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4:30 AM ET, February 17, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Mark Zuckerberg / Facebook Blog:
On Facebook, People Own and Control Their Information  —  A couple of weeks ago, we updated our terms of use to clarify a few points for our users.  A number of people have raised questions about our changes, so I'd like to address those here.  I'll also take the opportunity to explain how we think about people's information.
RELATED:
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:   Zuckerberg On Who Owns User Data On Facebook: It's Complicated
Jesus Diaz / Gizmodo:
Windows Mobile 6.5 Hands On: The New Interface Rocks  —  I like the new Windows Mobile 6.5 interface, specially the new home screen, which is brilliantly executed.  Running on the new HTC Touch Diamond 2, everything looked smoother, cleaner, and matched the iPhone's lick factor.
RELATED:
Microsoft:
Microsoft Reveals New Windows® Phones With Marketplace and My Phone Services
Rory Cellan-Jones / dot.life blog:
Game-changers - Google or Apple?  —  Two years ago all the talk at the Mobile World Congress was of the imminent arrival of the Apple iPhone, and how it was going to change the industry.  One year ago, all the talk was of Google's open-source Android operating system, and what a radical impact that might have.
RELATED:
Marguerite Reardon / CNET News:
Skype strikes deal with Nokia  —  BARCELONA—Skype is racking up deals with mobile handset makers here at GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009.  —  On Tuesday, the company, which is owned by eBay, announced a partnership with Nokia, the largest cell phone maker in the world, to put the Skype Internet calling software onto its phones.
Discussion: Reuters and MobileCrunch
Eric Zeman / InformationWeek:
MWC 2009: Android Forgets To Join The Party  —  We're only halfway through the first day at Mobile World Congress and already things are looking bleak for Android.  Many of the major manufacturers have already announced their new products at the show, and not one Android handset has been seen.
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
The Pirate Bay Trial - First Day in Court  —  The day started this morning at 08:30, with Pirate Bay founders Gottfrid Svartholm Warg (aka Anakata), Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi (aka Brokep) and Fredrik Neij (TiAMO) arriving at the court with the S23K bus.  The bus will operate as their press-center in the weeks to come.
RELATED:
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Labels want $13 million from Pirate Bay as trial starts
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:   Court Tweets, Pirate Flags and Free Candy
Ben Worthen / Wall Street Journal:
Oracle Goes on a Recession Buying Spree  —  While most American corporations pinch pennies, Oracle Corp. is quietly going on a shopping spree.  —  The software giant completed 10 acquisitions in the past year, ranging from a maker of insurance-policy-writing tools, to a designer of …
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Justin.tv Is Redirecting Porn Queries Into Cash  —  In the down economy, startups are trying everything they can think of to keep a steady flow of revenue coming in.  For popular live-streaming video site Justin.tv, it looks like one of these measures is to try to capitalize …
RELATED:
Agence France Presse:
Bill Gates grant to extend mobile banking to poor  —  BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) — Microsoft founder Bill Gates has agreed to help fund a massive rollout of projects enabling poor mobile phone users to transfer money using their handsets, an industry body announced Tuesday.
Discussion: PR Newswire
Richard Wray / Guardian:
Universal mobile phone charger unveiled as industry gets greener  —  The mobile phone industry plans to introduce a universal charger as part of a drive to improves its previously patchy environmental record.  —  The plan from industry body the GSM Association (GSMA) is just one of a raft of …
Charles Hudson / Charles Hudson's Weblog:
THE DATABASE OF INTENTIONS IS MORE VALUABLE THAN THE DATABASE OF MUSINGS FOR NOW (GOOGLE AND TWITTER)  —  I've been very curious to read this weekend's stream of people commenting on Twitter's business model and what it will look like.  I read this one in Forbes - it talks about how being able …
Thanks:atul
Mark Hendrickson / TechCrunch:
TechStars Fills Void Left By Y Combinator With New Incubator In Boston  —  Boulder, Colorado-based startup incubator TechStars has decided to open a second office in Boston where it will run a concurrent mentorship program starting this summer.  —  The Boston program …
Paul Carr:
Can you guess what my column's going to be about this week?  —  Backstory: I decided to email Andrew Orlowski from The Register to make sure he knew that his hatchet job on Twestival was misleading.  The following is the email thread.  Normally I wouldn't re-publish emails sent …
Discussion: The Register
Ross Miller / Engadget:
Acer unveils Tempo smartphone series, forgets Windows Mobile 6.5  —  Not long after we spotted four new Acer phones in Barcelona has the company officially unveiled the Tempo X960, F900, M900, and DX900 smartphones, albeit with a few typo-laden spec sheets.  Interestingly, all of them are …
Joseph Tartakoff / The Microsoft Blog:
CBS Sports picks Microsoft's Silverlight for March Madness  —  CBSSports.com has chosen Microsoft's Silverlight media player to stream March Madness games on its site in high quality.  —  Last year, more than 4.8 million unique users watched March Madness college baskeball games …
Discussion: SportsBusiness Journal and Pulse2
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
Mobile World Congress: One Day, Sixteen New Phones  —  Phones.  More phones.  Phones that look a lot like iPhones, except for the ones that don't.  Phones that may never show up in the good old US of A. Phones that are full of style, and ones that seem to be devoid of discernible personality.
Discussion: CNET News and infoSync World
Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Social Atoms and the Twitter Ecosystem  —  When Twitter first hit my radar screen sometime back in 2007, I (like many others) immediately dismissed it as a gimmicky little time-waster with no real value.  I mean, a message limit of 140 characters?  Lame.  And what was it for?  Nothing, apparently.
Michael Bettiol / Boy Genius Report:
Meet the HTC Magic, the Android-powered Vodafone exclusive formerly known as the G2  —  Y'all might know the next Android phone from HTC as the G2, but around these here parts we know it as the HTC Magic.  An exclusive to Vodafone in Europe, the Magic is of debatable sexyness when compared to the T-Mobile G1 …
Richard Waters / Financial Times:
Cash injection lifts fledgling technologies  —  High hopes in the technology industry that the Obama administration would bring a new, more technocratic approach to policymaking have already been met.  —  The US stimulus package contains incentives for a range of new technologies …
Jon Healey / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
NAB reaches webcasting deal with SoundExchange  —  Two down, four or more to go.  SoundExchange, the firm that collects royalties on behalf of labels and performing artists, announced a compromise today with the National Assn. of Broadcasters that settles a nearly 2-year-old dispute over royalties for online radio simulcasts.
Discussion: nab.org
 
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 More Items: 
Bloomberg:
Italian Government's Internet Bill May Limit Free Speech, Tiscali Says
Cade Metz / The Register:
Apple's Mac OS X update breaks Perl
Discussion: perl.org lists
Joel Hruska / Ars Technica:
EU commissioner calls for unified mobile cable standard
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
Venture Capitalist Explains How Patents Can Be A Tax On Innovation
Thanks:atul
Colleen Barry / Associated Press:
Product launches are muted at wireless show
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:
Twe2: Free Twitter SMS Updates For Europe and the Rest of the World
Discussion: TheNextWeb.com, Thanks:atul
 Earlier Items: 
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
What Went Wrong with Fennec, a.k.a. Firefox Mobile?
Thanks:blogfisher
Jay Yarow / Silicon Alley Insider:
Bloomberg And Reuters Clobbered
Discussion: Beyond Search, Thanks:sampad
Chris Messina / FactoryCity:
What really happened at Ma.gnolia and lessons learned
Ed Felten / Freedom to Tinker blogs:
New Internet?  No Thanks.  —  Yesterday's New York Times ran a piece …
John Cook / TechFlash:
I Can Has Cheezburger buys Twittypic, plans Digg-like service
Discussion: Mashable! and Pulse2
Prince McLean / AppleInsider:
Netbooks killing off sickly Windows PC sales
Discussion: Roughly Drafted and Ars Technica
 

 
From Mediagazer:

The New York Times Company:
The New York Times says it will continue to cover Biden “fully and fairly” regardless of whether he gives the paper a sit-down interview

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
GB News co-owner Paul Marshall steps down from the board of GB News after three year, amid reports he is considering a new rival bid to buy the Telegraph

Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Sources: Paramount and Skydance move closer to a deal, but Paramount's renewal agreement with Charter, which has an April 30 deadline, is a significant hurdle

 
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