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4:45 PM ET, September 24, 2007

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Wall Street Journal:
Microsoft Is in Talks To Buy Facebook Stake  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft Corp. is in talks with Facebook Inc. about making an investment in the social-networking startup that could value Facebook at $10 billion or more, according to people familiar with the matter.
Louise Story / New York Times:
Company Will Monitor Phone Calls to Tailor Ads  —  Companies like Google scan their e-mail users' in-boxes to deliver ads related to those messages.  Will people be as willing to let a company listen in on their phone conversations to do the same?  —  Pudding Media, a start-up based in San Jose …
RELATED:
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Today's Terrible Idea: Pudding Media  —  A new start-up called Pudding Media is offering free PC-based telephone calls—if users allow the company to listen in on their conversations and serve targeted ads based on what they're talking about (NYT).  This is one of the worst business ideas we've heard …
Om Malik / GigaOM:
The Mad Ad World & Cheap Calls  —  Technology business often goes through periods where rationality and reality are suspended.  We just might be in that phase, and nothing highlights that than the launch of ad-supported phone services.  In UK, Blyk, an ad-supported mobile service we wrote about eons ago launched.
Discussion: Search Engine Land and TechCrunch
Peter Svensson / Associated Press:
New service eavesdrops on Internet calls  —  NEW YORK - A startup has come up with a new way to make money from phone calls connected via the Internet: having software listen to the calls, then displaying ads on the callers' computer screens based on what's being talked about.
Jonathan Fildes / BBC:
'$100 laptop' to sell to public  —  Computer enthusiasts in the developed world will soon be able to get their hands on the so-called "$100 laptop".  —  The organisation behind the project has launched the "give one, get one" scheme that will allow US residents to purchase two laptops for $399 (£198).
RELATED:
Steve Lohr / New York Times:
Buy a Laptop for a Child, Get Another Laptop Free  —  One Laptop Per Child, an ambitious project to bring computing to the developing world's children, has considerable momentum.  Years of work by engineers and scientists have paid off in a pioneering low-cost machine that is light, rugged and surprisingly versatile.
Ryan Kim / The Technology Chronicles:
MySpace goes mobile  —  MySpace announced it's releasing a free advertising-supported mobile beta version of its popular social networking site.  The mobile version, which can be accessed from cell phone browsers at mobile.myspace.com, offers up many of the features you can find on MySpace.
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider
RELATED:
Candace Lombardi / CNET News.com:
Think tank to EU: Unbundle Windows on PCs  —  The Globalization Institute, a Brussels-based EU think tank, has recommended the European Union require all PCs to be sold without pre-loaded operating systems such as Microsoft Windows.  —  There is no reason why computer operating systems …
Discussion: TECH.BLORGE.com and Macsimum News
RELATED:
Michael Gartenberg:
Un-Bundle Operating Systems? Not likely
Discussion: BetaNews
James Kendrick / jkOnTheRun:
We need a real handheld computer, who will build one?  Apple of course  —  It's a great time to be a handheld PC enthusiast, not because there are so many good devices to choose from, because I don't think there are, but because public awareness of handheld PCs are at an all-time high.
Discussion: Channel 9 and GottaBeMobile.com
TDavid / Things That:
Tablet PC users will like Sketchcast for non-commerical usage  —  The first thing I thought of was the Tablet PC when I saw Sketchcast as a delicious popular post in my RSS reader this morning.  With Sketchcast you can share drawings with or without voice all through a pen-friendly Flash interface in the browser (Firefox or IE).
Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:
Is FeedHub the answer to information overload?  —  I've been playing with mSpoke's FeedHub, releasing today at the Demo Conference.  I'll have a video up later today demonstrating the product.  —  Dan Farber has a review and info up on his ZDNet blog.  —  I've been interested i this topic for some time.
RELATED:
Richard MacManus / Read/WriteWeb:
FeedHub Launches - Individualized RSS Feeds
Discussion: Profy.Com, CenterNetworks and Mashable!
Duncan Riley / TechCrunch:
Pownce vs Digg: Who Will Kevin Rose Back?  —  I've speculated previously on the growing conflict Kevin Rose has between his roles at Digg and Pownce, and now it would appear that we may finally be on the eve of Rose being forced to decide between the two.  —  Leah Culver, a co-founder …
Prince McLean / AppleInsider:
Updated Leopard requirements to exclude 800MHz systems  —  Just weeks ahead of its public launch, Apple Inc. has updated the minimum system requirements for its next-generation Leopard operating system to exclude 800MHz PowerPC-based Macs, AppleInsider has learned.
Associated Press:
Starbucks to Give Away 50 Million Songs  —  SEATTLE (AP) — Starbucks Corp. plans to give away 50 million free digital songs to customers in all of its domestic coffee houses to promote a new wireless iTunes music service that's about to debut in select markets.
Dave McClure / Master of 500 Hats:
VCs & Tech Lawyers: INNOVATE, AUTOMATE, SIMPLIFY  —  i'll have a lot more to say about this in the future, but at the moment i just want to observe that for a group of folks who hang around startups & talk about technology & innovation all day long, most VCs & lawyers i know really need to eat some of their own [startup's] dogfood.
 
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 More Items: 
Jeremy Kirk / InfoWorld:
Virgin drops Windows Media-based music download service
Doug Aamoth / CrunchGear:
Who Else Got Burned By An 'End Of Summer' Promise?
Discussion: InfoWorld
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
Yahoo, WPP join Microsoft in questioning Google-DoubleClick merger
Discussion: InfoWorld
Christopher Null:
Virgin Mobile Uses Web Pic of Kid in Ad, Gets Sued
Discussion: The Register
Tony Smith / The Register:
Apple iPhone  —  Personal view We've already reviewed Apple's iPhone …
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Video Professor Sues Anonymous Critics
Marshall Kirkpatrick / Read/WriteWeb:
Yahoo! Presidential Mashup Scores 1m Viewers in Two Weeks
Discussion: Yodel Anecdotal and Beet.TV
Nick O'Neill / All Facebook:
Breaking: Acebucks Raises 1.5 Million
 Earlier Items: 
David A. Utter / WebProNews:
Sirius: Google's Satellite Of Love?
ongoing:
Flat Rate Considered Harmful
Scott Kirsner / Boston Globe:
In venture capitalism, a growing rift over blogs
USA Today:
Account number, name not on this credit card
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes / Hardware 2.0:
Steve Jobs proves you can't please all the people all the time
Discussion: eWEEK.com
Forbes:
Stealing Clicks  —  The devil is in the data—and in this case, in the clicks.
Josh Catone / Read/WriteWeb:
DEMOfall 2007 Preview - Companies to Watch
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Authentic Brands licenses Sports Illustrated's publishing rights to The Players' Tribune owner Minute Media for 10 years, with plans to keep the print edition

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Ofcom rules that five GB News programs presented by Conservative politicians have broken its due impartiality rules and puts the channel “on notice”

Todd Spangler / Variety:
YouTuber MrBeast announces a deal with Prime Video for Beast Games, a reality-competition show with 1,000 contestants, promising the winner a $5M cash prize

 
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