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4:40 PM ET, November 6, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Fever Pitch: It's Droid Day, Enjoy The Moment.  —  If you are a tech lover, there is nothing quite like the launch day of a much hyped new gadget.  Expectations run high.  And since those expectations are rarely satisfied once you have the special little device in hand, it's a moment to savor.
RELATED:
Phil Goldstein / FierceWireless:
Verizon launches Droid to few lines, but much excitement  —  Verizon Wireless launches its first two Android phones this morning, and though the launch was not greeted with the same crowds and lines that accompanied previous iPhone launches, customers said they were excited about the devices, especially the Motorola Droid.
Discussion: eWeek, GigaOM and Electronista
Marguerite Reardon / CNET News:
Midnight Droid madness in Manhattan
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Confirmed: Skype Founders Settle With eBay And Others, Get 14% Stake In Skype, Not 10%  —  eBay has just announced that it has reached a settlement with the founders of Skype, clearing the way for the sale of the Internet communication company to a consortium formed by private equity firm …
RELATED:
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Andreessen On Skype: “This Is One Of The Most Important Companies On the Internet.”  —  Earlier this morning, Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis settled their lawsuits with eBay and a syndicate of investors in return for a 14 percent stake in the company they founded.
Brad Stone / New York Times:
EBay Settles Suit Over Skype Sale
Discussion: Mashable! and The Next Web
Kevin Bury / The LinkedIn Blog:
A new design for LinkedIn  —  Some of you may have noticed a new site navigation experience on LinkedIn.  We are in the process of testing a new design.  During this testing phase, some users will see the new design, while others will not.  —  What's New
Emil Protalinski / Ars Technica:
October 2009 OS stats: Windows 7 passes Snow Leopard, Linux  —  In less than two weeks of general availability, Windows 7 has already captured a market share that is greater than Snow Leopard and Linux.  Details inside.  —  Windows 7 arrived two weeks ago and so far it's selling quite sell.
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Apple Retail Stores Roll Out ‘Reserve and Pick Up’ Purchasing for Holiday Season  —  Apple has rolled out a new Reserve and Pick Up purchasing program for its retail stores, allowing customers to select and reserve products for later in-store purchase and pick up ahead of the holidays.
Discussion: AppleInsider and 9 to 5 Mac
John Herrman / Gizmodo:
Giz Explains: Android, and How It Will Take Over the World  —  This week we met Motorola's Droid, the first handset with Android 2.0.  To an outsider, it just looks like another Google smartphone, but 2.0 is more than that: it's proof that Android is finally going to take over the world.
Abbey Klaassen / AdAge:
The Droid Gets Google.com Real Estate  —  Part of the All-Out Push for the Verizon Handset  —  “Sesame Street” is not the only one getting plum placement on Google.com.  Droid is as well, with 42 characters of promotion, right underneath Bert and Ernie.  —  Google's done this sort …
Discussion: TechCrunch and Search Engine Land
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider:
Boxee Beta Coming December 7  —  NYC-based Boxee will release the long-awaited beta version of its Web video-watching software on Dec. 7, MediaMemo's Peter Kafka tweets.  —  It'll be shown off at an event at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.  —  Boxee is basically a Web video browser designed …
Long Zheng / istartedsomething:
Microsoft College Tour 09: mindblowing natural user interface concept demos from Microsoft Research  —  It turns out 2019 is getting closer every day.  At the moment, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie is doing the rounds at a number of prestigious colleges …
Michael Learmonth / AdAge:
Will Ferrell Jumps to YouTube for ‘No Financial Gain’  —  Meanwhile, That Bulldog on a Skateboard Gets Some Ads  —  YouTube is bending over backward to accommodate content creators, and it just landed one it probably should have had a long time ago: Will Ferrell's Funnyordie.com.
Discussion: industry.bnet.com and i-boy, Thanks:mrinaldesai
Tyler Hamilton / Technology Review:
Betting on a Metal-Air Battery Breakthrough  —  A government-funded start-up claims it can make ionic liquid energy storage feasible.  —  A spinoff from Arizona State University says it can develop a metal-air battery that dramatically outperforms the best lithium-ion batteries on the market …
Nick O'Neill / All Facebook:
Facebook Surpasses 325 Million Users  —  Facebook has continued to grow at an impressive rate throughout the year, most recently announcing the 300 million user milestone.  According to Facebook's own advertising statistics though, the company is now beyond 325 million users and continuing to grow.
Tony Smith / The Register:
Intel replicates ‘bricked SSD’ bug, pledges fix  —  Intel has once again promised a fix for the glitchy firmware update tool it released for its 34nm solid-state drives last month.  But it still can't say when the new version will arrive.  —  The chip giant released new firmware for the drives on 26 October.
Discussion: InfoWorld, Engadget and Maximum PC
Biz / Twitter Blog:
Retweet Limited Rollout  —  We've just activated a feature called retweet on a very small percentage of accounts in order to see how it works in the wild.  Retweet is a button that makes forwarding a particularly interesting tweet to all your followers very easy.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Brainstorm Tech:
Apple is coming to Broadway  —  The Big Apple's newest Mac store is opening on the Upper West Side next Saturday  —  Media invitations went out Friday for a press preview of the new Apple Store in Manhattan — the city's fourth — scheduled to be unveiled Saturday, Nov. 14.
Discussion: AppleInsider, MacRumors and MacNN
Rachel Cooper / Telegraph:
Inventor of mobile phones says they have become ‘too complicated’  —  Mobile phones with cameras and music players are too complicated, according to the inventor of the device.  —  Martin Cooper, who was the lead engineer of the Motorola team that developed the mobile phone …
Discussion: Gizmodo, T3.com News and Engadget, Thanks:atul
Marguerite Reardon / CNET News:
GetJar: The unknown app store leader  —  I'm sure you've heard of Apple's App Store for the iPhone.  But have you ever heard of an independent mobile app store called GetJar?  —  No?  Well, that's not surprising.  The tiny company now based in Silicon Valley has done virtually no marketing.
Todd Bishop / TechFlash:
Google CEO: Hopefully we won't repeat Microsoft's past mistakes  —  Eric Schmidt appeared on Fox Business Network tonight for an extensive interview with host Neil Cavuto, who pressed the Google CEO a couple times over whether the company has the potential to become the next Microsoft …
Don Reisinger / CNET News:
Sorry, kids: No social networking on the Xbox 360  —  In the public preview of the upcoming Xbox Live update that features access to Twitter, Facebook, and Last.fm, users under the age of 18 aren't allowed to access the aforementioned social networks.  Unfortunately for those users …
Brian Heater / AppScout:
Adobe Photoshop Comes to Android  —  Just in time for today's big Verizon Droid releases, Adobe has announced the available of its mobile version of Photoshop.com for Google's Android.  The app features simple image editing tools and photo-sharing features.  —  The app lets users crop, rotate, and color correct photos.
Ki Mae Heussner / ABCNEWS:
Woman to Broadcast Birth on Internet  —  Social Network for Mothers to Stream Live Video of Delivery  —  For many people, it's one of life's most intimate moments.  But for a 23-year-old Minnesota teacher, the birth of her first child will be an event open to anyone in the world.
Todd Shields / Bloomberg:
AT&T's $945 Million Centennial Purchase Can Proceed as FCC Gives Approval  —  Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) — AT&T Inc. can complete its $945 million purchase of Centennial Communications Corp. after winning regulatory approval from the Federal Communications Commission.
Discussion: FierceWireless
Stephanie N. Mehta / Brainstorm Tech:
Will Microsoft become the General Motors of software?  —  It has near-monopoly status and nimble, disruptive competitors.  We've seen this movie before.  —  By Jay R. Galbraith, president and founder, Galbraith Management Consultants  —  Galbraith questions Microsoft's resolve to change.
Discussion: Computerworld, Thanks:atul
Jonny Evans / 9 to 5 Mac:
Louvre App ships as Louvre Apple store opens  —  The acclaimed Musée du Louvre has introduced its own App through the App Store as Apple moves to open its first retail store to the French public in Paris at the Louvre Carrousel tomorrow morning.  —  The Louvre App lets iPhone …
Discussion: Switched and MacRumors
Tarmo Virki / Reuters:
SCENARIOS-Ways ahead in Nokia vs Apple legal battle  —  * Nokia charged Apple on Oct. 22 in Delaware, U.S.  —  * Apple's answer, counter-claim expected  —  * Apple could go to U.S. International Trade Commission  —  * Legal battle could spill over to Europe
Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent:
DailyCandy's Sheinbaum Gets Funding For His New Startup  —  Mandelbrot Project, a stealth startup led by former DailyCandy CEO Pete Sheinbaum has raised $500,000, according to an SEC filing.  PEHub says the backer is the Foundry Group, which declined to comment.
 
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 More Items: 
Luke Plunkett / Kotaku:
Online Retailers Refusing To Sell Modern Warfare 2
John Leyden / The Register:
Controversial email blocklist SORBS sold
Mark Walsh / MediaPost:
Smartphone, Ahem, ‘Converged Device’ Sales Continue to Climb
Clint Boulton / eWeek:
Reframe It Claims Google Sidewiki Emulates Its Web Annotation Service
Discussion: Google Watch
Nicholas Carlson / Silicon Alley Insider:
AOL Names Gilt Groupe CEO To Board
Discussion: paidContent
 Earlier Items: 
Alex Williams / ReadWriteWeb:
Microsoft To Offer Application Marketplace In Sharepoint 2010
Zee / The Next Web:
Leaked PDF Reveals Google Voice International Plans
Discussion: Download Squad, Thanks:mgcreed
John C Abell / Epicenter:
Essay: Steve Jobs' Legacy Is Missing Clue to Apple Tablet
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Sean Parker's “Causes” to Leave MySpace: Does It Matter?
Discussion: ssireview.org