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2:30 PM ET, January 21, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Ken Auletta / New Yorker:
Why Is Eric Schmidt Stepping Down at Google?  —  Was Eric Schmidt pushed or did he jump?  Both.  According to close advisors, the Google C.E.O. was upset a year ago when co-founder Larry Page sided with his founding partner, Sergey Brin, to withdraw censored searches from China.
RELATED:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
TechCrunch Interview With Eric Schmidt, Larry Page And Sergey Brin  —  Late last summer we were ready to break a big story - that Eric Schmidt would be stepping down as the CEO of Google.  Multiple sources and all that jazz.  The basic story was that he was tired (who wouldn't be) …
Nathan Olivarez-Giles / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Eric Schmidt, Google's outgoing CEO, to cash out shares worth $335 million
Discussion: Geek.com, Mashable and SAI
Harry McCracken / Techland:   The Eric Schmidt Era: Google 2001 vs. Google 2011
Eric Schmidt / The Official Google Blog:
An update from the Chairman
Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:
New evidence supports Oracle's case against Google  —  Google faces a steep challenge in its defense against Oracle's lawsuit over seven Java patents and some copyrighted material.  More than five months after Oracle's complaint, Google appears unable to countersue Oracle over patent infringement …
Matt Cutts / The Official Google Blog:
Google search and search engine spam  —  January brought a spate of stories about Google's search quality.  Reading through some of these recent articles, you might ask whether our search quality has gotten worse.  The short answer is that according to the evaluation metrics that we've refined …
Justin Scott / Mozilla Add-ons Blog:
Blocking the Skype Toolbar in Firefox  —  The Skype Toolbar for Firefox is an extension that detects phone numbers in web pages, and re-renders them as a clickable button that can be used to dial the number using the Skype desktop application.  This extension is bundled with the Skype application …
RELATED:
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Mozilla To Block Skype's Browser Toolbar - Skype Responds, Recommends Upgrading
Discussion: The Next Web
Mark Gurman / 9 to 5 Mac:
iPad 2 will have the same cameras as the iPod touch  —  Oh, hello.  We've done some digging in the latest SDK it looks like Apple's much rumored second-generation iPad will not feature some fancy 5 megapixel camera, but will instead shoot your flicks and take your pics with something close to a 1 megapixel camera.
Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:
Confirmed: Google Readies “Google Offers” Groupon Clone  —  Google is about to launch a Groupon clone according to Mashable.  Called “Google Offers,” the blog showed some promotional collateral that presents a very Groupon-like daily deal offering: [Google Offers Image] As everyone reading this knows …
RELATED:
Christopher Heine / ClickZ:
Google's Version of Groupon Is Live: How It Works  —  Google Offers is already available to local businesses with Places accounts.  During an e-mail exchange with the Mountain View, CA-based company this morning, ClickZ learned that the platform - which only became known late Thursday night - was actually live.
Discussion: NewsGrange and Mashable
Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Why Google Still Needs to Buy a Groupon Clone
Discussion: TechCrunch
Ben Parr / Mashable!:
Google to Launch Groupon Competitor [EXCLUSIVE]
Sam Gustin / Epicenter:
Tweets Hit Techmeme, Bloggers in a Tizzy  —  For years, Techmeme has been considered the tech news website of record.  A quick glance at the site, which aggregates tech news headlines from across the web, will tell you the topics that people are discussing, and who is discussing them, at any moment in time.
Discussion: broadstuff and @thestalwart
RELATED:
Gabe Rivera / Techmeme News:
Tweets can now become Techmeme headlines or discussion.  So tweet away.
Discussion: SEO and Tech Daily
Ian Hickson / The WHATWG Blog:
HTML is the new HTML5  —  In 2009 we announced that the HTML5 specification at the WHATWG was progressing to Last Call.  The plan at the time was to finish the specification this year and publish a snapshot of “HTML5” in 2012.  However, shortly after that we realised that the demand …
Theuni / XBMC:
You asked for it: XBMC for AppleTV2, iPad, iPhone4.  —  The XBMC team is proud to present our first ARM-based release, and it's a big one.  Scott Davilla, with the help of Edgar (gimli) Hucek and Zeljko (amet) Ametovic and several other developers and testers, is finally ready to pull the curtain off of his fun little secret.
Jeanette Borzo / Wall Street Journal:
Can Employers Fire Over Facebook Gaffes?  —  Facebook gaffes that can cause trouble in the workplace aren't unique to drunken college students any more.  As more companies—and their workers—tap into the world of blogs, Twitter and Facebook, employers are tripping over legal potholes in social media.
Ryan Tate / Gawker:
Meet Apple's New Boss, The Most Powerful Gay Man in Silicon Valley  —  It looks increasingly like Steve Jobs' reign at Apple is over.  If the CEO doesn't return from his third, indefinite medical leave, COO Tim Cook will succeed him, marking a new era not only for Apple but for gay progress.
Jesse Stay / Stay N' Alive:
Facebook Quietly Launching Friendfeed-like Live Commenting  —  Tonight, in a moment of rare form, as I was singing Hakuna Matata on Facebook with Krystyl Baldwin and others (an occasion one must do often) I noticed a new feature pop up before my eyes.  Instantly, with no refresh of the page …
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
PeopleRank: Quora Is Developing An Algorithm To Determine And Rank User Quality  —  It's no secret that Q&A site Quora is exploding in terms of usage and growth.  Currently the site is getting around 164,000 unique visitors per month (December 2010 stats from comScore) …
Discussion: Quora
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
Developers Share Mac App Store Sales Figures  —  When Apple's new desktop-focused Mac App Store launched, it was expected to be a hit.  One day later, Apple confirmed that the store was taking off, with over 1 million downloads on its first day.  But how many of those were free apps?
DigiTimes:
Apple adds Taiwan suppliers for iPhone 5, says paper  —  Apple has added Foxconn Electronics, Foxlink, Gold Circuit Electronics (GCE) and Epistar as component suppliers for the iPhone 5 smartphone, scheduled for launch during summer at the earliest, according to a Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) report.
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Verizon's First iPhone Commercial: It Begins  —  Well that didn't take long.  Here it is, the first Verizon iPhone commercial.  —  As you can see, the focus is on clock — the first one on 11:59 — implying that people in all different walks of life are waiting for something.
Rob Jackson / Android Phone Fans:
Motorola Apologizes For PR Gaffe, Promises Better Bootloader Policy  —  Despite Motorola continually making some of the hottest Android handsets - and the pattern continues with the Atrix - some of the most passionate Android fans refuse to become customers because of a “locked bootloader”.
Discussion: Engadget, I4U News and Electronista
Horace Dediu / asymco:
65% of Apple's sales came from iOS powered devices  —  The iPhone and iPad generated $15 billion of revenue last quarter.  In addition, iPod touch generated about $2.3 billion, implying that iOS based devices were responsible for sales of $17.3 billion.  —  To put that in perspective I drew …
Discussion: 9 to 5 Mac, Fortune, TUAW and The Next Web
 
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 More Items: 
Nob Seki / Six Apart News & Events:
Six Apart Japan to be acquired by Infocom and assume responsibility …
Doug Palmer / Reuters:
Analysis: Hu addresses U.S. stress over China high-tech drive
Adrian Chen / Gawker:
What a Stolen Credit Card Costs on the Digital Black Market
Mark Gurman / 9 to 5 Mac:
Confirmed: iPad 3G launching soon in China
Mike Melanson / ReadWriteWeb:
Survey: Only 25% Want to Share TV Habits With Friends
 Earlier Items: 
Greg Kumparak / MobileCrunch:
SkyFire Pulls In Another Million Bucks With The Launch Of SkyFire For iPad
Bloomberg:
LinkedIn Said to Be Worth Almost $3 Billion in Secondary Sale
Discussion: GigaOM and TechCrunch
Brooks / SPORTSbyBROOKS:
Sporting News Paid AOL Millions To Drop Fanhouse
more at Mediagazer »
Paul Thurrott / WindowsITPro:
Microsoft and Google in a War of “Nines”
 

 
From Mediagazer:

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

Manuela Vega / Toronto Star:
Rogers Sports & Media lays off more than two dozen employees in its radio and podcasting divisions, citing declining revenue and challenges in advertising

Harrison Smith / Washington Post:
Reg Murphy, an editor and publisher in Atlanta, San Francisco, and Baltimore, died Nov. 9 at 90; he was kidnapped in 1974 by a man angry at “liberal news media”
 
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