  —  Who knew hawking spas treatments and stripper pole lessons could be so lucrative?
Joanna Stern / Engadget:
Sources: Google-branded Chrome OS netbook to launch on December 7th  —  The headline pretty much reveals the brunt of it, but indeed, it looks like next week Google is going to start talking about how its Chrome operating system is coming along.  Multiple sources have told us that Google …
RELATED:
Joanna Stern / Engadget:
This is the Google Chrome OS netbook keyboard  —  It's just a Chrome OS sorta day, isn't it?  To catch you up here, we told you earlier that Google is planning to announce its own Chrome OS netbook this coming Tuesday, and well, now we're peering at a supposed picture of that very machine's keyboard.
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Google Begins Emailing Extension Developers To Get Ready For Chrome Web Store
Discussion: SAI
Adam Mills / The Next Web:
Google Confirms Chrome Event For December 7th
Discussion: Engadget, WinRumors and Download Squad
Mario Queiroz / The Official Google Blog:
On demand is in demand: we've agreed to acquire Widevine  —  With rapidly improving broadband and wireless speeds, more powerful smartphones, and higher resolution screens on devices of all shapes and sizes, it's becoming easier than ever to watch video wherever you want, whenever you want.
RELATED:
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Google Buys On Demand Video Service Widevine To Bolster Its Own TV Efforts
Discussion: Widevine Technologies
Guardian:
Julian Assange answers your questions  —  The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, answers readers' questions about the release of more than 250,000 US diplomatic cables  —  Fwoggie … Julian Assange:  —  I am an Australian citizen and I miss my country a great deal.
RELATED:
Matt Raymond / Library of Congress Blog:
Why the Library of Congress Is Blocking Wikileaks  —  The news media are reporting today, accurately, that the Library of Congress is blocking access to the Wikileaks site across its computer systems, including those for use by patrons in the reading rooms.  —  I wanted to provide …
Joseph Galante / Bloomberg:
PayPal Cuts WikiLeaks' Access to Funds Amid Global Scrutiny
Guardian:
WikiLeaks fights to stay online after US company withdraws domain name
Paul Miller / Engadget:
PlayStation Phone ‘Zeus Z1’ caught on video again, this time you can actually see it (update)  —  Wow guys, we just spotted a new video of the PlayStation Phone, codenamed Zeus Z1, and this time we get a long, loving look at the entire device — a refreshing contrast to last time's blurry tease.
Mike Cohen / The Official Google Blog:
Can we talk?  Better speech technology with Phonetic Arts  —  In Star Trek, they don't spend a lot of time typing things on keyboards—they just speak to their computers, and the computers speak back.  It's a more natural way to communicate, but getting there requires chipping away at a range of hard research problems.
RELATED:
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:   Google Acquires Phonetic Arts To Make Robo-Voices Sound Human
Zach Epstein / BGR:
RadioShack takes $50 off Apple's iPhone 4 and 3GS  —  RadioShack announced a limited-time promotion on Friday that offers a $50 discount on Apple's iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS.  The promotion applies to brand new devices — not refurbished phones — and there are no tricky terms and conditions to be afraid of.
John Ciancutti / The Netflix Tech Blog:
Why We Choose HTML5 for User Experiences on Devices  —  This is John Ciancutti, VP of Personalization Technology here at Netflix.  As you know, last month we released a completely new user experience for Netflix on the PS3.  I thought I would tell you about the technology choices we're using …
Discussion: IntoMobile and Mashable!
Oliver Chiang / SelectStart:
Digg's New Notifications Feature Looks A Lot Like Facebook's  —  According to Digg's blog, the social news site has added a new notifications feature to its service.  The update consists of email and on-site notification options, and the on-site version looks a lot Facebook's notifications.
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb and The Next Web
Owen Thomas / VentureBeat:
Facebook's big move to Madison Avenue  —  The world's largest social network could soon be opening up shop on Madison Avenue, the iconic address long linked to New York City's advertising industry.  —  Facebook has leased two floors at 335 Madison Avenue, according to a source …
Discussion: WebProNews and All Facebook
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Apple, Publishers Still Miles Apart on iTunes Subscriptions  —  Magazine publishers used to salivate over the iPad.  Now they're a lot more reserved.  They make hopeful noises about Google's Android tablets instead.  —  That's because Apple and the publishing industry haven't been able …
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Angry Birds On Android Projected To Generate $1 Million Per Month In Advertising  —  One of the most successful mobile games right now is Angry Birds, which has been downloaded more than 30 million times across different mobile platforms, with 12 million of those being paid downloads on iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches.
W.J. Hennigan / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Google pays Pennsylvania couple $1 in Street View lawsuit  —  Google Inc. will pay $1 in damages to a Pennsylvania couple who took the company to court, saying the company's Street View service was an invasion of privacy.  —  Street View is a feature that lets users pick a point on a map …
Matt / Signal vs. Noise:
The creators of no-longer-with-us products explain what went wrong  —  Stuart Roseman shut down Verifiable, a crowdsourced charting and data analysis site, to start SaneBox, a product that automatically identifies important email and separates them in a user's inbox.
 
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 More Items: 
Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:
Roku Readies Pay-Per-View System for Small Publishers
Discussion: GigaOM
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
LimeWire Makes It Official: It's All Over
Matt McGee / Search Engine Land:
Google News Dropping Sites, Reviewing Inclusion Standards
Discussion: Techie Buzz
David Sarno / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
IPhones account for 23% of business smart phones to BlackBerry's 51%, ComScore says
Associated Press:
Viacom appeals ruling in YouTube copyright case
Terrence O'Brien / Switched:
Droid 2 Allegedly Explodes in Man's Ear
Chris Thompson / About Foursquare:
Foursquare revokes mayor editing rights
Discussion: Pulse2
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Survey Says: 63% Of You Ignore The Ads On This Very Page
 Earlier Items: 
Caleb Cox / The Register:
Sony sells Playstation-packing TV
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
The Rise Of The Gentleman Hacker
Discussion: Telegraph
Bloomberg:
Seagate Said to Have Spurned Takeover Proposal From Rival Western Digital
Discussion: The Tech Report and Softpedia News
Dan Primack / Fortune:
Exclusive: Roger Ehrenberg raises big(ger) fund for big data
Discussion: VentureBeat and SAI
Andrew Munchbach / BGR:
Gartner names Samsung top Android provider in States, 3M Galaxy …
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Viber is a new free VOIP app, currently available only for the iPhone.
Discussion: calliflower.com and TechCrunch
John Paczkowski / Digital Daily:
50 Percent of Smartphones Sold in China Last Quarter Run Android