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5:00 PM ET, February 12, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Thai Tran / YouTube Blog:
YouTube Goes Offline  —  We are always looking for ways to make it easier for you to find, watch, and share videos.  Many of you have told us that you wanted to take your favorite videos offline.  So we've started working with a few partners who want their videos shared universally and even enjoyed away from an Internet connection.
RELATED:
Alex Chitu / Google Operating System:
Download and Buy Videos from YouTube  —  YouTube includes a new section for “My Videos”: a list of purchased videos.  A YouTube help page has more details about the new feature: … Videos are available to download in the MP4 format and some of them can be downloaded for free and they're …
Gary Allen / ifoAppleStore:
Apple Plans Major Store Space Reorganization  —  On the heels of an iPhone/iPod display table make-over, Apple plans to entirely reorganize and refocus space within the stores to emphasize customer education, and software over hardware.  The change would be the third major interior design for the stores …
Discussion: CNET News, MacRumors and MacBlogz
RELATED:
Zach Spear / AppleInsider:
Apple Stores shifting focus to software in bid for switchers
Discussion: ifoAppleStore
Latest Adrian's Rojak Pot Updates:
The Microsoft Windows 7 Upgrade Program Rev. 2.1  —  The Microsoft Windows 7 Upgrade Program  —  Microsoft issued a draft of the Windows 7 Technical Guarantee Program to their OEM partners on December 10, giving them exactly one month to provide their feedback before Microsoft finalizes the program details.
RELATED:
Ina Fried / Beyond Binary:
Sources: Windows 7 moving toward 2009 release
Discussion: Electronista
Emil Protalinski / Ars Technica:
Upgrading to Windows 7: what XP and Vista users need to know
Discussion: Lifehacker and InfoWorld
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
Android Vulnerability So Dangerous, Owners Warned Not to Use Phone's Web Browser  —  Over the weekend at the Schmoocon hacker conference in Washington D.C., security researcher Charlie Miller presented a new vulnerability in Google's mobile OS Android which allows hackers to remotely …
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Doomed: why Wikipedia will fail  —  A cyberlaw professor argues that Wikipedia is doomed.  The online encyclopedia will need to choose between being “high quality” and “open,” but both choices are fraught with risk.  —  Law professor Eric Goldman loves Wikipedia, but he's also convinced …
Discussion: Between the Lines and p2pnet
Susan Wojcicki / Traditional Media:
Google Exits Radio but Will Explore Online Streaming Audio  —  Labels: Announcements, Google Audio Ads  —  At Google we've never shied away from high-risk, high-reward projects.  We believe that making big bets is not only in the best interests of our users and partners, but also important for our long term success.
RELATED:
Stephen Shankland / Webware.com:
Up to 40 to lose jobs as Google scraps radio ads
Discussion: eWeek
iPod Observer:
New 16GB iPhone 3G May Be On the Way  —  Apple may be preparing to roll out an updated version of its 16GB iPhone 3G.  An image showing a new case back seems to back up rumors that an iPhone update is on the way thanks to its model number, A1303, which previously hasn't appeared on any iPhone model.
RELATED:
Arn / MacRumors:
Leaked Photos of Next Generation iPhone?
Discussion: The iPhone Blog
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:
Don't Click!  No Really!  Don't Even Think About it!  —  Twitter is falling prey to a major security flaw right now.  The service is getting swamped with messages that say: “Don't Click” and a URL.  Apparently, this hack has been around for over two weeks, but it only really took off today.
Discussion: Hack a Day and Microblink, Thanks:fredericl
RELATED:
Clay / Sunlight Labs:
What is this Don't Click business?
Discussion: CNET News
Wall Street Journal:
More Tech Start-Ups Call It Quits  —  As Funding Dries Up, Fledgling Silicon Valley Firms Are Shutting Down; Fears of Chill on Innovation  —  The deepening recession is speeding up the shakeout in Silicon Valley, forcing droves of start-ups to shut down or sell themselves at fire-sale prices.
Miguel Helft / Bits:
Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Collaborate to Clean Up Web  —  In a rare instance of collaboration among otherwise fierce rivals, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft said Thursday that they will support a new Web standard that will allow millions of Web publishers to remove duplicate pages from their Web sites.
Discussion: Search Engine Land
Arn / MacRumors:
Snow Leopard Adds Minor Often Requested Tweaks: Put Back, Stack Folder Navigation  —  With the absence of major new user interface features in Snow Leopard, we're left discussing some rather minor (though frequently requested) tweaks found in the latest developer builds of Mac OS X 10.6.
Discussion: Neowin.net
Nokia Beta Labs blog:
Contacts on Ovi beta database failed - my deepest and most sincere apologies  —  Written by: Kristian Luoma, Product Manager, Contacts on Ovi.  —  Hey,  —  Something bad happened yesterday.  A cooler broke down in the hosting center that we run the Chat service in.
Benjamin Grol / Gmail Blog:
Four changes to Gmail contacts  —  Over the past few days we've made a lot of small changes to Gmail's contact manager which, combined, should make it easier to organize the contacts you want and get rid of some of the cruft.  Here's a quick summary:  —  1. Contact merge (and an important caveat about auto-complete)
Discussion: Computerworld Blogs and WebProNews, Thanks:sinkercat
MG Siegler / VentureBeat:
Skyfire integrates an activity stream with Twitter, Facebook and feed support  —  Skyfire, the mobile browser that touts itself as translating the desktop web browsing experience to mobile phones, has added a useful new feature today: Activity streams.  The browser now has a default area …
John Leyden / The Register:
MS puts up $250K bounty for Conficker author  —  Zombie masterminds wanted undead or alive  —  Microsoft is offering a $250,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the virus writers behind the infamous Conficker (Downadup) worm.
Opera Press Room:
Opera unveils turbo-charged browsing at Mobile World Congress 2009  —  Just when you thought browsing couldn't get any faster, Opera unveils its latest innovation for better browsing, Opera Turbo.  This all-new, turbo-charged way to surf will make its exclusive appearance at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from February 16-19, 2009.
Mark Hendrickson / TechCrunch:
Looks Like Facebook Just Took The Top Spot Among Social Media Sites  —  This past December we reported on how Facebook was coming up on Blogger to steal its top spot among social media sites when measured by total unique visitors worldwide.  —  Now, it appears as though Facebook has finally done it.
Thanks:atul
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Innovative iPhone Developer Smule Raises $3.9 Million  —  Smule is one of our favorite iPhone developers - besides putting together ridiculously addictive apps like Ocarina (iTunes Link), the team is also especially adept at tapping into the iPhone's network effect, even on something as basic as a virtual lighter.
Discussion: VentureBeat, Pulse2 and mocoNews.net
Dylan Casey / The Official Google Blog:
Happy trails with My Tracks for Android-powered phones  —  Today I'm pleased to announce the new My Tracks application for Android-powered phones such as the T-Mobile G1.  My Tracks records tracks of outdoor activities using the phone's built-in GPS.  It shows these tracks on a map …
Pew Internet:
Twitter and status updating  —  In the past three years, developments in social networking and internet applications have begun providing internet users with more opportunities for sharing short updates about themselves, their lives, and their whereabouts online.
Thanks:atul
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:
Charter To File Chapter 11; Stock To Be Worthless  —  Charter Communications (CHTR) will file for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code by April 1 as part of a debt restructuring plan, the cable company announced.  Under terms of the deal, current Charter common shares will be worthless.
Tarmo Virki / Reuters:
Google plans data centre at old Finnish paper mill  —  * Stora sells old paper plant to Google  —  * Google says plans to open data centre at site (Releads, adds Google comments)  —  Google (GOOG.O) said on Thursday it aimed to build a data centre at an old paper mill in southeastern Finland …
Tim Mullaney / Bloomberg:
Redpoint Tells Startups to Cut Staff Up to 10% Amid Lack of IPOs, Mergers  —  Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) — Redpoint Ventures, the venture- capital firm that backed MySpace Inc., is tightening funding and telling its startups to cut their staffs by as much as 10 percent to cope with a drought of mergers and initial public offerings.
New York Times:
DirecTV Owner Said to Seek Deal for Sirius XM  —  Sirius XM Radio, the satellite radio giant that is on the brink of bankruptcy, is in preliminary talks with Liberty Media, the conglomerate controlled by John C. Malone, people briefed on the negotiations said on Wednesday.
InfoWorld:
New post-beta Windows 7 build leaks to Web  —  A post-beta version of Windows 7 that has leaked to Internet file-sharing sites includes an updated version of Internet Explorer 8 (IE8), according to searches at several BitTorrent trackers.  —  With Microsoft halting new Windows 7 beta downloads on Tuesday …
GSMArena.com:
Two touchscreen Nokia phones leaked by Nokia, look promising  —  Two new hot-looking Nokia touchscreen phones saw daylight for the first time today.  Both unannounced devices make a brief appearance in a video featuring the Nokia N97 designer.  Judging by their looks they are both part …
Dana Blankenhorn / Open Source:
How Mozilla can save Windows Mobile  —  A small team at the Mozilla Foundation is working on a new version of the Firefox browser, code-named Fennec, and a pre-alpha version is now online for trial.  All this was announced on Mozilla's development blog.  —  The new version, 3.1 …
 
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 More Items: 
Julian Sanchez / Ars Technica:
No network management amendment in final stimulus package
Discussion: Doc Searls Weblog
Wendy Davis / MediaPost:
Judge Orders Topix To Reveal Users' ID Info
Chris Albrecht / NewTeeVee:
Lost Finds 1.4 Million Viewers On ABC.com
Discussion: VatorNews
Dancho Danchev / Zero Day:
Massive comment spam attack on Digg.com leads to malware
Discussion: Ars Technica and The Register
Mark Hendrickson / TechCrunch:
Nightlife Application Breaks Away From Facebook, Tries To Stand On Its Own Two Feet
PR Newswire:
Netflix Passes 10 Million Subscribers, With 600,000 Net Additions …
 Earlier Items: 
Robin Goad / Hitwise Intelligence:
The Telegraph: how to pick up traffic from Digg
Discussion: WebProNews
Duncan Graham-Rowe / Technology Review:
Sniffing Out Illicit BitTorrent Files
PC World:
Skype Growing by 380,000 Users a Day
Discussion: TechSpot and Maximum PC all
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Elle Griffin / The Elysian:
Penguin vs. DOJ transcripts: top publishing houses spend most of their money on book advances for big celebrities like Britney Spears and franchise authors

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Puck hires veteran journalist and TV commentator John Heilemann as its chief political columnist and partner, as the outlet expands its presence in Washington

Jennifer Schuessler / New York Times:
PEN America cancels its 2024 literary awards ceremony, set for April 29, after months of protests over the organization's response to the war in Gaza

 
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