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2:15 PM ET, August 12, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Nick Eaton / The Microsoft Blog:
Judge: Microsoft can't sell Word anymore  —  A Texas judge ruled Tuesday that Microsoft cannot sell one of its flagship products, Word, in the United States because of patent infringement.  —  You read that right: Microsoft cannot sell Word, the judge ruled.
RELATED:
Nancy Gohring / Computerworld:
Injunction on Microsoft Word unlikely to halt sales
Ina Fried / CNET News:
I4i says not out to destroy Microsoft Word
Discussion: Computerworld, Thanks:mrinaldesai
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Facebook Begins Testing Facebook Lite, A Faster Simpler Version Of The Service  —  It looks like Facebook has tonight turned on a feature called “Facebook Lite” for some users to test out.  We're getting bombarded by tips about it, and some of us are seeing it as well.
RELATED:
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
What Facebook Lite Actually Is.  Hint: It's Not Twitter Or FriendFeed.  —  So, the web pretty much exploded tonight over the appearance of something called “Facebook Lite,” a new service that's apparently being beta tested by Facebook.  But users who received the message that they were invited …
Microsoft:
Microsoft and Nokia Form Global Alliance to Design, Develop and Market Mobile Productivity Solutions  —  Companies will collaborate to bring Microsoft Office Mobile and related communications and collaboration software and services to Nokia smartphones.  —  The worldwide leader in software …
RELATED:
Steve Lohr / New York Times:
Microsoft to Put Office on Phones From Nokia
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Schiller Reaches Out Again To Acknowledge App Store Problems  —  A few weeks ago, we wrote about Steven Frank, a well-known Mac developer who was giving up his iPhone over his disgust with the ways Apple is managing the App Store.  (This was right before Mike also gave up his iPhone).
RELATED:
stevenf.com:
On Saturday night, we drove up to Seattle to attend a memorial service for my wife's grandmother.  Shortly after checking into the hotel, I checked the inbox on my Android phone and found myself staring at the words “Philip Schiller”.  —  Needless to say, I had a minor freakout.
Katie Marsal / AppleInsider:
Apple's Schiller to angry developer: “We hear you”
Jonny Evans / 9 to 5 Mac:
Unreleased Apple product sighted in California - no images (yet)  —  There's definitely an unreleased Apple product looming - and while that bald statement is pretty much an eternal truism, product marketing plans for this one are advanced, a report this morning explains.
RELATED:
Avner Ronen / boxee blog:
Boxee gets a $6M catalyst  —  We are happy to announce that Boxee closed a $6M round of financing led by Boston-based General Catalyst with participation by prior investors Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures.  Neil Sequeira from General Catalyst will join our board.
RELATED:
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Web Video Darling Boxee Gets Another $6 Million: Are Zero Revenue …
Discussion: paidContent and Dealscape
Dan Nosowitz / Gizmodo:
Zune HD Release Date and Packaging Leaked, Will Hit Stores September 15th  —  Some loyal Giz readers and Best Buy employees sent us a couple shots of the much-anticipated Zune HD's packaging, and they clearly state that the gorgeous PMP will be available on September 15th.  Break out the wallets, people.
John Herrman / Gizmodo:
T-Mobile HTC Touch Pro2 Review: Wait, How Much?  —  T-Mobile's take on the HTC Touch Pro2, a 3.6-inch-screened, slide-out-QWERTYed refresh to the company's flagship Windows Mobile phone.  —  The price: $349 with a 2-year contract, after instant rebate, making it T-Mobile's most expensive phone
Peter Burrows / Business Week:
Why Apple Is More Valuable Than Google  —  A look at what's behind the Mac and iPhone maker's now firm market-cap edge on the Web-search leader, and how it could one day challenge Microsoft  —  Now that Apple (AAPL) has once again passed Google (GOOG) in market value, can the consumer-electronics maker maintain its lead?
Discussion: Brainstorm Tech
Jeff Atwood / Coding Horror:
Are You a Digital Sharecropper?  —  Will Work for Praise: The Web's Free-Labor Economy describes how many of today's websites are built by the users themselves: … This raises some disturbing parallels.  Are users being turned into digital sharecroppers?
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
The Top 100 Search Terms Queried by Kids  —  Security firm Symantec has identified the top 100 searches conducted by children online.  Popular items in the list include some expected entries like YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace as well as queries for popular pop idols like Michael Jackson and Miley Cyrus.
Bobbie Johnson / Guardian:
Wikipedia approaches its limits  —  The online encyclopedia is about to hit 3m articles in English - but growth is stalling as ‘inclusionists’ and ‘deletionists’ fight for control  —  Yet again, Wikipedia is about to break new ground.  The website that has become one of the biggest open repositories …
Discussion: TeleRead
Holly Sanders Ware / New York Post:
REWIND ON2 SALE DEAL  —  SHAREHOLDER SUITS AIM TO BLOCK $106.5M PACT  —  Shareholders of On2 Technologies, the video-software maker that Google agreed to buy for $106.5 million in stock, are blasting the deal, saying the sale process was rigged to favor the search giant.
Discussion: Tech Trader Daily
PC Magazine:
Hands On with the Zune HD, Plus Video  —  Earlier today, José Piñero, Zune's new senior director of marketing, swung by the PCMag.com Labs to preview the brand-new Zune HD for us.  —  While there are still lots of unanswered questions (Piñero wouldn't confirm pricing or capacities …
Discussion: Engadget, SlashGear and WMPoweruser.com
Brad Stone / Bits:
RealNetworks Barred From Selling DVD Copy Maker  —  RealNetworks, the Seattle-based digital media company, portrays itself as fighting for people's right to legally make backup copies of the DVDs they own.  It appears to have lost at least the first and perhaps most important round of the battle.
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Mass Firings At AOL Next Week?  —  A former AOLer says there's chatter in Dulles about how 2000 people will be sacked next week.  —  The magnitude and timing of such cuts make sense—AOL's cost structure is still too big for the strategy it is now pursuing, and Tim Armstrong foreshadowed layoffs at the pep rally last month.
Discussion: Tech Trader Daily
Dave Ohara / Green Data Center Blog:
Apple Recruits eBay Data Center Executive Olivier Sanche, Can Apple Change Data Centers the way they changed cell phone and media players?  —  I have been lucky to meet eBay's Sr. Director, Data Center Services & Strategy, Olivier Sanche at a variety of data center events and discuss many different green data center ideas.
Onion News Network:
Google Opt Out Feature Lets Users Protect Privacy By Moving To Remote Village  —  Web users who choose to move to the desolate village are guaranteed an environment free from Google products and natural light from the sun.
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Poor Google Knol Has Gone From A Wikipedia Killer To A Craigslist Wannabe  —  We've known for a while that Google's Knol is no Wikipedia killer, but now the knowledge-sharing site is being reduced to a sad Craigslist wannabe.  The original idea behind Knol was that people …
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Is a Perfect Storm Forming For Distributed Social Networking?  —  Maybe it's better to host your own.  That's the thinking coming from a growing number of early technology adopters as service after service goes down, sells out or otherwise frustrates the users who have published their content online …
Discussion: jungleG, Know It All and Mashable!, Thanks:atul
John C Dvorak / Dvorak Uncensored:
Special Report: Is US Chief Information Officer (CIO) Vivek Kundra a Phony?  —  Is US CIO Vivek Kundra a Phony?  —  Copyright by John C. Dvorak  —  This is the sort of question you might ask after trying to actually verify his supposed MS in Information Technology from the University of Maryland, College Park campus.
Discussion: GigaOM, Thanks:mgcreed
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:
How Do iPhone Users Find New Apps?  —  AdMob just released some data about how iPhone users discover new apps in the App Store and how they use them once they have downloaded them.  According to AdMob, most users download apps from the App Store directly from their phones.  Only 7% go through iTunes to download apps.
Discussion: mocoNews, Thanks:mrinaldesai
 
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 More Items: 
Sumner Lemon / Computerworld:
Asian undersea cable disruption slows Internet access
Discussion: CNET News
Dan Moren / Macworld:
AirPort Client Update improves MacBook wireless performance
Discussion: Ars Technica and eWeek
Lee Mathews / Download Squad:
Google Chrome to reach v4 before Firefox? Work begins on Chromium 4.0
Andrew Keen / blogs.telegraph.co.uk:
In defence of Apple
John Koblin / New York Observer:
The Gilded Age of Condé Nast Is Over
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider and Mediaite
Chris Williams / The Register:
Two convicted for refusal to decrypt data
Discussion: Slashdot
Chris Pendleton / Bing Maps Blog:
Publish Your Photosynth to Facebook
Discussion: LiveSide and Softpedia News
 Earlier Items: 
Paul Krill / LinuxWorld.com:
Oracle offers virtualization template tool
Discussion: The Register
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
After Ten Years In Business, MyWebGrocer Raises $13 Million In Series A
Monica Chen / DigiTimes:
Intel moving to 32nm
Discussion: SlashGear
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
Why Streamy Could be the Next FriendFeed
Discussion: Mashable! and Lifestream Blog
Lars Bastholm / Business Week:
The Content Crisis  —  As media ads dry up, phone outfits …
Discussion: Patricia Handschiegel, Thanks:mrinaldesai
Kent German / Crave: The gadget blog:
Is iPhone MMS imminent?
Discussion: iPhone Buzz, InformationWeek and MacNN
Cade Metz / The Register:
Google File System II: Dawn of the Multiplying Master Nodes
Discussion: Search Engine Land
Emil Protalinski / Ars Technica:
Xbox gaming platform may soon span Web, console, mobile
Discussion: VG247, SlashGear and Kotaku