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5:20 PM ET, May 20, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Herman Lai / M.I.C. Gadget:
Breaking: Foxconn Chengdu Manufacture Plant Explosion (Videos)!  —  At around 19:00 in China, Foxconn Chengdu manufacture plant got an explosion, we are not sure actually what cause the explosion and how many casualties had resulted.  At the scene, there are currently more than 10 fire engines …
RELATED:
James T. Areddy / Wall Street Journal:
Explosion Kills 2 at Foxconn Plant  —  SHANGHAI—A large explosion ripped through a Foxconn high-tech plant in southwestern China Friday night, killing at least two people, a government official said.  —  The facility, near Chengdu, has in the past been identified in media as a manufacturing location …
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:
What the Foxconn explosion means for Apple  —  An analyst sketches out the economic implications in two scenarios: One serious, one less so  —  Workers fleeing the fire in Chengdu.  Source: micgadget.com  —  RBC capital's Mike Abramsky was the first analyst out of the gate Friday with a note …
Mikko / F-Secure Antivirus Research Weblog:
Phishing Site Found on a Sony Server  —  We know you're not supposed to kick somebody when they're already down... but we just found a live phishing site running on one of Sony's servers.  —  However, this incident has nothing to do with the Sony PSN hack.  —  This is the official homepage of Sony Thailand:
RELATED:
Cecilia Kang / Washington Post:
Tweet about FCC member's new job at Comcast sets off firestorm  —  Comcast has absorbed a lot of criticism since its decision last week to hire Meredith Attwell Baker, a sitting member of the Federal Communications Commission.  —  But one critical remark really got under the company's skin.
Henry Blodget / SAI:
LINKEDIN: The Truth About What It's Worth  —  LinkedIn's blockbuster IPO has triggered a predictable reaction: Howls of outrage that the valuation is obviously “insane” and that we're right back in a tech bubble again.  —  Leaving aside the broader bubble question (which I've addressed here), is the former assertion right?
RELATED:
Gary Rivlin / The Daily Beast:   The Media's Crazy LinkedIn Comparisons
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
LinkedIn Climbs Past $100 Per Share On Second Day Of Trading
Discussion: SAI and The Conversation
Seth Weintraub / 9 to 5 Mac:
Screenshots of Apple's impressive new Daily Download iPad app, more Apple Store 2.0 news  —  Apple's lawyers called and told us to take down the screenshots.  —  We've gotten our hands on the internal Apple RetailMe iPads and have been rifling through the interesting new features that debuted for Retail employees on Monday.
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Apple Needs Music Publisher Deals Before Launching Cloud Service  —  Apple has deals with three of the big music labels to license a new cloud music service.  And it is in talks to close a deal with holdout Universal Music Group, the world's biggest music company.
RELATED:
Bloomberg:
Apple Is Said to Secure Music Accords With Labels for ITunes Cloud Service  —  Apple Inc. (AAPL) has reached agreements with three major record labels to let users of its new music service access their song collections from handheld devices via the Internet, people with knowledge of the deals said.
Alireza Ali / Google Mobile Blog:
Google Maps on your mobile browser  —  (Cross-posted from the Google Lat Long Blog)  —  With 40% of Google Maps usage on mobile devices, we want you to have a consistent Google Maps experience wherever you use it.  So, today we're announcing our updated Google Maps experience for mobile browsers on Android and iOS.
Elizabeth Woyke / Mobilized:
Nokia To Use ST-Ericsson Chips For Windows Phone 8 Handsets  —  When Nokia releases its hotly-anticipated smartphones based on Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system, at least some of the devices will be powered by silicon from ST-Ericsson, said Carlo Bozotti, the Chief Executive of European semiconductor maker STMicroelectronics.
RELATED:
Jonathan S. Geller / BGR:
BlackBerry PlayBook sales miss targets by over 90% at major retailer, ‘much higher’ return rate than XOOM  —  According to a trusted source from a major big box retailer, sales of RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook have fallen far short of expectations.  In addition, we're told that the PlayBook …
Derek Kessler / PreCentral.net:
Wal-Mart to carry TouchPad, 32GB set at $599 [exclusive]  —  HP's distribution advantage over some other tablet manufacturers is hard to deny.  They have massive inroads with traditional electronics retailers like Best Buy and Amazon, their own online store, and a good relationship …
Matt Rosoff / SAI: Silicon Alley Insider:
BOOM: IBM Is Now Worth More Than Microsoft  —  We noted it was about to happen a few days ago, and now it has.  —  As of 1:11 PM ET, IBM is worth more than Microsoft:  —  That's a stunner for anybody who remembers the tech landscape in the early 1990s, when Microsoft's embrace of the PC revolution sent IBM into a tailspin.
Discussion: Gizmodo and Daring Fireball
Michal Lev-Ram / Fortune:
Zuckerberg: Kids under 13 should be allowed on Facebook  —  Facebook's founder sees the social networking site as a tool with educational potential.  That of course means getting kids Facebooking at an early age.  —  Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg  —  FORTUNE — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg …
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
The End Of Blippy As We Know It  —  So it turns out that almost nobody wants people to check out their purchases.  And also that just adding a social element to a feature isn't enough to make it useful.  The lessons of user adoption are sometimes learned the hard way.
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch Europe:
Twitter sued for ‘breaking’ UK super injunction.  Oh yes.  —  We've been watching the British legal system turn itself into knots for the last couple of weeks, largely due to the ability of Twitter users to break just about any legal ‘super injunction’ a ‘celebrity’ (usually footballers) …
Nick Bilton / Bits:
The Sensors Are Coming!  —  A microscopic view of a gyroscope sensor created by STMicroelectronics.  It is as thin as a piece of paper and can detect the movement of a mobile phone.  —  If you own a smartphone, you probably know just how smart those little gadgets are.
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
Scrollability, New iOS Physics Project from Facebook for iPhone Creator, Joe Hewitt  —  Joe Hewitt, the creator of the Facebook iPhone app, Firebug, and former contributor to Mozilla's Firefox, announced earlier this month that he was leaving Facebook to go build “tools.”  What sorts of tools?
Loopt Blog:
Groupon Now!  Comes to Loopt  —  Groupon lovers in Chicago (so, um, everyone in Chicago): listen up.  Today, Loopt teamed up with Groupon to pull its real-time offers, Groupon Now!  ™, into Loopt.  Loopt users can now receive alerts when there's a live deal nearby (lunchtime?  Ding!
Amy Lee / The Huffington Post:
Bing Director Stefan Weitz: ‘Traditional Search Is Failing’ … Most people think about search as a simple series of actions: type in a phrase, cross your fingers it brings up what you need, and then click around a page of blue links till you get what you were looking for.
Julie Samuels / Electronic Frontier Foundation:
Apple Should Stand Up and Defend its Developers  —  We've been waiting expectantly for Apple to step up and protect the app developers accused of patent infringement solely for using a technology that Apple required they use in order to sell their apps in Apple's App Store.
Ryan Paul / Ars Technica:
Feature: Hands-on: grooving on the go with impressive Google Music Beta  —  Google unveiled its new cloud-based music streaming service during a keynote presentation at the Google I/O conference earlier this month.  The service allows users to upload their song library to Google's storage servers …
Evelyn M. Rusli / DealBook:
Peter Thiel Shuns Hot Idea for Bigger Picture  —  As investors clamor for shares of social media darlings, Peter Thiel is avoiding the frenzy.  —  “Is Twitter worth $7 billion?” the venture capitalist said.  —  “The broader question is, Is it going to help people have a much higher quality of living?
Discussion: SAI
 
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 More Items: 
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Twitter's First CTO Greg Pass Steps Down
Jack Purcher / Patently Apple:
Apple Working on Privacy Mode Viewing Options for Future Displays
Discussion: 9 to 5 Mac, FreakGeeks and OS X Daily
Jim Puzzanghera / Los Angeles Times:
Facebook executive takes heat in hearing on privacy
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Judge has “serious questions” about Righthaven, halts all Colorado cases
Danielle Robinson / Reuters:
Google bond deal sets stage for Apple, Amazon
Lawrence Lessig / The Huffington Post:
An Open Letter to North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue: Support Community Broadband
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
Pirate Party Servers Raided by German Police
Discussion: Ars Technica, Techdirt and PC World
 Earlier Items: 
Daniel Stone / The Daily Beast:
Inside the Other Situation Room
Jack Purcher / Patently Apple:
Apple Patent Reveals Aperture Coming to Touch Display Devices
Discussion: TUAW and everythingiCafe
Business Week:
Apple Alumni Don't Fall Far from the Tree
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
HTML5: It's Last Call for Comments
Discussion: Electronista, Webmonkey and Burningbird, Thanks:marshallk
Dan Goodin / The Register:
Eureka! Google breakthrough makes SSL less painful
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Matthew Keys / The Desk:
Prime Video users will be able to watch local PBS stations and PBS Kids for free in coming months, and two new free PBS channels with ads starting November 26

Michael Gold / New York Times:
President-elect Donald Trump announces he has chosen Karoline Leavitt, who served as his campaign's press secretary, to be his White House press secretary

Anna Betts / The Guardian:
A judge orders an evidentiary hearing for next week to determine whether the Infowars auction was conducted fairly

 
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