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8:10 PM ET, July 5, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Ben Parr / Mashable!:
EXCLUSIVE: Google to Retire Blogger & Picasa Brands in Google+ Push  —  Say goodbye to the Picasa and Blogger names: Google intends to retire several non-Google name brands and rename them as Google products, Mashable has learned.  —  The move is part of a larger effort to unify its brand …
RELATED:
Tom Cheredar / VentureBeat:   Google retiring Blogger and Picasa brands for public launch of Google+
FierceWireless:
Verizon confirms it will ditch unlimited smartphone data plans starting July 7  —  Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) will switch to a new, usage-based pricing model for smartphone data starting July 7, a company spokeswoman confirmed.  —  Verizon spokeswoman Brenda Raney told FierceWireless …
Monica Chen / DigiTimes:
Pegatron receives orders for 15 million iPhone 5s from Apple  —  Taiwan-based notebook maker Pegatron Technology is estimated to have landed orders for 15 million iPhone 5s (iPhone 4S) from Apple and is set to start shipping in September of 2011, according to sources from upstream component makers.
RELATED:
Lauren Indvik / Mashable!:
Twitter Testing Facebook-Like Message Wall [PIC]  —  Twitter is testing a Facebook-like message wall on profile pages, prompting users to send public tweets (a.k.a @ replies, or mentions) to specific users directly from their profile pages.  —  Twitter is testing the feature with a small percentage of users.
Discussion: Redmond Pie and @dannysullivan
BackType:
BackType Has Been Acquired by Twitter  —  We're thrilled to announce that BackType has been acquired by Twitter!  We'll be bringing our team and technology to Twitter's platform team, where our focus will be developing tools for Twitter's publisher partners.
Wall Street Journal:
New Financing Values Twitter as High as $7 Billion  —  Even as Internet companies such as Zynga Inc. and Groupon Inc. file to go public, Twitter Inc. is taking a different route: It is continuing to tap private investors.  —  The fast-growing Internet messaging service is currently …
Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:
As of July 31st, all Google profiles will be public  —  Google will no longer allow users to have private Google profiles after July 31st, reports Search Engine Land.  The company had previously allowed users to create and maintain profiles on its service without publicly disclosing their existence.
Tarmo Virki / Reuters:
Ailing Nokia cuts smartphone prices to halt slump  —  (Reuters) - Struggling Nokia has cut the prices of its smartphones in Europe, two industry sources told Reuters on Tuesday, raising the possibility of a more intensive price war in the mobile phone market.
Emil Protalinski / Friending Facebook Blog:
Facebook blocks Google Chrome extension for exporting friends  —  Facebook Friend Exporter is a Chrome extension developed by Mohamed Mansour, an open source software engineer, that lets you grab all the information about your Facebook friends so you can import them elsewhere.
Kate Murphy / New York Times:
iPads Replacing Pilots' Paper Manuals  —  What is in those bulky, black flight bags that pilots carry into the cockpit?  It is not a change of clothes but reams of reference material needed for the flight — about 40 pounds of it.  There are the aircraft's operating manual, safety checklists …
Bobbie Johnson / GigaOM:
Nokia's $200m secret shows the rot goes way, way back  —  There have been plenty of attempts to pinpoint where Nokia, the struggling Finnish mobile company, really started to go wrong.  Some think it was when the iPhone launched and left it in the dust; some would suggest it was when the board …
Discussion: SlashGear, Thanks:bobbiejohnson
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Google Rumored To Launch ITA-Powered Travel Search Product Soon  —  We're hearing that Google is planning to launch an ITA integrated-flight search product as soon as a few weeks from now, according to a well-placed industry source.  In April, the DOJ finally approved Google's $700 million acquisition …
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Law Professors Come Out Against PROTECT IP  —  Another day, another constituency speaking out against PROTECT IP and the damage that it will do.  This time, it's a large group of law professors (over 90 have signed on so far), including some big names.  The professors' full letter is embedded below …
David Kravets / Threat Level:
‘Massive Infringement’ Case Against CNET Dropped  —  Plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit accusing CNET of facilitating “massive copyright infringement” by distributing peer-to-peer software dropped their case Monday.  —  The May lawsuit was lodged in Los Angeles by a handful of musicians and filmmaker Alkiviades David.
Discussion: TorrentFreak and paidContent
Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:
Google plans to open Hangouts for interoperability  —  Hangouts, the group video chat component of Google Plus that everyone's been raving about, could eventually be usable with other video chat clients and services as well.  Google Real-time Communications Tech Lead Justin Uberti wrote …
Todd Haselton / BGR:
Android market share jumps as BlackBerry slides; smartphones now owned by 1 in 3 Americans  —  According to a new report from comScore, 1 in 3 Americans now own a smartphone.  Google's Android OS is ahead of the pack with a 38.1% share of the market during the 3-month period ending in May — up 5.1% from the last report in February.
Susan Decker / Bloomberg:
Google Searching for Patents After Nortel Loss  —  Google Inc. (GOOG)'s loss in bidding for the $4.5 billion portfolio of Nortel Networks Corp. patents last week means the Internet-search company will be looking to buy other inventions to build a bulwark against lawsuits targeting its Android system, patent brokers said.
Anne Tergesen / Wall Street Journal:
When Guests Check In, Their iPhones Check Out  —  When booking a weeklong yoga retreat, Amanda Levy signed up for a special package.  Called “digital detox,” it promised a 15% discount if Ms. Levy, a sales executive at a San Francisco social-networking company, would agree to leave …
Discussion: The Business Insider
Om Malik / GigaOM:
For Foursquare, Brazil is the next big check-in  —  Foursquare is no longer a U.S. phenomenon.  The New York City-based company is beginning to see some rapid growth in highly mobile societies.  The newest one to join the party is Brazil, which has started to take off in the past few weeks …
Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:
Dancing Queen: After Meeting With Microsoft Last Week, Yahoo Is Next on Hulu's Sales Card  —  Here's a handy helper for those following the fate of the Hulu premium online video service, whose noisy efforts to sell itself have gotten a lot of attention of late:
Rachel King / Between the Lines Blog:
Samsung garners 60 percent of U.S. 3D TV market share  —  Although 3D TVs don't sell as quite as well as regular HDTVs just yet, Samsung has to be pleased as it accounts for more than 60 percent of the U.S. 3D TV market share, according to latest reports from The NPD Group.
Discussion: Samsung USA Newsroom
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
If Google Buzz Is A Black Hole For Sharing Traffic, Google+ Is The Big Bang  —  Back in March of last year, we noted that Google Buzz, Google's shiny new social network at the time, was getting smoked in terms of referral traffic sent our way, by a dead man, FriendFeed.
Discussion: @dannysullivan
Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:
August 5 hearing on preliminary injunction against Samsung too early, judge tells Apple  —  Apple's impressively bold motion for a preliminary injunction against four Samsung products in the U.S. market proposed a hearing in one month from today: on August 5, 2011, at 1:30 PM Pacific Time …
Discussion: MobileCrunch, Thanks:curtwfallesq
 
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 More Items: 
Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:
Apparently Undeterred by Apple Crackdown, Tapjoy Investors Pour In $30M More
Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:
Microsoft to retire Office XP, Vista SP1 next week
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Microsoft Bing innovates on iPad with ‘Lasso’ quick search
Jennifer Valentino-DeVries / Digits:
Traffic App Waze, ABC Team Up to Fight ‘Carmageddon’ in L.A.
 Earlier Items: 
Stephen Shankland / CNET News:
Firefox PDF reader passes ‘pixel-perfect’ test
Discussion: Computerworld and Softpedia News
Samantha Murphy / New Scientist:
Exclusive first interview with key LulzSec hacker
Discussion: New York Times
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
Around 75% of the largest US newspapers aren't endorsing anyone for president this year, as publishers try not to annoy any sliver of their remaining customers

Alyson Krueger / New York Times:
A profile of Town & Country EIC Stellene Volandes, who is trying to keep the Hearst-owned 178-year-old magazine relevant via social media and its website

Ellen Clegg / What Works:
After The Minnesota Star Tribune decided last summer not to endorse anyone for president, 15 former opinion staffers posted their own endorsement online

 
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