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12:40 PM ET, February 4, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Vic Gundotra / The Official Google Blog:
See where your friends are with Google Latitude  —  How often do you find yourself wondering where your friends are and what they're up to?  It's a pretty central question to our daily social lives, and it's precisely the question you can now answer using Google Latitude.
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Tracking Friends the Google Way  —  New Mobile-Device Feature Lets Users Share Their Every Move With Each Other  —  For the past week, I've been stalking my sister, my boyfriend and my boss.  They've also been stalking me, and we still like one other.  —  All four of us have been using …
MG Siegler / VentureBeat:
Google enters the location-based networking fray with Latitude  —  Google has just launched a new aspect of its Google Maps product called Latitude.  It's a social layer that goes over Google Maps to show your location information in real time.  If you think Google is already creepy …
Rafael / Within Windows:
Windows 7 auto-elevation mistake lets malware elevate freely, easily  —  As you probably know by now, Windows 7 introduces some new in-between modes for User Account Control (UAC).  By default, Windows 7 (beta thus far) ships with UAC configured at the “Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer.” level.
Discussion: InformationWeek
RELATED:
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
Microsoft's worst nightmare: Windows 7 deemed less secure than Vista  —  While Microsoft officials won't say it (at least not publicly), one of Windos 7's main selling points is likely to be that it's the “anti-Vista.”  It will be faster, smaller, more reliable and... less secure?
Discussion: Gizmodo
Long Zheng / istartedsomething:
Second Windows 7 beta UAC security flaw: malware can silently …
Zach Epstein / Boy Genius Report:
Sprint EOL list reveals target Palm Pre launch, plenty more  —  Sprint customers, have you found yourself wondering what Hesse & Co. have in store for you this year beyond the illustrious Palm Pre?  Don't worry, you're not alone.  While we can't post the list itself, one of our ninjas came through …
Business Wire:
Time Warner Cable Reports 2008 Full-Year and Fourth-Quarter Results  —  NEW YORK—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC - News) today reported financial results for its full year and fourth quarter ended December 31, 2008.  —  Time Warner Cable President and Chief Executive Officer Glenn Britt …
RELATED:
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
How Harvard Law threw down the gauntlet to the RIAA  —  Inside one Harvard Law professor's bid to turn his students into cyberactivists and to force the music industry to face the future in the process.  —  In retrospect, Harvard's eventual involvement was obvious.
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Facebook at 5: Remembering the Early Years, and Measuring Up Against Google  —  Happy Birthday, Facebook!  You're 5 years old today, and that's pretty cool.  But the party you're throwing yourself?  Not much fun.  —  How about this instead: Some brief reminiscing, via …
Discussion: bub.blicio.us
RELATED:
Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:
Yahoo Starting To Roll Out “Search Pad” Feature  —  Formerly known as “Research Assistant” Yahoo is starting to introduce (to selected users) what it's now calling “Search Pad,” an application that automatically collects sites and content as users conduct online research.
Discussion: CNET News and VentureBeat
Stephen Shankland / CNET News:
The ‘Twitter Effect’: Possibilities and limits  —  Is there a “Twitter Effect,” by which the rapid spread of information through the microblogging service can crush a Web site with traffic?  As I see it, the answer is yes, but it's not as simple as it might appear at first blush.
Amol Sharma / Wall Street Journal:
AT&T Seeks Verizon Wireless Assets  —  In the bidding for the roughly $3 billion in wireless assets Verizon Wireless must divest as part of its purchase of Alltel Corp., one strong but controversial contender is emerging: AT&T Inc.  —  The Dallas-based telecommunications giant …
The Boy Genius / Boy Genius Report:
One of Acer's Mobile World Congress' handsets gets pictured  —  So, here's the deal... One of our infamous ninjas just sent us a shot of an unreleased and unseen Acer handset.  They told us it would be announced by Acer at MWC in a couple weeks, and that it is “pretty awkward.”  We agreed.
Live Search:
Instant Answers in your IE8 search box!  —  IE8 users can now get Live Search instant answers, including financial information, weather conditions, movie show times, calculations, equations, conversions, and definitions directly in the IE8 search box.  —  To see the stock quote answer in action …
RELATED:
Larry Larsen / Channel 10:   Cool IE8 Tip: Answer Suggestions
Hiroshi Suzuki / Bloomberg:
Panasonic Will Cut About 15,000 Jobs as First Loss in Six Years Looms  —  Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) — Panasonic Corp. the world's largest consumer-electronics maker, will cut about 15,000 jobs and predicted its first loss in six years as the deepening recession hurts demand for televisions and cameras.
David Kaplan / paidContent.org:
NYT's Keller: We're Looking For Ways To Charge For Online Content Again  —  In a Q&A with readers concerned about the precarious financial state of the newspaper this week, NYT Editor Bill Keller was asked if the paper would consider charging for online content again.  Keller says that the company isn't making any new plans.
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider
Mozilla:
Firefox 3 Release Notes  —  Check out what's new, the known issues and frequently asked questions about the latest version of Firefox.  As always, you're encouraged to tell us what you think, either using this feedback form or by filing a bug in Bugzilla.
David Chartier / Ars Technica:
iLife suite quietly going Intel-only, PowerPC owners cry  —  iLife '09 contains plenty of new features to convince current Mac owners to upgrade from iLife '08, but there is one unfortunate deterrent for those still on PowerPC-based machines.  GarageBand '09 is the first iLife component …
Times of India:
$10-laptop proves to be a damp squib  —  Text:  —  TIRUPATI: The much-touted laptop for the masses said to have been built by students of Vellore Institute of Technology that would cost a mere Rs 500 actually turned out to be only a computing device.  —  Making this clear at the inauguration …
Chris Pendleton / Virtual Earth, An Evangelist's Blog:
Virtual Earth Imagery Release, January 2009  —  The engine has been churning for a few months and we've finally pumped out another imagery release - a massive ~100TB worth of data!!!  Here's where you can see the latest and greatest including our first use (and a HUGE amount) …
Joanna Stern / LAPTOP Mag:
ASUS Eee PC 1000HE Arrives Boasting a New Keyboard and Intel Atom N280 Processor  —  ASUS announced yesterday the upcoming availability of its its new $399 Eee PC 1000HE, and lo and behold this morning the netbook stork dropped off the newest addition to the Eee family.
Discussion: GPS Obsessed, SlashGear and Engadget
Philip Greenspun / Philip Greenspun:
Verizon FiOS Versus Comcast  —  or “How 20 mbps Internet can be slower than 8 mbps”  —  This is a review of my experience switching from crummy slow Comcast cable modem to blazing fast modern Verizon FiOS fiber optic Internet service.  I made the switch in the fall of 2008.  —  Comcast
Jeff Smykil / Ars Technica:
Apple adding to its “vintage and obsolete” list  —  Sometimes it's hard to say goodbye: Apple has added a handful of machines to its vintage and obsolete list.  —  alistairmcmillan  —  From a computer enthusiast's point of view, some machines may never fall into the obsolete category.
Discussion: MacMerc.com, AppleDifferent and TUAW
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Apple 2.0:
The great iPod migration  —  How will Apple (AAPL) persuade 100 million iPod users to trade up to an iPhone?  That's the problem Bernstein Research's Toni Sacconaghi tackles in a report to clients Wednesday.  —  His answer: Make an iPhone that comes without a data plan — currently $30 a month in the United States.
Ryan Kairer / PalmInfocenter:
Donna Dubinsky Resigning from Palm's Board  —  Donna Dubinsky, former Palm CEO and one of the original founders, is planning to resign from her seat on Palm's board of directors.  Elevations recent additional $100 million equity deal also included the right for the investment group to appoint …
Discussion: FierceWireless and Engadget
Matthew Moore / Telegraph:
SongSmith: Financial crisis soundtrack composed from tumbling share price graphs  —  A soundtrack of the global economic crisis composed by running financial graphs through SongSmith, Microsoft's increasingly popular music software, has become a YouTube hit.
Discussion: Microsoft Pri0
Wilson Rothman / Gizmodo:
Garmin and Asus Join Mobile Forces, Launch Co-Branded Nuvifone Line  —  Forget Eee Phones: Garmin and Asus have created a strategic alliance to design, build and sell co-branded Nuvifones, starting with the original one—now called G60—and moving towards Windows Mobile and Android.
 
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 More Items: 
Business Week:
Is the Worst Over for Satyam?  —  Fresh suitors have emerged …
Mhtaylor Mhtaylor / Digits:
Burn Rate: MediaMaster Goes Under
BBC:
Video game helps with fire drill
The Boy Genius / Boy Genius Report:
AT&T Mobility Sales Reps going on strike?
Discussion: Technologizer and Phone Arena
InfoWorld:
Green Grid plans “Data Center 2.0” design guide
Discussion: Data Center Knowledge
Liz Gannes / NewTeeVee:
How to Launch Your Web Show on Facebook
Discussion: paidContent.org
Edith Honan / Reuters:
MySpace: 90,000 sex offenders removed in two years
Discussion: Contentinople
 Earlier Items: 
Tim O'Reilly / Forbes:
Where Real Innovation Happens
Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:
Removing admin rights stymies 92% of Microsoft's bugs
PC Pro:
Torvalds rejects one-size-fits-all Linux
Discussion: TG Daily, InformationWeek and OSNews
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch UK:
LinkedIn launches German site to take the fight to Xing
Discussion: cruel to be kind and WebProNews
Kevin Poulsen / Threat Level:
Global ATM Caper Nets Hackers $9 Million in One Day
Wall Street Journal:
Google's Clout Grows as Tech Initiatives Take Shape
Discussion: Search Engine Land
 

 
From Mediagazer:

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”

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

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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