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12:40 PM ET, June 19, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Crave: The gadget blog:
Live blog: iPhone 3G S launch day  —  The rolling rollout of the iPhone 3G S is under way.  Apple's latest iPhone has been going on sale Friday at 7 a.m. local time in each time zone where it's available.  —  We've got a team of people covering the launch.
RELATED:
Paul Miller / Engadget:
Apple unleashes iPhone 3G S on well-prepared US public (with video!)  —  As the international date line swung around to the States and rain finally stopped in NY, a few hundred people lined up outside the Fifth Avenue Apple Store today for Apple's new iPhone, with the those The iLife guys …
Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:
Some AT&T stores sell out of iPhone 3G S in less than an hour
Katie Marsal / AppleInsider:
Apple's iPhone 3G S sports chip with 720p HD video capabilities  —  With Apple's new iPhone 3G S hitting store shelves in Europe overnight, the device was thrown within minutes onto the operating table and gutted, revealing a Samsung-branded system-on-a-chip (SoC) featuring a multi-format codec …
RELATED:
Brooke Crothers / CNET News:
iPhone 3G S: First peek under the hood  —  What makes the iPhone 3G S tick, and why is it the “fastest iPhone ever,” as Apple claims.  Rapid Repair tears down the iPhone in Paris, providing some clues.  —  First, a quick glance at Apple's claims for the iPhone 3G S. The ad copy …
Andy Penfold / PC World:
Apple iPhone 3G S: Unboxing Pics
Katie Marsal / AppleInsider:
AT&T: iPhone 3G S pre-orders in the “hundreds of thousands”
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Thomas verdict: willful infringement, $1.92 million penalty  —  Jammie Thomas-Rasset's federal retrial concluded today as a jury found her liable for willful copyright infringement, awarding the record labels nearly $2 million in damages.  —  A new lawyer, a new jury, and a new trial were not enough to save Jammie Thomas-Rasset.
RELATED:
Franz Och / The Official Google Blog:
Google translates Persian  —  Today, we added Persian (Farsi) to Google Translate.  This means you can now translate any text from Persian into English and from English into Persian — whether it's a news story, a website, a blog, an email, a tweet or a Facebook message.
RELATED:
Eric Kwan / Facebook Blog:
Launching Facebook in Persian  —  Since the Iranian election last week, people around the world have increasingly been sharing news and information on Facebook about the results and its aftermath.  Much of the content created and shared has been in Persian—the native language of Iran …
Michael McWhertor / Kotaku:
Microsoft: There Will Be “No New Console”  —  Today, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer indicated that the company would be releasing a new Xbox 360 in 2010, one featuring a built-in camera.  That seemingly confirmed a new hardware configuration with the company's Project Natal built-in.  Microsoft's official word?
RELATED:
Dan Sabbagh / Times of London:
Sony should beware — Activision chief is not simply playing games  —  Bobby Kotick and a partner bought the once-struggling Activision for $440,000 in 1991, at a time when it was losing $30 million on $10 million in revenues.  Now the world's biggest independent computer games company …
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Steve Ballmer Is Making A Bad $10 Billion Bet  —  Steve Ballmer says he is willing to invest 5%-10% of Microsoft's operating income over the next five years on search.  —  That's a boatload of money.  —  Specifically, assuming Microsoft's operating income stays constant (it will likely grow), it's $5.5-$11 billion.
Ian Paul / PC World:
iPhone Tethering: Do You Really Need it?  —  Apple iPhone fans may not have to wait too much longer to get Multimedia Messaging and tethering services from AT&T. A confidential source within AT&T says the carrier will offer MMS by mid-July with tethering to follow about two weeks later, according to Appmodo.
RELATED:
Craig Labovitz / Arbor Networks Security:
Iranian Traffic Engineering  —  The outcome of the Iranian elections now hangs in the balance and perhaps, also on the availability of the Internet (or at least Twitter and Facebook according to the US State Department).  —  Based on significant Internet engineering changes over the last week, the Iranian government seems to agree...
RELATED:
Caroline McCarthy / CNET News:
With Iran crisis, Twitter's youth is over
Discussion: Dealscape, Danger Room and Net Effect
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
That Was Quick: Veodia Acquires Screen Capturing Startup ScreenToaster  —  ScreenToaster, easily one of the best web-based screen recording tools out there, is now in the hands of enterprise video platform provider Veodia.  The San Mateo, CA based company - backed by $8.3 million in venture capital …
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Occipital Brings Seamless Barcode Scanning To The iPhone With RedLaser  —  Now that the new iPhone 3G S has a video camera, TechStars startup Occipital has released an update to its RedLaser app (iTunes link, $1.99) which speeds up barcode scanning by not requiring you to first take a picture.
Debby / My Sex Professor:
iPhone Vibrator App from MyPleasure.com  —  If you haven't already checked out MyPleasure.com's MyVibe app in the iPhone's app store, you might want to.  Unlike many saucy apps out there, MyVibe is free - and fun.  —  Here's how it works: there's an on/off button that looks like many computer on/offs so it's easily recognizable.
Discussion: Gizmodo
Jeff Bertolucci / PC World:
Why Doesn't Anyone Want a Blu-ray Player?  —  Blu-ray may have won the war against HD-DVD, but American consumers aren't exactly warming to the high-definition disc format.  —  According to a new Harris Poll, more U.S. homes have a Blu-ray or HD-DVD player compared to a year ago, but adoption is slow.
David Talbot / Technology Review:
Wikipedia Gets Ready for a Video Upgrade  —  The organization behind Wikipedia is close to launching an editable online video encyclopedia to enhance the current textual one.  The hope is to revolutionize the popular reference site and goad content providers—from public broadcasters to the music industry …
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, Mashable! and Beet.TV, Thanks:atul
Ina Fried / CNET News:
Microsoft looks to give MSN fresh wings  —  Although most of the discussion of Microsoft's online business has been around Bing, Microsoft is also working on a fall revamp for MSN, its decade-old portal site.  —  Though often overlooked by Microsoft watchers, the MSN portal remains critically important to Microsoft's online business.
Jolie O'Dell / ReadWriteWeb:
Twitter Censoring Trending Topics?  Isn't It About Time?  —  Tonight, the bored and lonely segment of Twitter users banded together to push three sexy, raunchy, and totally inappropriate terms into the trending topics leaderboard.  —  Within minutes (as far as we could tell) …
Thanks:atul
Ryan Paul / Ars Technica:
Amazon code release irrelevant, Kindle is still closed  —  Amazon attracted considerable media attention this week for publishing the source code of some of the components that are used in its popular Kindle reading device.  The hype generated by the source release is mystifying and largely undeserved.
Discussion: TeleRead
Paul Miller / Engadget:
Dell Vostro 1220 leaks out, looks as cool as it sounds  —  It's hard to hate on Dell's Vostro lineup: cheap is cheap, and there's nothing wrong with that.  In truth, it could probably look a lot worse, but there's just something vaguely depressing about these unflattering leaked shots …
Cliff Edwards / Business Week:
Windows 7: Microsoft vs. the PC Makers  —  A battle is shaping up over the pricing of the next version of Windows as both sides struggle to profit while hardware prices fall and sales stay flat  —  As Microsoft (MSFT) prepares to launch a new version of its Windows operating system this fall …
Reuters:
Unicom, Apple close to iPhone deal for China: Merrill  —  HONG KONG (Reuters) - China Unicom (0762.HK), one of China's top three mobile carriers, may be close to a deal that would see it become the exclusive seller of Apple's (AAPL.O) iPhones in China for two years, a Merrill Lynch analyst said.
Discussion: Unwired View
 
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 More Items: 
Caroline McCarthy / CNET News:
Twitter-clueless Rep. Hoekstra is the new Ted Stevens
Amit Agarwal / Digital Inspiration:
Taking a Cue from Digg, Google Introduces Ads in Orkut That You Can Trash
Thanks:atul
Owen Fletcher / PC World:
China Orders Google to Suspend Foreign Site Searches
Discussion: TECH.BLORGE.com
Eurogamer:
No public beta for Battlefield 1943
Discussion: VG247, bit-tech.net and Blue's News
Ryan Tate / Gawker:
Facebook Tell-All Released Into Wild
Kim Hart / Washington Post:
Facebook Taps Privacy Hawk as Lobbyist
 Earlier Items: 
Rafat Ali / paidContent:
Newser Gets $2.5 Million in First-Round Funding
Discussion: The Huffington Post and Beet.TV, Thanks:atul
Sharon Vaknin / CNET News:
Nokia powering up self-charging cell phone
Discussion: bit-tech.net
Ross Harmes / Flickr Blog:
Nearby on Your Phone  —  We've always liked the idea of showing …
Discussion: NPR Blogs, Thanks:atul
Tony Stubblebine / Stubbleblog:
The Real Lessons From Twitter
Kim Zetter / Threat Level:
TJX Hacker Was Awash in Cash; His Penniless Coder Faces Prison
 

 
From Mediagazer:

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”

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

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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