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8:15 AM ET, December 16, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Poornima Gupta / Reuters:
Exclusive: Made in Texas: Apple's A5 iPhone chip  —  SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Inc is famous for relying on low-cost Asian manufacturers to both source and assemble its popular gadgets, but the consumer device giant recently started receiving a critical component in its iPad and iPhones from closer to home - Texas.
RELATED:
Jamie Keene / The Verge:   Apple's A5 processors made on $3.6 billion Samsung production line in Texas, says Reuters
Declan McCullagh / CNET News:
SOPA votes derailed by politician's ‘offensive’ tweet  —  A marathon debate today in the House of Representatives on the Stop Online Piracy Act wasn't derailed by procedural questions, even though not one hearing had been held on how the law would actually work.
RELATED:
Tom Krazit / paidContent:
Why RIM Needed To Fire Its Co-CEOs Months, If Not Years Ago  —  The two Waterloo Wallys running Research in Motion (NSDQ: RIMM) have presided over the incredible destruction of shareholder wealth in 2011 by misleading the public again and again about its ability to compete in mobile.
RELATED:
Brian Barrett / Gizmodo:
The PlayBook Is Killing RIM  —  RIM finally eked out a decent quarter.  Beat analyst estimates, even.  That is, if you don't count the $485 million bath the company took on unsold tablets.  The PlayBook—ill conceived, poorly executed—is RIM's worst product.  And it might just take down the whole company.
Discussion: ZDNet, Electronista and Tech Trader Daily, Thanks:joemfbrown
Tiernan Ray / Tech Trader Daily:
RIMM Slips 7%: Q4 BB Shipments Falling to 11M to 12M
Alex Heath / Cult of Mac:
Apple Makes Siri iPhone 4 Port Legally Possible With Today's iOS 5.0.1 Update  —  Siri is by far the iPhone 4S's most-desired feature, and many non-4S users have been clamoring for hackers to make the voice assistant available on older iOS devices.  While Siri ports have been demoed to the public before …
RELATED:
Christian Science Monitor:
Exclusive: Iran hijacked US drone, says Iranian engineer  —  In an exclusive interview, an engineer working to unlock the secrets of the captured RQ-170 Sentinel says they exploited a known vulnerability and tricked the US drone into landing in Iran.  —  ISTANBUL, TURKEY
Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
UMG claims “right to block or remove” YouTube videos it doesn't own  —  Universal Music Group has responded to Megaupload's request for a temporary restraining order barring the music giant from further interference with the distribution of its “Mega Song.”  UMG insists that it had a right …
RELATED:
Elinor Mills / CNET News:
In SOPA's shadow, Megaupload strikes back against Universal
Discussion: TeleRead
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
CashVille: Zynga finally goes public in a triumph for social games  —  After months of delay, social game maker Zynga is finally going public in an initial public offering.  The company priced its stock moments ago at $10 a share, the upper end of the price range.
RELATED:
Matt Lynley / Business Insider:
INSIDE ZYNGA: Meet The Man Charged With Helping The Company Grow Up
Discussion: Bloomberg
Tricia Duryee / AllThingsD:   Zynga Confirms Its Billion-Dollar Public Offering
Joshua Topolsky / The Verge:
Horses**t  —  Last night I tweeted at John Gruber and MG Siegler: “What a load of horses**t.  All due respect, but horses**t.”  The tweet was in reference to a post on Daring Fireball citing MG's “review” of the Galaxy Nexus.  Now, I won't take issue with his review overall.
RELATED:
parislemon:   “Horses**t”  —  Wow.  Josh Topolsky is mad.
Mike / Cydia Blog:
New iPad 3 Internal Replacement Part Appears, hints Major Redesign  —  As any new Apple product launch gets nearer, the frequency of leaks of supposed parts, and components increases.  A new replacement part for iPad 3 Microphone Mic Flex Cable Ribbon has just been surfaced on a Chinese iPhone parts reseller website, TVC-Mall.
Ben Elowitz / AllThingsD:
With Siri TV, Apple Will Dismantle the TV Networks  —  Steve Jobs died without fully transforming television, but the day after he passed away, Apple unveiled Siri, its natural language interface.  Though it's currently only embedded in the new iPhone 4S, Siri could eventually change the face of the TV industry.
Joanna Stern / The Verge:
Dell quits netbooks, says 'thin and powerful is where it's at'  —  While very few are still buying netbooks, many manufacturers have continued to release the small Intel Atom-powered computers (see Asus, Toshiba, etc.).  However, Dell isn't going to be one of those companies.
Jake Smith / 9to5Mac:
Digitimes: Apple to begin producing 7.85-inch iPads in Q2 2012  —  Digitimes has published an interesting report this evening, saying Apple will begin the production of a 7.85-inch iPad in Q2 2012.  Apple will reportedly begin selling the smaller iPads prior to Q4 2012 …
Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:
Chrome 15 puts IE8 in rear-view mirror, takes No. 1 spot  —  First time in years that a non-Microsoft browser has been top dog  —  Google's Chrome 15 has jumped into the number one spot, replacing Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) as the world's most popular browser edition.
Nielsen Wire:
New Mobile Obsession: U.S. Teens Triple Data Usage  —  Teens have officially joined the mobile Data Tsunami, more than tripling mobile data consumption in the past year while maintaining their stronghold as the leading message senders.  Using recent data from monthly cell phone bills …
Mick Johnson / Facebook Blog:
Timeline Now Available on Mobile  —  Timeline gives you an easy way to see the things you've shared, and collect all your best moments in a single place.  In addition to making timeline available on the web , today we're also launching timeline on Android and m.facebook.com.
RELATED:
Jenna Wortham / New York Times:
Your Life on Facebook, in Total Recall
Rick Marshall / Digital Trends:
Square Enix servers hacked, 1.8 million users affected  —  This is shaping up to the year of high-profile hacker attacks in the gaming world, as game developer Square Enix announced this week that 1.8 million user accounts were compromised as a result of a recent online security breach.
Katy Tur / nbcnewyork.com:
Pair of Robbers Want Only iPhones, No BlackBerries  —  The snobby robbers turn their noses up at phones that aren't the ever-coveted iPhones  —  A pair of would-be robbers targeting Columbia students in upper Manhattan seem to be rather picky as they prowl.
 
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 More Items: 
Richard Lawler / Engadget:
Roku's official iPhone remote app is available, has gesture control and channel selection for all
Discussion: The Verge, SlashGear and Gizmodo
Taylor Wimberly / Android and Me:
Verizon stores sell out of Galaxy Nexus within hours, but Amazon has it for $149
Discussion: 9to5Google, BGR, PhoneArena and Electronista
Austin Carr / Fast Company:
Would You Pay $20 A Month For Spotify?
Tarmo Virki / Reuters:
Angry Birds maker eyes 2013 Hong Kong IPO: report
Discussion: GigaOM, mocoNews, Gamasutra and VG247
Lance Whitney / CNET News:
Windows 8 activity sinking among early adopters, claims study
Discussion: Chitika Insights
 Earlier Items: 
Olga Kharif / Bloomberg:
Zennstrom Said to Plan Skype-Like Wireless With FreedomPop
Discussion: Pulse2
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols / Open Source Blog:
OwnCloud: An open-source cloud to call your own
 

 
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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