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8:05 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  —  Google has acquired ReCaptcha, one of those companies behind the distorted text boxes at the bottom of many Web site sign-in pages.  —  Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Google plans to use ReCaptcha's technology …
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.
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:
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:
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 …
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: Gawker and NBC Bay Area
RELATED:
Loren Feldman / 1938 Media:   Techcrunch 50 Will Never Be Held Again
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:
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.
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 …
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 …
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Former Bebo CEO and AOL Top Exec Shields and Shine's Murdoch to Form Interactive Content Start-Up  —  Former Bebo CEO Joanna Shields and Shine Group Chairman and CEO Elisabeth Murdoch have formed a content start-up to produce across media platforms, both online and offline, with a focus on social engagement, according to sources.
Discussion: paidContent
Spencer E. Ante / Business Week:
Mint.com: Nurtured by Super-Angel VCs  —  Intuit is acquiring a startup conceived by a “25-year-old kid” and funded by First Round Capital, a new breed of high-risk, early-stage venture capitalist  —  Intuit's purchase of Mint.com was a big win for Mint CEO Aaron Patzer and the rest …
Discussion: Tech Beat and Creative Capital, Thanks:mrinaldesai
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).
Miles Weiss / Bloomberg:
Paul Allen Sells Wireless Spectrum Licenses to AT&T  —  Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) — Paul Allen, the billionaire co- founder of Microsoft Corp., agreed to sell wireless airwaves he acquired in 2003 to a unit of AT&T Inc. for an undisclosed price, according to government filings.
Discussion: mocoNews, TechFlash and Xconomy
Andy Greenberg / Forbes:
The Man Who's Beating Google  —  Robin Li has built the most popular search site for the world's biggest audience—in China.  That's round one in epic battle.  —  On a smoggy August morning outside Beijing's China World Hotel, Li Yanhong's fan club is assembling.
Speaking of Security, the RSA Blog and Podcast:
“Chat-in-the-Middle” Phishing Attack Attempts to Steal Consumers' Data via Bogus Live-Chat Support  —  A new, unique type of phishing attack targeted against online banking customers was recently discovered by the RSA FraudAction Research Lab.  RSA has coined this as a “Chat-in-the-Middle” …
Avner Ronen / boxee blog:
Zach Klein joins Boxee  —  We are happy to announce that Zach Klein has joined Boxee.  Zach was part of the founding team that built College Humor, Busted Tees and Vimeo (at Connected Ventures/IAC).  Building a great product is one of those things that combines art, science and instinct.
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider and Pulse2
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.
Jonny / Distorted-Loop.com:
U2 shun Apple iPhone in BlackBerry music App release  —  Recall back in the day when U2 and Apple were bosom-buddies?  Well, in the world of corporate sponsorship, everything is change, and Bono's band today introduced their own take on the iTunes LP with the release of a new U2 Mobile App, not for iPhone, but for BlackBerry.
Discussion: 9 to 5 Mac and MacDailyNews
Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
EU in informal talks on Microsoft, Yahoo deal-source  —  * U.S. regulators deepened review last week  —  * Microsoft, Commission not available for comment  —  EU antitrust regulators are in touch with Microsoft and Yahoo about their search engine deal, a source familiar with the situation said …
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 …
Rich Miller / Data Center Knowledge:
All Quiet at Google's Oklahoma Data Center  —  Part of the equipment yard for the Google data center under construction in Pryor, Oklahoma.  —  Amazon isn't the only cloud builder that has idled a data center project, as the recession has led Google to scale back its capital investments in data center infrastructure.
John Cook / TechFlash:
Washington at top of the pack in new venture capital study  —  What impact has venture capital had on the U.S. economy?  That's the question that a new report from the industry's chief lobbying group, the National Venture Capital Association, tries to answer.
Jay Yarow / Silicon Alley Insider:
Barry Diller: Of Course People Are Going To Pay For Content On The Web  —  At Goldman's Communacopia conference, another high profile CEO is telling the world the free-for-all days of the Internet won't last forever.  Yesterday it was Rupert Murdoch, today it's Barry Diller.
Discussion: Digits
Joe Strupp / Editor and Publisher:
SPECIAL REPORT: Ready, Aim, Charge!  —  NEW YORK On the day Michael Jackson died, the Los Angeles Times drew its heaviest Web traffic ever.  When Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina admitted to an affair, The State of Columbia, S.C., had the best online numbers in its history.
 
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 More Items: 
Loretta Chao / Wall Street Journal:
Chinese Schools Remove Web Filter
Discussion: VentureBeat
Prince McLean / AppleInsider:
Microsoft sells restrictive new WiMo Marketplace via iPhone ads
Discussion: Fast Company
John Brownlee / Geek.com:
US Government advises technology executives to trash mobile phones …
Discussion: crn.com.au
Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent:
Google Says It Wants To Hire Yahoo Talent
Discussion: VentureBeat, WebProNews and Matt Cutts
 Earlier Items: 
Dieter Bohn / PreCentral.net:
Palm Pre App Sales Slated for September 24th, 1.2 Next week
Discussion: Palm WebOS, WebOS Arena and AppScout
ARM:
ARM Announces 2GHz Capable Cortex-A9 Dual Core Processor Implementation
 

 
From Mediagazer:

David Folkenflik / NPR:
NPR suspended Uri Berliner for five days without pay, starting on April 12, after he wrote an essay accusing NPR of losing the public's trust

CNN:
Smartmatic and OANN say they have settled a defamation suit filed by the voting tech company, filed in 2021

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Dozens of Alden-owned newspapers ran editorials over the weekend arguing that Google's threat to cut off news in California “is a bully tactic”

 
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