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8:01 AM ET, April 15, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Russell Beattie / Russell Beattie's Weblog:
The end of Mowser  —  It's been a year since I launched Mowser at April 2007's Mobile Monday, so it's time for a progress report.  Sadly, the news isn't good.  —  Mowser is at the end of its life in its current form.  We haven't been able to raise funding, and as a site …
RELATED:
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Is the Mobile Web Dead?  Some Mobile Entrepreneurs Say Yes  —  Former Yahoo! Mobile evangelist turned startup entrepreneur Russell Beattie announced today that he's calling it quits for his company Mowser because the market for mobile browsing is taking a fast turn for the worse.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
AOL Buys Sphere's Blog Content Engine  —  Tomorrow AOL will announce the acquisition of San Francisco-based Sphere, a blog content engine that launched in 2006.  The price is not being disclosed, but sources are suggesting it's in the $25 million range, or possibly a little more.  More details from Om Malik
RELATED:
Tony Conrad / Sphere Blog:
Our New Address @ AOL.COM  —  Unlike the rumor that Sphere has reserved the Wrigley Field bleachers for Game 7 of the 2008 World Series, the conjecture about Sphere being acquired by a larger platform is officially true.  AOL has acquired sphere.  More information is here, here and here again for the curious detail seeker.
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Personal Note: Conrad Got Mailed.  —  My buddy Tony Conrad, co-founder & CEO of Sphere just called to let me know that he had sold his company to AOL for an undisclosed amount of money.  The details of this announcement are on TechCrunch and also on the Sphere blog.
Discussion: WebProNews and Photo Matt
Susan Timcheck / AOL Press Releases:
AOL Acquires Sphere
Discussion: Quintura blog
Duncan Riley / TechCrunch:
Twitter Testing Advertising In Twitter Streams  —  Twitter was down tonight, nothing really unusual for the San Francisco based startup (to be fair though downtime has improved since they dumped Joyent), but what was different is some reports of users spotting ads in their Twitter stream during the service difficulties.
Greg Sandoval / CNET News.com:
Rocker Peter Gabriel offers Filter to cut through online clutter  —  Internet users are awash in information every time they search for new music videos or books online, says rocker Peter Gabriel.  —  One of the founders of the rock group Genesis and the creator of the iconic solo album So …
RELATED:
Devin Leonard / Fortune:   Peter Gabriel's Filter
comScore:
AOL's Platform-A Ranks as Top Ad Network in March, Reaching More Than 9 Out of 10 U.S. Internet Users  —  Niche Ad Networks Emerge to Help Advertisers Target Specific Audiences  —  comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released March 2008 data on online ad networks …
RELATED:
Duncan Riley / TechCrunch:
Not A Misprint: AOL's Platform A Is The Top Advertising Network By Reach
Discussion: Tinfinger and Tech Beat
Waxy.org:
Exclusive: Google App Engine ported to Amazon's EC2  —  One of the biggest criticisms of Google's App Engine have been cries of lock-in, that the applications developed for the platform won't be portable to any other service.  This morning, Chris Anderson, the Portland-based cofounder …
RELATED:
Tim O'Reilly / O'Reilly Radar:
Is Google App Engine a Lock-in Play?
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Facebook News Feed Reports on You Behind Your Back  —  The Facebook News Feed is a strange beast.  Upon its release, it was met with an extremely negative reception as members protested their new ‘auto-stalker’, but it has slowly gained acceptance as users learned they could control which stories were sent to the News Feed.
Discussion: All Facebook
benheck.com:
Apple IIgs Original Hardware Laptop  —  As many of you know I grew up during the 80's and spent a lot of time with the fun 8-bit computers of those days.  One of my favorites was the Apple IIgs, and when someone requested I build a portable version of it I jumped at the chance.
John Cook / Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Farecast sold in $75 million deal  —  Farecast has been sold in a deal that values the online travel search startup at more than $75 million, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.  —  The buyer was not known, and Farecast Chief Executive Hugh Crean declined to comment late Sunday.
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb
John Markoff / New York Times:
Tesla Motors Files Suit Against Competitor Over Design Ideas  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Tesla Motors, the Silicon Valley maker of electric sports cars, filed suit in San Mateo County Court on Monday against a competing company and two of its employees, saying they stole some of Tesla's design ideas and trade secrets.
Jesus Diaz / Gizmodo:
Latest iPhone Firmware Saves Pictures from Safari  —  At last!  The latest beta version of Apple's iPhone 1.2.0 firmware gives you the possibility of saving pictures straight from Safari and into the Photo Album.  We tried and it works: just hold your finger against an image for a longer …
 
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 More Items: 
Electronista:
eMusic cracks 200m, credits DRM-free surge
Discussion: Gadgetell and PC World
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Google's Don't Be Evil Not “Ordained Motto” Says Marissa Mayer
James Hall / Telegraph:
Tesco Digital to challenge Apple's iTunes
Paul McDougall / InformationWeek Weblog:
Mac Clone Maker Psystar Vows To Challenge Apple EULA
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Fring iPhone Chat/Voip App Launching Today
Discussion: VoIP Watch
Emeka Ajene / Compete Blog:
Following the Money: Marketing to Affluent Internet Users
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
FTC: We'll take on spyware, spam, and unlabeled DRM
Discussion: TeleRead
David Cohn / DigiDave:
What I Hate About the Internet - Everyone is a “Social Media Consultant”
Discussion: broadstuff and WinExtra
 Earlier Items: 
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Google Maps + YouTube Videos = Local Video White Pages
Discussion: Google LatLong
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Google: We're Going to Crush Baidu in China. We Think.
Discussion: paidContent.org
Saul Hansell / Bits:
New York State Girds for War With Amazon
Saul Hansell / Bits:
Newspapers Argue for First Amendment Right to Snoop on Readers
Steve Lohr / Bits:
Enterprise 2.0: A Computer Security Nightmare?
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
Another Windows veteran to leave Microsoft
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Hitwise: Google Hits New High; Microsoft & Yahoo New Lows
 

 
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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