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9:30 PM ET, October 18, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Verizon Droid Is The Real Deal  —  Verizon and Motorola finally lifted the curtain on their new Droid Android phone yesterday.  Make no mistake, this is Android's flagship product, and the first phone that will pose a significant threat to Apple's iPhone.  And it will be available very soon, possibly as early as the end of this month.
RELATED:
Darren Murph / Engadget:
Verizon's anti-iPhone gets its first commercial: ‘Droid Does’ (update)  —  We knew Verizon Wireless would soon be throwing caution to the wind in an effort to sway uncommitted smartphone buyers towards Big Red, and it looks like the November-bound Motorola Droid will be VZW's anti-iPhone.
Jay Yarow / Silicon Alley Insider:
Sorry, Verizon, No Physical Keyboard On The iPhone Isn't That Big Of A Deal  —  In Verizon's slam ad on the iPhone, it ticks off all the things the iPhone doesn't do.  —  For a big splashy ad, we must say we're a little underwhelmed by the problems the “iDon't” ad lists with the iPhone.
Christina Warren / Mashable!:
Wolfram Alpha Launches $50 iPhone App  —  On Thursday WolframAlpha launched its developer API, which should allow large and small developers (as well as businesses and educational institutions) to harness the power of the computational knowledge engine to enhance their own applications or products.
RELATED:
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Wolfram Alpha Miscalculates What Its iPhone App Should Cost  —  Apple wasted little time approving Wolfram Alpha's new iPhone app, which we hinted at last week.  Just a few days after they submitted it to the store, Apple sailed it right through the approval process with such speed …
Discussion: bub.blicio.us
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
This Used To Be My Playground  —  Maybe you've read some of the stories this past week about how FriendFeed's traffic is way down following their sale to Facebook.  The stats don't look good, as the site's traffic may have plummeted as much as 30% following its peak just prior to the sale.
Discussion: The Web Life, Thanks:atul
RELATED:
scobleizer's posterous:
The Second Life of FriendFeed?  —  Where do I spend my attention?  That's all I have.  Unlike many others in the tech community I don't have a lot of money to invest in companies.  I also don't have coding skills, so can't build stuff, so the only way I can build stuff is to spend …
Discussion: louisgray.com, Thanks:atul
Ashlee Vance / New York Times:
Forecast for Microsoft: Partly Cloudy  —  RAY OZZIE, the chief software architect at Microsoft, bristles when asked whether people think that new versions of his company's flagship software — like Windows and Office — are exciting.  —  “It's tremendously exciting,” he exclaims defensively …
Dan Nosowitz / Gizmodo:
Postal Service Mail Handler Steals 2,200 GameFly Rentals  —  Both GameFly and Netflix package their by-mail rentals in bright, obvious envelopes, and a Philadelphia mail handler took advantage, stealing 2,200 GameFly games in just six months.  When he was caught, he had 81 games on him. 81!
Discussion: Maximum PC, VG247 and digg.com
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
A Digital Magazine Without Links Is a CD-ROM  —  When the next generation of touchscreen tablet computers hits the market, one of its highly anticipated uses will be as a full-color reader for books, newspapers, and magazines.  Of those three, the main beneficiary may very well be old-style magazines.
Discussion: Netly
Darren Murph / Engadget:
Pixel Qi e-ink / LCD hybrid display to debut on tablet next month?  —  It's been far, far too long (read: four months) since we've heard a peep from the gentle souls over at Pixel Qi, but it looks like the long, heart-wrenching wait for the hybrid display that's bound to revolutionize Western civilization is nearing an end.
Discussion: Liliputing, TeleRead and Netbooked
Reuters:
Software pirates hijack Windows 7 China debut  —  TAIPEI/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - At shops in Shanghai's bustling Xinyang market, fake Apple iPhones and Bose speakers sit neatly alongside bootleg copies of Microsoft's new Windows 7 operating system, a week before its official launch.  —  “Which version do you want?
 
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 More Items: 
Eric Pfanner / New York Times:
France Moves to Win Back Control of Content
Schneier on Security:
The Commercial Speech Arms Race
Thanks:atul
Natasha Singer / New York Times:
When 2+2 Equals a Privacy Question
Paul Carr / TechCrunch:
NSFW: Why Seth MacFarlane's Microsoft Guy is the end of television, and the world
Discussion: Edible Apple
J. Nicholas Hoover / InformationWeek:
The Custom URL Shortener
 Earlier Items: 
Greg Sandoval / CNET News:
MPAA: Antipiracy is now ‘content protection’
Discussion: TorrentFreak and Techdirt
Stephen Marche / Wall Street Journal:
The Book That Contains All Books
Discussion: TeleRead and Kindle Review, Thanks:mrinaldesai
 

 
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”

Sam Wolfson / The Guardian:
A look at the rise of celebrity-hosted interview podcasts, whose long running times mean guests delve into deep and personal topics, resembling therapy sessions

 
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