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4:36 PM ET, May 18, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Jim / craigslist blog:
An Apology Is In Order  —  Dear South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster,  —  Two days ago you accused craigslist, and me personally, of engaging in criminal acts, reiterating your previous threat to file unwarranted and unconstitutional charges against us that are clearly barred by federal law.
RELATED:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Stand Firm Craig (and Jim)  —  South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster is giving even the normally sleazy Attorney General title a bad name.  This is an office that has little to do with protecting the public and everything to do with making high profile attacks on targets that will generate a lot of positive press.
Olga Kharif / Business Week:
Cheaper iPhone Plans from AT&T?  —  AT&T may offer lower-cost data plans for iPhones, which would attract new subscribers and force smartphone rivals to cut prices, too  —  Victor Lin wants an iPhone, but he's put off by the price.  The smartphone costs at least $199 up front …
RELATED:
Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:
Repeat: AT&T may introduce $20 limited iPhone data plan  —  With next-generation iPhone hardware and software around the corner, a new report is adding to claims that AT&T is mulling changes to its iPhone monthly service and data plans that could reduce the cost of owning an iPhone and help Apple grow its share of the smartphone market.
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Search Engine Wolfram Alpha Launches With Big Dreams And No Chance  —  Another next-generation search engine launches.  It looks more differentiated than the much-ado-about-nothing known as Cuil, but that's not saying much.  —  Our prediction: Wolfram Alpha (terrible name) …
RELATED:
Kit Eaton / Fast Company:
Wolfram Alpha Isn't Google, so Stop Comparing Them
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
Napster relaunching, again: $5 per month streaming plus five free downloads  —  Like subscription music services?  You know, like Microsoft's Zune Pass where you pay $14.99 monthly and keep up to 10 tracks each month forever.  Sure, renting music at $180 per year can be a drag for those stuck …
Connie Loizos / PE Hub Blog:
Peter Thiel On Valleywag; It's the “Silicon Valley Equivalent of Al Qaeda”  —  Peter Thiel is known for many things, from his hedge fund, Clarium Capital, to his venture capital firm, Founders Fund, to his role as the original CEO of PayPal — whose 2002 sale to eBay famously netted Thiel, then 34, roughly $60 million.
Justin Smith / Inside Facebook:
Facebook Launches OpenID Support - Users Can Now Login With Gmail Accounts  —  Last month, Facebook announced that users would soon be able to login to the site via OpenID.  Today, Facebook has officially become an OpenID relying party: users can now register for Facebook using their Gmail accounts …
Discussion: All Facebook, TechCrunch and Mashable!
Mark Guim / The Nokia Blog:
Nokia N97 For North America Arriving June 2nd  —  I told you a couple days ago the Nokia N97 NAM was coming soon, but I wasn't sure of the exact date.  Well, Nokia just notified one of their major North American distributors of the estimated shipping date: June 2nd, 2009!  How accurate are we?
Matt Richtel / New York Times:
Cellphone Makers Hope for a Blockbuster Summer  —  The hype machine started months ago.  Opening weekends are upon us.  High up in executive suites, the hope is that this summer's new releases will cause lines to snake around the block.  —  The cellphone industry looks a lot like the movie industry nowadays.
RELATED:
Phil Goldstein / FierceWireless:   Report: Palm Pre launching first week of June
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Eric Schmidt's Commencement Address At Carnegie Mellon (Video)  —  Here's Google CEO Eric Schmidt's commencement address at Carnegie Mellon's 112th commencement ceremony, held yesterday.  (Via @CarnegieMellon)  —  Schmidt's talk to the audience, which he refers to as the ‘Facebook and Google generation’ …
Leander Kahney / Cult of Mac:
Exclusive: Apple Is Building a New Helpdesk Operation: New Product, Or Growing Popularity?  —  Apple appears to be building a large, distributed helpdesk operation, either in anticipation of a major new product, or simply to sustain the company's growing popularity.
Discussion: TheAppleBlog and Softpedia News
Ian Deitch / Associated Press:
Israeli intelligence issues Facebook warning  —  Israel's internal intelligence service urged the public Monday to exercise caution when using Facebook, saying Arabs are trying to recruit spies on the popular social networking site.  —  The Shin Bet security agency warned Israelis …
Joseph Galante / Bloomberg:
Mint.com May Begin Selling Access to Anonymous Consumer Data  —  Mint Software Inc., an online service that helps consumers track every dime they spend, has a goal for its own pocketbook: boosting sales as much as 10-fold this year.  —  To fuel revenue, the company may start charging …
Eric Lai / Computerworld:
Buy an app via Windows Marketplace, share with four friends or family members  —  Microsoft readies challenge to rivals in mobile apps market  —  Computerworld - In a potentially market-changing move, Microsoft Corp. plans to let customers of its upcoming Windows Marketplace …
Abbey Klaassen / AdAge:
Twitter Proves Its Worth as a Killer App for Local Businesses  —  New Orleans Pizza Joint, Chicago Yogurt Chain See Results From Promos on Microblogging Service  —  NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — All those brands trying to figure the ROI of Twitter?  They might do well to follow the lead of the local pizza joint.
Bonnie Cha / CNET News:
Android 1.5 update for T-Mobile G1 delayed one week  —  If you're a T-Mobile G1 owner who has been patiently waiting for your Android 1.5 update, we hate to be the ones to tell you that you're going to be waiting just a bit longer.  —  T-Mobile USA announced on Monday that it's still finalizing the build to …
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Apple's Mac Decline Could Be Worse This Quarter  —  Updated with NPD Group estimates for Apple's April Mac shipments.  —  Apple (AAPL) could face its second straight quarter of year-over-year declines in its Mac business.  (And only its second negative quarter since 2003.)
Discussion: CNET News and Apple 2.0
CNET News:
HTC Magic vs. Samsung I7500  —  Here're the HTC Magic (left) and the Samsung I7500 (right) side by side.  The I7500 looks slightly larger than the Magic, but that's because my hand was slightly closer to the camera.  Also, the screen on the I7500 appears dimmer due to an early firmware issue …
Reuters:
McAfee, Symantec eye iPhone products  —  BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - McAfee Inc said its business improved in May from April and, like larger rival Symantec Corp, the security software maker is developing products for Apple Inc's popular iPhone.  —  McAfee Chief Executive Dave DeWalt …
Brad Stone / New York Times:
Site Lets Writers Sell Digital Copies  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Turning itself into a kind of electronic vanity publisher, Scribd, an Internet start-up here, will introduce on Monday a way for anyone to upload a document to the Web and charge for it.  —  The Scribd Web site is the most popular …
Teddy Wayne / New York Times:
Social Networks Eclipse E-Mail  —  Alongside the explosive growth of online video over the last six years, time spent on social networks surpassed that for e-mail for the first time in February, signaling a paradigm shift in consumer engagement with the Internet.
Discussion: Internet Evolution
Dan Ackerman / Crave: The gadget blog:
Acer's next-gen Aspire One Netbooks available now  —  We've already seen them previewed with the rest of Acer's upcoming lineup back in April, but the official release of the next generation of Aspire One Netbooks is finally here.  Most notable is the inclusion of a new, bigger 11.6-inch model …
Matt Holliday / Inside Facebook:
Newsweek Interviewing Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner Live on Facebook Today  —  Newsweek will host a live Q&A with Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner on Facebook this afternoon.  Jon Meacham will be conducting the interview from the National Press Club in Washington …
Billy Bragg / Guardian:
Do we want ISPs to penalise our fans?  —  The record industry wants ISPs to take action against unauthorised downloaders - but fans are the wrong target  —  Having failed miserably in previous attempts to stamp out illicit filesharing, the record industry has now joined forces …
Jim Finkle / Reuters:
AT&T to offer cloud-based storage as a service  —  BOSTON (Reuters) - AT&T Inc, the biggest U.S. telephone company, plans to offer Web-based data storage services for corporations using “cloud computing” technologies developed by data storage equipment maker EMC Corp.
Discussion: TechSpot
 
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 More Items: 
Kris Graft / Gamasutra:
Walmart Testing “Video Game Buyback” Kiosks
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Harvard prof tells judge that P2P filesharing is “fair use”
Orlando Sentinel:
Who are top Tweeters? UCF grads' site tells
Discussion: Etan on Tech
Monica Hesse / Washington Post:
Web Series Are Coming Into A Prime Time of Their Own
Discussion: The Progress & …
Priya Ganapati / Gadget Lab:
Why E-Books Look So Ugly
Discussion: TeleRead and digg.com
 Earlier Items: 
AdAge:
App Revenue Is Poised to Surpass Facebook Revenue
Discussion: CNET News
Ben Kuchera / Ars Technica:
Sims 3 leaked to torrent sites weeks before retail release
Discussion: CrunchGear
Stephanie Clifford / New York Times:
For Wired, a Revival Lacks Ads
Discussion: Gawker, Thanks:atul
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Will OpenTable Be Just What Silicon Valley Ordered This Week?
Discussion: Dealscape
Robert Lemos / Technology Review:
Are Your “Secret Questions” Too Easily Answered?
 

 
From Mediagazer:

New York Times:
The NBC News-Ronna McDaniel saga highlights the perks and perils of partisan talk TV; a source says McDaniel is now seeking $600K+ for her two year deal

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
The UK's Reach plans to move 300 of its 2,000 journalists into central traffic-driving content hub to reduce the number of journalists writing similar stories

Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
The Atlantic is profitable, has 1M subscribers, and revenue grew 10% in 2023 thanks to a 50% price hike, a harder paywall, and a shift to in-depth reporting

 
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