Techmeme
January 27, 2012, 12:00 PM

Top News

Twitter Blog:
Tweets still must flow  —  One year ago, we posted “The Tweets Must Flow,” in which we said, … As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression.  Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there.
Jillian C. York:
Thoughts on Twitter's Latest Move  —  Today, Twitter announced a new system that will allow the company to geolocationally block (or, to use their terms, “withhold") specific tweets in specific countries.  On the company blog, Twitter explained: … It's been difficult to comment …
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
Tim Cook responds to claims of factory worker mistreatment: ‘We care about every worker in our supply chain’  —  This morning, The New York Times published a lengthy report with details about the harsh conditions of working in the factories of an Apple parts supplier or Apple product manufacturer.
Sarah Lacy / PandoDaily:
Page Rage Escalates As Google Cancels Twitter Android Meeting  —  We've heard from insiders that Google's PR strategy to the Don't Be Evil toolbar bombshell- which exposed just how much the search giant is meddling with search results- is just to stay quiet until it blows over.
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Dear Google: Crappy Results Like This Don't Give The Impression You Care About Search  —  The debate about what should — and shouldn't — show in a Google search result for “santorum” has been well-documented, at this point.  But I'd like to use this now famous search to illustrate something else …
More: PandoDaily
David Streitfeld / New York Times:
For $2 a Star, a Retailer Gets 5-Star Reviews  —  Agencies like the Federal Trade Commission have been trying to crack down on online product reviews that do not disclose the connection between a merchant and the person doling out the praise.  —  Big Victory on Internet Buoys Lobby
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Polish Politicians Don Guy Fawkes/Anonymous Masks To Protest ACTA Signing  —  There's been lots of talk today about how various EU governments are agreeing to sign ACTA (which still needs to be ratified by the EU Parliament).  It's gotten the most attention in Poland, where there were mass protests …
Electronista:
New RIM chief tries rival devices, vows ‘a lot’ of change  —  RIM CEO willing to try opponents' devices, more  —  New info trickling out from a CrackBerry interview with new RIM CEO Thorsten Heins may assuage some early fears that he was locked into his predecessors' management style.
Declan McCullagh / CNET:
Hawaiian politician backs away from Web dossier law  —  A Web site attacking Hawaii Rep. Kym Pine that appears to have given birth to the H.B. 2288 dossier bill  —  A Hawaii politician who proposed requiring Internet providers to record every Web site their customers visit is now backing away from the controversial legislation.
Sean Gallagher / Ars Technica:
Feature: The Great Disk Drive in the Sky: How Web giants store big—and we mean big—data  —  Consider the tech it takes to back the search box on Google's home page: behind the algorithms, the cached search terms, and the other features that spring to life as you type in a query sits …
Mark Spoonauer / LAPTOP Magazine:
Analyst: Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet Have 40% of Android Tablet Sales  —  Strategy Analytics raised a lot of eyebrows earlier today with a report that said Android tablets accounted for 39 percent market share in Q4 2011, up from 29 percent a year ago.  The iPad's share dropped from 68.2 percent to 57.6 percent.
Betsy Masiello / Google Public Policy Blog:
Setting the record straight about our privacy policy changes  —  A lot has been said about our new privacy policy.  Some have praised us for making our privacy policy easier to understand.  Others have asked questions, including members of Congress, and that's understandable too.
Luke Fretwell / FedScoop:
U.S. CTO Chopra to Step Down  —  U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra at FedTalks 2011  —  Sources close to the White House have confirmed that U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra will announce he is stepping down on Friday.  No information was provided on his future plans …
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Apple Estimated to Retake Title of World's Largest Smartphone Vendor  —  Research firm Strategy Analytics today announced its estimates of the global smartphone market for the fourth quarter of 2011, finding that Apple narrowly squeezed by Samsung to retake the title of world's largest smartphone vendor as measured by unit shipments.
Matt Rosoff / Business Insider:
Google: “Ads Are Just More Answers”  —  When a user searches Google, the ads are just as important as the answers.  —  At least that's what Google says in its annual financial report filed with the SEC this afternoon.  —  The company lists new ad formats as one of the big things it changed in 2012:
More: PandoDaily
Kim Zetter / Wired.com:
Symantec: We Didn't Know in 2006 Source Code Was Stolen  —  Anti-virus giant Symantec says it did not know back in 2006 that source code for its software was stolen when it experienced a breach at that time.  —  The company surprised the public last week when it disclosed that hackers …
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Nintendo Wii U controller will include near-field communication  —  Nintendo's ramping up for a big re-reveal of the Wii U video game console at E3 2012 — the device will ship by the end of the year — but company president Satoru Iwata is already spoiling surprises this evening.
Scott Main / Android Developers Blog:
Say Goodbye to the Menu Button  —  Before Android 3.0 (Honeycomb), all Android-powered devices included a dedicated Menu button.  As a developer, you could use the Menu button to display whatever options were relevant to the user, often using the activity's built-in options menu.
Paul Miller / The Verge:
Debate rages as Spotify, MOG, and Rdio kill / save the music industry  —  For the conscience-laden music consumer, streaming music services present an interesting quandary.  By separating the concept of “legal access to music” from the age-old paradigm of “paying the artist for an entire song or album …

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