Check out Mini-Techmeme for simple mobiles or Techmeme Mobile for modern smartphones.
7:50 AM ET, August 18, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
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 …
RELATED:
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
IBM produces first working chips modeled on the human brain  —  IBM has been shipping computers for more than 65 years, and it is finally on the verge of creating a true electronic brain.  —  Big Blue is announcing today that it, along with four universities and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency …
Reuters:
Apple, Qualcomm, others eye InterDigital  —  (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 telecommunications specialist …
RELATED:
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines Blog:
Welcome to the patent valuation bubble
Eric Savitz / The Tech Trade:
Kodak: Patents For Sale
Brad Molen / Engadget:
AT&T streamlining individual messaging plans August 21st, leaving unlimited as the sole survivor  —  Do not adjust your computer screen, because the screenshot you're seeing above is real.  Confirmed by multiple sources, we've exclusively learned that AT&T — the protagonist of choice …
Andrew Harris / Bloomberg:
Motorola Mobility Faces Suit Over $12.5 Billion Google Sale  —  Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) — Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. and its chief executive officer, Sanjay Jha, were sued by a shareholder claiming they failed to get the best price when they agreed to sell the company for $12.5 billion to Google Inc.
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 …
RELATED:
Christian Zibreg / 9to5Mac:
Prodigy visual interface designer leaves Apple for Square
Discussion: Edible Apple and Electronista
Daniel Eran Dilger / AppleInsider:
Verizon's Android share down dramatically following iPhone 4 launch  —  In less than six months, Verizon Wireless' share of Android phones sold in the US has eroded from 51.4 percent to 41.1 percent, indicating a huge shift among Verizon subscribers to iPhone 4.
Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:
Miami court deals huge setback to Motorola Mobility's defense against Microsoft  —  Motorola Mobility's defense strategy against Microsoft's patent infringement lawsuit just suffered a major setback.  The best defense in patent disputes is a good offense, but after an order issued today …
RELATED:
Greg Kumparak / TechCrunch:
Apple, It's Time To Block iOS 5 Beta Users From Reviewing Apps  —  “Yeah, each new iOS announcement is very... bittersweet.  We love it because it means new APIs for us to build on, bug fixes for things we've had to work around, and, ideally, more people buying the platform we build for.
Kevin C. Tofel / GigaOM:
Why your next smartphone may have a larger HD screen  —  Samsung is reportedly shrinking down the size of full high-definition screens and will create them for large smartphones and small tablets.  The company's Super AMOLED Plus technology, which arrived earlier this year …
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 …
Jeremy Keeshin / thekeesh.com:
Who Does Facebook Think You Are Searching For?  —  Have you ever wondered how Facebook orders your search results?  Clearly they have some ordering about who they think you are looking for, and they seem to guess pretty well.  I can only guess, but it seems like they order it based on who you interact with …
Discussion: TechCrunch and Mashable!
Matt Rosoff / The Business Insider:
Android Boss Andy Rubin Split His First Huge Bonus Check With His Employees  —  When the first Android phone shipped in 2008, Andy Rubin received a multimillion dollar check from his bosses at Google.  —  He turned around and gave some of the money away to the 100 or so employees on the Android team.
Discussion: Wall Street Journal
Ryan Tate / Gawker:
Ashton Kutcher Is a Massive Whore  —  Not only did Ashton Kutcher pose for the cover of Details' September issue, he also edited a special “online only” version, out today.  Turns out Hollywood's prettiest boytoy is one compromised whore of a magazine editor, directing most of his recommendations …
Discussion: Details and @dondodge
Henry Blodget / The Business Insider:
Don't Mean To Be Alarmist, But Groupon Is Running Low On Cash  —  One of the fastest-growing companies in the history of the world, Groupon, is now running seriously low on cash.  —  The company is not broke, by any means.  It can also presumably raise additional capital in the private markets if its IPO gets further delayed.
Discussion: HBR.org, Fortune, reDesign and LAUNCH
Bob Van Voris / Bloomberg:
Facebook Says ‘Authentic Contract’ E-Mailed by Ceglia to Lawyer  —  Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) — Paul Ceglia, the western New York man claiming part-ownership of Facebook Inc., e-mailed the “authentic contract” disproving his claim to a law firm in 2004, a lawyer for the company told a judge.
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Windows Phone games: Details on Microsoft's ‘Fast Async’ service  —  As part of an update about upcoming Windows Phone gaming features, Microsoft this week offered a teaser about a new service called “Fast Async” — promising that it will improve gameplay for turn-by-turn (a.k.a. asynchronous") Xbox Live games on the phones.
Matt Rosoff / The Business Insider:
Windows 8 Will Have An App Store And A “Human Interaction Platform”  —  Microsoft's Windows chief Steve Sinofsky said he was ready to start talking about Windows 8 on Monday, and today he followed up on his promise by listing the feature teams who are working on the next version of Microsoft's flagship product.
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Google Launches A Music Blog To Remind People That Google Music Beta Still Exists  —  Music Beta, remember it?  It's the online music locker service that Google unveiled at I/O in May.  But the keyword in the title very much remains “Beta” — as in, not in any way ready for prime time.
Wolfgang Gruener / ConceivablyTech:
Beyond Windows 8: Patent Hints To A Future Streaming OS  —  Microsoft already has an idea how the Windows operating system may evolve after Windows 8.  A patent filing entitled “Fast Machine Booting Through Streaming Storage” describes a chain of storage devices with different priorities …
Zach Epstein / BGR:
Most Android apps sit idle, top-50 apps make up 61% of all usage, Nielsen finds  —  Nielsen on Thursday ushered in a new era of mobile device usage reporting brought about by customer metering software installed on thousands of iOS and Android devices around the U.S. Rather than relying …
Discussion: NielsenWire, mocoNews, AllThingsD and GigaOM
Lydia Leavitt / Engadget:
Apple snags MagSafe patent for iOS devices (update: it's a movable magnetic coupling)  —  We've all tripped on power cords, sending laptops or other precious items tumbling to the ground.  With the introduction of the MagSafe connector, back in 2006, Apple fixed the problem for clumsy MacBook owners …
Vincent Messina / AndroidGuys:
Come Tomorrow, More Than Half of the U.S. Population will Have Access to Verizon's 4G LTE Network  —  Verizon announced it will be flipping the 4G LTE switch on for another 15 cities come this Thursday, an announcement that will bring Verizon's 4G LTE network to more than half of the U.S. population.
Discussion: PR Newswire, DSLreports and Gizmodo
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of Techmeme at 7:50 AM ET, August 18, 2011.

View the current page or another snapshot:


 
 Techmeme Sponsor Posts: 
Meta:
Open Source AI: Available to all, not just the few  —  Meta's open source AI enables small businesses, start-ups, students, researchers and more to download and build with our models at no cost.
Zoho:
The crossroads of AI and SaaS  —  Enabling businesses of all sizes to build products in-house and disqualifying SaaS tools that are not AI-powered.  In a span of just two years, AI has made a name for itself as the key driver for innovation.
Genesys:
Executive Insights: The Era of Contact Center AI Copilots  —  How AI copilots are transforming customer experience and agent performance.
Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Sponsor Techmeme
 
 See Also: 
Techmeme: site main
Techmeme River: reverse chronological Techmeme
Techmeme Mobile: for phones
Techmeme Leaderboard: Techmeme's top sources
 
 Subscribe: 
Techmeme RSS feed
Techmeme on X
Techmeme on Mastodon
 
 
 More Items: 
Electronista:
Apple only major PC builder in Western Europe still growing
Discussion: CNET News, AppleInsider and TechFlash, Thanks:jonfingas
Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
Fanbois treat criticism of favorite brands as threat to self-image
John Hiesler / Edible Apple:
Delta deploying iPads to pilots as electronic flight bag replacements
Discussion: AppleInsider, Thanks:edibleapple
Bloomberg:
Jive Software Said to Hire Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs for IPO
Discussion: AllThingsD and Bloomberg
Brad Sams / Neowin.net:
Microsoft issues statement on cloud downtime
Discussion: Neowin.net
 Earlier Items: 
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Square Co-Founder And Others Put $17M In Online Merchant Lender Kabbage
Terry Baynes / Reuters:
AT&T sues customers seeking to block T-Mobile deal
Discussion: SlashGear, Gizmodo and CNET News
Jeremy Ford / Singularity Hub:
$80 Android Phone Sells Like Hotcakes in Kenya, the World Next?
Betabeat:
Jumo ‘Acquired’ for $0 and a Graceful Exit
Roger Cheng / CNET News:
It's iPad or nothing, survey says