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3:20 PM ET, August 17, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Arik Hesseldahl / AllThingsD:
OuchPad: Best Buy Sitting on a Pile of Unsold HP Tablets  —  There have been plenty of hints that Hewlett-Packard's TouchPad isn't selling well.  First there was a $50 discount.  Then there were spot discounts of $100 at outlets like Costco.  Then the $100 discount became permanent.
RELATED:
Roger Cheng / CNET News:
It's iPad or nothing, survey says  —  The tablet market continues to be summed up like this: the iPad and everything else.  And everything else doesn't amount to much.  —  That's according to a recent survey conducted by Robert W. Baird.  The study found that out of more than 1,100 potential …
Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:
Exclusive: Apple's Mobile Ad Head Andy Miller Departs for Highland Capital  —  Andy Miller (pictured here), the high-profile VP of mobile advertising at Apple, is planning on leaving the company, according to sources close to the situation.  —  Sources said Miller — who sold Quattro Wireless …
Frank X. Shaw / The Official Microsoft Blog:
The Future of the Living Room  —  Summer is a transition time for many people: the break between school years; a vacation before tackling another year of work; and for network television that's been a guest in our living rooms for so long, summer is a time of transition between seasons.
Shadi Mahassel / The Big Blog:
Skype WiFi - now available on iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch  —  Skype WiFi (formerly known as Skype Access) is coming to iOS.  We've just launched a new iOS application that's free to download from Apple's App store.  —  With the new Skype WiFi app, you can go online on your iPhone …
Amar Toor / Engadget:
Motorola's new Droid HD makes cameo alongside Droid Bionic  —  We've just received a fascinating set of photos from a sharp-eyed tipster, who sent along images of what appear to be Motorola's Droid Bionic and, most alluringly, that rumored handset known as the Droid HD (pictured above).
Reuters:
Apple, Qualcomm, others eye InterDigital: sources  —  (Reuters) - Apple Inc, Nokia and Qualcomm Inc are among several technology companies pondering bids for InterDigital Inc, sources familiar with the situation said.  —  The auction of the wireless telecoms specialist …
RELATED:
Chris Smith / AppleInsider:   Apple predicted to ‘strike back’ at Google with its own patent purchase
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Photovine Grows Ready For Public Use; Easily Google's Most Ambitious Photo-Sharing App Yet  —  Google's Slide team has been busy.  In the past few months, they've unleashed a range of social apps meant to fulfill different needs.  But the strange thing is that Google hasn't done a thing to promote any of them.
Adrianne Jeffries / Betabeat:
Jumo ‘Acquired’ for $0 and a Graceful Exit  —  Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes has struggled with his ambitious solo start-up, the social network for activism Jumo, ever since its bumpy launch.  Waning traffic and the disinterest of users were making it obvious that the site was not going to catch on …
RELATED:
Ellen McGirttue / Fast Company:
Chris Hughes's Jumo And GOOD Join Forces
Miyoung Kim / Reuters:
Samsung's Lee eyes deals to boost software prowess: report  —  (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee has asked the firm's top management to seek measures including acquisitions to enhance its software prowess, local media reports said on Wednesday.
Scientific American:
How Did BART Kill Cellphone Service?  —  The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit system initially claimed a phone service shut-down was performed by telecoms, but that's not the latest story  —  The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit system (BART) shut down subterranean cellular phone service …
RELATED:
David Kravets / Threat Level:   San Francisco Subway Spokesman Says Cellphone Shutdown Was His Idea
Colleen Taylor / GigaOM:
StumbleUpon's new Explore Box lets you stumble with purpose  —  Since its inception, StumbleUpon has worked pretty much as the name advertised: It allows you to stumble upon cool things on the web, rather than through explicit web searches.  But a new beta feature is set to expand StumbleUpon's offering …
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Apple's Online Store Gets More Social With Twitter and Facebook Links  —  Following today's mysterious downtime for Apple's online stores, users have been scouring the store pages to look for any changes.  While the store remains largely unchanged with no major new product offerings …
Discussion: 9to5Mac and FreakGeeks
Jun Yang / Bloomberg:
Apple Sued by South Korean IPhone Users Over Location Data  —  A group of South Korean users of Apple Inc. (AAPL)'s iPhone sued the company in a local court, claiming it invaded their privacy by allowing the smartphone to collect location data without their consent.
Farhad Manjoo / Slate Magazine:
Android Isn't Free  —  How Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility will make it more like Apple.  —  Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has a knack for making completely boneheaded predictions about his competitors' products, so when he took to blasting Google's Android strategy last year, many observers—myself included—dismissed him.
RELATED:
Anders Bylund / Ars Technica:   What Google lost—and gained—by not buying Motorola in 2010
Adrian Glick Kudler / Curbed LA:
Someone Wants to Build a Glass-Roofed Apple Store on the Third Street Promenade  —  A tipster points us to this item scheduled for consideration by the Santa Monica Planning Commission tomorrow night—an unnamed retailer wants to tear down the old three story Borders space on the Third Street Promenade …
New York Post:
City to test parking meters that can be paid by phone  —  Drivers may soon be able to phone the meter instead of feeding it in person.  —  New York City plans to test new “pay by phone” parking meters that warn motorists as the time winds down and invites them to buy extra minutes without returning to their cars.
Faith Merino / VatorNews:
Amazon is retail king, reaching 1 in 5 Web users  —  ComScore releases data that finds Amazon reached 20% of the global Internet population in June  —  I don't know if anyone has noticed, but while Borders is scrambling to shed its dead weight of inventory by September, its clearance prices are still higher than Amazon's.
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Rhapsody lands MetroPCS deal, bundling music service with monthly mobile plan  —  Rhapsody promoted on the home screen of a MetroPCS Android device.  —  Rhapsody has struck a deal with MetroPCS Communications to make the Rhapsody Unlimited Music service a new feature of the wireless carrier's premium monthly cell-phone plan.
LAUNCH:
Exclusive: Uber CEO Lays out Road Map—Helicopters, Motorcycles and Food Delivery  —  Uber, the on-demand private car service, has the framework in place to eventually start providing food delivery and offering helicopter and motorcycle rides, said CEO Travis Kalanick on “This Week In Startups” [ full episode here ].
Discussion: The Business Insider
Steve Lohr / New York Times:
A Bull Market in Tech Patents  —  Google was willing on Monday to pay $12.5 billion for Motorola Mobility in no small part because of its stockpile of 17,000 patents.  The patent portfolio, some analysts estimate, could represent more than half of the value of the deal, or more than $400,000 a patent.
JP Mangalindan / Fortune:
Facebook: Google+ has no users  —  Facebook executives have choice words for Google's efforts to bring casual games to its fledgling social network.  —  FORTUNE — A little less than two months after Google launched its fledgling social network, Google+, Silicon Valley's latest rivalry is heating up.
Bloomberg:
Kodak Worth More in Breakup With $3B Patents  —  Eastman Kodak Co. (EK) may hold patents worth five times more than the business itself, making the 131- year-old camera company a target in the billion-dollar hunt for inventions used in mobile phones.  —  Kodak, which once had a market value …
Discussion: PetaPixel and ITProPortal
 
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 More Items: 
Chris Evans / Screendaily:
Netflix to launch in Spain in January 2012
Discussion: AllThingsD, I4U News and Deadline.com
Alan McConnell / Facebook Developers:
Simplifying the Developer App
Haas School Newsroom:
Twitter's Biz Stone to Serve as Haas Executive Fellow
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
MileWise Launches Search Engine for Frequent Fliers
Discussion: VentureBeat and @mkapor
Zach Epstein / BGR:
Most expensive BlackBerry Bold 9900 yet hits T-Mobile on August 31st for $300
Lee Spears / Bloomberg:
Tudou to Raise $174 Million in U.S. IPO
 Earlier Items: 
Chris Davies / SlashGear:
Nintendo Wii makeover: Streamlined style but no GameCube support
Tim Stiffler-Dean / PreCentral.net:
SIM-free Pre3 now available via Palm Europe for £299.00 [UPDATE x2: Statement from HP]
Emil Protalinski / Friending Facebook Blog:
Exclusive: Paul Ceglia says Facebook is doing the forgery
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Jeremy, Call Your Mother — She's Worried Sick
Michael Gorman / Engadget:
Fusion Garage Grid 10 tablet and Grid 4 smartphone hands-on
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced she will leave the agency on January 20; she was the first woman to be confirmed to lead the agency

Lachlan Cartwright / The Ankler:
Sources: MSNBC renewed Rachel Maddow's contract early this fall, but with a pay cut; MSNBC bosses' plan to shake up daytime and weekend programming

Evan Drellich / New York Times:
The MLB is planning national packages for streaming companies to bid on in 2028, when its national TV deals with ESPN, Fox, and Turner expire

 
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