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12:20 PM ET, February 18, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
New York Times:
Apple Is Weighing a Cheaper iPhone  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Apple has been exploring ways to broaden the appeal of the iPhone by making the popular device less expensive and allowing users to control it with voice commands.  —  But contrary to published reports, Apple is not currently developing …
RELATED:
Matt Brian / The Next Web:
The photo we were all waiting for...Steve Jobs at dinner with Obama  —  Earlier we brought you a photo of President Obama talking with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, posted to the official White House Flickr account.  —  A new photo has been uploaded showing all of Obama's guests at the dinner …
RELATED:
Carla Marinucci / San Francisco Chronicle:
Obama dines with tech stars of Silicon Valley  —  President Obama - on his first official trip to the Bay Area that didn't involve political fundraising - held a dinner meeting Thursday to talk job creation and education with a star-studded team of Silicon Valley executives and leaders …
Wall Street Journal:
Regulators Eye Apple Anew  —  Enforcers Interested in Whether Digital-Subscription Rules Stifle Competition  —  WASHINGTON—U.S. antitrust enforcers have begun looking at the terms Apple Inc. set this week for media companies who want to sell their content on its popular iPad and other devices …
RELATED:
Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
FTC, DoJ in “preliminary” investigation of Apple subscriptions  —  The US Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission have begun looking into Apple's new iOS subscription plan, according to sources speaking to the Wall Street Journal.  The investigation is said to be in the early stages and may not go anywhere.
John Fu / Google Chrome Blog:
Faster than a speeding rabbit: speed, sync, and settings  —  In the spirit of the lunar new year, we're excited to kick off the Year of the Rabbit with a slew of enhancements in the Chrome beta channel.  Today's new beta includes a dramatic improvement in JavaScript speed, new password sync features …
RELATED:
Michael Kan / PC World:
Lenovo to Launch LePad Tablet Worldwide in June  —  Chinese PC maker Lenovo plans on selling its LePad tablet worldwide in June, but will first launch the device in China at the end of March, a company spokesman said on Friday.  —  The LePad, Lenovo's first tablet computer …
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Gawker's Gulp Moment: Big Redesign Is Driving People Away  —  About ten days ago, gossip blog Gawker and its sister sites Gizmodo, Lifehacker and others switched over to a drastic redesign which was met with plenty of jeers.  People always complain about design changes …
Chris Davies / SlashGear:
Nokia giving developers free E7 and free WP7 device  —  Nokia's decision to switch from Symbian to Windows Phone 7 might not have been met with glee from many developers, but the company looks to be addressing its coding community in a decent way.  SlashGear has been passed details …
Jolie O'Dell / Mashable!:
Google Unveils Delicious Bookmark Importer  —  Google has just rolled out a convenient new tool for importing your Delicious bookmarks to Google Bookmarks.  —  The simple importer takes your Delicious login credentials (or lets you use a one-click OAuth button) and imports all your bookmarks, preserving labels or tags.
Sarah Lacy / TechCrunch:
San Francisco Wants to Tax Your Stock Options- All of Them.  —  Few people are aware the San Francisco has had a tax provision in its municipal code since 2004 that requires companies to pay a payroll tax on gains from employee stock options.  No one pays it, and San Francisco hasn't enforced it to date …
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Zynga Raising $500 Million at $10 Billion Valuation  —  The fast-growing social gaming company Zynga is close to completing a funding round of $500 million, valuing the company at $10 billion, said multiple sources.  —  The round includes big institutional investors Morgan Stanley …
Popular Mechanics:
Confessions of an Apple Store Employee  —  Apple is famous for its secrecy, with a code of silence that runs from top management all the way down to its retail employees.  One Apple Store employee decided to throw protocol to the curb and tell us what it's really like working at the vaunted retail outlets.
David Pierson / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Father of China's Great Firewall discusses being persona non grata, admits to skirting the censorship he built  —  The man known as the father of China's so-called Great Firewall is defending his invention, which blocks out hundreds of thousands of foreign websites, and admits to owning software to evade the censorship he helped create.
Phil Hornshaw / Appolicious Advisor:
Apple adds copyright infringement to reasons for rejecting apps  —  The iTunes App Store is a big place, and in such a large and crowded digital space, there are bound to be a few unseemly characters.  One such character is intellectual property theft — the plagiarism of another person's creation …
Paul Lamkin / Pocket-lint:
Acer Windows Phone 7 devices coming Autumn 2011  —  EXCLUSIVE: September or October release  —  An Acer spokesperson has confirmed to Pocket-lint that Acer will be joining the Windows Phone 7 party this autumn, with a September or October 2011 launch planned.
Ryan Kim / GigaOM:
BilltoMobile Quietly Emerges As Mobile Payment Powerhouse  —  A year ago, few people in the U.S. had ever heard of BilltoMobile, a direct carrier billing company with roots in Korea.  But the San Jose company is fast emerging as a leader in the mobile payments space with direct billing arrangements …
Discussion: eMoney and VentureBeat
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
A Bird's-Eye View Of iOS And Android As Seen By One Premium Ad Platform  —  Comparing the iOS and Android platforms is often tricky because the perspective is usually one-sided.  But mobile ad platforms tend to have a pretty well-rounded look at the state of things because they're agnostic …
Discussion: Medialets and Electronista
Kim Severson / New York Times:
Digital Age Is Slow to Arrive in Rural America  —  COFFEEVILLE, Ala. — After a couple of days in this part of rural Alabama, it is hard to complain about a dropped iPhone call or a Cee Lo video that takes a few seconds too long to load.  —  The county administrator cannot get broadband at her house.
Tantek / Microformats:
Facebook Adds hCalendar and hCard Microformats to Millions of Events  —  As of today, Facebook has marked up all events with the hCalendar microformat including marking up their venues with hCard as well.  According to a simple Google search, that's millions of public events now with microformats …
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb
Don Clark / Digits:
Intel's Otellini Named to Obama Jobs Council  —  Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini is not one of the liberal tech leaders who helped President Barack Obama get elected.  But he is nevertheless heeding the administration's call.  —  The White House is announcing that Otellini will be named …
Discussion: TechEye, GMSV, VentureBeat and Reuters
Stephen Lawson / PC World:
House Passes Defunding of Net Neutrality Rules  —  The U.S. House of Representatives has passed an amendment to its annual government funding bill that would prohibit the Federal Communications Commission from using any funds to implement the Net neutrality rules it approved last year.
Discussion: Inquirer and NewsGrange
Ryan Kim / GigaOM:
Apple Contemplating Reduction in 15-Minute App Purchase Window  —  In an apparent response to rising concerns about children buying costly virtual goods in freemium apps, Apple is reportedly discussing the possibility of reducing a 15-minute purchase window for users to buy successive apps …
 
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 More Items: 
Mike Melanson / ReadWriteWeb:
Klout Chrome Extension Brings Scores to the Twitter Timeline
Foremski / Silicon Valley Watcher:
Analysis: Google Social Search Is All About Blocking Facebook/Twitter Search
Stephen Lawson / CIO.com:
Clearwire Gains Subscribers, Remains in the Red
Fatema Yasmine / The Next Web:
Naval Ravikant and AngelList: The Match.com of Funding [Interview]
Discussion: VatorNews
Daniel Eran Dilger / AppleInsider:
Inside subscription content: Apple iPad vs Google One Pass vs Amazon Kindle
Brodie Beta / The Next Web:
Netflix may get slapped with fees to broadcast in Canada
Alex Williams / ReadWriteWeb:
Amazon CTO Werner Vogels Now Hosts His Blog on Amazon S3 and So Can You
Andrew Lyle / Neowin.net:
Microsoft planning IE9 announcement on March 14, launch imminent?
 Earlier Items: 
Sascha Segan / PC Magazine:
Skype: Expect Video Calling for AT&T
Discussion: Electronista and Engadget
Bianca Bosker / The Huffington Post:
Facebook Adds ‘Civil Union,’ ‘Domestic Partnership’ To Relationship Status Options
Connie Loizos / PE Hub Blog:
It's Not a Bubble, People; It's a Pyramid Scheme
Neil Hughes / AppleInsider:
Apple looking to increase battery life with dense lithium cells
 

 
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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