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9:20 AM ET, February 24, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Walter S. Mossberg / Personal Technology:
Motorola's Xoom Starts Tablet Wars With iPad  —  After months of speculation, the tablet wars begin in earnest this week.  Motorola is releasing its Xoom tablet on Feb. 24, and I consider it the first truly comparable competitor to Apple's hit iPad.  That is partly because it is the first iPad challenger …
RELATED:
Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:
An iPad lovers review of Motorola Xoom  —  You know I'm an iPad freak.  I was first in line to buy one and I've used it so much my screen is cracked.  —  It is the device that's changed my life more than any other in the past year, which, in a year that Microsoft Kinect shipped, is totally impressive.
Discussion: Inquirer, Thanks:ipadupdates
Kellex / Droid Life:
Official Details of the 4G LTE Upgrade Process for the Motorola XOOM  —  For those of you heading into a Best Buy or Verizon store early tomorrow morning to pick up a Motorola XOOM, you are probably wondering how the upgrade process to 4G LTE will work and we have you covered.
Kevin C. Tofel / GigaOM:
Motorola Xoom With Honeycomb: A First Look Video  —  The Motorola Xoom arrives in Verizon stores tomorrow, marking the first time a Google Honeycomb tablet will be available to customers.  Some may grumble about the $799 price — or $599 with a 2-year contract — but the bigger question is: What do you get for your money?
RELATED:
Arn / MacRumors:
Apple Launches $0.99 Mac FaceTime App on Mac App Store  —  Apple has launched the FaceTime for Mac App on the Mac App Store for $0.99: … The app was in public beta before this, but with the imminent launch of the new MacBook Pros, Apple has launched version 1.0.  New MacBook Pro owners will get FaceTime pre-installed.
Matt Burns / CrunchGear:
Apple Updates The MacBook Pro Line With Sandy Bridge Intel CPUs, AMD GPUs, FaceTime HD, and Thunderbolt  —  Happy Birthday, Steve!  Just like the rumors stated, Apple refreshed the entire line of MacBook Pros today, which just so happened to be Steve Jobs' birthday.
Discussion: TechEye, MacRumors and TechCrunch
Michael Stroh / The Windows Blog:
More answers about our first software update  —  It's been roughly 48 hours since we hit the send button on our first Windows Phone software update.  The rooms around me are buzzing with folks monitoring the rollout, sifting carefully through incoming phone health data (from customers who provide it) …
RELATED:
Tom Warren / WinRumors:
Got a “bricked” Samsung Omnia 7 Windows Phone? Here's the fix
Seth Weintraub / 9 to 5 Mac:
A good demonstration of Light Peak/Thunderbolt  —  What I don't immediately understand is how this is going to work with my current MacBook Pro/monitor setup.  It would seem that if I got a new MBP and a Thunderbolt external hard drive that the hard drive would have two thunderbolt ports …
RELATED:
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Disney Acquires Social Network For Kids Togetherville  —  Disney has just acquired Togetherville, a social network for kids 10 years of age or younger, we've confirmed with the company.  Terms of the acquisition are not being disclosed at the moment.  —  Togetherville, which exited beta last year …
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Google Details Chrome's Background Feature: Run Web Apps Without Seeing Them  —  Google has been on a mission lately to outline some of the cooler, newer features coming to Chrome on their Chromium Blog.  Today brings one of the biggest yet: Background Apps.
Josh Constine / Inside Facebook:
Facebook Announces More Ways to Publish to Users Who Click Like Buttons  —  Millions of websites and social games have implemented Facebook's Like button social plugin, yet relatively few are taking advantage of the capability to publish news feed stories to users that click those buttons.
SAI: Silicon Alley Insider:
CHART OF THE DAY: The Utter Collapse Of MySpace  —  We knew MySpace was dying, but we didn't know it was this bad.  MySpace had 45 million unique visitors in January, down from from 70 million the year prior, according to comScore data.  —  This is why MySpace is up for sale.
Amir Efrati / Wall Street Journal:
Google Penalizes Overstock for Search Tactics  —  Google Inc. has penalized Overstock.com Inc. in its search results after the retailer ran afoul of Google policies that prohibit companies from artificially boosting their ranking in the Internet giant's search engine.
ifixit:
Samsung Galaxy S 4G Teardown  —  Introducing the Samsung Galaxy S 4G.  Not to be confused with the Samsung Galaxy S, Galaxy S II, or Galaxy Tab, the Galaxy S 4G is Samsung's newest entry to the smartphone arena.  Join us today as we unravel the mysteries of the Galaxy S 4G.
Dan Rayburn / The Business Of Online Video:
Amazon Prime Streaming Will Disrupt Netflix, Here's How  —  Over the past 24 hours, I've read a lot of blog posts about Amazon's new Instant Video streaming offering available to Amazon Prime subscribers, yet there are a bunch of really important aspects about the service no one seems to be discussing.
Discussion: MediaPost and Hacking NetFlix, Thanks:danrayburn
Apple:
Apple Releases Developer Preview of Mac OS X Lion  —  Apple® today released a developer preview of Mac OS® X Lion, which takes some of the best ideas from iPad™ and brings them back to the Mac® for the eighth major release of the world's most advanced operating system.
Audrey Watters / ReadWriteWeb:
Eye-Tracking & User-Testing Made Easy with YouEye  —  User testing with eye-tracking software can be an expensive undertaking.  But a startup on stage today at LAUNCH may offer a way to simplify that process - both in terms of cost, testers and technology.  —  YouEye uses a webcam to record users' behavior on a website.
Seth Weintraub / Fortune:
Android activations visualized  —  Here's a great little video which shows the phenomenal rate of increase in Android activations.  —  At last count, Google (GOOG) was activating 300,000 devices per day.  It is hard to imagine Android has grown in just about two and a half years.
Chuck Toporek / @chuckdude:
Why Amazon Isn't Worried About Apple's In-App Purchasing Rules  —  With Apple's recent changes to the rules for In-App Purchasing, a lot of people have been wondering how this might affect the Kindle app for iOS.  If you're currently using the Kindle app on the iPhone or iPad …
Discussion: Examiner, Geek.com, SAI, MacStories, TUAW and Fortune
Bloomberg:
Apple Investors Pass Measure for Bigger Say in Board Vote  —  Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. investors, gathered today at an annual meeting, passed a measure that gives them more say over which directors get elected, while rejecting another that would force management to disclose executive succession plans.
Sebastian Anthony / Download Squad:
WordPress 3.1 released, features massive writing workflow and admin overhauls  —  With over 2,000 code commits and 820 bug and feature fixes, WordPress 3.1 has been released.  You can download the new version in its entirety, or simply log into your WordPress.org installation and update via the Dashboard.
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Energy Efficiency Startup Transphorm Emerges From Stealth, Raises $20 Million From Google Ventures  —  It isn't often that you hear about a startup that's remained in stealth through multiple multi-million funding rounds.  But today, we're meeting a company called Transphorm that's done just that — and it's making its debut in style.
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Like WordPress for Mobile App Creation: Cabana is a Service to Watch  —  Is it possible for a visual drag-and-drop mobile app creation tool to deliver a sophisticated product?  A service called Cabana was unveiled at the Launch conference today and says it aims to do just that, like WordPress for web and native mobile apps.
Discussion: VentureBeat
Alastair Goldfisher / PE Hub Blog:
Scoop: Peter Wagner Parts Ways with Accel After Nearly 15 Years  —  Peter Wagner is leaving Accel Partners after nearly 15 years with the firm, peHUB has learned.  —  Wagner sent an email to friends on Wednesday (Feb. 23) announcing his departure, but he did not say where he is headed …
Nathan Olivarez-Giles / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
FTC asks court to shut down text spammer who promised home loan modifications  —  The Federal Trade Commission has filed a complaint against a Huntington Beach man who it says sent millions of illegal text spam messages advertising a mortgage modification website that claimed to offer government-affiliated services.
Discussion: MediaPost
 
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 More Items: 
Michael Riley / Bloomberg:
Exxon, Shell Said to Have Been Hacked Via Chinese Servers
Discussion: ComputerWeekly.com
Scott Austin / Venture Capital Dispatch:
JP Morgan Raises $1.2 Billion For Digital Growth Fund
Discussion: broadstuff, DealBook, Reuters and SAI
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
How TheFacebook Used To Woo Advertisers Back In The Early Days
Thanks:robinwauters
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Google's Decision to Get Into “Real Time” Ads Was Really Smart, Says Google
Matthew Lynley / VentureBeat:
Gamification company GreenGoose raises $100k on stage at Launch Conference
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, Engadget and CNET News
 Earlier Items: 
Daniel Bailey / ConceivablyTech:
Chrome OS To Get HW Acceleration, Mac/Linux/ Windows Support
Discussion: Telegraph
David Heinemeier Hansson / Signal vs. Noise:
The end of the IT department
 

 
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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