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5:55 PM ET, September 16, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
The Official Google Blog:
Teaching computers to read: Google acquires reCAPTCHA  —  The image above is a CAPTCHA — you can read it, but computers have a harder time interpreting the letters.  We tried to make it hard for computers to recognize because we wanted to give humans the scoop first, but we're happy to announce …
RELATED:
Tom Krazit / CNET News:
Google acquires ReCaptcha as book-scanning aid
Discussion: Computerworld
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Twitter Closing New Venture Round At $1 Billion Valuation  —  Fast growing startup Twitter will soon be joining a select group of startups with private venture round valuations of $1 billion, we've heard from multiple sources.  CEO Evan Williams disclosed the round to employees at a recent all hands meeting.
The Business Of Online Video:
Confirmed: Google Rumor False, Not Acquiring Brightcove  —  I received a call from one of the parties involved in the Google/Brightcove rumor who would not talk on record but confirmed with me that the rumor that Google is buying Brightcove is in fact false.
RELATED:
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Google To Buy Brightcove For $500-$700 Million: Report*  —  Update: The “rumor that Google is buying Brightcove is in fact false,” claims Web video analyst Dan Rayburn.  He cites an employee “I trust” at one of the companies, who would not talk on the record.
Steve / Kindle Nation Daily:
Kindle edition of The Lost Symbol outselling Amazon hardcovers!  —  Get ready for what could become the biggest story of 2009 in the book trades.  —  Yesterday I went out on a limb and predicted that “Amazon will sell more Kindle editions than hardcover editions of The Lost Symbol during …
RELATED:
Brad Stone / New York Times:
Skype Founders File Copyright Suit Against eBay  —  SAN FRANCISCO — The founders of Skype are escalating their legal battle with eBay.  —  Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, who became billionaires after selling Skype to eBay in 2005, have filed a copyright lawsuit against Skype in United States district court in Northern California.
RELATED:
Times of London:
Skype founders go to court to seek damages  —  The original founders of Skype initiated a legal action tonight, demanding billions of dollars in damages against the investment group that has just agreed to buy the internet telephony company from eBay for $1.9 billion (£1.2 billion).
Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Thanks:mikeharvey
Paul Boutin / VentureBeat:
TC50: TechCrunch50 founders' feud: “It's over” for the startup conference  —  “I can tell you that this is the last TechCrunch50,” event co-founder Jason Calacanis told humorist Loren Feldman last night in a video interview after the close of the third annual TechCrunch50 conference in San Francisco.
Discussion: NBC Bay Area, Gawker and TechCrunch
RELATED:
Loren Feldman / 1938 Media:
Techcrunch 50 Will Never Be Held Again  —  No more Techcrunch 50
Chip Chick:
iTwinge is the World's First iPhone Keyboard  —  We may have just come across something that may convert dedicated BlackBerry users to finally using the iPhone.The iPhone is getting a KEYBOARD called iTwinge, a real feel and tactile keyboard for those who thought their big thumbs would never allow them to use the touchscreen version.
Lance Whitney / CNET News:
Bing grabs 10 percent of search market  —  Microsoft's new Bing search service is the fastest-growing U.S. search engine among the top 10, according to a Nielsen report released Monday.  —  The total amount of searches on Bing rang in at 1.1 billion for the month of August …
Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
EU in informal talks on Microsoft, Yahoo deal - source  —  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators are in touch with Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc about their search engine deal, a source familiar with the situation said, with the talks seen more as exploratory than indicating any competition concerns.
RELATED:
Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent:
Google Says It Wants To Hire Yahoo Talent
Discussion: VentureBeat and Matt Cutts
Yinka Adegoke / Reuters:
Comcast plans to bring TV shows to your phone  —  Leading U.S. cable operator Comcast Corp said on Wednesday it plans to offer subscribers the option to watch their favorite TV shows on mobile devices through its new wireless Internet service.  —  The company is also exploring adding …
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
The Adobe-Omniture deal: Does it make sense?  —  Adobe made a big splash with its $1.8 billion acquisition of Web analytics company Omniture.  However, the logic behind the deal isn't exactly obvious.  —  On Adobe's fiscal third quarter conference call, analysts were pressing Adobe on its rationale for buying Omniture (Techmeme).
Bobbie Johnson / Guardian:
How exactly is Facebook making money?  —  Facebook proudly says it's bringing in enough cash to cover most of its day to day business costs.  But how?  The answer lies in self-serve advertising and virtual goods  —  The news that Facebook has tripled in size in the past year has grabbed headlines …
Electronista:
BlackBerry Tour facing 50% return rate?  —  The BlackBerry Tour is suffering from a widespread defect that could seriously impact Research in Motion's bottom line, an analyst cautioned on Wednesday.  The trackball on the smartphone is reported as clogging so quickly that it requires users …
ARM:
ARM Announces 2GHz Capable Cortex-A9 Dual Core Processor Implementation  —  ARM Cortex processor technology and physical IP developed in unison to deliver high performance and low-power processing for consumer and enterprise markets  —  ARM [(LSE: ARM); (Nasdaq: ARMH)] …
RELATED:
Seth H. Weintraub's blog:
Android-powered Archos tablet out-specs Zune, iPod Touch  —  Say what you will about the Android OS being behind Apple's OSX touch OS, there are some things you can measure definitively and those are hardware specs.  —  Archos released its new Android-based mini-tablet information today and wow is it impressive.
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
RedBeacon Wins The Top Prize At TechCrunch50 2009  —  The 50 startup presentations are over, the judges votes are in, Michael and Jason chewed over the top contenders, and the winner of this year's TechCrunch50 is RedBeacon.  The startup aims to help consumers find local service providers such as plumbers, bakers, and contractors.
Hiawatha Bray / Boston Globe:
Westwood-based video game maker named in patent infringement suit  —  (Rose Lincoln for The Boston Globe/ File 2008)  —  Turbine Inc. of Westwood, a leading maker of Internet-based, multiplayer video games, has been named in a patent infringement lawsuit that targets several of the world's largest online gaming firms.
John Brownlee / Geek.com:
US Government advises technology executives to trash mobile phones after returning from CHina  —  Just because the Soviet Union is gone doesn't mean that the US government isn't paranoid about Communist spying and espionage.  Ask frequent business travelers who have flown to China recently …
Discussion: crn.com.au
Emil Protalinski / Ars Technica:
Project 2010 to get three editions, public beta before 2010  —  Microsoft has announced that Project 2010 will come in three editions: Project Standard 2010, Project Professional 2010, and Project Server 2010.  A public beta is slated for later this year.  —  Microsoft today unveiled Project 2010 …
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Seagate launches a network drive that you can use to get your data, anytime, anywhere  —  Seagate is launching a novel portable backup device that will let you access your photos, videos, and other data from afar.  —  The product fits in with the consumer mantra of the digital age: access your data, anytime, anywhere.
Todd Spangler / Multichannel News:
Comcast Hiking Cable-Modem Fee to $5 From $3 Monthly Nationwide  —  Operator Cites Cost for DOCSIS 3.0 Equipment for Increase  —  Comcast this fall will increase the monthly lease fee for cable modems to $5 nationwide — a 66% increase over the current $3 monthly fee …
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:
Apple: New Macs Coming Soon?  —  Is Apple (AAPL) about to unveil updated Macs?  —  Research firm Wedge Partners thinks so.  They assert in a note today that the company will release both new iMacs and new MacBooks “in the next several weeks.”  —  Wedge sees a redesigned iMac witjh a …
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
News Aggregator Daylife Ties Up With Getty: $4 Million Investment  —  Daylife, a news aggregator that launched a few years ago with a good deal of hype but has since retreated to the back pages, has landed another investor: Getty Images has bet $4 million on the company, which has raised some $12 million to date.
Discussion: TechFlash, paidContent and Xconomy
Christopher MacManus / Sony Insider:
Sony's Gorgeous New A-Series Walkman Features OLED, Up To 64GB Capacity  —  Sony has unveiled the latest update to the A-Series Walkman line with some serious features.  The new NW-A840 series, available in black and brown, simply is the most brilliant Walkman offering from Sony to date …
 
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 More Items: 
Prince McLean / AppleInsider:
Microsoft sells restrictive new WiMo Marketplace via iPhone ads
Discussion: Fast Company
John Cook / TechFlash:
Washington at top of the pack in new venture capital study
Discussion: Computerworld
Rich Miller / Data Center Knowledge:
All Quiet at Google's Oklahoma Data Center
Greg Sandoval / CNET News:
Pirate Bay bidder finds new stock exchange
Discussion: PC World
 Earlier Items: 
Scot Wingo / Amazon Strategies:
Is Sears set to launch their own third-party marketplace?
Discussion: Seeking Alpha
Wikileaks:
UK government database of all 1,841,177 post codes together …
Discussion: Guardian and The Register
Dieter Bohn / PreCentral.net:
Palm Pre App Sales Slated for September 24th, 1.2 Next week
Subtraction.com:
Our Craigslist  —  The cover story for the September 2009 issue …
 

 
From Mediagazer:

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

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”

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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