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4:50 AM ET, March 27, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Skype for iPhone to Be Released as Early as Next Week  —  Exclusive Heads up: A few months ago, I asked Skype CEO Josh Silverman when was he going to launch the iPhone version of the P2P voice and IM service that has now been downloaded more than 405 million times.  He smiled and said, “Stay tuned.”
The Official Google Blog:
Changes to our sales and marketing organizations  —  Google has grown very quickly in a very short period of time.  When companies grow that quickly it's almost impossible to get everything right—and we certainly didn't.  In some areas we've created overlapping organizations …
RELATED:
Owen Thomas / Gawker:
Google to Lay Off 200 Employees
Amy / Slash7 with Amy Hoy:
Google is Evil, Worse than PayPal: Don't use Google Checkout for your business  —  Wanting to offer an alternative to PayPal, we set up a Google Checkout account for people to buy our ebook.  —  The last email we received about our Google Checkout account was “Helpful tips regarding your first Google Checkout orders” on February 9th.
Discussion: Beyond Search
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
End-of-Quarter Layoffs Hit Amazon, IBM, Google, and The New York Times  —  With the end of the first quarter of the 2009 almost here, even the strongest companies companies are making last-minute layoffs to shave costs.  Today, layoffs were announced across the tech sector, from IBM to Google to Amazon.
Discussion: Associated Press and tinyComb, Thanks:yasunishida
RELATED:
Brad Stone / Bits:
Amazon to Close Three Distribution Centers  —  Apparently, today's a good day for bad news, with Google laying off 200 employees, our own cutbacks here at The Times, and now, Amazon.com weighing in with some cost-cutting of its own.  Over the next two months, the online retailer …
Nick Wingfield / WSJ.com:
PC to Mac: I'm Cheaper  —  For months, Microsoft has jabbed at Apple with an, at times, baffling advertising campaign for Windows PCs.  Now Microsoft may finally land a solid blow against its rival.  —  Video: Laptop Hunters $1000 - Lauren Gets an HP Pavilion
Enomaly / ElasticVapor:
Introducing the Open Cloud Manifesto  —  Over the last few weeks I have been working closely with several of the largest technology companies and organizations helping to co-author the Open Cloud Manifesto.  Our goal is to draft a document that clearly states we (including dozens of supporting companies) …
RELATED:
Eric M. Zeman / Phone Scoop:
Samsung's First Wimax Device Spotted  —  Today Samsung shared details on the unannounced SWD-M100 Mondi mobile Wimax device for the Clear network.  According to Samsung, the Mondi has a touch screen and can access the Internet via Clear's mobile Wimax network.
RELATED:
Ross Miller / Engadget:
Samsung's WiMAX-equipped SWD-M100 MID outed as Mondi
Discussion: Electronista
Spencer E. Ante / Business Week:
Facebook Is Hunting for More Money  —  The social-networking site wants as much as $100 million in debt financing, sources say.  Facebook's accelerating user growth carries huge tech costs  —  Facebook, the fast growing social-networking Web site, is one of the many companies looking …
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
What Could Go Wrong With Google: The Slideshow  —  Why Could Google Die...  View more presentations from Ouriel Ohayon.  —  Want to know everything that could possibly go wrong with Google?  Well, you can read the risk section of its latest SEC filing, but that's a snore.
Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent.org:
Microsoft Hires Yahoo Veteran As Live Search's Chief Scientist  —  Microsoft's new search team is starting to look a lot like Yahoo's old one.  In just the latest example, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has brought on Jan Pedersen, a Yahoo search veteran, to be chief scientist of Live Search, a spokeswoman confirmed Thursday.
Discussion: Jobwire and Search Engine Land, Thanks:mrinaldesai
adafruit industries blog:
Tweet-a-Watt kits now available...  Tweet-a-Watt kits are now available!  A few months ago, using “off-the-shelf hardware”, we modified a Kill-a-Watt(TM) power meter to “tweet” (publish wirelessly) the daily KWH consumed to the user's Twitter account (Cumulative Killowatt-hours).
Discussion: Scobleizer, CNET News and MAKE Magazine
Noam Cohen / New York Times:
When Stars Twitter, a Ghost May Be Lurking  —  The rapper 50 Cent is among the legion of stars who have recently embraced Twitter to reach fans who crave near-continuous access to their lives and thoughts.  On March 1, he shared this insight with the more than 200,000 people who follow him …
Discussion: Gawker
Prince McLean / AppleInsider:
Apple stores now selling iPhone 3G without a contract  —  Some Apple retail stores as of Thursday are selling unrestricted quantities of the iPhone 3G at the full, non-subsidized price of $599 for the 8GB version and $699 for the 16GB models.  —  The move follows AT&T's plans to sell …
Discussion: MacRumors
Eric Lai / Computerworld:
Dreaming of a PC with 192GB of RAM?  Dell makes it reality  —  The catch: Despite a depressed memory market, it's going to cost you  —  Computerworld) Dell Inc. announced on Tuesday a new PC that, among its other impressive specs, can be upgraded to sport as much as 192GB of ultrafast DDR3 RAM.
Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
Young people who embrace mobile tech can feel overconnected  —  Almost 40 percent of the American adult population has embraced mobile technologies into their lives to keep up on social networking, sharing photos, and working while on-the-go.  But not everyone in this group thinks …
Discussion: Engadget
Chloe Albanesius / PC Magazine:
YouTube Revamps with Twitter App, Education Hub  —  YouTube has done a little spring cleaning, and provided some details Thursday about the updates made to the site, including a Twitter app, an upload progress bar, and an education hub.  —  Can't be bothered with cut and paste?
Discussion: TechCrunch and YouTube Blog
Dan Goodin / The Register:
Webmail bug puts 40m accounts in jeopardy  —  One attack pwns all  —  Free whitepaper - Trend Micro threat management solution  —  A web-borne vulnerability lurking in a popular email application seriously compromised the security of 40 million accounts until it was fixed early last month, independent researchers said.
Dawn C. Chmielewski / Los Angeles Times:
Hottest tracks to cost $1.29 at iTunes starting April 7  —  The online music store, under pressure from record labels, is abandoning its 99-cent-only strategy.  —  The world's largest music store, Apple's iTunes, plans to boost the price of many hit singles and selected classic tracks to $1.29 on April 7 …
RELATED:
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
Music Industry Folks Worried About iTunes Variable Pricing
Discussion: TomsTechBlog.com
Dave Kerpen / Buzz Marketing Daily:
Breaking News!  Facebook To Add SMS Text Feature to Increase Fan Page Virality!  —  We just discovered an incredible new option (presumably in beta) for select administrators and promoters of Facebook Public Profiles - you can text to become a fan of select businesses, organizations, politicians, or official entities on Facebook!
BIZ / Twitter Blog:
Full SMS Service for Vodafone UK Customers!  —  Extending the power of the real-time network globally through the simple technology of SMS is a driving goal for Twitter.  Anyone in the world can update Twitter via SMS but receiving tweets on your mobile has been restricted to North America.
Rod Humble / thesims3.ea.com:
The Sims 3 Copy Protection  —  Hello everyone I wanted to share news with you regarding our copy protection plans for The Sims 3.  —  We'll have more information for you as we get closer to launch about everything we'll have to offer on TheSims3.com and The Sims 3 Store …
Juan Carlos Perez / PC World:
Google Apps Admins Gain Usage Charts  —  Administrators of most versions of Google Apps can now view charts that graph the activity levels of end-users with the hosted suite's collaboration and communication applications.  —  The charts, available for the Premier, Education and Partner editions of Apps …
Nilay Patel / Engadget:
Apple announces WWDC 2009 dates; iPhone, Snow Leopard countdowns begin  —  Here we go: Apple's just announced that its Worldwide Developers Conference will take place June 8-12 in San Francisco.  If you'll recall, last year's WWDC was where a little gadget called the iPhone 3G made its appearance …
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Carol Bartz's Yahoo Paying More Attention To Mobile  —  One of many changes at Yahoo (YHOO) since Carol Bartz took over as CEO: Its mobile unit is working closer with other business units as the company makes mobile a bigger priority than it was under Jerry Yang.
Lane LiaBraaten / Social Web Blog:
Take your Google Contacts with you  —  Lots of websites ask you to invite your friends when you sign up, and for good reason; the web is more fun when you can share your experiences with other people.  However, too many of these sites access your list of friends by asking for your username …
Jeff / Jeffrey Veen:
Announcing Wikirank: Tracking what's popular on Wikipedia  —  A few months ago, the four of us in Small Batch Inc were kicking around ideas for what we should build next.  We had just launched the Twitter Election site — a fun real-time data visualization project — and wanted to keep building things …
Discussion: Epicenter, Thanks:atul
 
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 More Items: 
Janko Roettgers / NewTeeVee:
Limewire Embraces Online Video With Podcast Directory and BitTorrent Tracker
Discussion: Podcasting News
Danieleran / Roughly Drafted:
Ridiculous Rescuecom Statistics Create Apple Reliability Headlines
Rafat Ali / paidContent.org:
IAC-Owned CollegeHumor Buys SportsPickle.com
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider and Pulse2
Chris Davies / SlashGear:
Archos Android MID planned for July?
Discussion: Engadget
Andy Opsahl / Government News in IT:
Municipal Broadband Efforts Succeed Despite Wi-Fi Meltdown
Jessica E. Vascellaro / Wall Street Journal:
Google to Link Ads for TV, YouTube
Discussion: paidContent.org, Thanks:atul
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Apple Kicking Butt Without Steve Jobs
Amy Thomson / Bloomberg:
Verizon Wireless Said to Be Planning to Offer Netbooks Some Time This Year
Discussion: Electronista and Crave
 Earlier Items: 
Nancy Gohring / PC World:
Controversy Erupts Over Possible MS Mobile App Fee
Discussion: CNET News and MobileCrunch
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Get Ready For Java On AppEngine
Discussion: GigaOM, Thanks:mrinaldesai
Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
The Pirate Bay to roll out secure €5 per month VPN service
Seth Finkelstein / Guardian:
Google is taking us down the road to hell
Discussion: Newsome.Org and broadstuff, Thanks:atul
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Sara Fischer / Axios:
CalMatters, a nonprofit focused on CA politics and policy, acquires tech news nonprofit The Markup; CalMatters has ~$12.5M in funding and The Markup has $5M

Neel Dhanesha / Nieman Lab:
Q&A with Erica Heilman, host of “Rumble Strip”, an independent podcast she created in 2013 that chronicles how Vermont changed over the years

Jessica Testa / New York Times:
A look at Highsnobiety, a creative consultancy and clothing line, as well as magazine and website led by EIC Willa Bennett covering fashion and youth culture

 
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