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5:50 PM ET, October 18, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Mark Evans:
A Stupid Question?  —  Since Twitter emerged as a communications tour de force with millions of users, the question has been: “How's Twitter going to make money?”  —  Apparently, it's a stupid question.  In fact, it's the stupidest question in the world.  —  According to Fred Wilson …
RELATED:
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Twitter: We'll Announce Our Secret Business Model Early Next Year  —  “It's like the stupidest question in the world,” Fred Wilson said of the robotic query chirped at Twitter people in every interview ("But how are you going to make money?")  —  Given the rate at which Twitter has seized …
Discussion: Business Week and ReadWriteWeb
AppleInsider:
Due next from Apple: refreshed 20- and 24-inch iMacs  —  Assuming last minute snags are avoided, the coming weeks should bring new iMacs, rounding out Apple's 2008 hardware introductions as the company enters the holiday shopping season with one of its strongest product portfolios ever.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Destruction Of Bloglines Now Complete; Founder Prepares To Switch To Google Reader  —  Users who hadn't already left Bloglines for Google Reader and other functional RSS readers are doing so now, largely because Bloglines has stopped working and the company has done absolutely nothing …
Discussion: TomsTechBlog.com
Ellen Knickmeyer / Washington Post:
Al-Qaeda Web Forums Abruptly Taken Offline  —  Separately, Sunnis and Shiites Wage Online War  —  Four of the five main online forums that al-Qaeda's media wing uses to distribute statements by Osama bin Laden and other extremists have been disabled since mid-September, monitors of the Web sites say.
Discussion: TECH.BLORGE.com
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Pressflip Founder Quits: “I'm Tired Of The Fight”  —  One thing investors don't really like to see is founders abandoning the startups they funded.  But that is exactly what Ted Dziuba is doing with his startup PressFlip.  —  In a blog post Dziuba wrote that he was leaving the company …
Cameron Baker / TheTechLounge:
Mitsubishi LaserVue 65" HDTV - We Meet Again … Specifications  —  Images  —  Introduction  —  Kurtis and I got another chance to check out Mitsubishi's LaserVue DLP set in the early morning hours this Tuesday, and this time we were armed with some juicy, hand-picked HD goodness.
Discussion: I4U News, Gizmodo and Engadget HD
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Some Of These Layoffs Aren't Really Layoffs  —  I've spoken to a lot of CEOs this week who are going through layoffs or who are thinking of going through going through layoffs.  The list of those who've pulled the trigger gets longer every day, and the unparty seems to just be getting started based on the email flow that we're seeing.
Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:
Surprise!  Venture investments falling  —  No one should be surprised to hear that venture investment dropped during the last three months, with notable decreases in first-time financings and Internet investment.  And the worst is probably still to come, since Q3 numbers don't reflect the recent meltdown of the finance industry.
RELATED:
Claire Cain Miller / Bits:
Venture Capital Investment Down 7 Percent in Third Quarter
Discussion: TechCrunch, GigaOM and VC Ratings
Michelle Meyers / CNET News:
Move over pinochle, Web surfing stimulates aging brains  —  Functional MRI brain scans show how searching the Internet dramatically engages brain neural networks (in red).  The image on the left displays brain activity while reading a book; the image on the right displays activity while engaging in an Internet search.
Discussion: Freakonomics and Rough Type
Steve Gillmor / TechCrunchIT:
FriendFeed to add Realtime APIs next week  —  Play in Popup |  Download  —  Twitter appears to have an unassailable lead in users and their resultant Follow clouds.  Though Track is dead and IM is postponed indefinitely, the service has added a political track page with a company-selected keyword cluster around the political race.
Discussion: The Gillmor Gang
Michael Bettiol / Boy Genius Report:
And we have lift off: AT&T Bold launches on the 27th  —  This is for real, kids.  Information has been pouring in left, right, and center from AT&T and RIM ninjas and we can now say for sure that AT&T is planning to launch the Bold on October 27.  We repeat, October 27!
Ryan Singel / Threat Level:
‘Anonymous’ Member Unmasked, Charged With Web Attack on Scientology  —  An 18-year-old New Jersey man agreed to plead guilty to federal computer hacking charges Friday for participating in a denial-of-service attack against Church of Scientology websites, as part of collective of online troublemakers known as “Anonymous.”
 
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 More Items: 
Evan Koblentz / Wireless Week:
T-Mobile Considers Options, Lawsuit for FCC's AWS Plan
Discussion: Boy Genius Report and Phone Scoop
Tony Smith / The Register:
Netbooks take ten per cent of Euro PC market
Discussion: Engadget
Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
Beijing: Smile! You're on Internet cafe camera!
Discussion: WebProNews and China.org.cn
David A. Sampayo / Technologizer:
Why the Kill Switch Make Sense for Android, and Not for iPhone
 Earlier Items: 
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
Is Web 2.0 About Exploitation Or Empowerment?
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
FireWire Isn't Alone: A Brief History of Features Apple Has Killed
Discussion: TidBITS, Gadget Lab and Edible Apple
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
What Yahoo's Looming Costs Cuts Actually Mean (Not as Many Layoffs as You Think)
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider
Stephen Shankland / CNET News:
Newer Chrome, Firefox show speed improvements
Discussion: Lifehacker
 

 
From Mediagazer:

David Folkenflik / NPR:
NPR suspended Uri Berliner for five days without pay, starting on April 12, after he wrote an essay accusing NPR of losing the public's trust

Lucy Craymer / Reuters:
New Zealand's Stuff Group signs a deal with WBD to provide WBD's New Zealand TV channel with a 6PM daily news program; WBD plans to close Newshub on July 5

Richard Stengel / The Atlantic:
Publications should suspend paywalls for all 2024 US election coverage, as they get in the way of the public being informed, the foundation of democracy

 
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