Techmeme: Mike Jones' Kiss-Off Letter To Laid Off MySpacers: “We Can't Continue … (Erick Schonfeld/TechCrunch)

4:50 PM ET, January 14, 2011

Top Items:

Jonathan S. Geller / BGR:

Exclusive: BlackBerry Storm 3 shows up, tells all — You thought we were done revealing RIM's 2011 BlackBerry lineup? Not quite yet. In addition to the new BlackBerry Bold, BlackBerry Curve, and BlackBerry Torch 2, we have received photos and information about the BlackBerry Storm 3.

John Gruber / Daring Fireball:

Too Late — Dan Lyons, writing for The Daily Beast's Newsweek subsidiary, says “The Verizon iPhone Is Too Late”: Most important, Android still has one huge advantage over the iPhone — diversity. Android phones are sold by dozens of hardware makers, the biggest being Samsung, Motorola, and HTC.

Discussion: LIVEdigitally

Daniel Lyons / Newsweek:

The Verizon iPhone Is Too Late — Apple's phone would have snuffed out the Android a year ago, but now Google's device has become an unstoppable juggernaut. — Verizon President and COO Lowell McAdam speaks during the iPhone announcement January 11. — Now that Apple will be selling …

Discussion: Examiner

Charlie Rose / Business Week:

Charlie Rose Talks to Verizon CEO Seidenberg — Ivan Seidenberg discusses the complex courtship with Steve Jobs that led to Verizon's adoption of the iPhone — Do you expect to have the problems AT&T (T) had with the iPhone? The argument is that its network was overwhelmed. — We've prepared greatly.

Discussion: PhoneArena, AppleInsider, IntoMobile, The Loop, PC Magazine, TUAW, iPhone Buzz, Gearlog, FierceWireless, Edible Apple, SlashGear, Macgasm, Electronista, dailywireless.org, MacDailyNews, TiPb and Apple Headlines

Eric Slivka / MacRumors: Verizon CEO: Carrier ‘Never in the Running’ for Original iPhone

Bryan / GizmoFusion:

Exclusive: Google Music Store Coming To Gingerbread? — For you folks that would like an easy way to buy and sync/download music from your PC to your Android phone, you may be in luck very soon. From the image we see above that was just sent to us you can see the words “Sync Music”.

Discussion: Engadget, Erictric, Android Community, IntoMobile, Android Phone Fans, Droid Life, MobileBurn.com and Know Your Cell

DealBook:

Groupon I.P.O. Said to Value the Company at $15 Billion — Updated — Groupon, the social buying site that spurned a $6 billion offer from Google, is pushing ahead with plans for its initial public offering, a debut that could value the company at $15 billion or more.

Discussion: GigaOM, Digital Trends, IBD Click, Mobile Marketing Watch, PC World, Examiner, Fortune, VentureBeat, NBC Bay Area, CNBC, GMSV, Techland, Venture Capital Dispatch, BloggingStocks, Mark Evans Tech, paidContent, ReadWriteWeb and Screenwerk, Thanks:davidjamesdiaz

Douglas MacMillan / Bloomberg:

Goldman Sachs CEO Blankfein Said to Visit Groupon to Pitch IPO — Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein visited the Chicago headquarters of Groupon Inc. today to pitch executives on hiring his firm for a possible share sale this year, a person familiar with the matter said.

Discussion: SAI

Mike Jazayeri / Chromium Blog:

More about the Chrome HTML Video Codec Change — There has been a lot of discussion regarding this week's announcement of upcoming changes to HTML video codec support in Chrome. The future of web video is an important topic, we welcome the debate, and want to address some of the questions raised.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Daring Fireball, TechFlash, Apple Outsider and thechromesource, Thanks:arpitnext

MG Siegler / TechCrunch: Google Clarifies Their H.264 Stance, Hands Keys Of Web Video's Future Back To Flash

Ryan Naraine / Zero Day Blog:

We need help with the strange disappearance of Dancho Danchev — Zero Day blogger and malware researcher Dancho Danchev (right) has gone missing since August last year and we have some troubling information that suggests he may have been harmed in his native Bulgaria.

Discussion: Threat Level, Gizmodo, Gawker and Gearlog

Daniel Ruby / Chitika, Inc.:

Why The Verizon iPhone is the Ultimate Threat to Android — Verizon is Android's best friend in the US; in a sample of traffic from the Chitika network, 55% of all Android traffic came from Verizon's phones. So when Apple announced that the iPhone is coming to Verizon in February …

Discussion: Internet2Go, PC Magazine and Gadget Lab

Claire Atkinson / New York Post:

Spotify nears US Sony deal — Spotify, the popular European music service, is finally crossing the pond, The Post has learned. — After trying to crack the US market for more than a year, Spotify is close to a deal with one major music company in the US and has gained the support of at least one other …

Discussion: NewsGrange, BGR, SAI, Gearlog, Electronista, Mashable!, TUAW and Geek.com, more at Mediagazer »

Stuart Miles / Pocket-lint:

LG: Windows Phone 7 launch could have been better — EXCLUSIVE: But still supporting platform as too much Android in portfolio — LG has gone on record saying that Windows Phone 7 hasn't performed as well as it thought it would, following the launch of the mobile OS in October.

Electronista:

iPhone 5 should use Qualcomm chipsets, new ‘A8’ processor — Some of the first iPhone 5 part details have emerged on Friday with insight into its launch timing. Taiwan's Kinsus is reportedly supplying 30 to 40 percent of the substrates for the Qualcomm chipsets that will provide cellular access.

Discussion: SlashGear, DigiTimes, App Advice, Fast Company, 9 to 5 Mac, GottaBeMobile, Tech Trader Daily, Erictric, MacStories, Softpedia News and iClarified

Martin Bryant / The Next Web:

Crisis in Tunisia proves Twitter is the best, and worst, way to follow breaking news — “The revolution will not be televised”, goes the old saying - well, it's certainly being tweeted today. Tunisia is in crisis right now and the raw, hard facts are being spread live as they happen via Twitter …

Discussion: TechCrunch, Gawker, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic Online, The Lede, Boing Boing, CNN, New America Media and Danger Room, more at Mediagazer »

Eva / Electronic Frontier Foundation:
EFF Calls for Immediate Action to Defend Tunisian Activists …

Discussion: Net Effect

Katie Marsal / AppleInsider:

Apple tells newspapers: no free iPad edition for print subscribers — A number of European newspapers have reportedly been told by Apple that they can no longer offer paid print subscribers free access to an iPad edition through the App Store, as the subscription strategy leaves Apple out of its 30 percent cut.

Discussion: CNET News, MarketingVOX and MacNN

Mark Gurman / 9 to 5 Mac:

Is this the iPad 2′s camera.app? — We've been telling you all about this camera that's coming in the iPad 2 and thought you might like to see some screenshots. Our tipster Sonny D. sent us these screenshots that he assembled from files within the SDK of the iPad camera.app.

Discussion: everythingiCafe and Apple Headlines, Thanks:sentelmullins

Liz Gannes / NetworkEffect:

Google Holds On to Product VP Sundar Pichai After Twitter Talent Raid Attempt — Google VP Sundar Pichai has decided to stay at Google after being aggressively courted by Twitter to join the fast-growing company as its VP of product, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.

Discussion: SAI and Electronista

Phil Nickinson / Android Central:

Is the Motorola Atrix 4G coming to AT&T on March 1? — The Motorola Atrix 4G (check out our hands-on) on AT&T easily is one of the hottest phones to come out of CES, with its dual-core processor, the very cool laptop dock and the even cooler HD dock, which basically turns your smartphone …

Discussion: Computerworld, BGR, The Toybox Blog, Digital Trends, Erictric, Techie Buzz, Engadget, Gizmodo, SlashGear, Softpedia News, Life On My Mobile, Electronista and Android and Me

Dan Frommer / SAI: Silicon Alley Insider:

Android Hasn't Been Hurting The iPhone — It's Been Hurting RIM — Google's Android platform is most often compared to Apple's iPhone, because they're the two most advanced smartphone platforms, belong to the two giants of Silicon Valley, and because they compete over consumer mindshare, developer mindshare, and bragging rights.

Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:

Mike Jones' Kiss-Off Letter To Laid Off MySpacers: “We Can't Continue On This Journey Together” — Whenever a company lays off 500 people, as MySpace did earlier this week when it gave half its employees walking papers, it generates quite a bit of anger and bitterness.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Arik Hesseldahl / NewEnterprise:

Google Apps' New Promise: No More Downtime — Google is announcing some changes to its service level agreements for its Google Apps customers today. It would seem routine except for what on its face comes across as an extraordinary promise: No more downtime, not even for maintenance.

Discussion: Google Enterprise Blog, GigaOM, BetaNews, Google Watch, SAI, TechFlash, Between the Lines Blog, ReadWriteEnterprise, TechCrunch and The Next Web

Chitika, Inc.:

Windows Phone 7 Outnumbered by... Windows 98? — Windows Phone 7, acclaimed by critics as an excellent mobile operating system and the beneficiary of Microsoft's advertising dollars, continues to struggle to catch on. One odd observation, based on traffic coming through the Chitika advertising network …

Discussion: mocoNews, Digital Trends, The Digital Home, WPCentral.com, Download Squad, MediaPost and The Next Web

Don Reisinger / CNET News:

Geohot speaks out on PS3 jailbreak legal battle — After being hit with a restraining order from Sony earlier this week for allegedly bypassing “effective technological protective measures” in PlayStation 3 firmware 3.55, iPhone hacker George Hotz, better known as “Geohot,” has decided it's time to stand up to the tech giant.

Discussion: PC World

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

A Delay for the Daily: Apple, News Corp. Push Back Launch Date — Turns out you'll have to wait a bit longer to see the Daily, Rupert Murdoch's long-awaited iPad news service. — Apple and News Corp. have made a joint decision to push back next week's planned launch, according to sources familiar with the companies' plans.

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