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9:20 AM ET, November 15, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Joshua Topolsky / The Verge:
BlackBerry London: is this the first RIM phone with the BBX OS?  —  We've just gotten a look at what might be the first-ever photo of the next iteration of BlackBerry devices (based on the upcoming BBX operating system and its QNX roots), and we wanted to share.
RELATED:
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
BlackBerry Bold 9790 and Curve 9380 announced with BB OS 7, available in ‘the coming weeks’  —  After many leaks, RIM has finally come clean on its latest BlackBerry smartphones, the Bold 9790 and Curve 9380.  Both devices run BlackBerry OS 7 with its newer browser, support for NFC and, of course, BlackBerry Messenger.
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
The Death Of The Spec  —  Earlier today, my colleague Matt Burns wrote a post noting that most tablet makers may be largely failing because they've sold their soul to Android and are now just in the middle of a spec war, which no one can win.  I'm gonna go one step further in that line of thinking: the spec is dead.
RELATED:
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Device Specs  —  Drew Breunig, “Device Specs Have Become Meaningless”:
Discussion: iDownloadBlog.com
Rob Beschizza / Boing Boing:
What the Vaio Z says about Sony's little design problem  —  Sony's latest ultraportable laptop is stunning.  It's beautiful and lightweight, with a classy metal chassis and impeccably tasteful trim.  It has a powerful i7 CPU, 1600x900 13.1" display and a lightning-fast SSD.
Daniel Eran Dilger / AppleInsider:
MacBook Air now 28% of Apple's notebook shipments  —  Apple's MacBook Air models now make up 28 percent of the company's notebook shipments, up from just 8 percent in the first half of the year.  —  Research by Morgan Stanley involving NPD figures reported by analyst Katy Huberty indicate Apple's thin …
RELATED:
Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:
Gartner: Android Now Over 50 Percent Of Smartphone Sales, The Rest Decline  —  Android may have some shortcomings, but Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has made enormous advances with manufacturers in terms of getting its OS on their smartphones, and in subsequently getting consumers to buy them.
Jim Dalrymple / The Loop:
Apple releases iTunes Match  —  Apple on Monday released a new version of iTunes that includes iTunes Match.  —  iTunes Match, will set you back $24.99 per year.  The software scans the content of your music library and matches it to the music available on the iTunes Store.
RELATED:
Jason Snell / Macworld:
Check your music's iCloud Status
Frederic Lardinois / SiliconFilter:
Apple Launches iTunes Match: You Can Now Get Your Piracy Amnesty for Just $25/Year
Twitter Blog:
Once in a lifetime  —  Increasingly people flock to Twitter to discover information and connect around occurrences like natural disasters, sporting events and cultural moments.  And then there are times when Twitter is where you might go to experience an infrequent curiosity.
RELATED:
Scott Beale / Laughing Squid:   A Visualization of Tweets Mentioning 11-11-11 Traveling The World
Thomas Houston / The Verge:
Adobe Touch apps hands-on: Photoshop Touch, Kuler, Proto, and more come to Android  —  While Adobe first announced its Touch Apps suite at MAX 2011 earlier this year, the Android version of the apps are finally rolling out today.  Each app retails for $9.99, requires Android 3.1 or later, and an 8.9-inch screen.
Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:
Public Memorials for Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy to Be Held This Weekend  —  Diapora co-founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy passed away on Saturday night, the team behind the distributed, open source social network acknowledged today.  —  Public memorial services for Zhitomirskiy are planned …
Violet Blue / ZDNet:
Facebook Porn and Gore Exploit Spiraling Out Of Control  —  Summary: For the past few days an exploit has been hijacking Facebook users accounts and posting explicit gore and pornography to users' timelines.  —  Facebook users' outrage is mounting toward the social network for an exploit …
Matt McGee / Search Engine Land:
Google Announces “_nomap” WiFi Opt-out Option, Wants Other Location Providers To Go Along  —  As promised, Google has announced a way for WiFi router owners to stop Google from including them in the company's location database.  —  The opt-out requires a change in the name of the wireless network …
Somini Sengupta / New York Times:
Rushdie Wins Facebook Fight Over Identity  —  SAN FRANCISCO — The writer Salman Rushdie hit Twitter on Monday morning with a flurry of exasperated posts.  Facebook, he wrote, had deactivated his account, demanded proof of identity and then turned him into Ahmed Rushdie, which is how he is identified on his passport.
Jennifer Van Grove / VentureBeat:
Siri sibling Trapit launches as intelligent discovery engine for the web's content  —  Say hello to Trapit.  The latest offspring from CALO, the DARPA-commissioned artificial-intelligence project that gave birth to iPhone virtual assistant Siri, launches in public beta Tuesday as a personalized discovery engine for the web.
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Eric Schmidt-Backed Slice Brings Receipt Aggregator And Tracking Service To The iPhone  —  Eric Schmidt-backed receipt tracking service Slice is debuting its first mobile app today.  Slice for iPhone automatically tracks your shipments and gives you access to your online shopping history anytime via the mobile app.
Discussion: CNET News, GigaOM and GottaBeMobile
Christina Warren / Mashable!:
Yes, You Can Install the Nook App on a Kindle Fire [EXCLUSIVE]  —  Although Amazon goes out of its way to hide all traces of vanilla Android from its new Kindle Fire tablet, it turns out tech-savvy users can still install select third-party Android applications outside the auspices of the Amazon Appstore.
Serkan Toto / TechCrunch:
Japan Display, Inc.: Sony, Toshiba, Hitachi Finalize Deal To Merge Display Units  —  The deal has been in the making for months, but today Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi made the mega merger official.  The three companies signed definitive agreements with the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan …
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
The making of the Xbox: How Microsoft unleashed a video game revolution (part 1)  —  Editor's note: This story is the first of two articles on the 10th anniversary of the launch of Microsoft's Xbox video game console, which debuted Nov. 15, 2001.  The narrative is based on recent interviews …
Discussion: WinRumors and LAPTOP Magazine, Thanks:deantak
Chris Barylick / Engadget:
Microsoft outlines Code Space, looks to include Kinect in conference rooms, PTA meetings (video)  —  If there's one thing that's certain about the Kinect, it's this; Microsoft wants it to be versatile.  Case in point, Code Space — the next extracurricular activity for the gaming controller …
Discussion: Electronista
Dana Mattioli / Wall Street Journal:
Recruiters Seek E-Commerce Executives  —  What's the hottest thing on retailers' Christmas lists this year?  Heads of e-commerce.  —  Recruiters say they're spending a lot of their time turning up executives who can build and manage websites, handle increasingly complex inventory management …
Amar Toor / Engadget:
Ice Cream Sandwich coming to full Xperia lineup, Sony Ericsson confirms  —  Last month, Sony [Ericsson] hinted, via Facebook, that Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich would soon be making its way to its entire lineup of Xperia handsets.  Today, this forthcoming upgrade has become officially official, though details remain equally fuzzy.
Bloomberg:
Google Said to Be Near Universal Music Deal for Song Downloads  —  Google Inc. (GOOG) is near an agreement to secure songs from Vivendi SA (VIV)'s Universal Music Group for its new music service, said a person with knowledge of the situation.  —  An accord with Universal …
Discussion: Engadget
 
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 More Items: 
Greg Finn / Search Engine Land:
Recent Google+ Posts & “Add To Circles” Buttons Are Coming To Google's Search Results
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Fab Hits A Million Users, Is Raising Many Millions of Dollars
Discussion: Digits and Social Media
Amy Pyett / Reuters:
Australia court to hear Samsung-Apple case in March
Felix Salmon:
The future of online advertising
Discussion: Epicenter, Digiday and AdExchanger.com
Charles Humble / InfoQ:
Adobe Donating Flex to Open Source Foundation; Continues Fire Sale on Formerly-Core Software
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Links Posted By Big Facebook Pages Have A 0.14% CTR, 1 Click Per 1000 Fans
Matt Lynley / Business Insider:
Amid Torrid Growth, Some Growing Pains For Mashable
Discussion: @mona
Liam Spradlin / Android Police:
Screen Shots Surface Showing What Could Be The Google Music Store …
 Earlier Items: 
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Gimme Bar: Link Saving With Dropbox Integration, Screenshots & an API - If This Doesn't Work, Maybe Nothing Will
Discussion: Gimme Bar
Beth Snyder Bulik / AdAge:
O, No! Overstock Backs Off O.co Name Change
Discussion: CNET News, cointernet.co and Gawker
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Siri Protocol Cracked, But Unique iPhone 4S ID Requirement Hampers Distribution
 

 
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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