Check out Mini-Techmeme for simple mobiles or Techmeme Mobile for modern smartphones.
4:45 PM ET, November 7, 2008

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Demetri Sevastopulo / Financial Times:
Chinese hack into White House network  —  Chinese hackers have penetrated the White House computer network on multiple occasions, and obtained e-mails between government officials, a senior US official told the Financial Times.  —  On each occasion, the cyber attackers accessed …
Nick / Rough Type:
Who killed the blogosphere?  —  Blogging seems to have entered its midlife crisis, with much existential gnashing-of-teeth about the state and fate of a literary form that once seemed new and fresh and now seems familiar and tired.  And there's good reason for the teeth-gnashing.
Discussion: Mark Evans, Economist and Furrier.org
RELATED:
John Oates / The Register:   Bloggers getting bigger and messier
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
The Internet As A Force In Politics: “Obama Would Not Have Won Without The Internet”  —  New York Magazine's John Heilemann is leading a panel at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco this morning on “The Web and Politics.”  Joining him is San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome, Arianna Huffington and Joe Trippi.
Discussion: Webware.com
RELATED:
Christina Clark / Download Squad:
Barack Obama - President 2.0?  —  First the Obama campaign was sending out text messages to the masses and that whole thing came up about John McCain not using email.  Obama was campaigning for those of us who are into the web.  He appealed to our technology.  —  It appears he is going to keep it up.
Discussion: Gawker
BBC:
Web helps Obama with transition
Discussion: Technology Live
Rodney Gedda / Techworld:
Microsoft ‘interested’ in open source browser: Ballmer  —  Browser extensions likely to attract proprietary development  —  Microsoft has given its most ringing endorsement of open source Web browsers to date with chief executive officer Steve Ballmer not ruling out adopting such technology …
RELATED:
Brandon Miniman / pocketnow.com:
Steve Ballmer Confirms Existence of Windows Mobile 6.5  —  The possibility of there being a Windows Mobile 6.5 fell in the “rumor” column after Motorola CEO casually mentioned it in a conference call.  Now have official word from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer that this rumor is reality.
Gary Burd / FriendFeed Blog:
Instant FriendFeed - Notifications and Posting over IM  —  The great thing about IM is that it's instant.  You know right away when someone wants to reach you.  To give users the option of having that same immediacy when it comes to FriendFeed, we're now offering FriendFeed over IM:
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
The Cash Panic Sweeping The VC Industry  —  Why have VC firms and PE firms clamped down on investments so fast?  Why are they shouting from the rooftops that portfolio companies had better start cutting costs immediately?  —  Well, for one thing, because they're not boneheads.
Discussion: VentureBeat and Gawker
Reuters:
Sprint Nextel Lost 1.3 Million Customers in Quarter  —  Sprint Nextel, the third-largest mobile service, on Friday posted a quarterly loss and weaker revenue as customers fled to rival services.  —  Sprint reported a net loss of $326 million, or 11 cents a share, compared with a profit of $64 million …
Discussion: Gizmodo and Engadget
RELATED:
Joanna Stern / LAPTOP Magazine:
Dell Inspiron Mini 12 Arrives: Sleek but Slow  —  This morning the stork dropped off one of the most highly-anticipated netbooks of the year.  Everyone wanted to see and touch the Inspiron Mini 12 because it's the first netbook with a 12-inch display.  How good was the keyboard?  How bright was the display?
Paul McDougall / InformationWeek:
Apple iPhone Chief Claims He Didn't Violate IBM Contract  —  Mark Papermaster says in court papers that the two tech vendors are not direct competitors.  —  Apple's newly appointed chief of iPod and iPhone engineering said his move to Cupertino does not violate a non-compete contract he signed …
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Online Money Transfer Service iKobo Calls It Quits  —  Atlanta, GA-based iKobo, a company that provides a worldwide online money transfer service, is discontuining its operations, effective immediately.  In an e-mail to its users, the company writes:
Discussion: YugaTech and Startup Meme
Stephen Shankland / CNET News:
Microsoft touts 25 percent eBay Cashback rebate  —  Microsoft is getting more aggressive with Live Search Cashback, a program that offers price cuts for those who buy products found with the company's search engine, touting a 25 percent rebate for items purchased through eBay.
Discussion: Live Search and LiveSide
Electronista:
MS deems hybrid graphics unstable for Windows 7  —  A Thursday report warns Microsoft's upcoming Windows 7 operating system will not support hybrid dual-graphics systems currently on the market from NVIDIA and AMD.  The news came after a review of Microsoft's Guidelines for Graphics …
Discussion: Hardware 2.0
Abbey Klaassen / AdAge:
Former Time Inc. Exec Domeniconi to Lead Microsoft U.S. Ad Sales  —  Will Be Responsible for Digital Media Assets From Xbox Live to Facebook Display Ads  —  NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — To try to pull together all of its myriad digital media assets for clients, Microsoft has lured an executive from the magazine world.
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:
Apple: Barclays Cuts FY Q1 iPhone Forecast; Sees Ultra-Portable Macbook, Possible Phone Price Cuts In 2009  —  The latest cautionary comment from the Street on the prospects for Apple (AAPL) iPhone sales for the December quarter comes from Barclays Capital analyst Ben Reitzes …
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:
Yahoo: Focus Switches To Search Deal With Microsoft  —  Jerry Yang's list of options for stopping the bleeding at Yahoo (YHOO) has continued to dwindle.  Pressured by the Feds, Google (GOOG) pulled out of the search outsourcing deal.  Despite speculation, Microsoft (MSFT) …
Heather Havenstein / Computerworld:
Yahoo adds social features to Yahoo Buzz  —  Updates expand on Yahoo Open Strategy with new comments section, activity hub  —  Computerworld) Yahoo Inc. this week added new social elements to the beta version of its Yahoo Buzz social news site, which identifies the top news stories …
Ina Fried / Beyond Binary:
Windows 7 knows where you are  —  Microsoft program manager Alec Berntson shows how Windows 7 allows programs to take advantage of location-based information, in this case the operating system's weather gadget.  —  (Credit: Ina Fried/CNET News)  —  LOS ANGELES—Windows 7 …
Discussion: DailyTech, webmonkey and CNET News
Hitwise Intelligence:
Guest Post - Sizing Up the Long Tail of Search  —  At Hitwise our clients are always discovering new trends from the vast amount of data we offer.  From those findings we frequently get asked by clients to let them post their findings to our research blog.  So I am happy to present …
Erick Schonfeld / MobileCrunch:
Study: iPhones Twice As Reliable As BlackBerries  —  The iPhone is twice as reliable as the Blackberry after one year of ownership, a new study by SquareTrade finds.  SquareTrade, which sells extra warranties for cell phones and other devices, looked at the failure rates of 15,000 phones covered under its plans.
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
Introducing The First Extension For Fennec (aka Firefox Mobile)  —  Fennec, the codename for the mobile version of the Firefox web browser, now has its first extension.  The browser, which launched into alpha last month, has always allowed for extendibility through add-ons, but none had been ported over until recently.
Brian Krebs / Washington Post:
Researchers Hijack Storm Worm to Track Profits  —  A single response from 12 million e-mails is all it takes for spammers to turn annual profits of millions of dollars promoting knockoff pharmaceuticals, according to an unprecedented new study on the economics of spam.
Discussion: The Spam Diaries
Vasanth Sridharan / Silicon Alley Insider:
Game Studio Brash Entertainment's Millions Vanish  —  Brash Entertainment, a video game studio that concentrates on game adaptations of movies, is firing 20 workers and temporarily suspending pay for some of its developers, Variety reports.  By now this sounds like a familiar story.
Discussion: The Cut Scene, Kotaku and Startup Meme
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of Techmeme at 4:45 PM ET, November 7, 2008.

View the current page or another snapshot:


 
 Techmeme Sponsor Posts: 
Tribe AI:
Build AI that works  —  Tribe builds tech for top AI companies.  Get in touch to learn how our bench of 500+ engineers and researchers can accelerate your roadmap.
Kulkan Security:
Hire Kulkan as your penetration testing partner  —  Kulkan prioritizes deep-dive manual security reviews, dissecting your software and infrastructure to find issues that once remediated can truly reduce security risk.
Zoho:
Cultivating creativity and innovation in the modern workspace  —  In the realm of modern business, success depends on more than just delivering products or services—it requires an environment where creativity thrives and new ideas are welcomed.
Mastodon:
Donate to Mastodon  —  Mastodon gGmbH, the non-profit behind the open-source software powering the social web, relies entirely on support from users like you.  Donate directly with a credit card or through Patreon.
Sponsor Techmeme
 
 See Also: 
Techmeme: site main
Techmeme River: reverse chronological Techmeme
Techmeme Mobile: for phones
Techmeme Leaderboard: Techmeme's top sources
 
 Subscribe: 
Techmeme RSS feed
Techmeme on X
Techmeme on Mastodon
 
 
 More Items: 
Chris Ziegler / Engadget Mobile:
Verizon's Touch Pro caught on video
Discussion: pocketnow.com
Jon Healey / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
LimeWire adds social features
Discussion: Slyck
Michael Larabel / Phoronix:
Mac OS X 10.5 vs. Ubuntu 8.10 Benchmarks
Discussion: Lifehacker and Slashdot
Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:
Sensing An Opening, Microsoft Moves to ‘Steal’ Verizon Search Deal From Google
Brigid Gaffikin / GigaOM:
Google: Money for Nothing and Your Spectrum for Free
Discussion: Sidecut Reports
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Worldwide broadband prices drop 20% in less than a year
Discussion: DSLreports and broadstuff
 Earlier Items: 
Rich Miller / Data Center Knowledge:
Amazon Building Large Data Center in Oregon
Discussion: TechFlash and Oregonian
MG Siegler / VentureBeat:
FriendFeed puts location in a bit more context by auto-adding maps to the stream
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Meet the Internet's Human Pinata: Jerry Yang
Discussion: CNET News and The Mac Observer
Alex Serpo / CNET News:
Ballmer rules out new bid for Yahoo
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
The FTC bans noncompete clauses that restrict job switching, potentially complicating hiring in Hollywood as firms try to protect trade secrets and other info

Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
An interview with NPR CEO Katherine Maher, who defends NPR and accuses critics of “bad faith distortion” of her past comments about the First Amendment

Tom Jones / Poynter:
How the Columbia Daily Spectator, the independent student newspaper of Columbia University, is covering the tense protests over the Israel-Hamas war

 
Sister Sites:

Mediagazer
 Top news and commentary for media professionals from all around the web
memeorandum
 What US political commentators are discussing online right now
WeSmirch
 The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page