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3:40 PM ET, January 25, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Robert Dong / Google Voice Blog:
Port your existing mobile number to Google Voice  —  867-5309 could be one of the most iconic phone numbers of all time, but it's not the only number that a lot of us remember by heart.  Many of us have a phone number that we've shared with family, friends, and contacts over the years and are reluctant to let go.
RELATED:
Vlad Bobleanta / Download Squad:
Google Voice now lets you port your existing phone number for $20  —  Google has just officially announced the availability of phone number porting for Google Voice.  From now on, you will be able to port your existing phone number to Google Voice, for a one-time fee of $20, paid via Google Checkout …
Discussion: Ars Technica
Olga Kharif / Bloomberg:
Apple Plans Service That Lets IPhone Users Pay With Handsets  —  Apple Inc. plans to introduce services that would let customers use its iPhone and iPad computer to make purchases, said Richard Doherty, director of consulting firm Envisioneering Group.  —  The services are based on …
RELATED:
Roger Cheng / Digits:
Verizon iPhone: $30 Unlimited Data (for Now)  —  It's official: Verizon is going to offer iPhone buyers a $30 unlimited data plan.  The carrier's heir apparent and chief operating officer, Lowell McAdam, told us the news ahead of the company's meeting with investors.  —  “I'm not going to shoot myself in the foot,” he said.
SayNow:
Google acquires SayNow, Inc.  —  We are thrilled to announce that we have been acquired by Google.  —  Since 2005, we've explored fun and entertaining ways for people to talk with each other.  Through the web, smartphones, and even land lines, our products brought communities together through the power of voice.
Saulius Dailide / Pixelmator | Weblog:
Pixelmator Grosses $1 Million on the Mac App Store  —  I am ecstatic to announce that Pixelmator grossed a gigantic $1 million on the Mac App Store.  And that happened in only 20 short days.  —  What is even better is that the app is getting rave reviews on the Mac App Store …
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Google To Acquire fflick For $10 Million  —  Back in August we wrote about a neat service called fflick that looked to harness Twitter to power a movie sentiment and recommendation engine, with an added dash of colorful style.  Now the service is getting two big thumbs up from Google …
Kim-Mai Cutler / Inside Facebook:
Facebook CTO Bret Taylor: “Mobile is the primary focus for our platform this year.”  —  If any consensus emerged around the state and health of the Facebook platform, it was that the future of it is clearly on mobile devices.  —  Facebook chief technology officer Bret Taylor said today …
RELATED:
AWS Evangelist / Amazon Web Services Blog:
Introducing the Amazon Simple Email Service  —  Like most technical endeavors, sending email is a lot harder than it looks!  The simple solutions that are entirely adequate when you have to send a couple of dozen daily emails simply don't work when you need to send out hundreds, thousands …
Mike Swift / Mercury News:
Google will hire at least 6,000 workers ‘across the board’ in 2011  —  Extending a surge that began last year, Google says 2011 will be its largest hiring year ever, plans that would mean the Internet giant will add more than 6,000 new workers over the balance of this year.
37signals Product Blog:
We'll be retiring our support of OpenID on May 1  —  We first jumped on the OpenID bandwagon back in 2007 when it was seen as a promising way to make logging into websites simpler.  What we've learned over the past three years is that it didn't actually make anything any simpler for the vast majority of our customers.
Discussion: SAI and Daring Fireball
Tricia Duryee / eMoney:
Facebook Acquires Mobile Advertising Startup Rel8tion  —  Facebook has acquired Rel8tion and the employees of the nine month-old Seattle-based startup, which has been working under the radar to develop a hyper-local mobile advertising service.  —  Facebook confirmed the acquisition in a statement …
Discussion: Inside Facebook, All Facebook and SAI
Declan McCullagh / CNET News:
Justice Department seeks mandatory data retention  —  Criminal investigations “are being frustrated” because no law currently exists to force Internet providers to keep track of what their customers are doing, the U.S. Department of Justice will announce tomorrow.
Dan Frommer / SAI: Silicon Alley Insider:
Why The Verizon iPhone Is Going To Be Huge: Only 26% Of Verizon Subscribers Have Smartphones  —  Apple probably would have been better off if it had started selling the iPhone at Verizon a year ago, as it probably would have stifled Google Android from becoming such a strong competitor.
RELATED:
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines Blog:
Verizon's fourth quarter earnings fall short, but wireless subscribers surge
Irina Slutsky / AdAge:
Facebook Turns the ‘Like’ Into Its Newest Ad  —  Say Something About a Brand?  It Could End Up as an Ad in Your Friends' Feeds  —  SAN FRANCISCO (AdAge.com) — The ubiquitous “like” is currency for brands, and Facebook is giving them a new way to collect: an ad unit that shows …
Facebook Developer Blog:
The Next Step for Facebook Credits  —  Facebook Credits is a virtual currency that enables fast and easy transactions across games on Facebook.  With Facebook Credits, people enter their payment information once and can buy, earn and spend safely across lots of different games.
RELATED:
Ryan Kim / GigaOM:
Facebook Credits: Virtual Goods Are Just the Beginning
Nathan Olivarez-Giles / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Will.i.am named Intel's director of creative innovation  —  Will.i.am is joining Intel as its director of creative innovation.  —  The world's largest computer chip manufacturer announced the music producer and frontman for the Black Eyed Peas will contribute to the company by way of music …
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
DLD11: James Murdoch On The Daily, Paywalls, Google And Apple  —  James Murdoch, son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and currently Chairman and CEO of News Corporation, Europe and Asia, was interviewed on stage at the DLD Conference in Munich, Germany.  —  Murdoch touched on everything …
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
Developers Report Increased Interest in Android, Tablets for 2011  —  The average developer is now building for four different devices, a joint survey from app development firm Appcelerator and analyst firm IDC has revealed.  Of those multiple devices, building apps for Android tablets …
Georgina Prodhan / Reuters:
Google's Schmidt expects another 10 years at Google  —  (Reuters) - Outgoing Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said on Tuesday he expected to spend another 10 years at Google, after announcing his surprise handover last week to co-founder Larry Page.  —  Schmidt, who oversaw the company's meteoric rise …
Discussion: Search Engine Watch
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
New Initiative Harnesses Smartphones To Help Keep Heart Attack Victims Alive  —  It isn't often that I get to write about a smartphone app that's actually going to save lives.  Which is why I'm so excited about this story.  —  Right now in the San Francisco suburb of San Ramon, California …
Nick Farrell / TechEye:
Obama surrenders to Big Content  —  The President of the French-backed terrorist government of the former British colony of Virginia has turned over the control of his country's judiciary to the entertainment industry.  —  In an unusual move, by any country's standards …
 
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 More Items: 
Brooke Crothers / CNET News:
TI admits to Nvidia tablet pressure
Alex Ben Block / Hollywood Reporter:
Netflix Vows to Be ‘Aggressive Bidder’ for HBO Content
Discussion: paidContent, CNET News and Techland
Dan Frommer / SAI: Silicon Alley Insider:
Mahalo 4.0 = Howcast + Quora + About.com
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, VentureBeat and MediaMemo
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft Blog:
More codenames provide clues to planned Microsoft Mediaroom IPTV blitz
Discussion: TechFlash, Electronista and SlashGear
 Earlier Items: 
Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM:
HP's New Cloud Products Offer a Flashback to 2009
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Cirtas raises $22.5M for cloud storage hardware and gets new CEO
Discussion: VatorNews
The Huffington Post:
Android vs. iPhone In China: Will Google Beat Apple?
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Eric Schmidt At DLD11: Google Will Add 1,000 New Employees In Europe
Jared Newman / PC World:
The State of Windows 8  —  Beneath a thin surface layer …
Roger Ebert / Roger Ebert's Journal:
Why 3D doesn't work and never will. Case closed.
Discussion: GameLife and Los Angeles Times
Darren Murph / Engadget:
Exclusive: Barnes & Noble phasing out the Nook 3G
Discussion: VentureBeat and SlashGear
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter:
Internal memo: Hearst Magazines president announces layoffs as part of a decision to “reallocate resources” to “continue our focus on digital innovation”

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced she will leave the agency on January 20; she was the first woman to be confirmed to lead the agency

Lachlan Cartwright / The Ankler:
Sources: MSNBC renewed Rachel Maddow's contract early this fall, but with a pay cut; MSNBC bosses' plan to shake up daytime and weekend programming

 
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