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8:20 PM ET, October 20, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
CBS News:
Biographer: Jobs refused early and potentially life-saving surgery  —  Apple CEO Steve Jobs refused to allow surgeons to perform what could have been life-saving surgery on his pancreatic cancer, says his biographer Walter Isaacson.  In one of his deepest discussions with him …
RELATED:
Associated Press:
Jobs questioned authority all his life, book says  —  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A new biography portrays Steve Jobs as a skeptic all his life - giving up religion because he was troubled by starving children, calling executives who took over Apple “corrupt” and delaying cancer surgery in favor of cleansings and herbal medicine.
Alex Chitu / Google Operating System:
A New Look for Gmail  —  A video from Google's YouTube channel (update: the video is now private, but there's a mirror here) introduces a new Gmail interface.  It's based on the Preview theme that's already available in Gmail, but there are many other changes: an action bar that uses icons instead …
RELATED:
Matt Lynley / Business Insider:
CONFIRMED: Google Redesigns Gmail, Here Are The Leaked Features  —  Updated: Google has contacted us and confirmed that the video is indeed real.  —  “Oops, you weren't supposed to see that,” Google's Andrea Freund said.  “Stay tuned, we'll be sharing more info on Gmail's new look soon.”
Discussion: Neowin.net, Thanks:logicalmoron
Feross Aboukhadijeh / Feross.org:
HOW TO: Spy on the Webcams of Your Website Visitors  —  Update (10/19): CNET says that Adobe is working on a fix and it could be ready by end of week.  —  Update (10/19): Adobe emailed me and said “our product team is wrapping up their investigation and is now working on a fix, which should not require a Flash Player update”.
RELATED:
Elinor Mills / CNET News:
Adobe to plug Flash-related Webcam spying hole  —  A video demonstrates how the attack could be accomplished.  In this screenshot, a series of blue buttons are clicked on as part of a game and the webcam is turned on.  —  Adobe Systems is working on a fix for a Flash-related vulnerability …
Discussion: Threat Level
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Microsoft Revenue Up 7% To $17.37B, Earnings At $0.68 Per Share  —  Microsoft just reported its first quarter 2012 earnings today with revenues of $17.37 billion, an 7% increase from the same period of the prior year.  Microsoft's operating income was $7.20 billion, its net income was $5.74 billion …
RELATED:
Mark Gongloff / MarketBeat:
Microsoft Earnings Meet Forecasts, Stock Falls
Discussion: Tech Trader Daily
Alan Green / Official Google Reader Blog:
Upcoming changes to Reader: a new look, new Google+ features, and some clean-up  —  In the next week, we'll be making some highly requested changes to Google Reader.  First, we're going to introduce a brand new design (like many of Google's other products) that we hope you love.
AT&T:
AT&T Activates One Million iPhone 4S'  —  Activations Surpass All Previous Launches; Customers Prefer AT&T Speed Advantage  —  AT&T today announced it activated more than 1 million iPhone 4S' as of Tuesday, making it the most successful iPhone launch in the company's history.
RELATED:
Yun-Hee Kim / Wall Street Journal:
Samsung Beats Apple in Smartphone Shipments  —  HONG KONG—Samsung Electronics Co. shipped more than 20 million smartphones in the quarter ended Sept. 30, a person familiar with the situation said Thursday, beating market leader Apple Inc. as well as Nokia Corp., the world's biggest cellphone maker by volume.
Jack Purcher / Patently Apple:
Apple Considers a New iOS Device Design for Easier Repairs  —  On October 20, 2011, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals a variety of new iOS concept designs that will accommodate easier repairs.  —  A New Kind of Construction for iOS Devices is Being Considered
Discussion: Gizmodo and Gadget Lab
Andrew Rassweiler / iSuppli®:
iPhone 4S Carries BOM of $188, IHS iSuppli Teardown Analysis Reveals  —  On the outside, the iPhone 4S may have disappointed some with its perceived lack of new features.  But on the inside, the latest member of the iPhone line includes a wealth of innovation, including a new wireless module …
Tim Culpan / Bloomberg:
Microsoft to Help Halve Phone Costs Next Year in ‘Volume’ Drive  —  Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) — Microsoft Corp. expects production costs of handsets using Windows Phone 7 software next year to drop by more than half from when the platform was introduced.  —  Cooperation with parts makers including Qualcomm Inc …
Steve Clayton / TechNet Blogs:
Microsoft Research shows Holodesk  —  In the last few months we've seen some pretty great applications of natural user interface (NUI).  It seems fair to say that NUI is becoming more widely used and accepted in its various forms.  But not being ones to sit back and relax …
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
Google Apps hasn't met LAPD's security requirements, city demands refund  —  Two years after the City of Los Angeles approved a $7.25 million deal to move its e-mail and productivity infrastructure to Google Apps, the migration has still not been completed because the Los Angeles Police Department …
Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:
Does Warner Bros. Really Have Exclusive Movie Rights to a Story Posted on Reddit?  (Analysis)  —  Fledging author James Erwin sold Warner Bros. on movie rights to his short story posted on Reddit.  But the user agreement for the news community website could raise some thorny intellectual property questions.
John Biggs / TechCrunch:
Iris Is (Sort Of) Siri For Android  —  While voice control has been part of Android since the dawn of time, Siri came along and ruined the fun with its superior search and understanding capabilities.  However, an industrious team of folks from Dexetra.com, led by Narayan Babu, built a Siri-alike in just 8 hours during a hackathon.
Discussion: Guardian
Reuters:
BlackBerry maker accused of infringing BBX trademark  —  (Reuters) - BBX, the operating system that Research In Motion is counting on to revive its floundering BlackBerry franchise, has run into trouble even before the company could install the system in its smartphone line.
Tim Bray / Android Developers Blog:
New Public APIs in ICS  —  Since Android is open-source, anyone can look at the code and see how it works inside.  If you do this, you'll notice that most but not all of the APIs are publicly documented.  —  If they're publicly documented, they're part of what we consider the Android Application Framework.
Discussion: The Next Web, thinq_ and PC Magazine
Todd Wasserman / Mashable:
New Security Threat: Infected QR Codes  —  Be careful the next time you scan a QR code, because it might just cost you money and wreak havoc on your smartphone.  —  That's the warning from Kaspersky Lab, which has noticed the first instance of QR code tampering.
Matt Rosoff / Business Insider:
This Is The Google Music “Twist”: You Can Share Songs After Buying Them  —  Yesterday, Google mobile head Andy Rubin said that the company's long-awaited music store will have some kind of twist.  —  Now we know what it is.  —  A person in the recording industry who has been briefed …
Discussion: Technologizer, T3 News and VentureBeat
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
HP's Chief Strategy And Technology Officer Shane Robison To Step Down Nov. 1  —  HP has just announced that its executive vice president and chief strategy and technology officer Shane Robison will be retiring, effective Nov. 1.  —  Robison, an 11-year HP veteran, also served as a member of the company's Executive Council.
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Visual.ly Raises $2 Million To Make Even More Infographics  —  Visual.ly, the team built from the infographics team behind Mint's spectacular infographics, has raised $2 million in seed funding, led by Crosslink Capital, SoftTech and 500 Startups as well as angels Kapor Capital, Giza Ventures …
Dan Levine / Reuters:
Oracle can use Google email in patent case: judge  —  (Reuters) - Oracle Corp may use an internal Google Inc email Google fought to keep under wraps in a high stakes patent case over the Java programing language, a U.S. judge has ruled.  —  Oracle sued Google last year …
Discussion: Bloomberg, VentureBeat and Inquirer
 
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 More Items: 
Jim Finkle / Reuters:
Exclusive: Nasdaq hackers spied on directors
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Best Buy Launches Appolicious-Powered, Curated Mobile App Directory
Tim Carmody / Epicenter:
You Are Not Your Name and Photo: A Call to Re-Imagine Identity
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
On the scene: Microsoft opens its first Seattle store
Discussion: The Microsoft Blog and WinRumors
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Foursquare's Crowley Reveals The Strategy Behind Radar, Siri, And Mobile's New Push Interface
 Earlier Items: 
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Let's Take This One With a Grain of Salt
Jack Purcher / Patently Apple:
Apple Working on a Thinner MacBook Pro Design
Mark Kleinman / Kleinman:
Exclusive: Kingdom Eyes Twitter Stake
Darren Murph / Engadget:
ASUS' Jonney Shih unveils Transformer Prime Android tablet: 10-inch, 8.3mm, quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3
 

 
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”

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

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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