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9:20 AM ET, December 8, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Larry Hryb / Xbox Live's Major Nelson:
Introducing the official Xbox LIVE iOS App  —  Xbox LIVE has released the official Xbox LIVE app for iOS owners.  This is a universal app that is designed for all iOS devices.  —  This free app will allow you to say connected to the Xbox LIVE community when you are away from you console.
RELATED:
Ben Kuchera / Ars Technica:
Xbox 360 update: new media features, no right to sue Microsoft
Discussion: BetaNews
Chris Jaffe / The Official Netflix Blog:
Netflix Unveils New Xbox Experience
Discussion: VentureBeat
John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:
Acer CEO: We're Going to Stop Selling Cheap, Unprofitable Crap  —  Acer CEO J.T. Wang has settled on a turnaround strategy for the company, one that will return it to profitability after two consecutive quarters of net losses.  Acer is going to pin its hopes on the ultrabook.
RELATED:
Brian Caulfield / Shiny Objects:
Apple's New Campus Will Put On A Spectacular Show Every Year, Starting On Steve Jobs' Birthday  —  The City of Cupertino published more details on Apple's enormous new circular headquarters Tuesday.  And if you're looking for ‘one last thing,’ that final flourish Apple Chief Steve Jobs was known for …
Discussion: Gizmodo and PhoneArena
Jeff Atwood / Coding Horror:
Fast Approximate Anti-Aliasing (FXAA)  —  Anti-aliasing has an intimidating name, but what it does for our computer displays is rather fundamental.  Think of it this way — a line has infinite resolution, but our digital displays do not.  So when we “snap” a line to the pixel grid on our display …
Discussion: VizWorld.com
John Cook / GeekWire:
Retail association pissed about Amazon.com's Price Check app  —  The Retail Industry Leaders Association isn't too happy about Amazon.com's Price Check app and a new promotion that the Seattle online retailer is unveiling this Saturday.  —  The company announced this week that shoppers who perform a …
Discussion: IntoMobile
Matt Burns / TechCrunch:
HP Is Reviving The $99 TouchPad Firesale!  Refurb Models To Hit HP's Ebay Store On 12/11  —  Get your clicking fingers ready!  These boys are going to go fast.  —  Starting Sunday, December 11th at 6:00 p.m. Central time, 16GB and 32GB Touchpads will be available on HP's ebay store.
Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:
Exclusive: Facebook Does A Major Reorg Around Key Products  —  Facebook has done a major corporate reorganization in an effort to be more nimble, sources said.  —  The new structure integrates design, product and engineering teams around key product areas such as privacy and communication.
Keith Peiris / Facebook Blog:
A Faster Facebook for Android  —  Today we're launching an updated Facebook app for Android.  It's now quicker and easier to view photos, get messages and navigate around the app.  —  Photos get better  —  Photos and albums are up to two times faster than the previous Android app.
Rick Broida / CNET Reviews:
Hands-on with the $19-per-month Republic Wireless Android phone  —  If you can live with some modest restrictions, you can get a contract-free Android smartphone for just $19 monthly.  —  Last month, Republic Wireless made waves when it announced an Android phone with “unlimited” service for just $19 per month, no contract required.
Richard Lawler / Engadget:
Apple TV updates stream purchased TV shows to Australia, Canada and the UK  —  Apple TV users (the hockey puck, not the pie in the sky rumored flat panel with magic fairy dust inside and an extra unaired season of Firefly) in Canada, Australia and the UK were gifted a download today …
Electronista:
Nokia may drop Vertu luxury phones altogether  —  Company said to be selling off Vertu division  —  Nokia is reportedly attempting to step away from the luxury market, which it had engaged for more than a decade through the Vertu brand.  The Finnish phone maker is said to be seeking a buyer …
Reuters:
Alibaba seeks $4 billion in financing for Yahoo stake: sources  —  (Reuters) - Alibaba Group is seeking up to $4 billion in debt financing, sources said on Thursday, in a deal expected to help the Chinese e-commerce giant buy back a 40 percent stake in the company owned by Yahoo Inc.
Discussion: TechCrunch
RELATED:
Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:
Three Months After Bartz's Firing, It's Hurry Up and Wait at Yahoo (A Big Honking Update)
Discussion: Business Insider
Robert Andrews / paidContent:
Schmidt Reckons Most TVs Will Have Google TV By Mid-2012  —  What with self-driving cars and such, Eric Schmidt is not averse to some blue-sky thinking.  But one new prediction may be a moonshot too far. … The whole connected TV space will explode in 2012, as more new TVs ship with internet connectivity …
Jeff Roberts / paidContent:
The E-book Investigations: Are Publishers And Apple Breaking The Law?  —  It's been a week to forget for publishers after both the Justice Department and the European Commission announced investigations into e-book pricing tactics.  Meanwhile, dozens of law firms are steaming ahead …
Stephen Shankland / CNET News:
Instagram photo app for Android is under way  —  Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom speaking at LeWeb.  —  PARIS—Instagram has risen to popularity in the photo-sharing realm just with an iPhone app, but Chief Executive Kevin Systrom today said an Android version is on the way.
Jessica Vascellaro / Wall Street Journal:
Start-Ups Aim to Teach Coding  —  With computer programmers in demand, new start-ups that aim to train people in coding skills are also becoming hot properties.  —  Ventures that teach computer programming, design and other once-nerdy skills to the masses are surfacing nationwide and drawing interest from Bay Area investors.
John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:
What if Apple Television Is an iMac?  —  Here's a novel theory: The Internet-connected HDTV that Apple is rumored to have in the pipeline will be preceded by another device, which will pave the way for it:  —  A new iMac with integrated TV functionality.  —  That's the latest speculation …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Publishing To Facebook Subscribers Shouldn't Make Us Spam Our Friends  —  I have one major gripe with Facebook's Subscribe feature: I have to publish to all my friends to reach my Subscribers.  In September, Facebook launched Subscribe, its Twitter-esque option that lets people receive …
Kevin Michaluk / CrackBerry.com:
Exclusive: First Image of BlackBerry Milan - next generation BlackBerry 10 slider!!  —  Well that didn't take long.  Last week we posted our BBX (now BlackBerry 10) Roadmap Preview for 2012, where we dropped a number of new codenames into the mix beyond the already photographed BlackBerry London.
Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:
Coming Soon: Twitter to Show Off What It's Building, in Its New Building  —  Twitter invited press, including AllThingsD, to come to an event this morning in San Francisco in order “to come see what we're building.”  —  Does that mean new products?  Probably — but with this company you never know.
Robert Andrews / paidContent:
UltraViolet's First Web Channels Are Now Live, Now It's Going Global  —  The new technology allowing consumers who buy entertainment in physical formats to consume it online for no additional cost has gone live and is going global, with launches in the UK this Christmas, Canada in 2012 and elsewhere in 2013.
Discussion: Softpedia News and The Register
Walter S. Mossberg / AllThingsD:
Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Review  —  One of the biggest things that deters people from relying on tablets is the lack of a convenient physical keyboard.  Now, Taiwan-based Asus is attacking this issue with a new Android-based tablet and accompanying keyboard dock, due on store shelves in the U.S. on Dec. 15.
Discussion: 9to5Google and @waltmossberg
Mkoidin / Read It Later Blog:
Who Are the ‘Most-Read’ Authors?  —  Saving a story for later can tell us a lot about loyalty, longevity and quality—and it changes the way we think about the most popular stories on the web  —  If we're to believe Woody Allen, “80 percent of success is showing up.”
Discussion: paidContent
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Greylock And Benchmark Lead $15M Round In Social Collaboration Platform For Classrooms Edmodo  —  Edmodo, an online social learning and communications network for teachers and students in K through 12 schools, has raised $15 million in Series B funding led by Greylock Partners and Benchmark Capital.
Long Zheng / istartedsomething:
Analyzing Windows Store tidbits  —  Here's just a few interesting and lesser-known tidbits about the Windows Store I found from various Microsoft documentation published today to coincide the announcement event held in San Francisco.  —  From the “Certification requirements for Windows apps”:
 
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 More Items: 
Daniel Rubino / wpcentral:
T-Mobile Nokia Lumia 710 - confirmed through FCC manual
Eric Eldon / TechCrunch:
With Growth Accelerating, Socialcam's Mobile Video App Passes 3 Million Downloads
Alison Gregor / New York Times:
Square Feet: CityMaps Shows Where Businesses Are, Block by Block
Jamie Heller / Deal Journal:
AT&T's Breakup Fee Less Taxing?
Discussion: DSLreports and Reuters
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Groupon Buys OpenCal, Launches Online Appointment Booking Service ‘Scheduler’
Discussion: Business Wire, VentureBeat and Pulse2
 Earlier Items: 
Royal Pingdom:
The mobile web in numbers
Ellis Hamburger / Business Insider:
OnLive's Mind Blowing New App Lets You Play Xbox And Playstation Games On Your iPad
Sean Murphy / CNET Download.com:
A note from Sean regarding the Download.com Installer
Phil Goldstein / FierceWireless:
Verizon's McAdam: Family data plans coming in 2012
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Evan Drellich / New York Times:
The MLB is planning national packages for streaming companies to bid on in 2028, when its national TV deals with ESPN, Fox, and Turner expire

Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Analyzing Comcast's spinoff of cable networks, purposefully structured with low debt: the move might be a signal to the industry that it's time to consolidate

Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
Tubi launches Scenes, a mobile feature that lets viewers watch 60-to-90-second trailer-style clips from its library to help with content discovery

 
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