Techmeme: Got Amazon Prime and a Kindle? Now you can borrow one book a month for free (Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat)

1:45 PM ET, November 3, 2011

Top Items:

APPLE: The Kindle Fire Is Good For Us Because It's More Android Fragmentation — Apple executives are saying that the low priced Kindle Fire could actually be a good thing for the iPad because it introduces another level of fragmentation in the Android platform.

Discussion: mocoNews, MacRumors, Tech Trader Daily, Gizmodo, PhoneArena, SlashGear, BGR and iLounge

Larry Dignan / Between the Lines Blog:

Apple's Android fragmentation, Kindle Fire case: Does the argument hold up? — Summary: In Apple's view, Android fragmentation can derail a big chunk of the tablet army gunning for the iPad. Does fragmentation matter that much? — Apple management is all for Amazon's Kindle Fire because of fragmentation.

Discussion: 9to5Google

NielsenWire:

Generation App: 62% of Mobile Users 25-34 own Smartphones — Nielsen's third quarter survey of mobile users reveals that while only 43 percent of all US mobile phone subscribers own a smartphone, a mobile phone with a powerful operating system, the vast majority of those under the age of 44 now have smartphones.

Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:
Nielsen: Android's U.S. share steady at 43%, iPhone at 28%

Discussion: CNET News, BGR, Bits, AllThingsD and Electronista

Wall Street Journal:

Amazon, Now a Book Lender — Kindle Owners Who Subscribe to Prime Service Will Be Able to Borrow E-Titles — As the e-reader and tablet wars heat up, Amazon.com Inc. is launching a digital-book lending library that will be available only to owners of its Kindle and Kindle Fire devices …

Devindra Hardawar / VentureBeat:

Got Amazon Prime and a Kindle? Now you can borrow one book a month for free — Making its ecosystem just that much sweeter, Amazon today announced that Kindle owners subscribed to its premium Amazon Prime service will be able to borrow one e-book a month for free.

Discussion: CNET News, ReadWriteWeb and Between the Lines Blog

Chris Rawson / TUAW:

Apple to require sandboxing in Mac App Store apps as of March 2012 — Apple sent an email to registered developers today that's bound to ruffle some feathers — again. As of March 2012, Apple will require all apps submitted to the Mac App Store to implement sandboxing.

Discussion: MacRumors, MacStories and @ia

Pauli Olavi Ojala / Naming Things:

Why the Mac App Sandbox makes me sad — Apple announced today that, starting in March 2012, all apps on the Mac App Store will be required to run in the so-called “App Sandbox”. — The sandbox is an environment that locks down the Mac in ways that match (and exceed) the limitations found on iOS.

Discussion: Technologizer, Inquirer, Apple Developer News, Softpedia News and CNET News

Amit Singhal / The Official Google Blog:

Giving you fresher, more recent search results — Search results, like warm cookies right out of the oven or cool refreshing fruit on a hot summer's day, are best when they're fresh. Even if you don't specify it in your search, you probably want search results that are relevant and recent.

Discussion: Bits, SiliconFilter, Search Engine Land, Business Insider, Marketing Pilgrim, Mashable! and The Next Web

Eric Rosenblum / Google Mobile Blog:

A new Android app for Google Offers — Today we're announcing our new Google Offers mobile app, that allows you to discover, buy and redeem your favorite deals on the go. The free app will notify you about all the great Offers that match your interests. You can purchase offers …

Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, Search Engine Land, Google Commerce, PC World, PC Magazine, AllThingsD, 9to5Google, Engadget, IntoMobile, Ubergizmo, PhoneArena, Android and Me, Android Phone Fans, Marketing Pilgrim, The Next Web and Lifehacker

Ina Fried / AllThingsD:

Apple Confirms iOS 5 Bugs Causing Battery Issues for Some iPhones — Apple on Wednesday said it had found a few problems that are leading some iPhone customers to experience less-than-expected battery life with iPhones running its latest software. — “A small number of customers …

Jordan Golson / MacRumors:
Apple Seeds iOS 5.0.1 Beta: Multitasking Gestures for iPad 1, Battery Life Improvements

Discussion: The Loop, MacRumors, Digital Trends, AppleInsider, SiliconANGLE, TechCrunch, Engadget, App Advice, SlashGear, Pocket-lint, Redmond Pie, Softpedia News, iLounge, Know Your Cell and Guardian, Thanks:benpike

Josh Ong / AppleInsider:

Rumor: Suppliers say Apple will overhaul all product lines in 2012 — Apple is rumored to be planning a complete overhaul for each of its product lineups, including the iPad, iMac, iPhone and MacBook Air, next year, according to sources within the company's supply chain.

John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:
Really? Two New iPads and a Reboot of Apple's Entire Product Portfolio Next Year?

Discussion: Digital Trends, VentureBeat and PalmAddicts

Jolie O'Dell / VentureBeat:

Google+ is not a social network, but it's not a graveyard, either — Over the past couple of weeks, the Internet's frothy enthusiasm over Google+ has dried into proclamations of its imminent death. — Social media experts and bloggers who were one month ago hailing the fledgling service …

Discussion: All Facebook

Roger Cheng / CNET News:

Sprint: 'We're taking the iPhone 4S speed issue seriously' — Sprint Nextel is working with Apple to figure out the connection issue affecting some iPhone 4S devices on its network, but doesn't yet have an answer for the problem. — “We're taking the reports of problems from a small number …

Discussion: O'Grady's PowerPage, TUAW, Electronista, iDownloadBlog.com and PhoneArena

Michael Arrington / Uncrunched:

Racism: The Game — Advice from friends and mentors has been clear: just stop talking. And yet the tweets, emails and other messages just keep rolling in, featuring some of the most hateful stuff I've ever read. They range from the fascinating “I don't think you're a racist!” to …

Discussion: Why does everything suck? and VentureBeat

Alex Wilhelm / The Next Web:

The curious case of Microsoft's stock — The following post is a meditation on a number of market dynamics. It should not be treated as investment advice, as it isn't. — Microsoft's stock is trading at roughly the same level as it did in 1998. Chew on that for a minute.

Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:

Google debuts slick YouTube player for Google+ and wider Chrome integration — Google has today announced a new, closer integration with YouTube and Chrome in its Google+ social network. The closer integration will come in the form of two Chrome extensions and a new YouTube “slider” right in your Google+ stream.

Discussion: TechCrunch, 9to5Google and The Official Google Blog

Dana Wollman / Engadget:

Jawbone Up detailed: tracks activity, food intake and sleep cycles, available November 6 for $100 (video) — Back in July, Jawbone did something puzzling. The company, best known for its Bluetooth headsets, teased a photo of a colorful wristband called the Up — a deceptively simple thing …

Discussion: VentureBeat, 9to5Mac, PC Magazine, SlashGear, Business Week, GottaBeMobile, Mashable!, Insanely Great Mac, Fortune, Macworld, Electronista, T3 News, The Next Web, AllThingsD and Gadget Lab

Alex Chitu / Google Operating System:

YouTube Tests a New Interface — YouTube experiments with a new interface that uses a gray background, muted colors, redesigned buttons and new icons for the like/dislike buttons. There aren't many changes, but the gray background is depressing. — To try the new interface …

Joanna Stern / The Verge:

Slate 2: HP tries tablets again with Windows, Swype, and a stylus for $699 — If you had asked us six months ago which tablet HP would still be making come November — the TouchPad or the Slate — the obvious answer would have been the TouchPad. But just as HP's exiting the webOS hardware business …

Walter S. Mossberg / AllThingsD:

Dialing Up 20 Years of Gadget Reviews — I began writing these Personal Technology columns 20 years ago, in October 1991, with the aim of reviewing computers and other digital products for average, mainstream users. The first line of my first column was: “Personal computers are just too hard to use, and it's not your fault.”

Farhad Manjoo / Slate:

The End of the Credit Card? — A new app called Card Case foretells a world without cash and plastic. — Jack Dorsey, creator of Twitter and CEO of Square — Getty Images. — Paying for stuff with your phone sounds awesome until you stop to think about it.

Discussion: Wired.com, O'Reilly Radar, blog.chron.com and iDownloadBlog.com

Darrin / Darrin's Blog:

Introducing Plex for Google TV — It turns out that work on a fully functional myPlex client was not the only thing the Plex for Android team has been up to these days. We're happy to say that we were one of the 50 companies that Google invited to prepare an app in time for the initial release of Google TV.

Discussion: 9to5Google, Gizmodo, SlashGear, Engadget, The Verge and GigaOM

Joanna Stern / The Verge:

Motorola Xoom 2 and Xoom 2 Media Edition official, hitting the UK in mid-November — Well, here we go! After months of leaked specs and images, Motorola has finally decided to officially announce its Xoom 2 and Xoom 2 Media Edition, though just in the UK for now.

Discussion: TechCrunch, VentureBeat, PC World, The Verge, Inquirer, CNET News, Gizmodo UK, Gizmodo, Engadget, BGR, Business Insider, Gadget Lab, Mashable!, 9to5Google, Electronista and GottaBeMobile

Johan De Gelas / AnandTech:

Facebook's “Open Compute” Server tested — Facebook had 22 Million active users in the middle of 2007; fast forward to 2011 and the site now has 800 Million active users, with 400 million of them logging in every day. Facebook has grown exponentially, to say the least!

Thanks:anandshimpi

Kevin Fox / fox @ fury:

My offer to Google Reader — Like many others, I was curious when Google announced that it would be revamping the Google Reader UI and refactor its social components into Google Plus. To that end, I wrote a brief blog post about what I felt would be a better alternative to stripping out Google Reader's social functionality.

Discussion: WebProNews and 9to5Google

Stuart Dredge / Guardian:

EMI's new music sandboxes connect artists with app developers — Gorillaz, Tinie Tempah, Professor Green and others could benefit from innovative ideas around their music — One of the worst conference cliches currently floating around the tech industry is this: app developers are the new rock stars.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Music Hack Day, AllThingsD, The Next Web and L.A. Times Tech Blog

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