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9:50 AM ET, January 13, 2012

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Steven Levy:
Is Too Much Plus is a Minus for Google?  —  On Tuesday, Google announced something called Search, plus Your World (SPYW).  It marked a startling transformation of the company's flagship product, Google Search, into an amplifier of social content.  Google's critics—as well as some folks generally …
RELATED:
Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:
Facebook Finds Quieter Ways to Complain About Google's Search+  —  While Twitter lead the charge this week in publicly and unequivocally blasting Google's new promotion of Google+ in its search results, Facebook stayed quieter.  —  Well, on the surface.  Multiple stories about Google …
Discussion: Uncrunched and parislemon
John Battelle / John Battelle's Search Blog:
Google Responds: No,That's Not How Facebook Deal Went Down (Oh, And I Say: The Search Paradigm Is Broken)
Dave Winer / Scripting News:
Could Bing seriously challenge Google?
Discussion: Business Insider, epic.org and Gizmodo
Jim Forsyth / Reuters:
Author of U.S. online piracy bill vows not to buckle  —  (Reuters) - The lawmaker behind a bill to combat online piracy vowed on Thursday to press ahead in the face of fierce criticism from Internet giants such as Google and Facebook.  —  “It is amazing to me that the opponents apparently …
Discussion: VentureBeat, Inquirer and TechEye
RELATED:
Jennifer Valentino-DeVries / Digits:
Author of Controversial Piracy Bill Now Says ‘More Study’ Needed
Jamie Lee Curtis Taete / Vice:
The Author of SOPA Is a Copyright Violator
Discussion: TorrentFreak, Mashable! and Betabeat
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
As SOPA/PIPA Becomes Toxic, Frantic Congress Test Runs Dropping DNS Blocking Provisions
Discussion: Techdirt and Techdirt
Matt Brian / The Next Web:
Busted: Google gets caught scraping Kenya's biggest business listings database  —  When Google enters a new market, it likes to fully commit itself to its work and building its services.  However, when it entered Kenya and attempted to help get Kenyan businesses online, it seems to have gone above and beyond the call of duty.
RELATED:
Robert Andrews / paidContent:
Google Investigating Kenyan Client Poaching Allegations  —  Google (NSDQ: GOOG) says it is investigating accusations its Kenyan outfit poached customers from a rival business directory by systematically accessing its database.  —  The CEO of local business directory startup Mocality …
Discussion: TechCrunch
John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:
iPhone 4S Sales Cancelled at Beijing and Shanghai Apple Stores  —  Apple has decided to postpone the retail availability of its new iPhone 4S at some stores in mainland China after a rowdy crowd disrupted the device's debut at its Sanlitun store in Beijing.  —  Would-be customers …
RELATED:
Zachary Lutz / Engadget:
iPhone 4S launch in China draws large crowds, unnecessary violence and SWAT teams (video)
Christina Bonnington / Gadget Lab:
Why Windows Phones Are the Most Exciting Handsets at CES  —  LAS VEGAS — There's a curious thing happening in the smartphone space at this year's CES.  Two Windows Phone devices — the HTC Titan II and the Nokia Lumia 900 — are the most hyped, talked-about phones at the show.  Yeah, that's right: Windows Phones.
RELATED:
Ben Rudolph / Windows Phone Blog:
VIDEO: Windows Phone wins 88% of #smokedbywindowsphone challenges at CES 2012!
Jason Kilar / Hulu Blog:
2011, 2012 and beyond.  —  We just closed the books on a big 2011 for Hulu.  As a team, we recently reflected on our 2011 investments in innovation and thought it would be an appropriate time to share some of those thoughts via this post.  —  First, some results:
RELATED:
Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
“Soft” Ad Sales Ding Hulu's 2011 Growth
Discussion: Betabeat, ClickZ and SplatF
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
The Pirate Bay Will Stop Serving Torrents  —  After half a decade of loyal service, The Pirate Bay shut down its tracker in November 2009.  —  The Pirate Bay argued that BitTorrent trackers have been made redundant by technologies such as DHT and PEX.  In addition, The Pirate Bay team …
BBC:
Ex-Apple boss Sculley sets record straight on Jobs  —  Former Apple boss John Sculley said he enjoyed a great working relationship with Steve Jobs during ‘the good times’  —  Apple's former chief executive John Sculley is perhaps best known as the man who first mentored and then clashed with Steve Jobs …
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Fab.com Acquires Indie Fashion Marketplace FashionStake  —  Fab.com, the incredibly fast-growing marketplace for all things design, has made its first acquisition after raising over $50 million in venture capital.  The company this morning announced that it has bought NYC-based FashionStake …
Amit / Digital Inspiration Technology Blog:
This is the New YouTube Player with Storyboards  —  www.youtube.com/watch?  v=RW2qPt1_Cf8  —  The next version of YouTube video player will have one very useful feature - you can hover your mouse to any point in the video, without actually moving the playhead, and the YouTube player will show …
Thanks:labnol
Cliff Edwards / Business Week:
Beats Electronics Is Breaking Up with Monster  —  The popular headphone line parts ways with its manufacturing partner  —  In a Las Vegas hotel a few days before the start of the Consumer Electronics Show on Jan. 10, Interscope Geffen A&M Chairman Jimmy Iovine takes out an iPad …
Tricia Duryee / AllThingsD:
Xbox Accounted for 40 Percent of All Videogame Sales in 2011  —  Microsoft dominated the videogame industry last year, with the Xbox capturing nearly half of all consumer spending from physical sales in 2011.  —  About $6.7 billion, or 40 percent of consumer retail spending, was spent on the Xbox …
Dennis Fisher / threatpost:
Researchers Find Way to Sniff Corporate Email Via BlackBerry PlayBook  —  MIAMI BEACH—Researchers and attackers have had no shortage of mobile platforms and devices to sink their teeth into in recent years, thanks to the explosion of iOS and Android phones and tablets in the consumer and enterprise markets.
Christian Robertson / Android Developers Blog:
Introducing the Android Design site  —  Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) is our biggest redesign yet — both for users and developers.  We've enhanced the UI framework with new interactions and styles that will let you create Android apps that are simpler and more beautiful than ever before.
Dave Stewart / Gmail Blog:
Improvements to the Gmail offline Chrome app  —  When we first announced Gmail offline last August, we told you that it was only the beginning of our HTML5-powered offline journey.  Since then, we've been listening to your feedback and today, we want to let you know about some of the key updates we've made to the Chrome Web Store app.
Alexandre Roche / Facebook Blog:
Listen to Music With Your Friends  —  Music is one of the most powerful and fun ways to connect.  Whether it's at a concert with a bunch of people or on a long car ride with your best buddy, we love listening to music with our friends.  But what if you could listen to music with your friends …
Forbes:
CES 2012: IPhone 5 to Support T-Mobile Network  —  Apple's upcoming iPhone 5 will support T-Mobile's network, giving the struggling fourth-place carrier an opportunity to gain ground on its competitors.  —  T-Mobile's chief technology officer Neville Ray at the Consumer Electronics Show …
Discussion: Phones Review
Reuters:
India court warns Web giants about China-style controls  —  (Reuters) - Internet giants including Google and Facebook are embroiled in a growing battle in India over offensive content with a judge warning websites may be blocked “like in China,” stoking worries about freedom of speech in the world's largest democracy.
 
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 More Items: 
Don Reisinger / CNET:
RIM hires Goldman Sachs to field buyout offers?
Nick Wingfield / Bits:
One on One: Stephen Elop, Nokia Chief
Discussion: TechCrunch
Bloomberg:
Google, LG Said to Be in Talks on TV Service
Discussion: Bloomberg and E-Commerce Times
Paul Roberts / threatpost:
Microsoft Readying Real Time Hosted Threat Intelligence Feed
Discussion: InfoWorld and Ars Technica
Peter Burrows / Business Week:
Map Apps: The Race to Fill in the Blanks
Thanks:nfarina
Hayley Tsukayama / Washington Post:
Smart TVs: The next tech war is in the living room
Discussion: The Pondering Primate
 Earlier Items: 
Jennifer Van Grove / VentureBeat:
Email off the clock constitutes overtime — in Brazil
 

 
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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