Top Items:
Dan Primack / Fortune:
Zynga's stock ‘scandal’ — What did I do? — There is no joy in Cityville — the mighty Pincus was called a lout. — Zynga this morning woke up to a front-page story in the Wall Street Journal, accusing the social gaming company and its CEO Mark Pincus of strong-arming employees into giving up previously-granted stock options.
Discussion:
Kotaku, @rk, Washington Post and Broken Toys
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Zynga Leans On Some Workers to Surrender Pre-IPO Shares — SAN FRANCISCO—Zynga Inc. Chief Executive Mark Pincus often gave shares rather than high salaries to his top talent as he built his online-game start-up. — But as Zynga grew into a multibillion-dollar company with hot games like …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Business Insider, CNET News, Betabeat, TechFlash, Associated Press, Neowin.net, I4U News and @evelynrusli
Dan Primack / Fortune:
Exclusive: Mark Pincus memo to Zynga employees — Earlier today the Wall Street Journal suggested that social gaming giant Zynga had strong-armed employees into giving up previously-granted stock options. I wrote a follow-up post, arguing that the WSJ made things sound much worse than they really were.
Discussion:
The Technology Chronicles
Wall Street Journal:
Facebook, FTC Near Privacy Settlement — Facebook Inc. is finalizing a proposed settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over charges that it engaged in deceptive behavior when changing its privacy settings, according to people familiar with the situation.
Discussion:
@dkberman, Computerworld, Business Insider, ReadWriteWeb, @joshconstine and @dannysullivan
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Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:
Facebook to make all sharing related privacy settings ‘opt-in’ instead of ‘opt-out’ — Facebook is near an agreement that will settle a case with the Federal Trade Commission by making all of its privacy settings opt-in instead of opt-out, reports the WSJ. That means that you will not share anything …
Discussion:
The Verge, L.A. Times Tech Blog, PC Magazine, Between the Lines Blog, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, Washington Post and Mashable!
Lance Whitney / CNET News:
Voice behind Siri goes public despite warning from Apple — The voice behind the U.K.'s Siri speaks. — Former technology journalist Jon Briggs has revealed himself as the voice of Siri in the United Kingdom, despite a warning from Apple to keep silent. — In an interview …
Discussion:
Telegraph, App Advice, GottaBeMobile, iDownloadBlog.com, everythingiCafe, TUAW, Technologizer and The Next Web
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Matt Warman / Telegraph:
The voice behind Siri breaks his silence — Jon Briggs only discovered he was the voice of Apple's Siri in the UK when he saw it on television. He speaks openly for the first — Jon Briggs, the voice of Siri — Apple has been keeping a secret from iPhone users: the company may call its new …
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Google Acquires Katango, The Automatic Friend Sorter — Back in September we broke the news that Google was in talks to acquire Katango, a small Kleiner Perkins-backed startup that launched this past summer. Today, they've made it official: Katango just announced that it's been acquired by Google …
Discussion:
AllThingsD, SiliconFilter, ReadWriteWeb, SlashGear and MediaFile
Jack Purcher / Patently Apple:
Apple Reveals New Powerful Gestures in the Works for iOS Devices — On November 10, 2011, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals a series of new gestures that will provide users with a number of advantages. It will allow users to view clusters …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Gizmodo, CNET News, SlashGear and iDownloadBlog.com
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Google Buys Contextual Rich News Browsing Startup Apture To Beef Up Chrome — Google has acquired Apture, a startup that brings instantaneous search to content on the web, we've confirmed with both companies. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Discussion:
MediaPost, ReadWriteWeb, Digits, VentureBeat, 9to5Google, CNET News, @rafat, WebProNews, MarketingVox News & Trends, silicontap.com, AllThingsD and socalTECH.com
ACLU Blog of Rights:
It Was Close, But We Won: Viva Net Neutrality! — Today in the Senate there was a major win for freedom of speech and the Internet. In a largely partisan vote Senate Democrats defeated a resolution introduced by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) which would have overturned …
Discussion:
paidContent, Threat Level, InfoWorld, Reuters, DSLreports, @timkarr, GMSV, Blog of Rights and Betabeat
RELATED:
Josh Smith / NationalJournal.com:
Senate Blocks Resolution to Overturn Net-Neutrality Rules
Discussion:
Neowin.net, Ars Technica and L.A. Times Tech Blog
Ina Fried / AllThingsD:
Apple Releases Software Updated Designed to Fix iOS5 Battery Issues — Apple on Thursday issued a minor software update to the operating system that powers the iPhone designed to fix several bugs that Apple says are to blame for the lower-than-expected battery life some users have been seeing.
Discussion:
LAPTOP Magazine, eWeek, TechCrunch, The Next Web, Mashable!, BetaNews, Ars Technica, GigaOM, @0xcharlie, Macworld, BGR, The Verge, Gizmodo, The Seattle Times, The Loop, IntoMobile, Engadget and Lifehacker
Chris Ziegler / The Verge:
Exclusive: Nokia, AT&T collaborating on Lumia 800 with LTE — We've learned from people familiar with the matter that Nokia's delayed entry into the US is partly due to the fact that it wants to attack with LTE — and that's a feature that Windows Phone 7.5 doesn't presently support.
Mary Himinkool / The Official Google Blog:
Supporting entrepreneurs around the world with Startup Weekend — We recognize the transformative power of startups and the entrepreneurs behind them that have the passion and courage to pursue a dream; the impact they can make on society can be significant.
Discussion:
GeekWire, VentureBeat, TechCrunch and Google Code Blog
Nick Bilton / Bits:
Google+ Isn't Going Away — There sure are a lot of Google+ haters out there. — “Google+ Is Dead,” Farhad Manjoo, a writer for Slate, proclaimed this week. Mr. Manjoo wrote, “Google might not know it yet, but from the outside, it's clear that G+ has started to die — it will hang on for a year …
Discussion:
FierceCIO News, Datamation.com, Digiday, GigaOM and Beyond Search
Jessica E. Vascellaro / Wall Street Journal:
Tech Start-Ups Rethink Worth of Patents — As Silicon Valley behemoths such as Apple Inc. engage in what some fear is patent Armageddon by challenging competitors' technology, smaller tech companies and venture capitalists are changing their long-held view that it isn't worthwhile for start-ups to file for patents.
Claire Cain Miller / New York Times:
Google's Chief Works to Trim a Bloated Ship — MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Larry Page, Google's chief executive, so hates wasting time at meetings that he once dumped his secretary to avoid being scheduled for them. He does not much like e-mail either — even his own Gmail …
Discussion:
Business Insider, NBC Bay Area, Bits, Gawker, CNET News and Pursuitist
Ashton Kutcher / A+K:
Twitter Management — Up until today I have posted virtually everyone of my tweets on my own, but clearly the platform has become to big to be managed by a single individual. When I started using twitter it was a communication platform that people could say what they are thinking in real …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Gizmodo, Mashable!, Hollywood Reporter, @mathewi, The Next Web, CNET News, TMZ.com, Business Insider and Lost Remote
Matias Duarte / Google+:
Hello Roboto — When we announced Ice Cream Sandwich I also got a chance to introduce Android's new typeface Roboto. Today I'd like to talk about how Roboto was born — why we decided to create it, and the design choices we made in the process. — Why replace Droid?
Jeff Roberts / paidContent:
Judge Throws Out Lawsuit Against Apple Over ‘iBrick’ — A California woman accused Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) last year of using an underhanded trick to force iPhone users to buy a newer model. This week she struck out in court after a federal judge concluded that Apple's software upgrades are free and do not qualify as a sale.
Discussion:
Electronista
Seth Fiegerman / Mainstreet.com:
Exclusive: Amazon's $79 Kindle Costs $84 to Make — NEW YORK (MainStreet) — Amazon's new $79 Kindle e-reader isn't just undercutting all competitors on price, it's also undercutting Amazon. — The soon-to-be-released e-reader costs $84.25 to manufacture, according to a new report …
Discussion:
Mashable!, Gizmodo, Inquirer, Electronista, Business Insider, SlashGear, Computerworld and VatorNews
Jordan Kahn / 9to5Mac:
Nuance speech recognition comes to Mac App Store with Dragon Express — Nuance just dropped a new Dragon dictation product in the Mac App Store called Dragon Express ($49 introductory price), a scaled-back, less expensive version of their Dragon Dictate software.
Discussion:
Ars Technica, The Loop, Softpedia News, Computerworld, MacRumors and GigaOM
Ina Fried / AllThingsD:
T-Mobile USA Sees iPhone 4S Leading to More Customer Defections — As part of its earnings report on Wednesday, T-Mobile USA warned that it could see a rise in churn as contract customers leave for one of its iPhone-carrying competitors. — The arrival of the iPhone 4S …
Discussion:
Business Wire, Telekom.com, BGR, GigaOM, GottaBeMobile, TUAW, iDownloadBlog.com, MacRumors, Between the Lines Blog, Electronista, The Next Web and iClarified
Ina Fried / AllThingsD:
Nvidia Earnings, Revenue Nudge Past Estimates on Strong Graphics and Mobile Business — Nvidia on Thursday reported quarterly earnings that were just ahead of what analysts were expecting. — The chipmaker said it earned $178.3 million, or 29 cents per share, on revenue of $1.07 billion for the three months ended Oct. 30.
Discussion:
Shiny Objects
Austin Carr / Fast Company:
How Google+ And Other “Little Versions Of Facebook” Solve Social Media's “Big” Problem — Google+ guru Bradley Horowitz, Path's Dave Morin, and GroupMe's Jared Hecht talk to Fast Company about “the biggest problem in social networking”—grouping the right friends in the right ways.
