Techmeme: engag.io — About a month ago, William Mougayar … (Fred/A VC)

11:50 PM ET, December 6, 2011

Top Items:

Dirk Dougherty / Android Developers Blog:

10 Billion Android Market Downloads and Counting — [This post is by Eric Chu, Android Developer Ecosystem. —Dirk Dougherty] — One billion is a pretty big number by any measurement. However, when it's describing the speed at which something is growing, it's simply amazing.

John Paczkowski / AllThingsD: Android Market Now on Pace With Apple at More Than 1 Billion Downloads a Month

Reuters:

Exclusive: Verizon to take on Netflix with Web service — (Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc plans to launch a standalone service allowing customers to stream movies and television shows over the Web, in a fresh challenge to Netflix Inc and the traditional cable TV business, according to several people briefed on the plan.

Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:
Verizon Planning Netflix Competitor For 2012 Debut

Discussion: Media Decoder and CNET News, more at Mediagazer »

Zack Whittaker / Between the Lines Blog:

Facebook flaw allows access to private photos — Summary: A flaw in Facebook allows users to access private photos that are hidden from view, through no less than the social network's own image reporting tool. — Reporting features in Facebook apparently can allow users to access personal …

Zack Whittaker / Between the Lines Blog:
Facebook acknowledges photo privacy bug; Issues immediate fix

Discussion: Fox News

Curtis Cartier / The Daily Weekly:

Crystal Cox, Oregon Blogger, Isn't a Journalist, Concludes U.S. Court—Imposes $2.5 Million Judgement on Her — A U.S. District Court judge in Portland has drawn a line in the sand between “journalist” and “blogger.” And for Crystal Cox, a woman on the latter end of that comparison, the distinction has cost her $2.5 million.

Discussion: SEO Book.com, Street Fight, @cshirky, @jayrosen_nyu and Betabeat, more at Mediagazer »

Dan Frommer / SplatF:

Isn't it ironic: Google Wallet “closed” on the airwaves Google lobbied the FCC to keep “open” — About four years ago, Google was in activist mode, campaigning the FCC to force our wireless airwaves “open”, serving consumers' interests above those of wireless operators.

Discussion: The Orange View, Computerworld, PC World, The Register, PC Magazine, Geek.com and Gizmodo

Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Verizon Couldn't Be More Full Of It — Yesterday news broke …

Discussion: eWeek, Ars Technica, BGR, 9to5Google, Computerworld, ITworld.com, Electronista, Forbes, Neowin.net, NFC World, The Verge, CNET News, Pulse2, Engadget and mocoNews

Andrew Munn / Google+:

Follow up to “Android graphics true facts”, or The Reason Android is Laggy — Yesterday +Dianne Hackborn posted to Google+ an article that dismissed the common accusation that Android is laggy because UI rendering wasn't hardware accelerated until Honeycomb: — https://plus.google.com/105051985738280 261832/ posts/2FXDCz8x93s

Discussion: App Advice, SlashGear, Electronista, ExtremeTech, Redmond Pie, Android Phone Fans and Daring Fireball

Tim Carmody / Wired:

With TVs, Microsoft Is Right and Apple Is Wrong — “The problem with innovation in the television market is the go-to-market strategy,” Steve Jobs told Hillcrest Labs' Dan Simpkins at D8 in 2010. “It's not a problem of technology; it's not a problem of vision; it's a fundamental go-to-market problem.”

Discussion: Forbes, Dice Blog Network and The Toybox Blog

Richard Lawler / Engadget:

RIM loses BBX trademark battle, next OS is named BlackBerry 10 — Die-hard fans of RIM's mobile efforts should put those BBX tattoo plans on hold, as the US Federal Court has blocked the company from using the BBX trademark, favoring the existing use by BASIS International for its software.

Discussion: @blackberrydev, CrackBerry.com, The Verge, @jperlow, BerryReview.com, MobileSyrup.com and Electronista

Sakthi Prasad / Reuters: U.S. court temporarily bars RIM from using BBX trademark

Benoit Maison / Benoit Maison's blog:

Why Siri had to start in beta — Bashing Siri, the iPhone 4S virtual assistant, seems to be fashionable these days. Mat Honan declares it “Apple's broken promise”. CNN reports on Siri's alleged anti-abortion bias (via Danny Sullivan). Colbert weighs in.

Discussion: AppleInsider, Edible Apple, LIVEdigitally, iDownloadBlog.com and Business Insider

Mike Swift / Mercury News:

Google to finance affordable housing in Mountain View — Better known for its investments in green energy or for buying tech startups at a dizzying pace, Google (GOOG) has discovered a new investment opportunity — affordable housing. — Google has recently become a significant investor …

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:

Guy In Charge Of Google+'s Google Bar Joins Path — Google+ Lead Product Manager Dylan Casey, the guy most famously in charge of the recently launched Google Bar, is leaving Google to join social app Path, the company tells me. Casey, who had been at Google since 2003, will start at Path on Tuesday as Director of Product Management.

Discussion: Business Insider

Jay Greene / CNET News:

Microsoft works to lure devs by taking less for app sales — Microsoft's Antoine Leblond at the unveiling of the Windows Store app marketplace. — SAN FRANCISCO—In a bid to lure developers to its upcoming application store for Windows, Microsoft revealed a new pricing scheme designed to undercut rivals' marketplaces.

Discussion: BetaNews, The Verge, All about Microsoft Blog, Ars Technica, The Register, WinRumors, The Verge and Neowin.net

Colleen Taylor / GigaOM:

It's a start: Facebook begins Timeline rollout in New Zealand — Screenshot of Timeline (click to enlarge) — Updated. Facebook has officially started rolling out the new Timeline user interface in earnest, some 10 weeks after announcing its imminent release at the f8 conference in September.

Discussion: L.A. Times Tech Blog, New Zealand Herald, AllThingsD, TechCrunch, Business Insider, All Facebook, The Technology Chronicles, Mashable!, Inside Facebook, Electronista and WebProNews

Maciej Ceglowski / Pinboard:

Don't Be A Free User — Were you a big Gowalla fan? Did you like Dodgeball? Did you think Trunk.ly (gasp!) was better than Pinboard? Did you make a lot of contributions to Nextstop? Do you miss Aardvark and EtherPad? Did “I Want Sandy” change your life?

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:

With Eric Schmidt as backer, HealthTap raises $11.5M for mobile patient-doctor Q&A network — HealthTap has raised $11.5 million in a first round of funding to expand its expert online physician community, which answers questions that patients pose online or via smartphones.

Discussion: CNET News, VatorNews, Social Markets, TechCrunch and silicontap.com

Eric Ravenscraft / RootzWiki:

[EXCLUSIVE] Galaxy Nexus To Drop Stateside December 9th — You didn't think we'd leave you hanging, did you? After all these weeks, the speculation and anticipation is finally coming to a close. Multiple sources speaking to RootzWiki have confirmed that the CDMA Galaxy Nexus is set to land …

Discussion: Engadget, VentureBeat, Android and Me, Lifehacker, Gadget Lab, 9to5Google, eWeek, TechSpot, Android Community, Electronista, Business Insider, PhoneArena, CNET News and PhoneArena

Chris Velazco / TechCrunch:

Amazon Jabs At Brick-And-Mortar Retailers With Price Check Promotion — Not long after wrapping up their string of Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals, Amazon has pulled back the curtain on yet another way they'll be snagging purchases away from physical retail outlets.

Discussion: Amazon.com, AllThingsD, IntoMobile, Gawker, GottaBeMobile, GeekWire, Bits, Tech Beat, ReadWriteWeb, @counternotions, PC World, TechFlash, Digits, Electronista, Mashable! and 9to5Mac

Phil Goldstein / FierceWireless:

U.S. Cellular: We'll wait for an LTE iPhone — U.S. Cellular will likely wait until Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) unveils an LTE-capable iPhone before considering whether to sell it, according to TDS CEO Ted Carlson. (TDS is the parent company of U.S. Cellular.) — “We're never going to say never about the iPhone,” Carlson said.

Discussion: Computerworld, TUAW, AllThingsD, IntoMobile, Edible Apple, PhoneArena and 9to5Mac

Paul Sawers / The Next Web:

The BBC's global iPlayer expands to iPhone and iPod Touch — Five months after BBC Worldwide launched its global iPlayer app to 11 Western European countries on iPad, the commercial arm of the UK broadcaster has announced that it's making the app available on iPhone and iPod Touch too.

Discussion: iPhone, Pulse2, iPhone Buzz, 9to5Mac, SlashGear, MacRumors, The Verge, App Advice, MacStories, PC & Tech Authority, TUAW, TechCrunch and Electronista

Gary Ng / iPhone in Canada Blog:

Apple Submits Updated Campus 2 Plans to Cupertino, Reveals Stunning Renderings — Steve Jobs surprised the Cupertino City Council when he personally showed up to explain and debut plans for a new massive Apple Campus 2. The original campus plans were submitted back in the summer …

Discussion: MacRumors, Thanks:iphoneincanada

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

iBooks updated with nighttime reading theme, full-screen option, and more — Apple has pushed out a fairly major update to its iBooks application for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The 1.5 update includes a new nighttime reading theme for a better digital reading experience in the dark.

Discussion: iDownloadBlog.com, Cult of Mac and TUAW, Thanks:deancorp

Harrison Weber / The Next Web:

New York Times's Reveal is the mirror of the future — Reveal, created by The NY Times Company Research & Development Lab, is a mirror platform that explores the roles information and media might play in our future routines. According to the team: We all experience the world in a highly personalized fashion.

Discussion: @mattcutts

Wall Street Journal:

Yahoo Seeks Better Stake Bids — Yahoo Inc. has requested more information and better terms from potential buyers of a minority stake in the company as the board weighs a variety of proposals, according to people familiar with the matter. — Discussions with private-equity-led bidders …

Discussion: Business Insider

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