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3:40 AM ET, October 2, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:
Google Wave crashes on beach of overhype  —  I just got my Google Wave invite.  No, I'm already out, so I can't send one to you, sorry.  —  But this service is way overhyped and as people start to use it they will realize it brings the worst of email and IM together: unproductivity.
Neil Hughes / AppleInsider:
Evidence of Apple's tablet-like input interface reappears  —  In a new patent application revealed this week, Apple has again disclosed plans for a multi-touch surface that could accommodate two full hands and distinguish between palms and individual fingers for typing, gestures and more.
Discussion: Electronista, Mashable!, Gizmodo and Engadget, Thanks:mrinaldesai
Alexei Oreskovic / Reuters:
Russian investor buys more Facebook shares - sources  —  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Russian investment firm Digital Sky Technologies has begun buying more shares in Facebook, seeking to expand its stake in the world's No. 1 social networking company, two sources told Reuters.
Discussion: Inside Facebook and Pulse2
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
The $25 Million Demo.  Yext Scores A Big Round From IVP After TechCrunch50 Debut.  —  Howard Lerman can be a little intense.  After the CEO of Yext finished his demo at this year's Techcrunch50 (embedded below) he left one judge “speechless,” and during rehearsals Michael took him aside and asked him, “Are you on drugs?”
Boy Genius Report:
Palm Pixi launching on October 20th?  —  We just got word that Palm's second webOS device, the Pixi, is set to launch on October 20th.  This includes Sprint corporate stores as well as Best Buy locations presumably.  —  This intel is from new source but it sounds right.
David Faber / CNBC:
GE Is in Talks to Spin Off NBC, Give Comcast 51% of New Unit  —  General Electric [GE Loading...  () ] and Comcast [CMCSA Loading...  () ] are in talks about a deal in which GE would spin off its NBC Universal unit into a new company that would be merged with the content assets of Comcast …
RELATED:
Todd Shields / Bloomberg:
Comcast Stake in NBC Said to Face Regulator Scrutiny on Competition Impact
The Official Google Blog:
Refine your search results with new Search Options  —  In May, we launched Search Options, a side panel that lets you filter, refine and generate different views of your search results.  We've received lots of positive feedback, and we're seeing more and more people using Search Options every day.
Technology Review:
Wireless Network Modded to See Through Walls  —  The way signal strength varies in a wireless network can reveal what's going on behind closed doors.  —  It's every schoolboy's dream: an easy way of looking through walls to spy on neighbours, monitor siblings and keep tabs on the sweet jar.
Andy Chalk / The Escapist:
Jack Thompson Sues Facebook  —  Former lawyer Jack Thompson has sued Facebook for allowing anti-Thompson groups to post messages that have caused him “great harm and distress.”  —  Thompson was permanently disbarred in September 2008 but that didn't stop his vocal criticism of the videogame industry …
RELATED:
Austin Modine / The Register:   Game censorship crusader sues Facebook for $120m
Tamar Lewin / New York Times:
M.I.T. Taking Student Blogs to Nth Degree  —  CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Cristen Chinea, a senior at M.I.T., made a confession in her blog on the college Web site.  —  “There've been several times when I felt like I didn't really fit in at M.I.T.,” she wrote.  “I nearly fell asleep during a Star Wars marathon.
Elinor Mills / CNET News:
Facebook shuts down malicious fake profiles  —  Facebook on Thursday fended off an attack in which multiple identical profiles were created to spread malware.  —  Antivirus provider AVG Technologies said users of its LinkScanner service detected numerous profiles that were identical except …
Discussion: Computerworld
RELATED:
Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:
Apple resellers advised of 2-3 week delay on Mac mini orders  —  As reports of a forthcoming hardware refreshes continue to mount, Apple has braced its certified resellers for unusually long shipping times of two to three weeks for both models of its minute Mac mini desktop systems.
Gavin O'Malley / MediaPost:
ComScore: Forget About Clicks  —  It's time for online marketers to forgo click-through rates for a better measure of success, according to new data from comScore in conjunction with media agency Starcom USA and behavioral targeting firm Tacoda.  —  TOP STORY  —  P&G Extends Sponsorship With Olympic Games
Discussion: internetnews.com
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Confirmed: Twitter Has Begun Geolocation Rollout  —  As we first reported last night, Twitter appeared to have turned on at least part of its new Geolocation API.  Today, the company has confirmed the roll out on its API Announcement Google Group page.  —  As Twitter API team member Raffi …
Discussion: Softpedia News and TheAppleBlog
Christian Stefansen / The Official Google Blog:
Now in Google Toolbar for Firefox: advanced in-page translation  —  Last week was a big one for Google Toolbar: we released the new Google Toolbar with Sidewiki for Internet Explorer and Firefox allowing you to contribute helpful information next to any webpage.
Michael Liedtke / Associated Press:
IBM undercuts Google with discount e-mail service  —  SAN FRANCISCO — IBM Corp. is trying to stymie Google Inc.'s expansion into the business software market.  —  IBM is now selling a bare-bones e-mail service to companies for $36 annually per worker, undercutting a more comprehensive package …
Randybias / Cloudscaling:
Amazon's EC2 Generating 220M+ Annually  —  Today I'm going to tell you how much revenue Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) is generating.  After all, you, my regular readers, come to this blog for its insight, original thinking, and gems of wisdom.  Today I have something particularly juicy for you …
Discussion: Data Center Knowledge, Thanks:atul
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Google Has A Plan To Stop The Mass Exodus From Orkut: No Friend Exports For You!  —  Just yesterday, we wrote about how Facebook was quickly gaining on Google's social network, Orkut, in places like India where Orkut is still the big dog.  One reason for Facebook's gains is that they've …
Discussion: Softpedia News
Economist:
Cleverly simple  —  As internet-capable handsets become more popular, they are also changing  —  IF THE recession is the cloud hanging over the mobile-phone business, “smart” phones are the silver lining.  Sales of mobile phones were 10% lower in the second quarter of this year …
Caroline McCarthy / The Social:
Tim Armstrong: The name of the game is (still) content  —  We get it, Tim Armstrong.  We know the still relatively new AOL CEO is all about reinventing the once-mighty online access company into a digital publishing powerhouse.  But that didn't stop him from really hammering the point home …
Discussion: Gadgetell
Cleve Nettles / 9 to 5 Mac:
Cyclopedia mixes Wikipedia and augmented reality on the iPhone  —  Cyclopedia ($2 App store) is a new iPhone application that allows to to view geo-tagged Wikipedia articles in a augmented reality browser.  The browser uses the iPhone's camera to create a backdrop while the Wikipedia articles …
Lance Whitney / CNET News:
Fujitsu's hard-drive business now Toshiba's  —  Fujitsu and Toshiba announced on Thursday that they have completed the transfer of Fujitsu's hard-drive business to Toshiba.  —  First announced in February, the agreement moves Fujitsu's former hard-drive business into a new Toshiba subsidiary …
Discussion: eWeek
Clint Boulton / eWeek:
Microsoft Bing U.S. Search Share Falls, Sparking Google's Gain  —  Microsoft Bing's U.S. September search share fell to 8.5 percent from 9.6 percent in August, StatCounter claimed.  Google's September share rose to 80 percent from 77.8 percent in July, reversing a trend of Bing gaining share at the expense of search engine rivals.
Greg Kumparak / TechCrunch:
Smule Sells 300k Copies Of I Am T-Pain, Celebrates With A New Song And A Huge Contest  —  The second we laid eyes on Smule's autotuning, pitch-changing iPhone app, I Am T-Pain, we knew it was going to be a huge hit - and it has been.  We just got some details from Smule's CEO, Jeff Smith, on how things are going so far.
Discussion: VentureBeat, Mashable! and Gizmodo
Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM:
Docs Want Their Own Airwaves and Other Gems From the FCC Wireless Probe  —  So far this week, more than 15 organizations have filed their comments addressing the Federal Communications Commission inquiry about competition and innovation in the wireless industry, and they're pretty much what one would expect.
Thanks:atul
Benny Evangelista / San Francisco Chronicle:
Friendster bets its future on Southeast Asia  —  (10-01) 19:25 PDT — Before Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, Friendster was the social media king.  Now, Friendster is barely an afterthought in its home country, although it hasn't disappeared.  —  The Mountain View firm is betting its future …
 
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 More Items: 
Robin Kwong / Financial Times:
AUO to kindle rivalry with half-price e-readers
Dong Ngo / Webware.com:
McAfee launches online backup service
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Fox Fires Back Against Redbox in Rental Row
Discussion: BoomTown and paidContent
Robert D. Hof / Business Week:
Can Google Stay on Top of the Web?
Discussion: Tech Beat, Thanks:atul
 Earlier Items: 
David Jackson / Associated Press:
Secret Service IDs kid for Facebook ‘assassination poll’ — no charges
Discussion: TPM LiveWire
Neil Hughes / AppleInsider:
Apple predicted to surprise with Oct. 19 earnings report
Discussion: MacDailyNews and LOOPRumors
Stephen Shankland / CNET News:
How Yahoo is betting its cloud will pay off
Discussion: The Register