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12:40 PM ET, January 15, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:
Exclusive: The future of the iPad 2, iPhone 5, and Apple TV, and why Apple is shifting its mobile line to Qualcomm chipsets  —  We've been hearing a ton of rumors about what direction Apple's next set of products will take and when they'll be available — but now we've got some concrete information …
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Tweeting tyrants out of Tunisia: the global Internet at its best  —  Even yesterday, it would have been too much to say that blogger, tweeters, Facebook users, Anonymous, and Wikileaks had “brought down” the Tunisian government, but with today's news that the country's president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali …
RELATED:
Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Was What Happened in Tunisia a Twitter Revolution?  —  As it did during the recent shootings in Arizona, the Twitter network provided a ringside seat for another major news event on Friday — the overthrow of a corrupt government in the African nation of Tunisia, after weeks of protests over repression and economic upheaval.
Evgeny Morozov / Net Effect:
First thoughts on Tunisia and the role of the Internet
Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry / SAI:
Union Square Ventures' New Fund Announced: Here's What You Need To Know  —  In a blog post by Fred Wilson, top New York venture firm Union Square Ventures has officially announced its new $165 million fund, called The Opportunity Fund.  —  The fund came to light late last year …
Discussion: A VC and The Business Insider, Thanks:pegobry
RELATED:
Fred Wilson / Union Square Ventures:
The Opportunity Fund  —  We founded Union Square Ventures …
Discussion: GigaOM and TechCrunch
Christopher Blizzard / Mozilla Hacks:
Firefox 4 Beta 9 - a huge pile of awesome  —  Hello, and welcome to the post for Firefox 4 beta 9.  If you're reading this then you're interested in what we've got coming down the pipe for the latest beta for the wonderful browser known as Firefox 4.  We're starting to reach the end …
RELATED:
Matt Drance / Apple Outsider:
Embrace, Extend, Extinguish  —  Not satisfied with its polarizing about-face on net neutrality, this week Google threw away previous investments in H.264 and fully endorsed its own WebM format for native HTML5 video in Chrome.  —  There's no question that this is a shot at competing platforms …
Discussion: USA Today and TechFlash
RELATED:
Mike Jazayeri / Chromium Blog:
More about the Chrome HTML Video Codec Change
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:   So Much For Standards, Google Says WebM Plugins Coming Soon For Safari And IE9
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Google Clarifies Their H.264 Stance, Hands Keys Of Web Video's Future Back To Flash
Discussion: jd/adobe, VentureBeat and USA Today
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Something's Keeping Wikipedia from Becoming a Platform  —  Creativity, they say, always builds on the past.  So too do many wonderful things on the internet.  What could be better to build the future on top of than our collective knowledge of the world as represented by Wikipedia?
Discussion: Hunch Blog
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Facebook Shares Hit $28.26 Per Share, That's a $70+ Billion Valuation  —  The SecondMarket Facebook shares auctions are back on after a holiday break, and the valuation is up big time.  The last auction prior to this one closed December 15 at $22.75/share.  Today it hit $28.26 per share.
Patrick Thibodeau / Computerworld:
GAO, DOJ seek H-1B visa reforms  —  Feds want employers to post to Web plans to hire H-1B workers; DOJ seeks labor market test prior to H-1B hires  —  Computerworld - WASHINGTON — The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a major report Friday on the H-1B program that assesses the visa program's use and recommends reforms.
Discussion: Hillicon Valley and TechFlash
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
Notion Ink Adam clears FCC, begins shipping ‘around Wednesday’  —  We don't see it in the FCC database yet but Notion Ink's charming Rohan Shravan just penned a post on the company's blog with news that Adam has official clearance from the US government.  That's right, after several delays …
Discussion: Notion Ink, TeleRead and Go Rumors
Fred / A VC:
The Second Coming Of The Internet IPO  —  Most of what I've been saying recently about valuations here at AVC has been negative.  I think we are in a “focus on the upside” phase in the web investing sector and I've been pretty liberal with my thoughts on that.
Peter Cohen / The Loop:
The Beatles on iTunes - 5 million songs, 1 million albums sold so far  —  Many music fans finally got what they were asking for in November, 2010 when Apple announced that the music of the Beatles was now available for purchase from the iTunes Store.  It's a tribute to the band's enduring popularity …
Chris Ziegler / Engadget:
Android getting Google Music sync in Gingerbread?  —  Google's been teasing cloud-based music features in Android since its I/O conference last year, and the recent leak of a revamped first-party Music app suggests that the plans haven't evaporated into thin air.
David Kravets / Threat Level:
Judge Delays Ruling on PlayStation Hack  —  SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge here on Friday put off deciding whether PlayStation 3 hacker George Hotz should surrender his computer gear as part of a lawsuit from console-maker Sony.  —  Sony sued Hotz on Tuesday, alleging Hotz' posting …
Sarah Kessler / Mashable!:
Startup Adds Augmented Reality to Location-Based Marketing  —  The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.  If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.  —  Name: GoldRun
Chris Herbert / MacStories:
Twitter for Mac: ‘Tweet’ from Anywhere in OS X  —  Just a few days ago everyone (including us) was talking about a simple bookmarklet for Safari that sends the site title and link to Twitter for Mac (Tweetie 2).  Last night, I even found a Safari extension that did the same thing but also adds …
 
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 More Items: 
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Posterous Cofounder Garry Tan Steps Down, Heads To Y Combinator
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb and Mashable!
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Yahoo Says It's “Absolutely Committed” to Flickr
Chris Burns / Android Community:
Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against T-Mobile and Samsung Over Lack …
Discussion: SlashGear and Android Phone Fans
Arik Hesseldahl / NewEnterprise:
Meet Andreessen Horowitz's Newest Partner: Mark Cranney
Discussion: Digits and TechCrunch
Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:
Google's John Hanke Speaks About New Mobile Incubator
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb and Screenwerk
 Earlier Items: 
John C. Dvorak / PC Magazine:
Why I Don't Use Facebook  —  Facebook is basically AOL …
Greg T. Spielberg / Nieman Journalism Lab:
Gizmodo taps illustrators to give stories more punch, pop, pow!
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Evan Drellich / New York Times:
The MLB is planning national packages for streaming companies to bid on in 2028, when its national TV deals with ESPN, Fox, and Turner expire

Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Analyzing Comcast's spinoff of cable networks, purposefully structured with low debt: the move might be a signal to the industry that it's time to consolidate

Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
Tubi launches Scenes, a mobile feature that lets viewers watch 60-to-90-second trailer-style clips from its library to help with content discovery

 
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