Techmeme
February 13, 2012, 4:20 PM

Top News

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
Google wins EU approval for Motorola Mobility buy  —  (Reuters) - Google Inc won unconditional EU regulatory approval on Monday for its planned $12.5 billion purchase of mobile handset maker Motorola Mobility.  —  But the European Commission said it would monitor the company and rivals' use …
Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:
European Commission clears Google-Motorola deal but with reservations concerning standard-essential patents  —  The European Commission just announced that it has approved Google's proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility.  In addition to a press release announcing the decision …
Christian Zibreg / 9to5Mac:
VLC 2.0 arriving with all-new UI, native full screen in Lion, Blu-ray support, more  —  VideoLAN, the organization behind the open-source cross-platform VLC media player, is geared to launch VLC 2.0—a total rewrite of the program with new capabilities and an all-new user interface on the Mac platform.
Christian Zibreg / 9to5Mac:
Report: Apple forcing contract manufacturer Pegatron to choose sides, give up Asustek Zenbook orders  —  The high-profile Apple business with Asian contract manufacturer Pegatron Technology is facing scrutiny as the iPhone-maker is reportedly exercising its supply chain influence by asking Pegatron …
Joshua Brustein / New York Times:
Start-Ups Aim to Help Users Put a Price on Their Personal Data  —  Facebook's pending initial public offering gives credence to the argument that personal data is the oil of the digital age.  The company was built on a formula common to the technology industry: offer people a service …
High Scalability:
Tumblr Architecture - 15 Billion Page Views A Month And Harder To Scale Than Twitter  —  With over 15 billion page views a month Tumblr has become an insanely popular blogging platform.  Users may like Tumblr for its simplicity, its beauty, its strong focus on user experience, or its friendly and engaged community, but like it they do.
Apple:
Fair Labor Association Begins Inspections of Foxconn  —  Apple® today announced that the Fair Labor Association will conduct special voluntary audits of Apple's final assembly suppliers, including Foxconn factories in Shenzhen and Chengdu, China, at Apple's request.
Jamie Keene / The Verge:
UK's ITV denies warning Apple away from iTV name  —  ITV has denied that there is any truth in reports that it has approached Apple to warn it off using the ITV name.  The Telegraph this morning suggested that British television network ITV's CEO Adam Crozier had written a letter to Apple regarding …
Katherine Rushton / Telegraph:
Kunal / Sammy Hub:
Samsung's 7-inch Galaxy Tab 2, runs Android 4.0 [Updated w/ pricing]  —  Samsung has officially announce their first tablet running the latest Android OS.  The Galaxy Tab 2 runs Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and is somewhat similar to the original Galaxy Tab.
Sean Buckley / Engadget:
PlayStation Vita review  —  Look familiar?  It should: that's the PlayStation Vita, Sony's up-and-coming challenger to the mobile gaming throne.  It's made the rounds a few times before, from E3, to Tokyo Game Show, to San Francisco's Vita Hill Social Club, and it even took …
Stephen Shankland / CNET:
Coming in 2012: Firefox for Windows 8's Metro  —  The Metro interface in an early build of Windows 8 that was shown to developers in September 2011.  —  Mozilla plans to release a concept version of Firefox for Windows 8's new Metro interface in the second quarter with alpha and beta versions to follow in the second half of 2012.
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
The Pirate Bay Says Goodbye to (Most) Torrents on February 29  —  For half a decade The Pirate Bay has been the leading BitTorrent site, but soon its users will no longer be able to download .torrent files.  —  The first step in this direction will be taken on February 29, the Pirate Bay announced today.
NPD Group:
U.S. Consumer Electronics Sales Reach $144 Billion in 2011  —  Apple tops 2011 as the #1 Brand and Best Buy is the #1 Retailer  —  U.S. consumer technology hardware and consumable sales* fell just one half of a percent in 2011 ending the year at nearly $144 billion, according to leading market research company The NPD Group.
iFixit:
Motorola Droid 4 Teardown  —  It's the dawn of a new year, and 2012 brings another update to the line of Droid smartphones by Motorola.  Will this be the best Droid to date?  Will it fall completely on its face?  Will it blend?  The only way to find out is to scroll down and check out the teardown.
Gordon Pitts / Globe and Mail:
Roger Martin: Defying RIM's critics  —  Five years ago, Roger Martin, the influential dean of business at University of Toronto, answered a call for help from Jim Balsillie.  —  As half of the leadership duo at Research In Motion Ltd., RIM-T Mr. Balsillie was anxious to restore the reputation …
Brian X. Chen / Bits:
Get Ready for 1 Billion Smartphones by 2016, Forrester Says  —  In just four years, one billion people will own smartphones, many of whom will be professionals taking these devices to work, says Forrester, a research company.  And because of that, businesses need to think big …
Nicole Perlroth / New York Times:
Electronic Security a Worry in an Age of Digital Espionage  —  SAN FRANCISCO — When Kenneth G. Lieberthal, a China expert at the Brookings Institution, travels to that country, he follows a routine that seems straight from a spy film.  —  He leaves his cellphone and laptop at home and instead brings …
Jolie O'Dell / VentureBeat:
Ad startup Marin Software takes a late-stage $30M  —  Marin Software, a San Franisco startup focusing on online advertising, has just announced a $30 million round of venture funding.  —  This is the company's sixth round of funding in as many years.  —  Marin offers an all-in-one platform …
Don Reisinger / CNET:
Apple shares shatter $500 milestone  —  Apple's stock has surpassed $500 a share today, reaching an all-time high and prompting many investors to wonder just how high the company's shares can go.  —  At their height this morning, Apple's shares reached $503.83 before falling to about $499.
Brad McCarty / The Next Web:
Google+ rolling out granular control for “What's Hot”, aiming for more relevant content  —  If you've been wanting a bit more granular control over the “what's hot” section of your Google+ stream, there's good news for you today.  Googler Scott Zuccarino tells us that the what's hot …
Bloomberg:
Google Confirms Gmail and YouTube Blocked in Iran Since Feb. 10  —  Google Inc.'s (GOOG) encrypted search, Gmail, Google Videos and YouTube have been blocked in Iran since Feb. 10, the company said in an e-mailed response to a query.  —  More than 30 million Iranian Internet users …
TVexchanger.com:
TiVo And AT&T Partner On U-Verse Ad Data  —  Fresh from last month's $215 million legal settlement between AT&T and TiVo over DVR patents, the two have struck a licensing agreement to share and collect audience data covering the AT&T U-Verse IPTV system.  —  The deal has TiVo making use …
More: Engadget
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Social apps & doing the right thing  —  For the past week or so, our little corner of the Internet has been abuzz with news of mobile apps uploading iPhone address books without asking us — the iPhone (and address book) owners.  It all started with Path, a much talked about iPhone app that offers a very limited private social network.

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