Techmeme: HTC claims it has engineered around IPCom patent enforced in Germany (Florian Mueller/FOSS Patents)

11:25 AM ET, November 28, 2011

Top Items:

Seth Weintraub / 9to5Mac:

Apple's Black Friday Retail Store Sales were “off the charts” — We obviously had to white out numbers above - From Apple's Retail inventory system. — A source inside Apple Retail has shared with us the numbers for Apple's Black Friday sales event. Black Friday is always huge shopping …

Amazon.com:

Best Black Friday Ever for Kindle Family: Kindle Sales Increase 4X Over Last Year — Holiday shoppers made Kindle Fire the bestselling product across all of Amazon.com on Black Friday — Kindle Fire now the bestselling product across Amazon for 8 weeks running - ever since its introduction on September 28

Discussion: paidContent, eWeek, PC World, VentureBeat, TechFlash, VatorNews, Nieman Journalism Lab, GeekWire, Associated Press, 9to5Google, The Verge, CNET News, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Technologizer, BGR, Engadget, Liliputing, Mashable!, WebProNews, blog.chron.com, AllThingsD and PhoneArena

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

Black Friday E-Commerce Spending Up 26 Percent To A Record $816M; Amazon Most Visited Retailer — As we heard on Saturday, IBM reported a 24 percent increase in online sales for Black Friday this year. ComScore is announcing even stronger results for e-commerce, with Black Friday seeing $816 million …

Andrea Chang / Los Angeles Times:
Cyber Monday retail sales may hit record

Discussion: VentureBeat, Washington Post, PR Newswire, Techland, Electronista, Hillicon Valley and Social Media

Evelyn M. Rusli / DealBook:

Zynga's Tough Culture Risks a Talent Drain — Zynga's chief executive, Mark Pincus, got an earful from employees last month. — In dozens of e-mails to a companywide list, frustrated workers complained about the long hours and stressful deadline periods.

Discussion: Venture Capital Dispatch, Business Insider, Bits, Uncrunched, Fortune, Kotaku, Mobile Entertainment, @karaswisher and cdixon's posterous

Michael Arrington / Uncrunched:
Startups Are Hard. So Work More, Cry Less, And Quit All The Whining

Discussion: Business Insider, Get Off My Internets, @rafat and @dave_peck

Clare Jim / Reuters:

HTC says to tough out downturn, new models coming — (Reuters) - HTC Corp promised competitive new models early next year and said it would stick to its strategy in the face of its biggest challenge since rising to prominence in the smartphone market. — HTC has become the worst performer …

Discussion: Digital Trends, CNET News, Inquirer, DailyTech, The Register, Electronista, The Verge, SlashGear, PhoneArena, Pocket-lint, Know Your Mobile, Electricpig.co.uk and WMPoweruser

Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:
HTC claims it has engineered around IPCom patent enforced in Germany

Discussion: Inquirer, CNET News, Gizmodo UK, The Register, Phones Review and SlashGear

Electronista:

Best Buy cancels BlackBerry PlayBook orders, pulls listings — Best Buy sheds PlayBook as others follow — Best Buy raised questions on Thanksgiving weekend after it suddenly started cancelling Blackberry PlayBook orders. Shoppers have frequently reported orders being dropped …

Discussion: Gizmodo, PC World, SlashGear, PadGadget, forums.bestbuy.com, PhoneArena and The Toybox Blog

Jason Lewis / Telegraph:

Facebook faces a crackdown on selling users' secrets to advertisers — Facebook is facing a crackdown on how it exploits vast amounts of its users' most personal information to create bespoke advertising. — Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg must address privacy concerns or face fines under a new EC Directive

Discussion: Washington Post, Mashable!, GigaOM, Tech Europe, WebProNews, ITProPortal, Inquirer, PC Pro and London Calling Blog

Matt Rosoff / Business Insider:

Why The PayPal “Mafia” Was So Great: Yammer CEO David Sacks Explains — David Sacks is one of the earliest members of the so-called PayPal “mafia,” a group of PayPal employees who went on to unusual positions of influence and power in Silicon Valley. — But his first startup after leaving PayPal …

Arnold Kim / MacRumors:

Apple Suppliers Starting to Ship 4" Screens for Next iPhone? — iPhone 4 (3.5") top vs Galaxy S (4") bottom via Engadget — Macotakara claims that Hitatchi Displays and Sony Mobile Display Corporation have begun shipping 4-inch LCDs for a new iOS device:

Discussion: Edible Apple, MACé" blog, App Advice, SlashGear, MacDailyNews, Redmond Pie, The Next Web, Gizmodo UK, Fonehome, O'Grady's PowerPage, everythingiCafe, Electricpig.co.uk, iPhone Alley, Softpedia News, iClarified, WebProNews and PhoneArena

Ingrid Lunden / mocoNews:

Crunch Time For Apple's Rivals: iPhone Sales In UK Grew Again In October — Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) acolytes will probably be saying “told you so” when they hear of this: sales of the iPhone, which had been in decline in the last several months, turned around and grew in the month of October …

Discussion: GigaOM, Guardian, Telegraph, MacDailyNews, Electronista and PSFK

Business Week:

In Some Virtual Worlds, the Thrill Is Gone — Zynga and other social game developers search for the next FarmVille-scale hit — Just a few weeks after Mafia Wars 2 went live on Facebook, Din Shlomi got tired of playing the game. A self-described hard-core gamer from northern Israel …

Discussion: VG247

Eric Eldon / TechCrunch:
Zynga Builds Its CastleVille Walls, As Its Facebook Traffic Flattens And Falls

Thanks:eldon

Matt Brian / The Next Web:

Apple now offering free shipping on all U.S online orders until December 22 — Apple has begun its seasonal sales push by offering free shipping on all items purchased via the US portal of the online Apple Store or via its official iOS application, running the promotion until December 22, the company's website reveals.

Discussion: MacRumors

Rip Empson / TechCrunch:

Russian Search Giant Yandex Acquires Mobile Software Developer SPB For $38 Million — Last week, Yandex, one of biggest search and advertising companies in Russia, announced that it would be teaming up with Microsoft, Nokia, HTC and Samsung to become the default search engine on both new and upcoming Windows Phones in Russia.

Discussion: mocoNews, Tech Europe, FierceMobileContent and Bloomberg

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