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12:55 PM ET, October 17, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Apple:
iPhone 4S First Weekend Sales Top Four Million  —  Apple® today announced it has sold over four million of its new iPhone® 4S, just three days after its launch on October 14.  In addition, more than 25 million customers are already using iOS 5, the world's most advanced mobile operating system …
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Stefan Constantinescu / IntoMobile:
Apple sells more than 4 million iPhone 4S units in just 3 days, that's double the iPhone 4 sales rate
Discussion: TUAW
Jung-Ah Lee / Wall Street Journal:
Samsung Seeks iPhone 4S Sales Ban in Japan, Australia  —  SEOUL—Samsung Electronics Co. said it is seeking to stop the sale of Apple Inc.'s new iPhone 4S in Japan and Australia, further ramping up a legal clash with the U.S. company after a series of setbacks in courts around the world in recent days.
RELATED:
Marco Arment / Marco.org:
Introducing Instapaper 4.0 for iPad and iPhone  —  The iPhone reading screens also no longer show the top status bar by default (but there's an option to put it back).  This gives a larger, less distracting reading area without sacrificing easy access to the toolbar or annoying customers with finicky full-screen tap modes.
Jim Gianopulos / Hollywood Reporter:
A Studio Chief Pens Revealing First-Person Steve Jobs Remembrance … “I'm coming to Paros.”  Hearing those words was much scarier than you'd think.  —  During the spring and summer of 2006, Steve Jobs was negotiating with Fox and other studios to expand iTunes from selling digital music and TV shows to selling feature films.
Discussion: CNET News and CNET News
RELATED:
Peter Delevett / Mercury News:
Luminaries pay tribute to Steve Jobs at Stanford service  —  The technology industry's leading lights gathered Sunday evening to bid farewell to one who shone perhaps the brightest.  —  Steve Jobs — the former Apple CEO who revolutionized computing, telephones, animated films and the music industry …
David Streitfeld / New York Times:
Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal  —  SEATTLE — Amazon.com has taught readers that they do not need bookstores.  Now it is encouraging writers to cast aside their publishers.  —  Amazon will publish 122 books this fall in an array of genres, in both physical and e-book form.
Jeff Atwood / Coding Horror:
Serving at the Pleasure of the King  —  I enjoy my iPhone tremendously; I think it's the most important product Apple has ever created and one they were born to make.  As a consumer who has waited far too long for the phone industry to get the swift kick in the ass it so richly deserved, I'm entirely on Apple's side here.
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines Blog:
Apple's R&D spending hits bottom as percentage of revenue  —  Summary: Apple's research and development spending as a percentage of revenue has been on the decline for years.  Apple doubled down 2000 through 2005 and is harvesting the returns now.  —  Guess what Apple's research and development spending is as a percentage of revenue?
Discussion: 9to5Mac
Farhad Manjoo / Fast Company:
The Great Tech War Of 2012  —  Apple, Facebook, Google, and Amazon battle for the future of the innovation economy.  —  Gilbert Wong, the mayor of Cupertino, California, calls his city council to order.  “As you know, Cupertino is very famous for Apple Computer, and we're very honored …
Steve Kovach / Business Insider:
Here's Rhapsody's Plan To Get Millions Of New Users Without Giving Away Free Music  —  Find out more about the future of mobile streaming music at IGNITION, Business Insider's Conference on the future of media, on November 30 - December 1 in NYC!  —  Thanks to the hype surrounding Spotify's U.S. launch …
Scott Hanselman:
There is only one Cloud Icon in the Entire Universe  —  I recently worked on the update to the ASP.NET site, now in beta at http://beta.asp.net.  On that site we used an icon from the Pictos collection.  I have an email from March of 2010 where we selected that icon, in fact.
Discussion: The Next Web
Tom Harvey / Salt Lake Tribune:
Novell-Microsoft trial opens Monday in SLC  —  Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in a trial in which Utah-based Novell Inc. is accusing Microsoft Corp. of anti-trust behavior in the mid-90s as Novell tried to compete head-to-heard against the software giant.
Discussion: ABCNEWS, V3.co.uk and Neowin.net
Matt Rosoff / Business Insider:
Google Music Store Will Launch This Quarter  —  Google's long awaited music store is on schedule for launch this quarter, and the major labels are starting to spread the word to their subsidiaries and partners.  —  We got word from the owner of an independent record label.
Emma Barnett / Telegraph:
David Cameron will never shut down Facebook, even in times of civil unrest, such as the riots, according to a top executive at the social network.  —  It was thought that after a number of executives from Facebook, Twitter and Blackberry were summoned to a meeting with Theresa May …
Ron Amadeo / Android Police:
[Exclusive] The Ice Cream Sandwich Gallery Is Likely Getting A Built-In Photo Editor; We've Got The Feature List  —  Google is working on building a photo editor into the Android Gallery.  That much we're certain about - we've got the icons for it.  It's not 100% confirmed that this will actually ship …
Steve Lohr / New York Times:
Default Choices Are Hard to Resist, Online or Not  —  IN the wide-open Web, choice and competition are said to be merely “one click away,” to use Google's favorite phrase.  But in practice, the power of digital distribution channels, default product settings and traditional human behavior often matters most.
Discussion: Between the Lines Blog, Thanks:lutherlowe
Tobias Lutke / Shopify:
Shopify Raises $15 Million in Series B Funding  —  Today, I'm happy to announce that we have raised $15 million in Series B funding.  I'm writing this blog post from my new private yacht cruising the clear blue waters of the... no, just kidding.  —  We received the growth investment from Bessemer, FirstMark, Felicis, and Georgian.
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Grockit Gets A $7 Million Venture Infusion And Launches Video Q&A Site Grockit Answers  —  Social learning startup Grockit raised its fourth round of funding, a $7 million series D, with current investor Atlas Ventures leading the round.  Existing investors Benchmark and Integral Capital also participated …
 
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 More Items: 
Claire Cain Miller / Bits:
Can Mobile Search Be as Big for Google as Desktop Search?
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft delivers Windows Intune 2.0 cloud-management service
Discussion: The Windows Blog and WinRumors
Jay Yarow / Business Insider:
Too Little, Too Late: Motorola Will Start Selling A $400 Xoom
Chris Davies / SlashGear:
BlackBerry outage victims offered apps not cash
Ian Austen / New York Times:
Research in Motion Pins Hopes on Its Next OS
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Amazon's new locker delivery system now live in New York
Discussion: SlashGear and Engadget
Edward Wyatt / New York Times:
F.C.C. and Wireless Carriers Agree to Alerts to Fight ‘Bill Shock’
 Earlier Items: 
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
YouTube Now Allows Music Partners To Sell Merchandise, Digital Downloads And Event Tickets
Mike Swift / Mercury News:
Facebook spending on business equipment nearly triples
Thanks:sjcobrien
Dan Hart / Bloomberg:
Kodak Licenses Projection Patents to Imax
Anick Jesdanun / Associated Press:
Time zone database has new home after lawsuit
Discussion: Inquirer
Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:
Head To Head: Siri Vs. Google Voice Actions
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Analyzing Comcast's spinoff of cable networks, purposefully structured with low debt: the move might be a signal to the industry that it's time to consolidate

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
James Harding says the Tortoise-Observer deal could create a profitable media group and there isn't a guaranteed future for the Observer with the Guardian

Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Trump says Republicans must kill the PRESS Act, which would protect journalists' records and sources from the US government; the bill is stalled in the Senate

 
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