Techmeme: Can Google Get Its Mojo Back? — A spectre is haunting Mountain View. (Jon Evans/TechCrunch)

6:35 PM ET, January 8, 2011

Top Items:

Paul Miller / Engadget:

Verizon iPhone: everything you need to know — Ah, the Verizon iPhone. In our bizarre careers as tech journalists, if there's one question we've heard more than “When is Verizon getting the iPhone?” we can't think of it. Also, outside the original rumors for the iPhone and iPad …

Discussion: Digits, techeblog.com and Forbes

Shayndi Raice / Wall Street Journal:

Verizon iPhone to Be Available Around End of January — Apple Inc.'s iPhone will make its way to Verizon Wireless stores around the end of the month, a person familiar with the matter said. — The largest U.S. wireless carrier by subscribers will make the long-awaited announcement to carry …

Discussion: 9 to 5 Mac, RazorianFly, I4U News, Examiner, THINQ.co.uk, GottaBeMobile, Gadget Lab, Macgasm, Engadget, The Loop, New York Times, Geekword, The Apple Core Blog, mocoNews, NBC Bay Area, Neowin.net, ZDNet and Computerworld

Chris Rawson / TUAW:

VLC app removed from App Store — Not long after a version of multi-format video player VLC hit the App Store, speculation swirled surrounding its possible removal because of licensing issues. A few months later, it appears that everyone's fears were true: VLC has been removed from the App Store.

Discussion: MacStories, TorrentFreak, 9 to 5 Mac, RazorianFly, Download Squad, Lifehacker, SlashGear, Engadget, Geekword, AppleInsider and iClarified

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols / Open Source Blog:

No GPL Apps for Apple's App Store — Some people swore to me that just because the free-software General Public License (GPL) clashes with the Apple App Store's Terms of Service (ToS), didn't mean that Apple would actually pull down GPLed apps. Well, Apple just did.

Discussion: Tech Broiler Blog and App Advice

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

DOJ subpoeans Twitter records of several WikiLeaks volunteers — Last night, Birgitta Jónsdóttir — a former WikiLeaks volunteer and current member of the Icelandic Parliament — announced (on Twitter) that she had been notified by Twitter that the DOJ had served …

Discussion: GigaOM, eWeek, BoomTown, Guardian, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, New York Magazine, Boing Boing, Hillicon Valley, The Next Web, Gizmodo, Examiner, OSNews, The Business Insider, WL Central, Gawker and Threat Level, more at Mediagazer », Thanks:hornokplease

Peter Beaumont / Guardian: WikiLeaks demands Google and Facebook unseal US subpoenas

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Twitter Informs Users Of DOJ WikiLeaks Court Order, Didn't Have To

Discussion: Pulse2 and Softpedia News

Declan McCullagh / CNET News:
DOJ sends order to Twitter for Wikileaks-related account info

Discussion: Computerworld, Associated Press, Mashable!, The Register, NEWS.com.au, Techdirt and digg.com

Rop / rop.gonggri.jp:
US DOJ subpoenas my twitter account info

Discussion: Softpedia News and WL Central

Jon Evans / TechCrunch:

Can Google Get Its Mojo Back? — A spectre is haunting Mountain View. No, not bed bugs: bit rot. Google is in serious decline. — I don't see how they can deny it. They have famously always been a data-driven organization, and the data is compelling.

Discussion: TomsTechBlog.com and GigaOM, more at Mediagazer »

Douglas Rushkoff / CNN:

Opinion: Facebook may have already peaked — Editor's note: Douglas Rushkoff is the author, most recently, of “Life Inc: How Corporatism Conquered the World and How We Can Take it Back” , and “Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age” — (CNN) — All signs for Facebook appear to be pointing up.

Discussion: confused of calcutta, Memex 1.1, Screenwerk, DealBook and Digits

Don Dodge / Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing:
Facebook, Google, Microsoft - comparable?

Discussion: Venture Capital Dispatch, Thanks:dondodge

Brian Lam / Gizmodo:

How Lady Gaga Just Reinvented Eye Contact — Lady Gaga's weirdo Polaroid glasses are about to turn our faces into Facebook feeds and mood rings. — The glasses have two little screens in them. The weird thing is that they face outward. You can imagine the scene as Polaroid's suit brigade …

Discussion: PC Magazine, Faster Forward, CNET News and Mashable!

Agam Shah / Computerworld:

Intel says Light Peak interconnect technology is ready — Light Peak is designed to link PCs to devices like displays and external storage — IDG News Service - An Intel executive on Friday said that its Light Peak interconnect technology, designed to link PCs to devices like displays …

Martin Bryant / The Next Web:

SoundCloud announces big-name investment - “The Web should not be mute” — Audio sharing platform SoundCloud has received a huge boost today, confirming that it has received investment from major US tech VC firms Union Square Ventures and Index Ventures. — The value of the investment …

Discussion: SoundCloud, A VC, Union Square Ventures, Softpedia News and TechCrunch, Thanks:spinn12

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo: Music Sharing Service SoundCloud Raises $10 Million From Index, Union Square

Clint Boulton / eWeek:

Samsung to Sell Google TV Blu-ray Player, Companion Box — Samsung Electronics vowed to ship Google TV-based Blu-ray players and companion boxes later this year, but it is still mulling whether or not to build a Google TV set. — Samsung Electronics Jan. 7 joined Sony …

Discussion: Ars Technica, Engadget, Samsung USA Newsroom, Gizmodo and GigaOM

Janet Novack / Taxing Matters:

Amazon, CouponCabin Threaten As Illinois Moves To Tax Internet Sales — With Republicans now in charge in the U.S. House, the states' hopes that Congress might force Internet sellers to collect their sales taxes have faded. But that's not keeping individual states from moving forward on their own.

Discussion: Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times, Epicenter, The Atlantic Online, Fast Company, American Thinker and techrockies.com

Tricia Duryee / eMoney:

EBay Augmented-Reality App Lets You Try It On Before You Buy — One of the problems with ordering clothing online is not knowing whether it will fit or look good. — EBay has a technology fix for that using augmented reality on the mobile phone. Now you will never have to go to the mall!

Discussion: PhoneArena and WebProNews

Alex Howard / Gov 2.0:

2011 Trends: National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace highlights key online privacy, security challenges — Blackberrys, cell phones and communications devices are tagged with post-its during a briefing on Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Cabinet Room of the White House, March 26, 2009.

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