Techmeme: Exclusive: Sprint Confirms It Will Offer Unlimited Data Plan for iPhone (Ina Fried/AllThingsD)

8:35 PM ET, October 5, 2011

Top Items:

Steve Jobs — 1955-2011 — Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor.

Discussion: TechCrunch, AllThingsD, Bits, CNET News, Search Engine Land, This is my next, TechCrunch, @ap, AppleInsider, Business Insider, TiPb, Digits, Ars Technica, The Next Web, VentureBeat, The Register, PC World, 9to5Mac, Between the Lines Blog, Business Insider, Daring Fireball, Bits, CBS News, This is my next, Ars Technica, BGR, eWeek, Epicenter, Reuters, Engadget, Internet2Go, TechEye, FT Tech Hub, Bloomberg, GigaOM, The Snitch, Fortune, Mercury News, The Politico, BBC, Mercury News, Variety, Associated Press, @scobleizer, @michaeldell, Delimiter, Poynter, Techland, ifun.de/iPhone, @bill_gross, VG247, NBC Bay Area, PhoneArena, Gawker, Android Phone Fans, TUAW, Tech Cocktail, @miketek, App Advice, @nyt_jenpreston, @alexia, @sameerpatel, @msdas, @acarvin, @frijole, Geek News Central, @joshuatopolsky, @dannysullivan, RazorianFly, Electronista, IntoMobile, @lanceulanoff, @matthickey, @daniel_levine, The Loop, @jsnell, GottaBeMobile, @joseiswriting, @jeffjarvis, @jbruin, @matthickey, @laurenweinstein, @hirokotabuchi, @bbcbreaking, @mattmcgee, @olivermarks, @stevesilberman, @scobleizer, @dhinchcliffe, @jny, @ihnatko, @acarvin, @gizmodo, @danb, @robhof, @jason_pontin, @techinciter, @reybango, @rafat, @arrington, @troywolv, FreakGeeks, @robinwauters, @dhinchcliffe, @kevinrose, OS X Daily, PreCentral.net, Boing Boing, DailyTech and Pocketables

Yukari Iwatani Kane / Wall Street Journal:

Apple's Steve Jobs Is Dead — Steven P. Jobs, the Apple Inc. chairman and co-founder who pioneered the personal computer industry and changed the way people think about technology, died Wednesday. — “Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich …

Discussion: TechFlash and @arrington

Apple:

Statement by Apple's Board of Directors — We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today. — Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that — enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.

Discussion: Gizmodo, paidContent, MacDailyNews, @gsterling, @jbruin, @jeffjarvis and @markmilian, more at Mediagazer »

Ina Fried / AllThingsD:
Bill Gates: “I Will Miss Steve immensely”

Discussion: GeekWire

Microsoft:

Xbox 360 Teams Up With Entertainment Leaders to Transform TV — AT&T, BBC, Comcast, HBO, Rogers, Telefónica, Televisa and Verizon are among providers rolling out new TV entertainment services on Xbox LIVE. — A new era in television begins this holiday where your entertainment …

Ben Rudolph / The Windows Blog:

Control Your Xbox with your Windows Phone Using the Xbox Companion App — Earlier today you probably spotted the big, big news from our pals over on the Xbox team. They're bringing a new world of entertainment to your living room and making it faster, funner (yes, that's right, funner) and easier to find.

Discussion: TechNet Blogs, IntoMobile, WPCentral.com, msnbc.com, GeekWire and TheUnlockr

Brier Dudley / The Seattle Times:

Xbox becomes TV hub with Comcast, FiOS, HBO; no Frontier — Microsoft today confirmed the lineup of TV services that will be available this holiday season through the Xbox 360 console. It's a huge step for Microsoft's longtime goal of expanding the console beyond gaming and into an entertainment hub.

Discussion: Guardian, BetaNews, Joystiq, Between the Lines Blog, GigaOM and Electronista

Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft Blog: Xbox Live TV: What's inside? Silverlight

Ina Fried / AllThingsD:

Exclusive: Sprint Confirms It Will Offer Unlimited Data Plan for iPhone — Sprint will indeed offer unlimited data plans when it starts taking iPhone orders later this week, AllThingsD has confirmed. — “We will be offering the benefit of our unlimited plans that start at just $69.99,” said spokeswoman Michelle Leff Mermelstein.

Discussion: AppleInsider, CNET News, Ars Technica, The Toybox Blog, Phone Scoop, Gizmodo, Neowin.net, TUAW, Geek.com, TechnoBuffalo, Electronista, @dannysullivan, Edible Apple, iDownloadBlog.com, PhoneArena, GottaBeMobile and @ldignan

Erica Sadun / TUAW:

iPhone 4S: What can you say to Siri? — Curious about the iPhone 4S's new voice assistant feature? So were we. — TUAW tracked down a set of example phrases that the new Siri voice assistant is capable of understanding. It turns out that Siri can handle many categories of voice interaction.

Discussion: TechCrunch, iPhone in Canada Blog, The Next Web, iDownloadBlog.com, AppleInsider, Lifehacker, MacStories and PC World

Reuters:

Exclusive: Microsoft considers bidding for Yahoo: sources — (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp is considering a bid for Yahoo Inc, resurfacing as a potential buyer after a bitter and unsuccessful fight to take over the Internet company in 2008, sources close to the situation said on Wednesday.

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Not So Much on a Microsoft Bid for Yahoo (They're Crazy, But Not That Crazy) — Is this investment-banker-hype week and nobody told me? — It certainly seems so from all the almost ridonkulous rumors about everyone and their mother being “imminently poised” to make a bid for Yahoo.

Discussion: BGR, Bloomberg, Guardian, Business Insider, Tech Trader Daily and The Next Web, more at Mediagazer »

Larry Dignan / Between the Lines Blog:

Oracle vs. Salesforce.com's Benioff goes WWE: We're being played — Summary: Oracle cancels a keynote from Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff and the crowd goes wild. Suddenly, this feels more like a pro wrestling match. — Oracle cancels Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff's keynote …

Discussion: GigaOM, AllThingsD, CNET News, The Register, TechCrunch, Inquirer, Digits, eWeek, @benioff, Tom Foremski, Bits and Beagle Research Group, LLC

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Live from a restaurant: Marc Benioff's Oracle OpenWorld keynote

Discussion: The Register and AllThingsD

MG Siegler / parislemon:

Apple's “Fall From Grace” — This is, quite simply, one of the worst pieces I've ever read on Apple. Zach Epstein starts off trashing Apple's iPhone 4S announcement as perhaps “the beginning of the end” — and does so citing a bunch of analysts. Analysts.

Discussion: Marco.org, BGR and @manan

Zach Epstein / BGR:
Apple's fall from grace

Discussion: The Apple Core Blog, ReadWriteWeb, Reuters, @carnage4life and @eldon

Brian McClendon / Google LatLong:

Google Earth downloaded more than one billion times — How large is one billion? One billion hours ago modern humans were living in the Stone Age. One billion minutes ago, the Roman Empire was flourishing. If you traveled from Earth to the Moon three times, your journey would measure one billion meters.

Discussion: Computerworld, Engadget, 9to5Google, Digits and Mashable!

Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:

Exclusive: LinkedIn Has Bought Contact Management Start-Up Connected — LinkedIn has acquired Connected, a small contact management start-up that unifies and dynamically updates users' connections on email, social networks, calendars and phones, according to sources close to the company.

Discussion: GigaOM, Social Markets and Connected Life

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Never Mind the iPhone 5. Where's My Windows iPad? — The Internet will tell you that there is much sadness because Apple didn't release an iPhone 5 yesterday. But if you're really going to venture into the world of tech dreams deferred, then you can end up in some pretty weird places.

Discussion: SlashGear, BGR, Electronista, My Nokia Blog, Neowin.net and MacDailyNews

Dan Primack / Fortune:

What Federated paid for Lijit — Federated Media paid just “south of $100 million” in stock to acquire Lijit Networks, Fortune has learned from multiple sources. The deal was announced earlier this month, but without any financial details. — Lijit is a Boulder, Colo.-based provider …

Royal Pingdom:

Facebook now as big as the entire Internet was in 2004 — At the recent F8 conference Facebook revealed that they now have 800 million active users. Europe, with Russia included, has a population of 727 million. We now have a social network that is so large that it could fill …

Discussion: ReadWriteWeb

BBC:

India launches Aakash tablet computer priced at $35 — Millions of students will have access to the tablets, officials hope — India has launched what it says is the world's cheapest touch-screen tablet computer, priced at just $35 (£23). — Costing a fraction of Apple's iPad, the subsidised Aakash is aimed at students.

Discussion: Times of India, indiatoday.intoday.in, Computerworld, Engadget, paidContent, PE Hub Blog and Electronista, Thanks:over2venu

DigiTimes:

Apple iPhone 4S announced, ‘5’ likely to arrive in late 2012 or 2013 — Defying some expectations that Apple would introduce the iPhone 5 - an entirely new model supporting 4G - the company instead rolled out the iPhone 4S - an update of the existing iPhone 4.

Discussion: Cult of Mac and Techland

Ann Carrns / Bucks:

BankSimple to Go Live on Web Next Month — BankSimple, a Web-based banking service, says it is finally going live and expects its first customers to begin receiving their debit cards by early November. — The site still won't be available to all comers right away.

Discussion: The Next Web

Paul Graham:

Why Startup Hubs Work — If you look at a list of US cities sorted by population, the number of successful startups per capita varies by orders of magnitude. Somehow it's as if most places were sprayed with startupicide. — I wondered about this for years.

Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:

Jason Kilar: Hulu Plus is becoming major money maker — Hulu CEO Jason Kilar said today that the company's Hulu Plus paid subscription service is going to bring in more than half of its revenue in within the next 12 months. Kilar made this estimate in a blog post about Hulu's Q3 performance …

Discussion: Hulu Blog, Media Decoder and Hollywood Reporter, more at Mediagazer »

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

Global Ad Revenues From Social Networks To Reach $5.4B In 2011; $10B In 2013 — Ad revenue from social networks worldwide is expected to reach $5.54 billion this year, according to eMarketer estimates, and will double by 2013. eMarketer is taking into account a number of popular social networks …

Discussion: VentureBeat, eMarketer, ReadWriteWeb, Business Insider and The Next Web, more at Mediagazer »

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Techmeme at 8:35 PM ET, October 5, 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

Who's Hiring in Tech?