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6:30 AM ET, March 19, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Walter S. Mossberg / Personal Technology:
Microsoft Ups Ante With New Browser  —  The Web browser is arguably the most important piece of software on a computer.  No longer just a tool for perusing or searching for information, it has become, for many people, their principal communications medium, their photo album, their newspaper, social club, bank and shopping mall.
RELATED:
Microsoft:
Microsoft Announces Availability of Internet Explorer 8  —  New browser focuses on top customer needs, including security, ease of use and performance.  —  Today Microsoft Corp. announced the availability of Windows Internet Explorer 8, the new Web browser that offers the best solution for how people use the Web today.
Discussion: Teching It Easy and Computerworld
Benjamin J. Romano / Microsoft Pri0:
With Internet Explorer 8, Microsoft turns up Web browser competition  —  Two-and-a-half years after Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft's next entry in the increasingly competitive Web browser market, Internet Explorer 8, is ready to go.  The final version of IE8 is due to be available at 9 a.m. Thursday here.
Discussion: I4U News and Engadget
Ryan Naraine / Zero Day:
Pwn2Own 2009: Safari/MacBook falls in seconds  —  [ UPDATE: IE 8 and Safari also fall ]  —  VANCOUVER, BC — Charlie Miller has done it again.  For the second consecutive year, the security researcher hacked into a fully patched MacBook computer by exploiting a security vulnerability in Apple's Safari browser.
RELATED:
Prince McLean / AppleInsider:
Mac security researcher wins Pwn2Own contest  —  In a repeat performance of last year, security researcher Charlie Miller arrived at the CanSecWest conference this week with a prepared exploit to use in cracking Safari running on Mac OS X. Unsurprisingly, Miller was able to use his exploit …
Discussion: Zero Day
Arn / MacRumors:
USB Tethering Seems to be Working in iPhone 3.0  —  One developer was “hacking around” with some carrier bundle files and iPhone 3.0 and somehow managed to activate the tethering preferences.  Not only that, he was also able to actually tether his iPhone 3G to his laptop over USB.
RELATED:
Adam Frucci / Gizmodo:
Why iPhone In-App Transactions Could Be a Disaster  —  Apple made a big deal about allowing in-app transactions with the new iPhone 3.0 API.  It's great news if you're a developer looking to make more scratch, but it's potentially terrible news for users.  —  Basically, this is opening …
The Boy Genius / Boy Genius Report:
AT&T bringin' sexy back, offering iPhone 3G at no-commitment price, no activation  —  Time to clear out some inventory, boys!  AT&T, starting March 26th, is going to start offering the 8GB and 16GB iPhone 3Gs at a no-commitment price.  These prices are $599 and $699 respectively.
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
FACEBOOK COULD KILL GOOGLE — Analyst  —  Ross Sandler of RBC has done what every good analyst should do, which is say something interesting.  What Ross has said is that, at its current growth rate, Facebook will surpass Google in size by 2011-2012.  —  (We expect Facebook's growth will slow …
RELATED:
Associated Press:
Google Books Available to Sony's Reader  —  NEW YORK — Google (GOOG Quote - Cramer on GOOG - Stock Picks) is making half a million books, unprotected by copyright, available for free on Sony's(SNE Quote - Cramer on SNE - Stock Picks) electronic book-reading device, the companies were set to announce Thursday.
RELATED:
Sara Nelson / Los Angeles Times:
Sony expands its book download stockpile
Discussion: Boing Boing Gadgets
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Early Beta Data From Microsoft Adsense Competitor Encouraging  —  We are getting reports that Microsoft's PubCenter, a self serve thirty party ad publishers platform through AdCenter, is doing quite well with beta testers.  Microsoft began testing PubCenter last summer.
Thanks:atul
Peter Suber / Open Access News:
MIT adopts a university-wide OA mandate  —  This afternoon, the MIT unanimously adopted a university-wide OA mandate.  Here's the resolution the faculty approved today (thanks to Hal Abelson, MIT professor of computer science and engineering, who chaired the committee to formulate it): … Comments
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Y Combinator Demo Day Spring 2009  —  The 16 startups from Y Combinator's spring session presented their ideas and initial products at Y Combinator's Silicon Valley office this afternoon.  Of the 16 startups in this group, 8 have already launched, 6 are in the process of launching and 2 remain in stealth mode.
Discussion: VentureBeat and CNET News
Kip Kniskern / LiveSide:
The curious case of Kumo: more than just a “test name”?  —  We first heard the term last summer.  Mary Jo Foley posted on some possible new names for Live Search, including Kumo, which has led us on quite a little goose chase over the past months, one that doesn't appear to be quite over yet.
Matt Cutts / Gadgets, Google, and SEO:
How to Write a Chrome Extension in Three Easy Steps  —  I just installed a “hello world” Chrome extension from this Chrome Extension HOWTO page.  When you surf to www.google.com, the Google logo is replaced with a Lolcat:  —  Here's how to write your own Google Chrome extension in three steps:
RELATED:
Hugh D'Andrade / Electronic Frontier Foundation:
CNET Axes Blogger Who Exposed Whitehouse.gov Privacy Issue  —  Former CNET blogger Chris Soghoian has produced some of the best coverage on the issue of privacy for users of government websites.  His work on the use of YouTube cookies and other tracking technologies on whitehouse …
RELATED:
Neil Munro / National Journal Online:
Google Stands To Gain From Capital Connections
Discussion: techPresident
Tarmo Virki / Reuters:
Nokia to shutter its “Mosh” success story  —  HELSINKI (Reuters) - To spearhead its push into Internet services, Nokia put users in charge when it opened in 2007 the networking site Mosh, which lets people post anything they want.  —  Less than two years later the world's top cellphone maker …
Discussion: Unwired View and All About Symbian
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
The Financial Times Launches Its Own Business News Search Engine (Newssift).  —  The Financial Times Group, which is owned by the British publisher Pearson, is not exactly the place you'd expect to find the latest search engine.  But a startup deep within the bowels of the organization called FT Search …
InfoWorld:
Jailbreakers get busy on iPhone 3.0 OS  —  The iPhone Dev-Team (not the Cupertino version) hasn't wasted anytime in declaring the iPhone 3.0 operating system “jailbreakable.”  —  Just hours after Apple unveiled the latest iPhone OS, a short notice appeared on the Dev Team blog …
Discussion: PC World
Nina Shapiro / Seattle Weekly:
Intelius and the Dubious Art of “Post-Transaction Marketing”  —  A checkered success during the dot-com bubble, Naveen Jain has come charging back with a new venture—and the complaints are rolling in.  —  It all started when Scott Bolsins found a lost schnauzer roaming around his suburban Dallas neighborhood.
Discussion: TechFlash and TechCrunch
Washington Post:
Four D.C. Tech Office Workers Placed on Leave, 23 Consultants Fired Amid Bribery Scandal  —  District government officials moved to shore up security in the city's technology office yesterday, placing four employees on administrative leave and firing 23 consultants from firms connected to an alleged bribery scam uncovered last week.
Discussion: Beyond Search
Vishal Kasera / Gmail Blog:
New in Labs: YouTube, Picasa, Flickr and Yelp previews  —  My email is full of links: my friends send around YouTube videos to try and get a laugh, we share Picasa and Flickr albums with photos from last weekend's camping trip, and we email around the Yelp reviews of restaurants we're considering going to next Friday night.
Discussion: Pocket-lint.com and Google Operating System, Thanks:atul
Marin Perez / InformationWeek:
Ericsson May Want Out Of Sony Ericsson  —  Sony reportedly would buy out its partner in the Sony Ericsson joint venture, but funding could be an issue.  —  Ericsson may want to withdraw from the mobile phone business, according to a report from the German publication Manager-Magazin.
Discussion: TheStreet.com and SlashGear
Claire Cain Miller / Bits:
A More Local, Social Citysearch  —  Citysearch is unveiling a new Web site on Thursday that will make the site more social and more local — and, the site hopes, staunch its loss of readers.  —  Citysearch was one of the first Web companies to create an online version of the Yellow Pages when …
 
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 More Items: 
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
Tech Companies Worried About Unions
Keir Clarke / Google Maps Mania:
Street View Now in the UK and Netherlands
Mitch Trachtenberg / The BRAD BLOG:
Diebold Admits Audit Logs in ALL Versions of Their Software Fail …
Discussion: Industry Standard
Gina Trapani / Lifehacker:
Android Versus iPhone 3.0: The Showdown
Discussion: PC Magazine, Gizmodo and AppleInsider, Thanks:atul
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
SXSW: Foursquare Scores Despite Its Flaws
Discussion: Scobleizer and Microblink
 Earlier Items: 
Windows Azure:
The Windows Azure Malfunction This Weekend
Brier Dudley / Brier Dudley's blog:
Cray's new bargain supercomputer, the Xbox circa 2020?
Discussion: TechFlash
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
NBC Boss Explains Why Boxee Users Can't Have Hulu
Discussion: The Social and Obsessable, Thanks:atul
DealBook:
All That Twitters May Not Be Gold, Analysts Say
 

 
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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