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2:30 PM ET, November 18, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
The Google Phone Is Very Real.  And It's Coming Soon  —  The debate over Droid v. iPhone rages on, but lots more Android surprises are on the way.  Get ready for the Google Phone.  It's no longer a myth, it's real.  —  The next “super” Android device will almost certainly be a HTC phone that's …
RELATED:
David Coursey / PC World:
5 Reasons Why Google Should Not Sell Handsets  —  Rumors are once again swirling around the idea that a Google-branded “Superphone” will hit the market next year.  How stupid do these people think Google is?  —  Well, TechCrunch's Michael Arrington seems to think “pretty stupid,” …
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
The Google Phone May Be Data Only, VoIP Driven Device  —  Yesterday we wrote about the soon to launch Google Phone, a Google branded Android phone that we believe will hit the market in early 2010.  —  Lots of people are saying there's no way Google will enter the phone market directly …
Discussion: Gizmodo and Erictric
Ben Smith / The Really Mobile Project:
Nokia dropping Symbian from N-Series by 2012  —  This evening, at the official N900 meet-up in London, the Maemo marketing team revealed that Nokia plan to drop Symbian from the entire ‘top end’ N-Series range of handsets in favour of Maemo by 2012.  —  The future for N-Series: Maemo
Joe Weisenthal / Silicon Alley Insider:
American Express Acquiring Steve Case's Revolution Money For $300 Million  —  Another big deal in the next-generation consumer financial products space.  —  American Express (AXP) has just announced the acquisition of Steve Case's startup Revolution Money for $300 million.
RELATED:
Benzinga.com:   American Express To Battle Paypal (EBAY)
Caroline McCarthy / CNET News:
A tale of two Diggs  —  NEW YORK—You had two options if you wanted to hang out with Digg founder Kevin Rose at the Web 2.0 Expo conference this week: head over to the lobby bar of the trendy Standard Hotel on Monday night, where Digg was picking up the tab for several dozen of the city's blogger elite …
RELATED:
Nokia:
The Nokia N900 is now available to US consumers  —  A computer in your pocket - The Nokia N900 is here!  —  WhitePlains, N.Y., USA — Nokia today announced that the highly anticipated Nokia N900 is now on sale in the United States and shipping to consumers who jumped on the opportunity …
RELATED:
Hannah Bouckley / T3 magazine Online:   Nokia N900 review
PR Newswire:
Salesforce.com Unveils Salesforce Chatter - Enterprise Collaboration Meets the Real-Time Social Computing Model Loved by Millions on Facebook and Twitter  —  Salesforce Chatter application allows any company to collaborate in real time with a secure, private social network for their enterprise
Greg Sandoval / CNET News:
Feds: Top e-tailers profitting from billion-dollar Web scam  —  Note 1:09 p.m. PT: This post is being updated as the Senate hearing takes place Tuesday afternoon.  —  Three companies have generated more than $1.4 billion by “misleading” Web shoppers into signing up for so-called loyalty program memberships …
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Why imeem Really Sold Out  —  This morning news broke that MySpace, the second-largest social network that's currently reinventing itself as a music destination, was buying imeem, a free online music service that has been remixed (and remade) more times that '90s dance anthem “Keep on Moving.”
RELATED:
Eliot Van Buskirk / Epicenter:
Music: Too Expensive to Be Free, Too Free to Be Expensive
Discussion: Techdirt
Christy Pettey / Gartner:
Gartner Identifies the Top 10 Consumer Mobile Applications for 2012  —  Gartner, Inc. has identified the top 10 consumer mobile applications for 2012.  Gartner listed applications based on their impact on consumers and industry players, considering revenue, loyalty, business model, consumer value and estimated market penetration.
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Location Is The Missing Link Between Social Networks And The Real World  —  Imagine a world where you sit at your computer and you never go outside.  Where you never see another human being.  This is the world that sites like Google and Facebook want you to live in.
Discussion: CNET News and The Praized Blog
geeksmack.net:
Internet Explorer 9 Announced, Demoed at PDC 2009  —  Today, when speaking at the PDC, Steven Sinofsky has officially announced plans for the next version of IE: Internet Explorer 9.  Sinofsky stated that IE 9 is currently 3 weeks into development, so there werenât any major breakthroughs …
New York Times:
Cellphone Apps Challenge the Rise of E-Readers  —  With Amazon's Kindle, readers can squeeze hundreds of books into a device that is smaller than most hardcovers.  For some, that's not small enough.  —  Many people who want to read electronic books are discovering that they can do so on the smartphones …
Discussion: Bits, TeleRead and Smart Mobs
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Silverlight 4 In Beta.  Supports Google Chrome.  (Plus, Screenshots of Facebook Desktop App).  —  Microsoft announced the availability of Silverlight 4 in beta at its Professional Developers Conference (PDC) today.  Some of the new features include more fluid animations, Webcam …
Elliotshmukler / The LinkedIn Blog:
Coming Soon: Your Professional Network within Microsoft Outlook  —  Today, Microsoft announces an exciting new addition to the upcoming Microsoft Office 2010 - the Outlook Social Connector.  The Outlook Social Connector is designed to seamlessly bring communications history as well as business …
Discussion: TechFlash, TechCrunch and Neowin.net, Thanks:atul
Bloomberg:
Qualcomm in Talks to Supply Chips for Apple IPhone  —  Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) — Qualcomm Inc., the world's biggest maker of handset chips, is in talks to supply products for use in Apple Inc.'s iPhone, Chief Executive Officer Paul Jacobs said.  —  “We continue to discuss it, but haven't made it yet …
Discussion: 9 to 5 Mac and iLounge
comScore, Inc.:
comScore Releases October 2009 U.S. Search Engine Rankings  —  comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace.  In October 2009, Americans conducted 14.3 billion core searches …
Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
Michael White to top DirecTV  —  Former Pepsi exec named CEO of company  —  DirecTV has tapped a top Pepsi exec as its new CEO.  —  The satcaster is set to announce today the appointment of Michael White, CEO of PepsiCo Intl. and vice chairman of PepsiCo.
Discussion: Business Wire
Brad Stone / Bits:
Hulu Steps Into Music With EMI and Norah Jones  —  Hulu, the joint online venture between NBC, Fox and ABC that mostly offers free TV shows and movies, is about to start singing a different tune: music videos.  —  On Wednesday the company plans to announce a somewhat limited deal with EMI …
Warren Rumak / Ars Technica:
Inside “MinWin”: the Windows 7 kernel slims down  —  As Windows 2000 was being developed in the second half of the 1990s, Microsoft was firmly focused on building in as much functionality as possible, in a play to push Novell Netware aside and establish Windows NT as the operating system for the business world.
Discussion: The Register
Don Reisinger / CNET News:
Modern Warfare 2 tops entertainment industry, not just games  —  If you think Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has had a major impact on just the video game industry, you may need to adjust your expectations.  —  According to Activision Blizzard, the game's publisher, Modern Warfare 2 …
Kim Hart / The Hill:
FCC votes to speed up cell tower sites  —  In its monthly meeting this morning, the Federal Communications Commission unanimously voted to impose a “shot clock” for siting tower applications, or the process wireless carriers must follow to install new wireless antennas and nodes on towers to expand cell phone networks.
Discussion: Tech Beat
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
IBM moves closer to creating chips based on the brain  —  IBM said today that it has made significant progress toward making a computer that simulates and emulates the brain's abilities to sense, perceive, interact, and recognize.  —  It can also do so using the brain's low-power energy consumption …
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Placecast Raises $5 Million For Location-Based Advertising Platform  —  Location-based marketing platform Placecast has raised $5 million in funding from Quatrex Capital, Onset Ventures and Voyager Capital.  —  Placecast's platform uses proprietary algorithms that weave together location information …
Chris Davies / SlashGear:
Qualcomm mirasol color video ebook readers to ship in 2010  —  Ebook readers are arguably coming of age, but don't assume e-ink - and the push to produce color e-ink panels - have won the game quite yet.  SlashGear met up with Qualcomm's mirasol team today to discuss their latest display news …
Discussion: jkOnTheRun, Engadget and Gizmodo
Jonny Evans / 9 to 5 Mac:
iPhone you control my car - if it is a Mercedes-Benz  —  There's an App for that, at least if you drive a Mercedes-Benz (like a certain handicap-parking, barcode license plate having CEO we know), which has teamed up with Hughes Telematics to offer a new system that lets drivers of the luxury cars enable …
Discussion: App Advice
Matt Peckham / PC World:
PS3 Firmware 3.10 Released, Adds Facebook Support  —  Before you ask, no, the PS3 isn't getting an Xbox 360-equivalent Facebook interface in today's version 3.10 Facebook-angled firmware release.  That's the bad news.  The good news, if you're PS3-do-or-die, is that it actually adds …
 
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 More Items: 
Brandon LeBlanc / The Windows Blog:
Windows 7 & Saks Fifth Avenue Working Together to Bring Holiday Cheer
Discussion: Softpedia News
Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:
64-bit Windows safer, claims Microsoft
Mobile Europe:
fring releases 'world's first' free mobile VoIP calls on Android phones
Discussion: TechCrunch, GigaOM, fring and AndroidOS.in
Michael Calore / Webmonkey:
A Brave New Web Will Be Here Soon, But Browsers Must Improve
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb
Simon Dumenco / AdAge:
What Do Murdoch's Customers Think About His Pay-Wall Plans and Google-bashing?
Discussion: Gawker
Manav Tanneeru / CNN:
Can you be liable for your tweets?
 Earlier Items: 
Jonny Evans / 9 to 5 Mac:
Phishing scam hits Mac users - stay safe online
Discussion: SC Magazine US and Technology Live
Rory Cellan-Jones / dot.life:
Facebook v Ceop  —  Facebook is under fire this morning …
Timothy Prickett Morgan / The Register:
Microsoft feeds Excel to supercomputer
NPR Blogs: The Two-Way:
NSA Is Giving Microsoft Some Help On Windows 7 Security
Discussion: Maximum PC and InformationWeek
Dave Parrack / TECH.BLORGE.com:
Stephen Fry talks Twitter - “human shaped, not business shaped”
Discussion: Telegraph and broadstuff
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Google Holding Chrome OS Event Thursday. …