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11:00 AM ET, September 20, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Osama Bedier / The Official Google Blog:
Launching Google Wallet on Sprint and working with Visa, American Express and Discover  —  In May we announced Google Wallet—an app that makes your phone your wallet—with Citi, MasterCard, Sprint and First Data.  With Google Wallet, you can tap, pay and save using your phone and near field communication (NFC).
RELATED:
Chris Ziegler / This is my next:
Google Wallet review: photos, videos, and availability
John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:
HP Cutting 500 Jobs at webOS Division (Updated)  —  The layoffs have begun at Hewlett-Packard's Palm division.  —  The company, which announced plans to shutter its webOS hardware business back in August, is sacking hundreds of employees as a result.  —  Sources close to HP say the company plans …
Dan Reimold / MediaShift:
Google+: Social Media Upstart ‘Worse Than a Ghost Town’  —  I wanted to log on to Google+.  I swear I did.  But the thought of it made me tired.  —  I recently wrote a piece for MediaShift on the perils of tweeting interview requests.  Like I've done for past pieces and many of the posts …
Discussion: Stowe Boyd and @fredericl
RELATED:
Loic Le Meur:
The Influencers Verdict: the Google+ example  —  One of the top challenges of any service launching it to pass the influencers verdict.  Look at Dan Reimold's post (that I am discovering tonight because his post is on Techmeme) about the failure of Google+ “Worse than a Ghost town”.
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Source: Facebook To Launch Read, Listened, Watched, And Want Buttons  —  The cat is out of the bag that Facebook is going to launch something big at its developer conference f8 this week.  We've heard about the social music services that could be debuting in a few days …
RELATED:
Eric Mack / CNET News:
Facebook hides ‘Poke’ button ahead of rumored redesign
Discussion: @r
Sean Hollister / This is my next:
Logitech Harmony Link: a $100 wireless IR blaster for your iPad or smartphone (video)  —  Fighting over the remote control may be a thing of the past, if Logitech has its way — today, it's introducing the Harmony Link, a shiny black puck that promises to give every iOS and Android device …
Matthew Lasar / Ars Technica:
AT&T to smaller carriers: buy our spectrum (and save our T-Mobile merger)  —  It appears that AT&T's $39 billion bid to purchase T-Mobile may have moved into the desperation phase of the transaction.  Bloomberg reports that AT&T is now asking MetroPCS and Leap Wireless whether they'd like to buy any of the larger company's spectrum.
Discussion: mocoNews
RELATED:
Don Reisinger / CNET News:
Cellular South joins DOJ to block AT&T's T-Mobile merger
Discussion: DSLreports
Katherine Rushton / Telegraph:
Microsoft paid out ‘more than £1 million’ to female executive  —  Microsoft paid out “more than £1 million” to silence a female executive who was unfairly overlooked to become managing director of its business in Britain.  —  Natalie Ayres worked at the computer software company …
Dan Goodin / The Register:
Hackers break SSL encryption used by millions of sites  —  Beware of BEAST decrypting secret PayPal cookies  —  Researchers have discovered a serious weakness in virtually all websites protected by the secure sockets layer protocol that allows attackers to silently decrypt data that's passing between …
Discussion: Gizmodo, Softpedia News and CNET News
Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:
WSJ Social, For a World Where Facebook Is the New Internet  —  Is Facebook a friend of news companies, or is it a rival?  No matter how much success publishers have piggybacking off its traffic, they can't escape the cruel math: The more of their time consumers spend on Facebook …
Jennifer Van Grove / Mashable!:
Foursquare Now Keeps Home Addresses Private  —  Foursquare has rolled out a new privacy option to help prevent users from unwittingly sharing home addresses with strangers.  —  The update, first spotted by About Foursquare, enables the user to designate a Foursquare locale as a private residence …
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Former Intuit CEO Bill Harris Launches Personal Capital  —  Bill Harris has spent his entire career at the nexus of the financial and technology industries, first as the CEO of Intuit, then PayPal, and then as an investor over the past decade.  Now he is bringing all of his experiences together …
Discussion: VatorNews and CNET News, Thanks:mcalderone
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft Blog:
Microsoft: Desktop apps will run on Windows 8 on ARM  —  Summary: Windows 8 Metro-style apps and Desktop apps are going to offer two different experiences.  But both kinds of apps are going to be available on both x86/x64 and ARM PCs and tablets.  —  I've heard numerous folks who attended Build …
Bloomberg:
Google, Oracle Ordered to Meet Again Tomorrow in Android Dispute Mediation  —  Google Inc. and Oracle Corp. (ORCL) are scheduled to meet again tomorrow after a daylong session yesterday in an attempt to resolve a lawsuit alleging the search engine company's Android technology infringed Oracle's patents.
Greg Kumparak / TechCrunch:
The Guy Behind The Qwikster Twitter Account Realizes What He Has, Wants A Mountain Of Cash  —  Last night, Jason went to bed a normal man, with a normal Twitter account (albeit one with a weed-smoking Elmo as the avatar), and a few dozen followers.  —  This morning, Jason woke up to an inbox full …
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Hi5 Confirms “Significant” Layoffs, Wraps Them In Mumbo Jumbo Speak  —  Earlier today, we heard social network Hi5 was laying off a large number of their remaining employees.  When we pinged them about this, we expected the usual “no comment” or simply no response.  Instead, here's what we got from President/CTO Alex St. John:
Discussion: Softpedia News and Develop
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
After Pets, Diapers And Soap; Amazon's Quidsi Tackles Toys With Retail Site YoYo  —  After conquering online retail in diapers, soaps, beauty products, most recently pet supplies, Amazon-owned Quidsi is moving into its next vertical—toys.  Quidsi is debuting YoYo.com, a toy e-commerce site …
Ryan Lawler / GigaOM:
Magisto raises $5.5M to magically edit your videos  —  Cloud video editing startup Magisto is coming to market with a new service that will take raw video files and make them worth sharing with friends and posting on Facebook, with no manual editing involved.
Topher Kessler / CNET News:
OS X Lion passwords can be changed by any local user  —  In OS X, user passwords are encrypted and then are stored in files called “shadow files” which are placed in secure locations on the drive.  Based on system permissions, the contents of these files can then only be accessed and modified by the user …
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
American Express Buys Virtual Currency Monetization Platform Sometrics For $30M  —  Exclusive: In a push to boost its payments platform for the gaming industry, American Express, has acquired virtual currency platform and in-game payments provider Sometrics.
Spencer Soper / Morning Call:
Allentown: Inside Amazon.com warehouse workers complain of brutal conditions  —  Lehigh Valley workers tell of brutal heat, dizzying pace at online retailer.  —  Elmer Goris spent a year working in Amazon.com's Lehigh Valley warehouse, where books, CDs and various other products are packed …
Discussion: AllThingsD, Bits, TechFlash and Gizmodo
Kevin C. Tofel / GigaOM:
Why Verizon just launched a $99 LTE phone  —  Verizon introduced a new Android smartphone on Monday.  The Pantech Breakout runs on Verizon's fast 4G network but will only cost $99 after rebate when it appears in stores on Thursday.  The low purchase price requires a two-year contract …
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 More Items: 
Ben Popper / Betabeat:
New Patent Law Only Makes Life Harder for Startups and Universities
Discussion: Gizmodo
Chris Smith / AppleInsider:
Qantas Airways to test iPad 2 as in-flight entertainment solution
Discussion: Techie Buzz, 9to5Mac and TiPb
 Earlier Items: 
Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:
Apple closes trading at all-time high of $411.63, up 10.1% since Jobs stepped down
Electronista:
Google asks Android devs to prep apps for Ice Cream Sandwich
Telegraph:
Animal rights group PETA to launch pornography website
Discussion: PC Magazine
 

 
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”

Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
National World, one of the UK's biggest newspaper groups, gets a £56.2M buyout offer from shareholder Media Concierge, a 40% premium to its Nov. 21 stock price

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

 
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