Check out Mini-Techmeme for simple mobiles or Techmeme Mobile for modern smartphones.
5:50 AM ET, October 21, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
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.
RELATED:
Marcus Baram / The Huffington Post:
Steve Jobs Biography Reveals He Told Obama, 'You're Headed For A One-Term Presidency' … In one of the most hotly-anticipated biographies of the year, “Steve Jobs,” author Walter Isaacson reveals that the Apple CEO offered to design political ads for President Obama's 2012 campaign despite …
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 …
Tom Warren / WinRumors:
Steve Jobs biography reveals he thought Bill Gates “ripped off other people's ideas”  —  Steve Jobs and Bill Gates at D5: All Things Digital  —  A highly anticipated biography of Steve Jobs has revealed his true feelings about rival Bill Gates.  —  A new biography on the life of Steve Jobs is due to go on sale later this month.
CBS News:
Steve Jobs met his biological father before he knew he was his real father, biographer says  —  In one of the most ironic revelations about the complex personality and life of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, his biographer says in the 1980s Jobs actually met a man a few times who unbeknownst to either was his biological father.
Michael Liedtke / @liedtkesfc:
The AP obtained a copy of the new Steve Jobs bio and it leaves little doubt about the sense of betrayal Jobs felt with Google's Android
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
Discussion: CNET News, Thanks:logicalmoron
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
Anyone with a Smart Cover can break into your iPad 2  —  Talk over an iPhone 4S security flaw regarding Siri working from the Lock screen has made the rounds the past few days, but this “security flaw” is not so much a flaw, but an indented feature from Apple.
Jon Russell / The Next Web:
Al Gore: Steve Jobs wanted Apple to follow its own voice not ask what he'd do  —  Al Gore paid tribute to Steve Jobs whilst speaking the AsiaD conference in Hong Kong this morning, explaining that the former Apple CEO wanted the company to follow its own direction in his absence.
RELATED:
John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:
Al Gore on Steve Jobs: He's The Kind of Guy That Comes Along Once Every 250 Years
Discussion: Digits
Joanna Stern / This is my next:
Al Gore: T-Mobile / AT&T merger unlikely, will be hard to overcome Justice Department's challenge
Discussion: Electronista and AllThingsD
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
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
Apple airs its first amazing iPhone 4S Siri commercial  —  Apple has aired their first television commercial about the iPhone 4S and it is amazing.  The commercial is about the iPhone 4S Siri voice command feature and the ad goes through a few real-world uses of the feature.  Some Siri examples from the commercial:
Rip Empson / TechCrunch:
Google Soon To Release Source Code For Ice Cream Sandwich  —  Well, developers, it looks like Google will soon be releasing the code for Ice Cream Sandwich to the Android Open-Source Project.  Thanks to a Google+ post penned by Jean-Baptiste Queru, the Technical Lead of the Android Open Source Project …
RELATED:
Tim Bray / Android Developers Blog:
New Public APIs in ICS
Rob Crossley / Develop:
Sources point to 2013 launch for ‘Xbox Next’  —  Several projects already underway for new Microsoft system  —  Microsoft and industry partners are working towards a 2013 launch of the next generation Xbox, Develop understands.  —  Multiple sources across the industry …
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.
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 …
Steve Yegge / Google+:
Last week I accidentally posted an internal rant about service platforms to my public Google+ account (i.e. this one).  It somehow went viral, which is nothing short of stupefying given that it was a massive Wall of Text.  The whole thing still feels surreal.  —  Amazingly, nothing bad happened to me at Google.
Discussion: TechCrunch and LAUNCH
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”.
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
BitTorrent Throttling Internet Providers Exposed  —  Hundreds of ISPs all over the world limit and restrict BitTorrent traffic on their networks.  Unfortunately, most companies are not very open about their network management solutions.  —  Thanks to data collected by Measurement Lab …
Seth Rosenblatt / CNET Download.com:
15 years of Download.com, the original app store  —  Long before the iTunes Store was a glimmer in Steve Jobs' eye, Download.com launched in 1996 as the most comprehensive, safest place to get all your software, from the latest drivers and codecs to professional-grade programs.
Helen Pidd / Guardian:
Facebook could face €100,000 fine for holding data that users have deleted  —  Social network will be audited by Irish data protection commissioner after Austrian law student registers 22 complaints  —  Facebook could face a fine of up to €100,000 (£87,000) …
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of Techmeme at 5:50 AM ET, October 21, 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: 
Bloomberg:
MetroPCS Said to Be Leader for AT&T Deal Assets
Discussion: Engadget and PhoneArena
Laura MacInnis / Reuters:
Obama officials, senators agree to seek cyber deal
 Earlier Items: 
Jack Purcher / Patently Apple:
Apple Considers a New iOS Device Design for Easier Repairs
Discussion: Gizmodo UK and Gadget Lab
John Biggs / TechCrunch:
Iris Is (Sort Of) Siri For Android
Discussion: Guardian
Todd Wasserman / Mashable:
New Security Threat: Infected QR Codes
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
Google Apps hasn't met LAPD's security requirements, city demands refund
 

 
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
 
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