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4:45 PM ET, August 18, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Bloomberg:
HP to Buy Software Company, Spin Off PCs  —  Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), the world's largest computer maker, is planning to announce the acquisition of Autonomy Corp. for about $10 billion and the spinoff of its personal-computer business, said people familiar with the company's plans.
RELATED:
Ina Fried / AllThingsD:
HP Pulls Plug on webOS Hardware, Leaves OS Future in Doubt  —  In a dramatic turn of events, Hewlett-Packard said on Thursday that it will stop selling hardware based on the webOS it acquired from Palm.  —  As part of its broad statement on Thursday regarding plans to consider spinning out its PC business …
Dan Frommer / SplatF:
That was fast: HP is already getting out of the tablet and phone business  —  HP is planning to get out of the PC business — including tablets and phones.  —  Here's the relevant section from HP's press release: … As part of all this, HP is close to a $10 billion deal to acquire UK software maker Autonomy.
Discussion: Edible Apple
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines Blog:
HP punts on WebOS, discontinues TouchPad, cuts outlook  —  HP said Thursday that it will discontinue its WebOS operations as the company cut its outlook for the next two quarters.  —  The company said it will “will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones.
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
HP To Buy Enterprise Software Autonomy For $10 Billion  —  According to a Bloomberg report, HP is set to buy European infrastructure software company Autonomy for as much as $10 billion.  That price would make the acquisition one of HP's largest deals to date.
Matt Rosoff / The Business Insider:
CONFIRMED: HP Buys Autonomy For $10.2 Billion
Discussion: Financial Times and @brooke
Eric Savitz / The Tech Trade:
HP Confirms Autonomy Talks, Possible PC Spin; Killing Palm Devices; Outlook Light
Poornima Gupta / Reuters:   HP offers $42.11 per share for Autonomy
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 …
Jonah Jones / Google LatLong:
Rain or shine, see the weather in Google Maps  —  Whether you're organizing a trip overseas or a picnic at a local park, knowing the weather forecast is a crucial part of the planning process.  Today, we're adding a weather layer on Google Maps that displays current temps and conditions around the globe …
Andrew Sinkov / Evernote Blogcast:
Evernote Acquires Skitch! #evernote_etc  —  We love Skitch so much that we decided to buy the company.  Skitch is an amazing Mac application that's changed the way people capture, annotate and share images.  Chief Skitchers, Cris Pearson and Keith Lang are moving from Australia and joining Evernote …
Jack Purcher / Patently Apple:
Apple Wins Key Patents for Multi-Touch Displays, MagSafe for Future iPad & More  —  The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 20 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today.  In our second granted patent report of the day we cover Apple's patents for integrating MagSafe …
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.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:
China Mobile has been meeting secretly with Steve Jobs  —  Apple reportedly in highest-level talks with the world's largest mobile operator  —  At a news conference following release of its first-half earnings, China Mobile (CHL) revealed Thursday that it has met several times with Steve Jobs …
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 …
Bing:
Share your “where” with friends: Introducing the “We're In” app from Bing  —  Today we're happy to announce the release of the “We're In” app for Windows Phone.  —  We're In makes organizing get- together's, carpooling and trying to find people in a crowd a breeze.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google Hires Silicon Valley Tech Blogger Louis Gray as Google+ Evangelist  —  Notable Silicon Valley tech blogger and startup consultant Louis Gray is finally turning his passion for Google's products and services into a career.  Gray has just accepted the position of Product Marketing Manager …
Discussion: louisgray.com and Pulse2
CNET News:
Scoop: RIM in talks for BlackBerry music service  —  At a time when Research in Motion needs to sex itself up, the Canadian smartphone maker is in talks with the four largest record companies about launching a new music service to run on top of BlackBerry Messenger, the company's instant-messenger service, multiple sources told CNET.
Discussion: Engadget and The Business Insider
Staska / Unwired View:
What a blunder.  LG had a contract to build first Android phone, but walked away from the deal  —  Wow!  Is this LG's biggest strategic blunder or what?  —  According to Wall Street Journal (subscription required), back when Google was still working on it's mobile OS in secret …
Discussion: PhoneArena
RELATED:
Matt Rosoff / The Business Insider:
Android Boss Andy Rubin Split His First Huge Bonus Check With His Employees
Discussion: PC Magazine
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 …
Arnold Kim / MacRumors:
Apple's Glass Roofed Retail Store Approved Without Even Discussion  —  The Santa Monica Dispatch's Peggy Clifford attended yesterday's Santa Monica Planning Commission meeting and reports that Apple's new Third Street Promenade building was quickly approved, without even discussion.
Adrianne Jeffries / Betabeat:
Soraya Darabi Steps Back at Foodspotting, Eyes Bigger Role at ABC  —  Soraya Darabi, public face and retroactively-named co-founder for the Bay Area start-up Foodspotting, has effectively left her daily role at the company.  —  Ms. Darabi, who has more than 429,000 followers on Twitter …
Andreas Udo de Haes / Computerworld:
Apple seeks ban on all Galaxy smartphones, tablets in EU  —  COMPUTERWORLD NETHERLANDS In its case against Samsung Electronics in the Netherlands, Apple is demanding an extensive ban on all Galaxy series smartphones and tablets, including a complete recall of stock by European distributors and resellers.
Derek Kessler / PreCentral.net:
HP France outs white 64GB TouchPad with 1.5GHz processor [Update: shipping in 1-2 weeks, official statement from HP]  —  The 64GB HP TouchPad has been a bit of a unicorn as of late, but true to HP form, they've up an unceremoniously revealed it in Europe.  A small footnote of a button …
 
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 More Items: 
Farhad Manjoo / Slate Magazine:
Can Google Fix the Cable Box?
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
Large ISPs Profit From BitTorrent Traffic, Study Finds
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Andreessen Horowitz Leads $15M Round In Cloud Business Intelligence Platform GoodData
Discussion: GigaOM, VentureBeat and AllThingsD
Bloomberg:
AOL Discounted Gets Last, Best Hope
Scott Merrill / TechCrunch:
Red Hat CEO At LinuxCon: I Have No Idea What's Next
Discussion: Inquirer and Ars Technica
 Earlier Items: 
Help Net Security:
Researchers identify first flaws in the Advanced Encryption Standard
ConsortiumInfo.org The Standards Blog:
W3C Launches New “Agile” Standards Development Platform
Electronista:
Apple only major PC builder in Western Europe still growing
Greg Kumparak / TechCrunch:
Apple, It's Time To Block iOS 5 Beta Users From Reviewing Apps
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter:
Internal memo: Hearst Magazines president announces layoffs as part of a decision to “reallocate resources” to “continue our focus on digital innovation”

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

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
 
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