Top Items:
Jay Freeman / Google+:
In the last couple days, Google has taken to quite actively enforcing its “real name” rule — , banning or suspending accounts (with many reports of users getting locked out of all of Google, as opposed to just +) with names that “look funny” (such as including symbols, “including period") …
Discussion:
Redmond Pie, @notmattbellamy, iDownloadBlog, Robert Scoble and @dannysullivan
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Jon Evans / TechCrunch:
Google Plus Has A Problem. Fear Not: I Have A Solution — Google Plus is terrific. I don't think it will ever be more than the Pepsi to Facebook's Coke, alas, but it's much slicker and better designed. It's too bad that the service has sacrificed a pile of goodwill over the last week …
Discussion:
Examiner, ZDNet, PC World, Infotropism and Pulp Tech Blog
John Avlon / The Daily Beast:
The Web's Stealth Presidential Race — Big names have quietly launched an Internet presidential race that will offer the winner a real election ballot spot in all 50 states. Will this be 2012's spoiler? — Imagine what our election system might look like if it were designed today …
Discussion:
@shawngude, The Daily Caller and @mmckinnon
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David Weigel / Slate:
F**kYouWashington — On Saturday night, aided by “a nice pinot noir,” the tech and business-of-news writer Jeff Jarvis started to tweet. — “Hey, Washington a**holes,” he wrote, “it's our country, our economy, our money. Stop f**king with it.” — He started rolling. Inspiration struck.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, CBS News, @anonyops and @andrewpbrett
Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:
Make Way for the Radical Center — DID I mention that I've signed a pledge — just like those Republican congressmen who have signed written promises to different political enforcers not to raise taxes or permit same-sex marriage? My pledge is to never vote for anyone stupid enough to sign a pledge …
Discussion:
@timoreilly, Pitos Blog and Victus Spiritus
Felix Salmon:
The cost of patent trolls — I love This American Life's investigation into patent troll Nathan Myhrvold and his company Intellectual Ventures. You should go read — or listen to — the whole thing, but in a nutshell, they explored what happened if they took Intellectual Ventures at its word.
Discussion:
NPR
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Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Intellectual Ventures responds to This American Life exposé: ‘We fundamentally disagree’ — Intellectual Ventures, the patent holding firm and invention house founded by former Microsoft technology chief Nathan Myhrvold, was already-well known in technology circles.
Discussion:
This American Life Updates and Slashdot
Matt Rosoff / The Business Insider:
Who Does Patent-Trading Firm Intellectual Ventures Work For, Anyway?
Discussion:
GeekWire
Jun Yang / Bloomberg:
Samsung Smartphone Sales May Pass Apple — Samsung Electronics Co., the world's second-largest handset maker, may have surpassed Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) and Apple Inc. (AAPL) in smartphone sales in the second quarter, driven by the popularity of Android-based models, according to Boston- based Strategy Analytics.
Discussion:
9to5Google and Redmond Pie
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Facebook Glitch Revealed Thumbnails & Descriptions Of Friends' Private Videos — Facebook's labyrinthine privacy controls have sprung another leak. — This time it's their Videos feature, which lets users share brief clips with their friends and family (Videos launched back in 2007 …
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
iOS 5′s integrated Nuance Dictation speech-to-text feature detailed — Previously found Nuance Dictation reference in iOS 5 internal settings — Following our exclusive reveal of iOS's Siri-based “Assistant” feature, we have discovered some more references to Nuance Dictation speech-to-text integration.
Discussion:
The Business Insider, Computerworld, Electronista and TUAW, Thanks:jakeosmith
Stephen J. Dubner / Freakonomics:
Why Has There Been So Much Hacking Lately? Or Is It Just Reported More? A Freakonomics Quorum — You don't have to be all that sharp to see that there's a lot of hacking going on lately. As I type, Rupert Murdoch and his allies are testifying before British Parliament over the mushrooming News …
Discussion:
Securosis Highlights
Dave Zatz / Zatz Not Funny!:
The Roku 2 Review — The original Roku media streamer launched back in the spring of 2008 as the “Netflix Player.” In fact, the product was spun off from Netflix itself when Roku founder and CEO Anthony Wood returned home... with his Netflix project team and funding in tow.
