Check out Mini-Techmeme for simple mobiles or Techmeme Mobile for modern smartphones.
4:30 PM ET, August 31, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Tom Schoenberg / Bloomberg:
U.S. Files Antitrust Complaint to Block AT&T, T-Mobile Merger  —  The U.S. government sued to block AT&T Inc.'s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA Inc., saying the deal would “substantially lessen competition” in the wireless market.  —  The Justice Department complaint was filed today in federal court in Washington.
RELATED:
Ina Fried / AllThingsD:
AT&T Surprised by Government's Move to Block T-Mobile Deal  —  AT&T said it had no indication that federal regulators would seek to block the company's planned $39 billion deal to buy T-Mobile USA.  Earlier on Wednesday, the Justice Department filed suit to stop the acquisition …
StreetInsider.com:
Statement by FCC Chair Genachowski on AT&T/T-Mobile Deal  —  FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said, “By filing suit today, the Department of Justice has concluded that AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile would substantially lessen competition in violation of the antitrust laws.
Ina Fried / AllThingsD:
Deutsche Telekom Vows to Fight to Keep AT&T-T-Mobile Deal Alive
Discussion: BetaNews and T-Mobile Newsroom
Sprint Newsroom / Featured News:
Sprint Statement on Department of Justice Action on Proposed AT&T and T-Mobile Transaction
Discussion: GigaOM and dailywireless.org, Thanks:jbtaylor
Frederic Lardinois / SiliconFilter:
Microsoft: The Schizophrenic Windows 8 Interface Will Offer the “Best of Both Worlds”  —  One thing that has vexed industry watchers for quite a while now is how Microsoft plans to integrate its flashy Metro interface for tablets and phones with its upcoming Windows 8 interface.
Discussion: eWeek, CodenameWindows and TechCrunch
RELATED:
Steven Sinofsky / MSDN Blogs:
Designing for Metro style and the desktop  —  We thought it would be good to take a moment to talk about where we are heading in terms of the user interface of Windows 8.  —  By now you've seen two different elements of the Windows 8 design—first, a Metro style user interface we showed previously …
DigiTimes:
Amazon 10-inch tablet PC to start mass production in 1Q12  —  Mass production of Amazon's 10.1-inch tablet PC reportedly will be conducted in the first quarter of 2012 with Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) to handle the orders, according to sources from upstream component suppliers.
RELATED:
Peter Cartwright / netbooknews.com:   Amazon Tablets - 7-incher in October, 10-incher Next Year
Jon Fortt / Tech Check:
Facebook Plans to Launch Music Platform in September  —  Facebook plans to launch a music platform at its f8 conference in San Francisco on 9/22, a source with knowledge of the plans tells CNBC.  —  The social network's music platform launch has been long rumored, but has not yet materialized.
RELATED:
Ben Parr / Mashable:
Facebook To Launch Music Platform With Spotify, MOG & Rdio as Partners  —  Facebook intends to launch its long-rumored music service next month with Spotify, MOG and Rdio as three of the company's launch partners, Mashable has learned.  —  The music and media platform will be announced …
Robert Andrews / paidContent:
Financial Times Apps Finally Pulled From iOS  —  Two months after the deadline for compliance hit, it's now clear The Financial Times and Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) can't come to a compromise over the new requirement that in-app subscription payments must go through iTunes Store.
RELATED:
Darrell Etherington / GigaOM:
Can HTML5 replace an iPad app? Financial Times to find out
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Google's New HTML5 Chrome Apps For Gmail, Calendar And Docs Give Users Offline Access  —  As we reported at Google I/O in May, Google has been working on offline versions of their three most popular apps: Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs.  Google previously offered offline access for Gmail …
Paul Graham:
The Patent Pledge  —  I realized recently that we may be able to solve part of the patent problem without waiting for the government.  —  I've never been 100% sure whether patents help or hinder technological progress.  When I was a kid I thought they helped.
Discussion: TechCrunch
Joe Fedewa / Sprintfeed:
Sprint Changing ETFs Starting September 9th  —  As of right now the early termination fee for ending a contract before it's up is a pricey $200, but starting September 9th you might not think $200 is so bad.  Our world renowned Super Spies have done it again, and this time they bring us some bad news.
Kim Zetter / Threat Level:
Couple Can Sue Laptop-Tracking Company for Spying on Sex Chats  —  An Ohio woman and her boyfriend can sue a laptop-tracking company that recorded their sexually explicit communications in an effort to identify thieves who stole the computer the woman was using.
Discussion: Gawker and The Business Insider
Kate O'Flaherty / Inquirer:
Sony launches touchscreen 3D PC  —  JAPANESE ELECTRONICA MAKER Sony is launching a touchscreen 3D PC that allows users to watch 3D video from a TV or Playstation 3 through a 3D HDMI output.  —  The Vaio L Series PC can be used with the same rechargeable active shutter glasses …
Discussion: Engadget, Crave, DailyTech and Electronista
RELATED:
Joanna Stern / This is my next:
Sony VAIO S Series gets a 15-inch variant, full HD screen option
Darrell Etherington / GigaOM:
Spotify opens doors to iOS devs with new API  —  Subscription streaming music service Spotify launched an API on Wednesday that allows third-party iOS developers to integrate Spotify into their apps.  Called libspotify, the new resource should allow for some fairly innovative uses of Spotify services.
Helen Blackburn / The Big Blog:
Using Skype from Your Home Phone Just Got Easier  —  •Me Home Phone Adapter for Skype and a New Skype-enabled Cordless Phone from GE Open up a New World of Calls from Your Home Phone  —  At Skype, we strive to ensure anyone can use Skype anywhere, at any time.
Josh Lowensohn / CNET News:
Apple wants its 3G MacBook prototype back  —  The unusual Apple notebook.  —  Apple wants a North Carolina man to return a prototype notebook computer he purchased on Craigslist earlier this year, CNET has learned.  —  Three weeks ago, photos of the device emerged in an eBay listing by Carl Frega …
Charles Newark-French / Flurry Blog:
Mobile App Inventory Hungry Enough to Eat Internet Display Ad Spend  —  Smartphones app usage, facilitated by explosive iOS and Android device adoption, has created among the fastest-growing media channels in the history of consumer technology.  Flurry estimates that, worldwide …
Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Twitter Ramps Up Its Ad Plan Again, With Ads You Haven't Asked To See  —  Coming to some of you, in about a month: Ads in your Tweetstream, from Twitter accounts you don't follow.  —  In an incremental but important step for Twitter's ad business, Dick Costolo's company …
Discussion: The Next Web
Stephen Shankland / CNET News:
Sony debuts Android-based Walkman prototype  —  Sony's Android-powered Walkman brings many music-specific features.  One of them is this W.Music app, shown here with a scattering of albums that will play when tapped.  Swipe gestures bring new albums into view.
Discussion: TechCrunch and Gizmodo
Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:
Take the Money and Run?  Twitter Shareholders Now Mulling Cash-Out Offer From DST.  —  Whether or not to sell any of their shares in Twitter is the big decision facing stakeholders of the microblogging service right now, as the second $400 million part of the company's recent funding …
Joanna Stern / This is my next:
Samsung Series 7: aluminum covers, quad-core Core i7 power, and AMD graphics starting at $999  —  Samsung might have just announced a trio of new Galaxy S II phones a few hours ago, but it's shifting gears fast to some brand-canew laptops.  And they're not just your run-of-the-mill systems.
Jeremy Stoppelman / Yelp Official Blog:
My Thoughts on Daily Deals...  Wowza!  There's a lot of buzz lately circulating around the future of daily deals, so I thought I'd take a moment to share my perspective.  —  Daily deals have been a hit with consumers and since we launched Yelp Deals last year, we've learned a lot about the business.
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of Techmeme at 4:30 PM ET, August 31, 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.
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.
Zoho:
CIO challenge 5: Can we find an effective solution that also minimizes operational costs?  —  Welcome to the next and final installment of our CIO series!  After what feels like a thousand cups of coffee …
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy  —  Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
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: 
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Subjot: A Topic-Based Twitter, Without The Noise
Discussion: Betabeat
Dieter Bohn / This is my next:
Sony Reader Wi-Fi available in October for $149 with wireless library borrowing
Matt Burns / TechCrunch:
Sony Finally Fully Unveils Its Android Tabs, The Sony S and P
Susan Decker / Bloomberg:
Apple, RIM Phones, Tablets Targeted By Openwave in Patent Case
Soham Chatterjee / Reuters:
U.S. probes Oracle on African deals - WSJ
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
New Kindle ‘@author’ feature lets readers ask writers questions from inside their books
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Nokia Exec Leaves After 21 Years To Start ‘Vision+’ Fund, Promptly Partners With Nokia
Discussion: The Register
 Earlier Items: 
Juliette Guilbert / The Windows Blog:
What's new in Pictures + Camera for Mango
Discussion: IntoMobile, Electronista and WebProNews
Ryan Lawler / GigaOM:
Subscription movie service Moviepass gets a second chance
Megan Garber / Nieman Journalism Lab:
The New York Times imagines the kitchen table of the future
Discussion: Gawker and Screenwerk
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
Hotfile Ordered To Share User Data With The MPAA
 

 
From Mediagazer:

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

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”

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

 
Sister Sites:

Mediagazer
 Top news and commentary for media professionals from all around the web
memeorandum
 What US political commentators are discussing online right now
WeSmirch
 The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page