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10:50 AM ET, October 28, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Stalqer Peers Into Your iPhone For A New Level Of Location-Based Creepiness  —  Foursquare and Loopt have put location-based social networks on the map, and have potentially created a viable business model as well.  Now there's a new kid on the block, called Stalqer, which best described as a Foursquare on steroids.
Keith Ito / The Official Google Blog:
Announcing Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0  —  (Cross-posted with the Google Mobile Blog)  —  Since 2005, millions of people have relied on Google Maps for mobile to get directions on the go.  However, there's always been one problem: Once you're behind the wheel, a list of driving directions just isn't that easy to use.
RELATED:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Google Redefines GPS Navigation Landscape: Google Maps Navigation For Android 2.0  —  If you weren't sure about switching to an Android phone in the near future, this might put you over the edge.  Google Maps Navigation is an absolutely killer app.  And it is only available for Android 2.0 phones.
The Official Google Blog:
Similar Images graduates from Google Labs  —  Today, we're happy to announce that Similar Images is graduating from Google Labs and becoming a permanent feature in Google Images.  You can try it out by clicking on “Find similar images” below the most popular images in our search results.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Exclusive Picture Of Unlaunched Apple Tablet (circa 1990)  —  Yeah ok it isn't that Apple Tablet.  But this is a picture, taken around 1990, of the Apple Pen Mac, a little known and never launched Apple tablet project.  As far as we can tell there is no other image of this device anywhere on the Internet …
Discussion: Gearlog, 9 to 5 Mac and Gizmodo, Thanks:thinkmantra
David Sarno / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Los Angeles adopts Google e-mail system for 30,000 city employees  —  The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously today to outsource its e-mail system to Google Inc., making it the largest city in the nation to make the move and handing the Web search giant a major victory in its quest …
Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
Microsoft's ‘Signature PCs’ show its vision of computing perfection  —  People visiting Microsoft's new store in Scottsdale, Ariz., have started noticing something interesting, apart from its shameless similarities to Apple's retail outlets.  The computers on display in the Microsoft Store come without …
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Pound the Quality  —  “If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts.  If you have the law on your side, pound the law.  If you have neither on your side, pound the table.”  —Legal Adage  —  Much of the current hype surrounding the App Store centers around the sheer number of apps available.
Discussion: Kindle Review, Thanks:atul
RELATED:
Joe Wilcox / BetaNews:
iPhone cannot win the smartphone wars
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Want 50Mbps Internet in your town?  Threaten to roll out your own  —  ISPs may not act for years on local complaints about slow Internet—but when a town rolls out its own solution, it's amazing how fast the incumbents can deploy fiber, cut prices, and run to the legislature.
Brian Garner / AppleInsider:
Apple releases Magic Mouse software updates  —  Today, Apple released updates for both Leopard and Snow Leopard enabling the OS to use the multi-touch capabilities of standalone versions of the Magic Mouse.  —  The updates, which weigh in at 64 and 36 megabytes respectively, require Mac OS X 10.5.8 …
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Google's Eric Schmidt on What the Web Will Look Like in 5 Years  —  Google CEO Eric Schmidt envisions a radically changed internet five years from now: dominated by Chinese-language and social media content, delivered over super-fast bandwidth in real time.  Figuring out how to rank real …
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
PlaySpan Study Shows Growth In Virtual Goods Marketplace  —  Virtual goods are booming and there are various startups who are capitalizing on this growth by facilitating the exchange and e-commerce around these goods.  PlaySpan, which powers micro-payments across over 1,000 video games and virtual worlds …
Serkan Toto / CrunchGear:
Tire maker Bridgestone shows world's first flexible e-book reader  —  Tire maker Bridgestone isn't the first company that comes to mind when thinking about electronic paper, but the company has been experimenting in this field for quite some time now.  Today, Bridgestone claimed that it has developed …
Toktumi VoIP News:
Is the BlackBerry Doomed?  —  Apple's astounding 4th quarter fiscal results (reported Oct 19th) and its climb past $200 per share comes in stark contrast to Research in Motion's (RIM) earnings reported September 25th.  Their stock is now trading 20% lower than it was a month ago and the outlook for the future appears grim.
Jeremy Toeman / LIVEdigitally:
The TwitterPeek is Real?  Cmon!  No, seriously?  —  As a “connected gadget guy” I had heard a few rumors that Peek (the company blissfully unaware that people generally do like BlackBerries, and I don't much care that it's on Oprah's list - the future is smartphones and it isn't slowing down anytime soon) …
Discussion: Forever Geek, Twitterrati and Engadget
Kristina Cooke / Reuters:
Facebook challenges financial regulators: FINRA  —  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn raise “serious new challenges” for financial regulators, the head of the largest U.S. independent securities regulator said on Tuesday.
Dean Pullen / Inquirer:
Microsoft pulls the Xbox 360 Sky Player  —  MICROSOFT HAS QUICKLY pulled Sky Player support from the Xbox 360, which launched yesterday with a lot of publicity, most of it positive.  —  A statement on the UK Xbox support site reads, “The Sky Player on Xbox 360 service did successfully launch early …
Discussion: Engadget
Amy Schatz / Wall Street Journal:
FCC Considers Shifting Some TV Airwaves to Broadband  —  WASHINGTON—Federal regulators are considering taking back some airwaves from television broadcasters and auctioning them off to wireless companies to increase the availability of wireless broadband services.
Farhad Manjoo / Slate:
How GeoCities Invented the Internet  —  A garish collection of home pages paved the way for blogging, social networks, and the rest of Web 2.0.  —  On Monday, Yahoo put GeoCities out of its misery, shutting down the last remaining pages on one of the Web's original site-hosting services.
Liz Gannes / NewTeeVee:
My Treadmill Is Twittering!  The Next Frontier for Connected Devices: The Gym  —  Netpulse announced last night it had raised $3.1 million in Series A funding led by Javelin Venture Partners to bring interactive media to gyms.  We were curious about the idea of connected fitness devices …
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Did AMD's former CEO reveal confidential secrets in Galleon insider trading case?  —  Former Advanced Micro Devices chief executive Hector Ruiz allegedly shared confidential secrets about his company to a trader involved in the Galleon insider trading scandal, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Android Developers Blog:
Announcing Android 2.0 support in the SDK!  —  I am excited to announce that the Android SDK now supports Android 2.0 (also known as Eclair).  —  Android 2.0 brings new developer APIs for sync, Bluetooth, and a few other areas.  Using the new sync, account manager and contacts APIs …
Liz Gannes / GigaOM:
Vdopia Adds $4M for iPhone Ads  —  Vdopia, a profitable iPhone advertising platform, has raised $4 million in Series A funding from Nexus Venture Partners.  The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company, which only launched in the U.S. in March, claims it's seeing 4 percent click-through rates …
Discussion: paidContent and silicontap.com
InvestorPlace.com:
Apple Soars Behind iPhone 3GS Momentum  —  By Paul Carton, Director of Research, ChangeWave Research  —  These are heady times for the smart phone market, with consumer buying plans near record levels.  Moreover, electronics spending in general shows signs of a pick up.
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Mobile Phone Software Company Not Pleased With Courgette, Sues Google  —  Red Bend, a VC-backed mobile phone software developer, is taking Google to court over alleged infringement of a patent it holds.  —  In its legal complaint filed earlier this week in Boston's district court …
Discussion: Mass High Tech
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
SAP: Enterprise software market ‘difficult’; Emerging markets weak  —  SAP's third quarter was a mixed bag.  Earnings were a touch better than expectations, but revenue and the outlook disappointed investors.  Meanwhile, SAP said the software market showed “signs of stabilization,” but remained difficult.
Tarmo Virki / Reuters:
Nokia-Apple row may last more than 1 year  —  * Has Apple licensing deal, not based at full iPhone price  —  * Sees quick deal unlikely in Nokia-Apple legal battle  —  * Sees royalty base one of key issues in Nokia-Apple deal (Adds details from Apple filing, interview)
Discussion: 9 to 5 Mac and AppleInsider
David Colker / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Microsoft to shut down MSN Direct traffic service for GPS  —  Microsoft is killing its MSN Direct subscription service that provided real-time traffic information, plus weather, stock quotes and local gas prices to car GPS navigators.  But not for a while — the company said the service would shut off Jan. 1, 2012.
 
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 More Items: 
Grant Gross / Computerworld:
Smart-grid money could assist broadband
Greg Sandoval / Media Maverick:
Paramount bets big on Web serials
Discussion: Tubefilter News and NewTeeVee
Dancho Danchev / Zero Day:
New LoroBot ransomware encrypts files, demands $100 for decryption
Kim Hart / The Hill:
Defense Department wants more open-source software
Discussion: The Open Road and internetnews.com
 Earlier Items: 
John Resig:
Google Groups is Dead
Discussion: Google Blogoscoped
Eric Lai / Computerworld:
With eye on Oracle and MySQL, Red Hat invests in EnterpriseDB
Discussion: EnterpriseDB and The VAR Guy
Kim Zetter / Threat Level:
In Industry First, Voting Machine Company to Publish Source Code
Discussion: Techdirt
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Yahoo To Launch Real Time Search, Too
Boy Genius Report:
Motorola Droid and HTC Droid Eris launching November 6th on Verizon