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7:20 PM ET, October 28, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Verizon:
Hello Humans: Droid By Motorola Arrives Next Week  —  BASKING RIDGE, NJ, and LIBERTYVILLE, IL - High-speed Web browsing, voice-activated search, customizable large screen, access to thousands of Android applications and hundreds of widgets and the best 3G mobile network in the country: DROID by Motorola arrives on Nov. 6.
RELATED:
Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:
Motorola DROID first hands-on! (update: video, impressions, more pics)  —  We've got the DROID in our hands... and it is sweet.  Moto claims that this is the thinnest full QWERTY on the market, and we're apt to believe it.  The phone is incredibly slick and solid, and we're definitely looking forward to putting it through its paces.
Darren Murph / Engadget:
Motorola DROID official on Verizon: $199 on contract, coming November 6th (video)  —  We knew good and well this thing was coming sometime in November, and now Verizon Wireless has made it official: the Motorola DROID will hit Big Red on November 6th for $199 on contract (after a $100 mail-in rebate).
Saul Hansell / New York Times:
Finding the Smartphone Inside Motorola
Discussion: GigaOM and Bits
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
Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:
Apple predicted to sacrifice ‘sweetheart’ AT&T deal for Verizon  —  If Apple ends its exclusive carrier agreement with AT&T next year, it will likely mark the end of its estimated $450 carrier subsidy for the iPhone, a new analysis has forecast.  —  In a new note to investors …
Murali Viswanathan / The Official Google Blog:
Making search more musical  —  Every day we get millions of search queries about music.  You want to know more about your favorite artists, find that new album or iconic song or figure out the name of that tune stuck in your head.  In fact, according to Insights for Search, two of the top 10 queries in the U.S. are music-related.
RELATED:
Jon Fortt / Brainstorm Tech:
The anti-iTunes arms dealer
Ethan Beard / Facebook Developers:
Facebook Platform: A Roadmap for the Future  —  At Facebook, we focus on providing our developer community with simple building blocks to speed innovation and create an environment where small teams quickly push new products that can rapidly disrupt industries.
Discussion: TechCrunch and Mashable!
RELATED:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
D-Day For Facebook App Developers
Discussion: All Facebook and Inside Facebook
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Exclusive: CBS Digital CEO Smith to Leave to Start a Silicon Valley Advisory Firm (First Customer?  CBS)  —  Quincy Smith, the high-profile CEO of CBS Interactive, is planning on leaving his job at the media giant in January to start an advisory firm in Silicon Valley, according to several sources.
RELATED:
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:   CBS Digital Boss Quincy Smith's Not-Quite Exit Interview: “Hulu's a Great Service.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Brainstorm Tech:
Apple's 2009 ad budget: Half a billion  —  Those Get-a-Mac spots aren't cheap, but they deliver a lot of bang for the buck  —  Apple (AAPL) shells out a ton of money for advertising.  In fiscal 2009 it spent $501 million, according to the 10-K form filed Tuesday.  That's up from $486 million in 2008 and $467 million in 2007.
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 …
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Is the LinkedIn Platform Dead?  —  LinkedIn, the business social network, hopped on the platform bandwagon this time last year by opening up its network to developers.  It was a move I was excited to see Reid Hoffman's crew make.  LinkedIn, unlike some of the other professional networks that came before it, is actually very useful.
Thanks:atul
BBC:
Net pirates to be ‘disconnected’  —  People who persistently download illegal content will be cut off from the net, Business Secretary Peter Mandelson has announced.  —  Speaking at a government-sponsored forum to debate copyright issues he said the UK would introduce a similar policy to France.
RELATED:
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.
Prince McLean / AppleInsider:
Apple stores upgrading from Windows-based EasyPay to iPod touch  —  Multiple sources have noted that Apple will be transitioning its retail store EasyPay handheld checkout systems from Windows-based PDA devices to iPod touch hardware for the 2009 holiday season.
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Intel and Numonyx report a breakthrough in new kind of memory chip  —  Intel and startup Numonyx said today they have accomplished a breakthrough in a new kind of memory chip that combines the best features of a variety of memory types.  Numonyx (founded in 2000) has been working on something called …
Tom Conrad / Pandora:
Share Pandora with Your Friends on Facebook, Twitter, and Beyond  —  When I think about my connection with music, I think about three impulses: the impulse to discover, the impulse to buy, and the impulse to share.  Here at Pandora we've had the discover and buy bits covered for some time …
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Brizzly Gets A New Coat: Facebook  —  Since its beta launch this summer, Brizzly has been hands-down one of the best ways to interact with Twitter.  The web app puts a new and intuitive user interface over Twitter's data, which allows you to do things like see pictures inline in your stream …
Greg Kumparak / MobileCrunch:
Sprint Drops Call Forwarding Fees With Google Voice In Mind  —  As the endless brouhaha ringing from all corners of the Internet has proven, AT&T (or Apple, or whoever takes the blame in the end) really dropped the ball on this Google Voice thing.  Whether it was rejected outright or shelved indefinitely …
Discussion: CNET News and The Hill, Thanks:erickschonfeld
Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent:
Yahoo, Microsoft Extend Deadline To Negotiate Search Deal  —  Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) and Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) say in an SEC filing they will extend “the period to negotiate and execute” their search ad agreement, which they had initially said they would complete by Tuesday.
Discussion: CNET News
AppleInsider:
TomTom Car Kit, navigation software will not work with iPod touch  —  The forthcoming TomTom Car Kit navigation dock will not enable GPS functionality for the corresponding App Store software on the iPod touch and first-generation iPhone.  —  Company officials confirmed to AppleInsider Wednesday …
Discussion: App Advice, Macworld, MacRumors and I4U News
Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:
Mozilla fixes 16 flaws with Firefox 3.5.4  —  Security update also patches 9 bugs in older Firefox 3.0  —  Computerworld - Mozilla today patched 16 vulnerabilities in Firefox, 11 of them critical, as it updated the open-source browser to version 3.5.4.  —  The 11 critical Firefox 3.5 vulnerabilities …
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
YouTube Phasing Out Accounts, Google Login Will Be Required  —  YouTube has begun warning users that they will soon be required to login with a Google account, instead of their old YouTube accounts.  Just as people freaked out when Flickr changed the locks on the doors and required a Yahoo account to get in …
Matt Marshall / VentureBeat:
Augmented reality company Layar gets $1M boost, launches on Symbian  —  Layar, which has forged early leadership in the nascent but inspiring field of “augmented reality,” is about to finish raising a round of more than $1 million.  —  The Dutch company, which superimposes images and other data …
Discussion: Fast Company and ReadWriteWeb
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.
Discussion: The Toybox, Traffick, Electronista and MacDailyNews, Thanks:atul
 
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 More Items: 
Greg Kumparak / MobileCrunch:
Virgin Mobile kills off all sign of Helio …
Discussion: I4U News, Obsessable and Engadget
Liz Gannes / NewTeeVee:
ScanScout Completes $8.5M Funding, Sets Up Shop in Singapore
Ryan Nakashima / Associated Press:
Disney iPhone app makes photos the key to content
Lance Whitney / CNET News:
More security breaches hit midsize companies
Discussion: Maximum PC and Security Bytes
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Two Yahoo Music Veterans Resurface with DashBox, a Service You'l …
Discussion: paidContent
Felicia R. Lee / New York Times:
Serving Literature by the Tweet
internetnews.com:
Apple to Nokia: We're Ready to Rumble
Discussion: Reuters and mocoNews
 Earlier Items: 
Jim Goldman / Tech Check with Jim Goldman:
AMD's Ruiz Gets Tripped by Idle Chit-Chat
Discussion: VentureBeat
Dean Pullen / Inquirer:
Microsoft pulls the Xbox 360 Sky Player
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Google's Eric Schmidt on What the Web Will Look Like in 5 Years
Discussion: TeleRead, Techdirt and Guardian, Thanks:atul
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Exclusive Picture Of Unlaunched Apple Tablet (circa 1990)
Discussion: Gearlog, Thanks:thinkmantra
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Want 50Mbps Internet in your town? Threaten to roll out your own
Discussion: NPR Blogs
John Resig:
Google Groups is Dead
 

 
From Mediagazer:

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”

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

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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