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5:50 AM ET, September 3, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Wall Street Journal:
YouTube in Talks to Stream Rental Movies  —  Google Inc.'s YouTube is in discussions with major movie studios about allowing users to stream movies on a rental basis, according to people familiar with the company's plans, marking one of the video giant's first moves towards charging …
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Oh, RSS Is Definitely Dead Now: Feedburner CEO Dick Costolo To Become Twitter COO  —  Former Google exec and the cofounder/CEO of RSS service Feedburner Dick Costolo is Twitter's new chief operating officer, we've heard from multiple sources.  Costolo, who sold Feedburner to Google for $100 million in 2007, left Google in July.
RELATED:
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
FeedBurner Is Google's Biggest Screw-Up To Date  —  No wonder FeedBurner cofounder Dick Costolo left Google.  After the search giant bought his RSS startup FeedBurner in 2007 — for a reported $100 million — it has since squandered it.  —  The idea was that by merging FeedBurner's neat RSS tools …
Jenna Wortham / New York Times:
Customers Angered as iPhones Overload AT&T  —  Slim and sleek as it is, the iPhone is really the Hummer of cellphones.  —  It's a data guzzler.  Owners use them like minicomputers, which they are, and use them a lot.  Not only do iPhone owners download applications, stream music and videos …
Discussion: MobileContentToday and ParisLemon, Thanks:atul
RELATED:
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Endless Summer: AT&T Has Three Weeks To Fulfill Its MMS Promise
Discussion: The iPhone Blog
Tom Krazit / CNET News:
Amazon: Google Books deal an ‘unprecedented’ copyright hack  —  Amazon came out swinging Tuesday against Google's proposed settlement with book authors and publishers.  —  Amazon's opposition was made public last week when it joined the Open Book Alliance, but the company filed its own brief …
RELATED:
Paul Sweeting / GigaOM:
Google's Colonization of e-Book Devices Continues Apace
Discussion: TechFlash, Reuters and WebProNews
Dan Primack / PE Hub Blog:
RSS Is Dead, So Is The RSS Fund  —  Three months ago, Steve Gillmor wrote that “it's time to get completely off RSS and switch to Twitter.”  Sam Diaz piled on last week, calling RSS a Web 1.0 application whose time has passed.  And things got even worse today, when news leaked …
Discussion: Smalltalk Tidbits …
Jesus Diaz / Gizmodo:
This Is How You Steal 23 MacBook Pros, 14 iPhones, and 9 iPods In 31 Seconds  —  Quick: How can you get 23 MacBook Pros, 14 iPhones, and 9 iPods in 31 seconds, for free?  Tip: According to this security video, you need four friends, a brick, and a visit to the Apple Store in Marlton, NJ.
Ryan Tate / Gawker:
Google Patents World's Simplest Home Page  —  After a five-and-a-half-year fight, Google and its attorneys have managed to convince federal bureaucrats to bestow a patent on the company's iconic home page.  We always thought the page was brain-dead simple, but apparently it's an innovative “graphical user interface.”
Steve Perlman / OnLive Blog:
OnLive Opens the Beta Program  —  Hey there...  It's been a very busy and productive few months for OnLive.  We've been focused on evolving the OnLive technology, installing lots of servers in our data centers and tuning the OnLive® Game Service based on feedback from our internal Beta testers.
RELATED:
Gabriel Madway / MediaFile:
Cloud-gaming service OnLive opens up
Discussion: dot.life, The Register and Mashable!
Chris Foresman / Ars Technica:
Do minor UI changes mean Snow Leopard is tablet-ready?  —  Among Snow Leopard's many refinements are some changes to how Mac OS X displays windows in Exposé—with a regular grid arrangement—and Stacks, which are much easier to scroll through when they become large enough.
RELATED:
Michael Learmonth / AdAge:
Want 5,000 More Facebook Friends?  That'll Be $654.30  —  USocial Will Sell You Followers and Friends  —  NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — If you're a Gmail user who also happens to use Twitter, it's probably been about five minutes since you've seen an ad promising to boost your follower count.
Erin Pettigrew / Gawker Advertising:
Then and Now, Seven Years of Blogging as Business  —  When Nick Denton launched the proto gadget blog Gizmodo in August 2002, it arrived on scene to a milieu of early web confusion.  Until then, blogs were low traffic outlets for personal thought-flinging to be visited by friends …
Discussion: Shooting at Bubbles
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:
Palm: Pre Sales To Whiff Targets?  —  Is the Palm (PALM) Pre a bust?  —  Town Hall Investment Research analyst David Eller asserted in a research note this morning that sales of the Pre “are continuing to slow,” and “likely will come in dramatically below” Sprint's (S) reputed target of 1 million to 1.5 million customers for the year.
Discussion: IntoMobile
Jason F. / Signal vs. Noise:
The bar for success in our industry is too low  —  This weekend the New York Times published a piece called Using ‘Free’ to Turn a Profit.  The piece focused on Evernote, a web-based and smart-phone based application for taking notes, snapping pictures, and storing stuff you want to remember later.
Discussion: @vanelsas, Thanks:javurek
Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
Microsoft calling on thousands to host their own Windows 7 parties  —  Microsoft is putting a Tupperware-style twist on the upcoming Windows 7 rollout — launching a new initiative to encourage thousands of employees, partners and technology enthusiasts to throw parties in their homes …
Discussion: Engadget, Softpedia News and Gizmodo, Thanks:johnhcook
Heather Hopkins / Hitwise Intelligence:
Bing Leads in Successful Canadian Searches  —  A couple of weeks ago we posted data on the success rate of Canadian searches, noting in particular that only 30% of Canadian Internet searches are “successful”.  A couple of readers asked us to share success rate by search engine.
Mark Wilson / Gizmodo:
Review: Duracell Instant Chargers Are...Pretty Perfect?  —  We've all seen those mini cellphone rechargers at airports, but Duracell has released a line of rechargeable pocket chargers that can refill any USB-compatible device (like iPhones) through compatibility with your own adapters.
Greg Sandoval / CNET News:
Apple to offer ready-made ringtones  —  Apple has obtained the rights to offer ready-made ringtones for the iPhone and managers are trying to have them available in time for next week's press conference, music industry sources told CNET News.  —  Owners of Apple's iPhone have long had the ability …
Discussion: MacRumors and MacNN
Andrew Donoghue / CNET News:
Microsoft pushes for single global patent system  —  A senior lawyer at Microsoft is calling for the creation of a global patent system to make it easier and faster for corporations to enforce their intellectual property rights around the world.  —  In a blog posting on Tuesday …
Nilay Patel / Engadget:
Sony announces VAIO X ultraportable  —  Sony just announced the VAIO X at IFA 2009, a half-inch thin ultraportable with an 11.1-inch screen and a new all-day battery that “will set the new standard for stamina.”  The machine's built of carbon fiber, so it weighs just a pound and a half …
Jim Dalrymple / The Loop:
Sources confirm no Apple TV at Apple's September event  —  Piper Jaffray Senior Research Analyst, Gene Munster, on Tuesday said he feels an Apple TV may be introduced at next week's Apple event.  However, that is not going to happen.  —  The Loop has learned through very reliable sources …
Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent:
Taking The Plunge: How Newspaper Sites That Charge Are Faring  —  As more newspapers kick around the idea of charging for content, much of the attention has been focused on the pay models employed by the bigger players like the WSJ and the Financial Times.  But quietly, some small …
Discussion: Bend Bulletin
Mark Milian / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
After ‘Obama Joker’ debacle, Flickr changes takedown policy  —  Flickr came out looking like the bad guy when it removed an image of President Obama portrayed as the Joker from “The Dark Knight.”  Onlookers accused Flickr of having a “political agenda” and being a “bully.”
Discussion: Technology News, Thanks:electricwaffles
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Google Voice Alternative Line2 Is Now Live On The App Store  —  The Apple/Google Voice fiasco just got more interesting.  Toktumi, a startup that lets small businesses build office-caliber phone systems with their mobile phones and computers, just had its application Line2 approved by Apple …
 
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 More Items: 
Pui-Wing Tam / Digits:
Khosla Ventures's Take on Tech
Clint Boulton / eWeek:
eBay CEO Is Confident Joltid Litigation Won't Disrupt Skype Sale
Discussion: Forbes and Business Week
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Is Google Getting a Hollywood Tour Guide? …
Discussion: WebProNews, Company Town and Gawker
William Kanaan / Google News Blog:
Google News is fluent in Arabic!
Red Hat:
Innovation Without Disruption: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 Now Available
 Earlier Items: 
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
YouTube U.K. Settles Royalty Fight, Turns Music Videos Back On Again
Discussion: Music Ally, Telegraph and Guardian
Nick O'Neill / All Facebook:
Zynga Blows Past 100 Million Users Thanks To FarmVille's Dominance
Lee Mathews / Download Squad:
More Chrome OS clues - and it's sure sounding like a bootable browser