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4:10 AM ET, May 21, 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:
Ina Fried / Mobilized:
Apple Says Working With Foxconn To Explore Cause of China Explosion  —  Apple said on Friday that it is working with contract manufacturer Foxconn to understand what caused an explosion at a China factory where Foxconn makes goods for Apple.  —  At least two people died in the explosion …
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 …
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 …
Alireza Ali / Google Mobile Blog:
Google Maps on your mobile browser  —  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.
RELATED:
Mike Melanson / ReadWriteWeb:   Google Maps Mobile Matches Pace With the Web
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 …
NielsenWire:
In the U.S., Tablets are TV Buddies while eReaders Make Great Bedfellows  —  The Nielsen Company's most recent research on mobile connected devices sheds new light on how consumers are using their tablets, eReaders and smartphones - and where they are using them, too.
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Groupon's New Partnership With Loopt: Is This How Location Will Be Monetized?  —  Mobile, location based social networking is a young but exciting field.  How will it gain mainstream adoption and how will it become a viable business, though?  A new partnership announced today between notable …
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Congress probes FCC Commissioner's departure to Comcast  —  Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, a key investigative body of Congress.  This afternoon, Issa finally decided that the committee would probe FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker's move …
RELATED:
Cecilia Kang / Washington Post:
Tweet about FCC member's new job at Comcast sets off firestorm
Wall Street Journal:
Google Was Warned on Rogue Drug Ads  —  WASHINGTON—Google Inc. was warned repeatedly by a group of state regulators and industry watchdogs that many of the online drugstores advertising on its network were violating U.S. laws, according to interviews and documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Discussion: CNET News, The Register and SAI
Bloomberg:
Hewlett-Packard's Haas, Iannotti Depart Amid Management Shuffle  —  Hewlett-Packard Co. senior vice presidents Marius Haas, Tom Iannotti and Gary Budzinski are departing, people familiar with the matter said, adding to an exodus of managers from the computer maker.
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.
John Hudson / The Atlantic Wire:
Sony Hit with Two New Cyber Attacks  —  Sony was hit with two new cyber attacks Friday as it continued to recover from the devastating security breach it endured earlier this month.  The first attack was rather minor and involved a breach in the web server that hosts Sony's Thai site.
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Twitter's First CTO Greg Pass Steps Down  —  We're hearing rumors that Twitter CTO Greg Pass has as of today left his post at Twitter, according to a source familiar with the company.  —  Prior to becoming CTO, Pass held the VP of Engineering position at Twitter, after being CTO and co-founder at Summize …
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, Neowin.net and SAI
David Talbot / Technology Review:
Anatomy of a Spam Viagra Purchase  —  A sample of spam transactions finds most pass through just three banks, study finds.  —  What happens if you buy something advertised on a spam email?  This graphic shows the flow of Internet traffic and money following a purchase of Viagra from a spam email.
Discussion: New York Times
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?
Discussion: MacStories and Electronista
James Kendrick / ZDNet:
Some Sprint customers seeing overage charges due to Google Voice integration  —  Sprint sent a ripple through the mobile phone world recently by teaming up with Google to allow customers to integrate phones with the Google Voice (GV) service.  Google Voice is the free service that assigns …
Discussion: Examiner, Thanks:arkanciscan
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 …
Ian Fette / Chromium Blog:
WebP in Chrome, Picasa, Gmail With a Slew of New Features and Improvements  —  Since we announced WebP, a new image format based on WebM technology and the VP8 codec, we've been working hard with the open web community to improve and enhance it.  Today we are happy to share news about a few new features and expanded support for WebP.
Discussion: TechCrunch
Jack Purcher / Patently Apple:
Apple Working on Privacy Mode Viewing Options for Future Displays  —  The US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application of Apple's yesterday that revealed one of the next chapters for Apple's top line displays.  The patent describes a method of allowing a user to steer display light beams …
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
Discussion: Reuters and TechCrunch
 
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 More Items: 
Ryan Kim / GigaOM:
IBM Ups Big Data Bet with New Software, $100 Million in Research
Mozilla Blog:
New Firefox Beta for Android - First Mobile Web Browser to Support Do Not Track Privacy Feature
Discussion: TechCrunch and Crave
Ryan Paul / Ars Technica:
Feature: Hands-on: grooving on the go with impressive Google Music Beta
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
 Earlier Items: 
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Apple Needs Music Publisher Deals Before Launching Cloud Service
Danielle Robinson / Reuters:
Google bond deal sets stage for Apple, Amazon
Evelyn M. Rusli / DealBook:
Peter Thiel Shuns Hot Idea for Bigger Picture
Discussion: SAI
Derek Kessler / PreCentral.net:
Wal-Mart to carry TouchPad, 32GB set at $599 [exclusive]
Elizabeth Woyke / Mobilized:
Nokia To Use ST-Ericsson Chips For Windows Phone 8 Handsets