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9:45 PM ET, October 20, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Wall Street Journal:
Google CEO Backs Obama  —  Schmidt Expands Political Role by Hitting the Campaign Trail  —  Google Inc. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt will hit the campaign trail this week on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, signaling Mr. Schmidt's push for a greater voice in politics …
RELATED:
Tom Lowry / Business Week:
The Short List for U.S. Chief Technology Officer  —  Barack Obama has pledged to name a cabinet-level CTO to oversee a job-creating national broadband buildout if he's elected.  Big names abound  —  Barack Obama says that the U.S. is not doing nearly enough to create jobs through technology.
Matt Buchanan / Gizmodo:
Google CEO Wants to Be President Obama's Tech Chief  —  Did you know?  Besides sitting on Apple's board of directors, Google CEO Eric Schmidt has been an informal adviser to Barack Obama's presidential campaign.  In fact, he lurves Obama so much that's he not just going to endorse him …
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Let's Be Serious: Online Display Ads Will Fall Sharply In 2009  —  For a year, we've listened to analysts passionately explain how online ad spending will power through any broader economic and advertising weakness.  Eyeballs are moving online, this story went (goes), ad dollars will follow.
RELATED:
Michael Learmonth / AdAge:
Woe to Web 2.0 Start-Ups: Too Few Ads to Go Around
Discussion: Gawker and paidContent.org
Nick O'Neill / All Facebook:
Scott Rafer: The Facebook Platform is Dead  —  When speaking at the Facebook developer conference today in Berlin, Scott Rafer declared that Facebook platform dead.  He posted statistics including one that I posted that suggests Facebook widgets are dead.  Lookery's own statistics …
InfoWorld:
Researchers log keystrokes from afar with an antenna  —  Computer keystrokes can be snooped from afar by detecting the slight electromagnetic radiation emitted when a key is pressed, according to new research previewed on Monday.  —  Other security experts have theorized keyboards were vulnerable …
Discussion: Gizmodo
RELATED:
Rafat Ali / paidContent.org:
Veoh Lays Off 15—Not 40 Percent As Rumored; Russia Office Closed  —  Online video site Veoh, backed by about $70 million in funding including from Michael Eisner, did about 15 layoffs from its St Petersburg, Russia office about a month ago, the company has told me.
Discussion: Valleywag
RELATED:
Owen Thomas / Valleywag:
Veoh lays off 40 percent of staff, still lacks reason for being
Discussion: NewTeeVee and CNET News
PBS:
Ctrl-Alt-Del: Did Apple reboot an important product announcement?  —  Apple last week introduced a pair of very nice notebook computers that, not at all surprisingly, looked like riffs on the MacBook Air.  The company in a separate announcement released 600 high-definition television episodes through the iTunes Store.
Owen Thomas / Valleywag:
Wikia lays off 30 percent of staff  —  Bid goodnight to Jimmy Wales's dream of cashing out on Wikipedia, the world's largest collection of infrequently asked questions.  The vehicle for his scheme, a derivative for-profit startup called Wikia, is imploding.
Mike Elgan / Computerworld Blogs:
Call it a ‘sub-subnotebook.’ New ‘PC’ is small as a cell phone!  —  SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. — IMOVIO launched today a smaller alternative to a subnotebook — much smaller.  The new iKIT is about the size of a PDA from ten years ago, but has a QWERTY keyboard and connects to the Internet at 3G speeds via your cell phone or Wi-Fi.
Nick / Rough Type:
The cost of First Click Free  —  The web you see when you go through Google's search engine is no longer the web you see when you don't go through Google's search engine.  —  In a note on my previous post, The Centripetal Web, Seth Finkelstein points to Philipp Lenssen's discussion of a new Google service …
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Please Fix The iPhone: A To-Do List For Steve Jobs  —  iPhone addicts love their iPhones, but nothing is perfect.  Customer feedback for Apple just went public on Please Fix the iPhone.  The site let's iPhone owners, or anyone else, list and vote on the features that most need fixing on the iPhone.
Rob Bushway / GottaBeMobile:
Dell and N-Trig: I've Had It  —  In many ways, the Dell Latitude XT Tablet PC has become one of my favorite Tablet PCs.  It is very thin, light, has ample room on the wrist pad for typing, has a scroll wheel, and is generally pleasant to use in portrait mode.  It goes to sleep and resumes very quickly.
Discussion: Engadget and Technology Questions
N'Gai Croal / Level Up:
Scoop: E3 2009 To Take Place During First Week of June, Be Open To the Public, Attendance Capped At 40,000  —  Level Up has just learned that after long, bruising and politically difficult negotiations, the Entertainment Software Association is preparing to announce tomorrow that E3 2009 …
Jordan Golson / Industry Standard:
Harvard Prof: Google earns “$32-$50 million” annually from typosquatting websites  —  Harvard Business School professor Benjamin G. Edelman estimates Google makes between $32 and $50 million in gross profit each year — potentially much more — from placing its AdSense text ads on so-called “typosquatting” sites.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Apple 2.0:
Q4 earnings: A guide to Apple's guidance  —  Apple guides conservatively - which is to say it low-balls its earnings and revenue numbers for the coming quarter so that it can blow them out of the water three months later.  It's a game the company plays every quarter, but the market never seems to learn …
Discussion: AppleInsider, The Mac Observer and TUAW
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
Judge Allows Kentucky To Seize Domain Names  —  Last month, we wrote about a judge allowing Kentucky's governor to seize 141 domain names that were somehow associated with gambling sites under a bizarre interpretation of Kentucky law.  Pretty much everyone involved admits …
Funkyguy / The Earth Times:
Worlds First iPhone Hotel  —  Its in California and I do think that the title is well deserved.  Its actual name is the Malibu Beach inn and it operates almost every little thing with Apples help.  Its great if you have an iPhone or iPod with you when you check in , if not the hotel obliges by equipping you with a 16 gig iPod touch.
Discussion: Crave, Engadget and textually.org
Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog:
You Can See Them From Here  —  Now you can geo-target users at country, city or ZIP code level  —  Where are your people?  And more importantly, are they finding you?  Knowing your ads show up for the right people in the right places is crucial, especially when your business only caters to a specific area.
Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:
Intel shows off working Moorestown MID device  —  Intel on Monday showed off a prototype handheld based on Moorestown, its upcoming Mobile Internet Device (MID) platform designed to enable a new generation of ultra-thin, touchscreen devices with extensive battery life.
Andria Cheng / MarketWatch:
Circuit City may shut stores to avoid filing: report  —  NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Struggling electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc. is mulling a plan to shut at least 150 stores and cut thousands of jobs to lower costs to avoid filing for bankruptcy protection, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday …
Monica Chen / DigiTimes:
MSI to launch 3.5G Wind netbook next month  —  Micro-Star International (MSI) is planning to launch the Wind U120 with a built-in 3.5G module in November this year.  The netbook will feature Intel's Atom N270 processor, 1GB memory, 120GB hard drive and Windows XP and be priced around NT$18,000 …
Rebecca / Electronic Frontier Foundation:
TV Networks Must Stop Blocking Election Videos on YouTube  —  San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and a coalition of public interest groups called on four television networks today to stop stifling vibrant political debate on the Internet with overreaching copyright claims …
Discussion: NewTeeVee, p2pnet and WebProNews
Business Wire:
Sun Microsystems Reports Preliminary Results for the First Quarter Fiscal Year 2009  —  SANTA CLARA, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAVA - News) reported preliminary results today for its first quarter of fiscal 2009, which ended September 28, 2008.
Betsy Schiffman / Epicenter:
RIM Could Rot With the Economy  —  Research In Motion, maker of the indispensable BlackBerry devices, may see sales stall in this brave, new, sucky economy.  —  That's the conclusion of Tavis McCourt, an analyst with Morgan Keegan.  He expects sales growth will slip from 40 percent in 2008 to between 25 and 30 percent in 2009.
The Boy Genius / Boy Genius Report:
BlackBerry Storm hitting Best Buy November 16th?  —  To be fair, that's what looks to be the in-stock date, not the street date as we're told.  We got our hands on a print out of a Best Buy product sheet which clearly shows the BlackBerry Storm's store in-stock date.
 
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 More Items: 
PR Newswire:
Cox Launches ‘Media Store and Share’ in Northern Virginia and Fredericksburg
Discussion: DSLreports and Telecompetitor
Dancho Danchev / Zero Day:
Inside an affiliate spam program for pharmaceuticals
Discussion: The PC Doctor's blog
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:
Microsoft U Rank: Personalize Your Search Results
Discussion: Guardian and Lifehacker
Eric Krangel / Silicon Alley Insider:
Second Life Offers Business Teleconferencing, Now Penis-Free
Discussion: Techdirt
Jeff / Venture Chronicles:
Blu-ray Fights the Last War
Sean Michael Kerner:
Linux Ecosystem worth $25 billion
Discussion: Valleywag and Slashdot
 Earlier Items: 
Karl Bode / DSLreports:
We've Got Exclusive Details On New Comcast Speeds, Prices …
Discussion: GigaOM
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
SearchMe Adds Music Search With Unlimited Streaming Via Imeem Widgets
Discussion: Webware.com and ReadWriteWeb
Matthew Lasar / Ars Technica:
FCC lukewarm on networks' request to delay white space vote
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Two Ways Yahoo Can Blow The Mass Firings
Discussion: GMSV and WebProNews
Jonathan M. Gitlin / Ars Technica:
Microsoft gets patent for real-time f-bomb bleeping
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
Apple Ads About Microsoft Ads About Apple Ads About Microsoft
 

 
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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