Techmeme
May 16, 2012, 9:30 PM

Top News

Amit Singhal / The Official Google Blog:
Introducing the Knowledge Graph: things, not strings  —  Search is a lot about discovery—the basic human need to learn and broaden your horizons.  But searching still requires a lot of hard work by you, the user.  So today I'm really excited to launch the Knowledge Graph …
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Google Launches Knowledge Graph To Provide Answers, Not Just Links  —  Hinted at for months, Google formally launched its “Knowledge Graph” today.  The new technology is being used to provide popular facts about people, places and things alongside Google's traditional results.
Wall Street Journal:
Apple Moves Toward Larger iPhone Screens … As Apple prepares for a launch of a new iPhone later this year, people familiar with the situation say the company is planning for a larger screen.  Above, the Apple store in Hong Kong.  —  HONG KONG—Apple Inc., which is expected to launch …
Sue Marek / FierceWireless:
Verizon will kill ‘grandfathered’ unlimited data plans, push users to data share  —  Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) plans to eliminate the $30 per month unlimited data plan that it still provides to 3G customers who were “grandfathered” into the plan because they were data customers prior …
Enigmax / TorrentFreak:
Pirate Bay Under DDoS Attack From Unknown Enemy  —  Although Pirate Bay downtime happens a handful of times each month, it rarely persists for more than a few hours.  When it goes beyond that the steady flow of reader emails to TorrentFreak quickly transforms itself into a torrent.
Walter S. Mossberg / AllThingsD:
Microsoft Gives Windows a Clean Sweep  —  For a long time, some Microsoft officials have privately griped that PC makers don't present Windows in its best light.  They clutter desktops with icons that are often little more than ads for third-party products; include confusing utilities …
Josh Lowensohn / CNET:
Retina MacBook screens: Already here — and pricey  —  A pixelated MacBook screen.  —  (Credit: CNET)  —  Apple is said to be on the verge of rolling out new high-resolution displays for its computers that, up until now, have only been available on its iPhones and iPads.
Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:
Netflix launches sexy new web-based video player  —  Netflix just rolled out a completely revamped video player for browser-based viewing, and I gotta say, it's pretty slick: Not only does it come with lightbox-like text overlays while a video is paused, users can also preview entire seasons …
Don Reisinger / CNET:
Facebook's latest filing: Insiders are cashing in  —  Facebook today revealed that it will have more shares than expected available to investors when it goes public on Friday.  But the social network won't be the one cashing in on it.  —  Facebook will now offer up to 484.4 million shares …
Neal Gompa / ExtremeTech:
Japanese researchers transmit 3Gbps using terahertz frequencies  —  Researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology have developed a new wireless transmission system that works above all currently regulated spectrum frequencies.  The new system works at the range of 300GHz to 3THz (terahertz) …
Ben Popper / The Verge:
Bitly readies real-time viral search engine, raises $20 million in new funding  —  Bitly, a New York company that lets users shorten, share, and track URLs, is raising around $20 million in a new round of funding, we have learned from multiple sources.  That's twice the amount the company raised …
Drew Olanoff / The Next Web:
Pinterest set to announce new funding at $1 billion valuation, with an eye on ecommerce  —  There's been considerable speculation that social media sensation Pinterest is preparing to raise additional funding as it marches towards dominating a massive new vertical on the web.
More: paidContentThanks:@sunnioceangirl
Mike Beasley / 9to5Mac:
Facebook rolling out new “Pages Manager” app for iPhone  —  Facebook has just broken out another feature of their main app and released Pages Manager for the iPhone.  The app appears to function just like the main Facebook app, but with all of the features dedicated to fan pages.
Yoni Appelbaum / The Atlantic Online:
How the Professor Who Fooled Wikipedia Got Caught by Reddit  —  T. Mills Kelly encourages his students to deceive thousands of people on the Web.  This has angered many, but the experiment helps reveal the shifting nature of the truth on the Internet.  —  A woman opens an old steamer trunk …
More: GigaOM
Kim-Mai Cutler / TechCrunch:
Sleepover Time!  All-Night Hackathon Precedes Facebook IPO At Headquarters  —  Carrying on in the esteemed tradition of Facebook hackathons, there will be an all-nighter on Thursday at the company's Menlo Park headquarters that culminates with CEO Mark Zuckerberg ringing in the NASDAQ bell ahead …
Larry Dignan / CNET:
Netflix: Disgruntled customers rejoining service  —  A third of Netflix's new customers are people who quit the service and signed up again in less than a year, says the company's CFO at an investor conference.  A Netflix executive said today the company has taken its brand hit for pricing changes last year …
Mike Isaac / AllThingsD:
In the Race to Win Social Video, Is One App Gaming the System Too Much?  —  There's a popular maxim in Silicon Valley: Find your user base and the revenues will come later.  —  For a while, it seemed to be the easiest way for a founder to explain his or her way out of a proper business model.
More: BetaKitThanks:@mikeisaac
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Mobile Payments Startup Jumio Takes On Card.io With Credit Card Scanning Toolkit For App Developers  —  Mobile payments and identity verification company Jumio is introducing its Netswipe Mobile SDK today, which allows developers to add credit card scanning functionality to their mobile applications.
Arik Hesseldahl / AllThingsD:
Oracle Drops New Documents In Itanium Trial, and They're Juicy  —  A new trove of previously redacted emails and other documents submitted as evidence in the Oracle-Hewlett-Packard Itanium trial, and they fill in a lot of the blanks on the state of play between HP, Oracle and Intel …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Nielsen: U.S. Consumers Avg App Downloads Up 28% To 41; 4 Of 5 Most Popular Belong To Google  —  With smartphone penetration now at 50 percent in the U.S., the world of apps is seeing a knock-on effect in their popularity: according to a new report from Nielsen, mobile consumers are downloading …
Steven Musil / CNET:
Virgin Atlantic launches in-flight cell use  —  In-flight cell service will be available on Virgin Atlantic's Airbus A330.  —  (Credit: Virgin Atlantic)  —  Virgin Atlantic will soon allow passengers to use their cell phones during flights, but don't expect your phone-free fuselage to be replaced with coffeehouse clatter.

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Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: