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8:20 PM ET, January 21, 2012

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
New York Times:
Apple, America and a Squeezed Middle Class  —  When Barack Obama joined Silicon Valley's top luminaries for dinner in California last February, each guest was asked to come with a question for the president.  —  But as Steven P. Jobs of Apple spoke, President Obama interrupted with an inquiry of his own …
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
MPAA Directly & Publicly Threatens Politicians Who Aren't Corrupt Enough To Stay Bought  —  Reinforcing the fact that Chris Dodd really does not get what's happening, and showing just how disgustingly corrupt the MPAA relationship is with politicians, Chris Dodd went on Fox News …
RELATED:
Joel Spolsky / Google+:
Two things about SOPA/PIPA and then I'll shut up :)  —  Two things about SOPA/PIPA and then I'll shut up :)  —  The internet seems to ignore legislation until somebody tries to take something away from us... then we carefully defend that one thing and never counter-attack.
Clay Shirky:
Pick up the pitchforks: David Pogue underestimates Hollywood
Rocky Agrawal / VentureBeat:
This post on Google+ statistics is a billion* times better than any other post  —  In Thursday's Google earnings call, CEO Larry Page told the world that the company's fledgling social network, Google+ has reached 90 million registered users.  He went on to say that, “Over 60 percent …
Discussion: PC Magazine, VentureBeat and reDesign, Thanks:@theromit
Austin Carr / Fast Company:
Inside Megaupload's Megamind: Kim Dotcom's Playboy Bunnies, Russian Nuclear Vessels, And Private War On Terror  —  In the Wild, Wild West-era of digital media, there is no cowboy quite like Kim Dotcom.  Part Sean Parker, part Kevin Mitnick, with a whiff of Notorious B.I.G. …
Discussion: VentureBeat, Ars Technica, GigaOM and Reuters, Thanks:@jengapokers
RELATED:
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Megaupload Details Raise Significant Concerns About What DOJ Considers Evidence Of Criminal Behavior  —  Yesterday I wrote up a first reaction to the Megaupload case.  Having spent some more time going through the indictment in much greater detail, I have some more thoughts and concerns.
Ben Grubb / Sydney Morning Herald:
Love online: 100,000 Grindr users exposed in hack attack  —  The Grindr app, left, and founder Joel Simkhai's profile.  —  A popular “meat-market” smartphone app that spawned a sexual revolution in Australia's gay community has been compromised by a Sydney hacker, potentially exposing …
Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:
Megaupload Drops Lawsuit Against Universal Music Over Viral Video (Exclusive)  —  Amid a criminal case that forced the shutdown of Megaupload, the company has dismissed UMG from a lawsuit over a video that showed many stars endorsing the site.  But that doesn't mean the case is over.
Antoine Leblond / MSDN Blogs:
Designing the Windows Store user experience … When we set out to design the Windows Store, we had a number of design goals and principles that guided us to our final experience.  The fundamental building block of our Store design was to ensure that people could easily discover and quickly acquire apps.
Somini Sengupta / Bits:
A Move to Investigate the Investigators in WikiLeaks Case  —  This much is known: In its hunt for information about three people it believes to be associated with the whistle-blower site WikiLeaks, the Justice Department has sought to extract details about them and their communications on Twitter.
Discussion: The Atlantic Wire and ACLU
Audrey Watters / Hack Education:
Android App Inventor Open Sourced, Code Released  —  Last year, Google decided to shutter Google Labs, a place where a number of incredibly wonderful experimental projects lived.  Among the projects that got the ax was one of my favorites: Google's Android App Inventor.
Danny Sullivan / Marketing Land:
Google To Close Social Graph API, Not OpenSocial  —  A cool way of seeing how pages are interconnected socially is being shut down.  Google says its Social Graph API is being retired.  —  Social Graph API Closes In April  —  The news came in a blog post today:
RELATED:
Frederic Lardinois / SiliconFilter:
Google to Shut Down Picnik, Social Graph API and Urchin, Open-Sourcing Sky Map
Y Combinator:
RFS 9: Kill Hollywood  —  Hollywood appears to have peaked.  If it were an ordinary industry (film cameras, say, or typewriters), it could look forward to a couple decades of peaceful decline.  But this is not an ordinary industry.  The people who run it are so mean and so politically connected …
RELATED:
Nick Bilton / Bits:
Investment Firm Y Combinator Goes on Offensive Against Hollywood
Discussion: PC World, VatorNews and New York Times
 
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 More Items: 
Alistair Barr / Reuters:
Amazon setting up first “fulfillment center” in India
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Groupon Buys Social Shopping Platform Mertado To Bolster Groupon Goods
Discussion: AllThingsD, CNET and silicontap.com
 Earlier Items: 
Kori Schulman / White House.gov Blog:
The White House Joins Google+
John Biggs / TechCrunch:
Foxconn Responds To CEO's “Employees Are Animals” Comment
 

 
From Mediagazer:

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

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

 
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