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5:45 PM ET, August 15, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Larry Page / The Official Google Blog:
Supercharging Android: Google to Acquire Motorola Mobility  —  Since its launch in November 2007, Android has not only dramatically increased consumer choice but also improved the entire mobile experience for users.  Today, more than 150 million Android devices have been activated worldwide …
RELATED:
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Exclusive: Guess who else wanted to buy Motorola?  —  Google may not have had much of a choice when it came to buying Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion.  If it didn't, someone else would have and that would have put the company in an even bigger patent hole.
Henry Blodget / The Business Insider:
THE TRUTH ABOUT THE GOOGLE-MOTOROLA DEAL: It Could End Up Being A Disaster  —  A very interesting move by Google this morning, buying handset hardware maker Motorola for $12.5 billion.  —  Google deserves credit for a big, bold move.  —  But let's be real: This deal could end up being a disaster.
Dan Lyons / Real Dan Lyons Web Site:
Suck on it, AppleSoft — Google pulls a rope-a-dope  —  Everyone was baffled when Google made those crazy bids for the Nortel patents last month.  Remember?  They bid things like the distance from the earth to the sun, the number pi, and some other wacky numbers from mathematics.
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines Blog:
Google's $12.5 billion Motorola Mobility bet: 6 reasons why it makes sense  —  Summary: Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility solves the search giant's patent problems, gives it a bigger say in hardware integration and fixes a few other issues.  Here's a look at the moving parts.
Chris Ziegler / This is my next:
Google buying Motorola: Nokia, Samsung, and other industry players react  —  Google said this morning that it dropped its “top five” Android partners a line yesterday to let them know that this Motorola acquisition was taking place — so naturally, many of them had prepared statements ready to go.
Marguerite Reardon / CNET News:
Google just bought itself patent protection  —  In what looks like an attempt to help guard against a legal patent assault by its large tech rivals, Google is spending $12.5 billion to buy mobile handset maker Motorola Mobility.  —  In the wee hours of Monday morning, Google dropped a bombshell …
Bloomberg:
Google Deal Said to Have $2.5 Billion Reverse Breakup Fee
Discussion: AllThingsD, FOSS Patents and Gizmodo
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft Blog:
Google's Motorola acquisition: Microsoft patent case takes a new turn
Discussion: AllThingsD, PC World, CNN and AppleInsider
Jonathan S. Geller / BGR:
Exclusive: 4G LTE iPhone currently in carrier testing  —  Apple's iPhone 5 is set to be unveiled in the next month or so, though no one quite knows what the device will feature thanks to the ongoing flood of rumors.  Sure, we have a pretty good idea of what it will look like …
Andreas Udo de Haes / Computerworld:
Apple's evidence may be flawed in European Samsung case  —  Pictures of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 submitted into evidence look more like the iPad than the actual Samsung device does  —  (COMPUTERWORLD NETHERLANDS) — Apple and its lawyers have, perhaps inadvertently, misled the judge …
RELATED:
Daniel Cooper / Engadget:
Did Apple alter photos of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in its injunction filing?
Discussion: BGR and Tools
Brian Heater / Engadget:
TabCo reveals itself as Fusion Garage, unveils Grid 10 tablet and Grid 4 smartphone  —  After months of teasing, TabCo finally revealed itself to the world — as suspected, the brand is, in fact a reboot of Fusion Garage, the company that gave the world the much maligned JooJoo tablet.
RELATED:
Todd Haselton / BGR:   Fusion Garage unveils $499 Grid 10 tablet, $399 Grid 4 smartphone
Ed Bott / The Ed Bott Report Blog:
Microsoft declares victory over Linux, names Apple and Google main rivals  —  Summary: Normally, reading a company's annual report is better than Ambien for lulling oneself to sleep.  But this year Microsoft's lawyers allowed some actual competitive insight to sneak into the normally dull 10-K reports …
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
Official Steve Jobs biography set for November 21 release, based on forty interviews  —  According to Barnes and Noble's website, the official Steve Jobs biography - titled Steve Jobs: A Biography - is becoming available on November 21, 2011.  This is a big leap from the previously announced March 6 …
Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:
Most Android vendors lost their Linux distribution rights, could face shakedown or shutdown  —  Last week I read about an Android licensing issue that I wasn't previously aware of.  It's a pretty serious one, and it's not that hard to understand.  The short version is that
Lee Mathews / ExtremeTech:
Mozilla takes Firefox version numbers to the next level... by removing them  —  A great collective gasp issued from tuned-in Firefox fans when Mozilla announced that it was switching to a Chrome-like release schedule for its browser.  The goal was to make Firefox more adaptable and to keep pace …
Laura Hazard Owen / mocoNews:
New Amazon Student App Also Offers 6 Free Months Of Amazon Prime  —  It's not as good a deal as Amazon's offer last year that gave anyone with a .edu e-mail address a free year of Amazon Prime, but the new Amazon Student iOS app does come with six months of free two-day shipping.
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
iOS 5 Assistant based on Siri technology, may tap into contacts, calendars, e-mail  —  Siri's iPhone app promotional video: how iOS Assistant will likely function  —  While we were able to exclusively report on substantial evidence that Apple is planning a system-wide voice navigation system called …
Discussion: iPhone and SlashGear
AppleInsider:
Construction begins at site of Apple's Grand Central Terminal store  —  Construction is now underway at New York's Grand Central Terminal, where Apple is hard at work on a new retail store that may open this year.  —  Temporary scaffolding can now be seen on the second floor at the world-famous terminal.
Discussion: MacRumors and MacNN
Josh Lowensohn / CNET News:
Adobe debuts Muse, a no-code-required site builder  —  Adobe's targeting graphic designers with a new product codenamed Muse that aims to help them build working Web sites just like they'd design a prototype in one of the company's other design apps.  —  VIDEO  —  Your e-mail's been hacked: Now what?
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Foursquare Gets Into The Crowdsourced Curation Game With Tip Lists  —  Foursquare has launched its Tip Lists features today, attempting to capitalize on people's unending desire to create lists about locations, like Top Five Coffee Shops in SF, etc etc.  Up until now your Foursquare Tips …
Neal Gabler / New York Times:
The Elusive Big Idea  —  Neal Gabler is a senior fellow at the Annenberg Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California and the author of “Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination.”  —  THE July/August issue of The Atlantic trumpets the “14 Biggest Ideas of the Year.”
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Google Is Now The Proud Owner Of Android.me  —  It's not exactly Googorola-sized news, but I just noticed that Google has very recently gained ownership over the domain Android.me (not worth linking as it is currently not in use - yet?).  —  Now, Google may have simply asked - or forced …
Discussion: 9to5Google
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Pew Survey: Half Of U.S. Mobile Consumers Use Cell Phones For Realtime Info Retrieval  —  Mobile computing is more realtime than desktop computing.  That's just obvious.  Typically when you are on the go, you want to know what is going on right now around you.
 
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 More Items: 
Tricia Duryee / AllThingsD:
Airbnb Pumps Up Security With New Hires and Guarantees
Discussion: The Airbnb Blog and Tnooz
Sara Jerome / Tech Daily Dose:
FCC Probing Wireless Blocking by San Francisco Authorities
Discussion: SiliconANGLE and LAPTOP Magazine
Eric Schmidt / Detroit Free Press:
Guest commentary: Detroit can win by using genius of the Internet
Ina Fried / AllThingsD:
RIM Hopes Small Businesses Can Help With Cloudy Future
Discussion: TechCrunch
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Time Warner Cable Buys Cable Company Insight Communications For $3 Billion
 Earlier Items: 
Matthew Lasar / Ars Technica:
Feature: Mad about metered billing? They were in 1886, too
Claire Cain Miller / New York Times:
Flash-Sale Site Turns to More Traditional Retail Models
Ross Rubin / Engadget:
Switched On: TabCo's tease
Chris Yeh / Adventures in Capitalism:
The Lesson of Dropbox: Usage = Value
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Facebook Bans Netlog For Violating Its Policies
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
McAfee launches anti-theft mobile app for the iPhone
Discussion: Examiner and PC World
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Peter White / Deadline:
Fox and Hulu extend their content partnership, including in-season streaming rights for Fox's programming; sources: the deal is worth $1.5B over four years

Peter Kafka / Business Insider:
A Q&A with Chris Balfe, CEO of Red Seat Ventures, which has helped Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly set up their podcast and streaming businesses and sell ads

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
A New York judge finds Sirius XM liable for a difficult subscription cancellation process; Sirius says it will appeal but abide by a new “click-to-cancel” rule
 
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