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10:25 PM ET, February 12, 2010

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Google May Offer Buzz Independently From Gmail  —  Google says it may allow people to participate in Google Buzz without having it integrated within Gmail, in addition to offering a combined Gmail service.  That may be a welcome move from users of both products, especially in light …
RELATED:
Kim-Mai Cutler / VentureBeat:
Google says VP's comments misconstrued, not taking Buzz out of Gmail  —  In an update to an earlier post, Google says vice president of product marketing Bradley Horowitz' comments were misconstrued by SearchEngineLand.  He had told the blog that Google was considering separating its brand-new social networking service Buzz from Gmail.
Nick Saint / Silicon Alley Insider:
Google Responds To Blogger's Outrage With Product Tweaks (GOOG)  —  Google (GOOG) is rolling out two more privacy tweaks for Google Buzz in response to a post by an outraged blogger who claimed that Google Buzz had given her abusive ex-husband and his friends access to personal information.
Discussion: Technologizer, Fugitivus and CNET News
Harriet Jacobs / Fugitivus:
F**k you, Google  —  I use my private Gmail account to email my boyfriend and my mother.  —  There's a BIG drop-off between them and my other “most frequent” contacts.  —  You know who my third most frequent contact is?  —  My abusive ex-husband.  —  Which is why it's SO EXCITING …
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:
Too Easy: How a Simple Hack Can Turn Your Numeric Google Profile URL …
Discussion: PC World and Social Hacking
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Amazon Wants To Give A Free Kindle To All Amazon Prime Subscribers  —  In January Amazon offered select customers a free Kindle of sorts - they had to pay for it, but if they didn't like it they could get a full refund and keep the device.  It turns out that was just a test run for a much more ambitious program.
The Official Google Blog:
Google acquires Aardvark  —  When you need an answer to a very specific question, sometimes the information just isn't online in one simple place.  For example, let's say you want to know if there's snow on Skyline Boulevard on a given day or the best time of year to plant beans in the Bay Area.
RELATED:
Shelly Banjo / Digits:
Obama Is Hiring a Twitterer  —  Calling all job-seekers: President Barack Obama is looking for an official Twitterer. … The Democratic National Committee's “social networks manager” job description says the position entails maintaining the President's accounts on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.
Discussion: Brainstorm Tech and Mashable!, Thanks:mrinaldesai
Sam Dillon / New York Times:
Wi-Fi Turns Rowdy Bus Into Rolling Study Hall  —  VAIL, Ariz. — Students endure hundreds of hours on yellow buses each year getting to and from school in this desert exurb of Tucson, and stir-crazy teenagers break the monotony by teasing, texting, flirting, shouting, climbing (over seats) and sometimes punching (seats or seatmates).
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Google's Sergey Brin Talking China At TED  —  At the TED conference in Southern California, host Chris Anderson held an impromptu Q&A with Google cofounder Sergey Brin on Google's decision to leave China.  —  Anderson started out asking Brin to recount what happened.
Discussion: Bits, CNET News, CNN, Epicenter and BoomTown
Kim Zetter / Epicenter:
TED 2010: Wired for the iPad to Launch by Summer  —  LONG Beach, California — Wired Magazine Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson announced at the Technology, Entertainment and Design conference on Friday that the publication would be releasing its content for the iPad by summer.
Discussion: Gizmodo
Brier Dudley / The Seattle Times:
Google pulls Vancouver luge crash video off YouTube, still up elsewhere  —  The horrific luge crash in Vancouver today won't get much play on YouTube: Google quickly removed uploaded film clips at the request of the International Olympic Committee, activating its copy-protection tools.
Discussion: Techdirt and Techland
Bloomberg:
Microsoft Bets on Software Upgrade to Fight IPhone  —  Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) — Six years ago, Microsoft Corp.'s software ran about a quarter of all smartphones and was gaining ground.  Then Apple Inc.'s iPhone and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. left the software giant in the dust.
RELATED:
Eric Zeman / InformationWeek:
Windows Mobile 7 Being Announced Monday Feb. 15
Nick Bilton / Bits:
Do E-Readers Cause Eye Strain?  —  The admonition offered by legions of mothers — “Don't sit so close to the TV” — isn't really an option when it comes to e-reading devices.  You have to get close to the screen to use it.  —  The act of reading is going through a number of radical transitions …
Paul Boutin / VentureBeat:
HP announces Android netbook  —  The Compaq AirLife 100 is a cloud-white netbook that HP will sell exclusively through Telefónica this spring.  A canned HP press release says the AirLife will be available “in selected countries,” but I've been unable to get them to name any of them.
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
App Store Now Has 150,000 Apps.  Great News For The iPad: Paid Books Rule.  —  During Apple's iPad event in January, CEO Steve Jobs announced that Apple now had over 140,000 apps in the App Store (along with over 3 billion downloads).  If the numbers by app analytics company Distimo are correct, that number is now past 150,000.
Peter Burrows / BusinessWeek:
Another Sign of An Apple-Bing Deal On iPhone  —  Since we broke the story that Apple and Microsoft were in talks to make Bing the default search engine on the iPhone, I've been waiting for more evidence from other sources.  It came this morning, from Collins Stewart analyst Sandeep Aggarwal …
Fred / A VC:
Thoughts On Buzz  —  Reece asked me in the comments the other day what I thought about Buzz.  I told him I hadn't had the time to turn it on and play with it.  I did that later in the day and have been using Buzz for a couple days.  So here goes Reece.  —  I'll state right up front …
Brian Barrett / Gizmodo:
Computer Engineer Barbie Has a PhD In FUN (And Breaking Down Stereotypes)  —  This is actually wonderful.  Barbie's had 124 careers since 1959, ranging from Stewardess to Paratrooper.  Today she gets her 125th: computer engineer.  You can tell she's smart 'cause she's got glasses, and reads nothing but binary.
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Roundtable:
Picture of Google News New Home Page Test  —  A week ago today, we reported Google News was testing a new home page design.  Since then, I have been begging those who have seen the test to post a picture so the rest of us can see what they see.  Finally, yesterday, someone posted an image in the Google News Help forum.
Discussion: The Next Web, Erictric and Neowin.net
BBC:
The price of free  —  We are increasingly giving away personal information on sites such as Facebook  —  As part of a major series on the BBC about the impact of the web, producer Jo Wade has been looking at the price we pay for free information.  —  ‘Numb Fingers.’ 'Wind Beneath …
Discussion: Guardian
Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
EU OK seen for Microsoft/Yahoo search deal: sources  —  Related Quotes  —  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Microsoft (NasdaqGS:MSFT - News) is expected to secure unconditional EU approval for its landmark search deal with Yahoo Inc (NasdaqGS:YHOO - News) to challenge market leader Google (NasdaqGS:GOOG …
Lauren Streib / Silicon Alley Insider:
eBay On The Hook For $275,000 To Louis Vuitton (EBAY)  —  A Paris court ruled Thursday that eBay harmed the image of the venerable French fashion house Louis Vuitton by paying to have misspelled search queries direct to its site.  —  LV was awarded €200,000 ($275,000) …
Discussion: Wall Street Journal
Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:
France's Le Fig Unveils Paid Features, But ‘News Will Be Free Forever’  —  Another week, and another newspaper opts for a paid-content model: French daily Le Figaro has now announced price tiers for its delayed, previously announced offering, which will go live on Monday...
Discussion: Guardian
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Brainstorm Tech:
The iPad that launched a thousand apps  —  Data gathered in January show a rush of new projects on the iPhone operating system  —  Click to enlarge.  Source: Flurry Analytics  —  Measured by the number of new applications being written for each type of device, Google's (GOOG) …
 
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 More Items: 
Marguerite Reardon / CNET News:
Wi-Fi rides to wireless networks' rescue
Jack Purcher / Patently Apple:
iPhone + Logo - Now a Registered Trademark of Apple Inc.
Discussion: App Advice and TiPb, Thanks:atul
Nancy Gohring / Computerworld:
EFF, library groups argue against Autodesk appeal
Discussion: p2pnet
Andy Greenberg / Forbes:
IBM Eyes The iPad
Discussion: AppleInsider
Nancy Sudheer / business24-7.ae:
LG's e-reader to take on rivals iPad, Kindle
Discussion: Erictric and Engadget
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Motally Cooks Up Flexible APIs To Allow Publishers To Import And Export Analytics
Discussion: VentureBeat
 Earlier Items: 
New York Times:
China Alarmed by Security Threat From Internet
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Microsoft And Partners Are About To Add A Big Fat Social Layer To Outlook
Discussion: Between the Lines
Philipp Lenssen / Google Blogoscoped:
New: Google Maps Labs
Google Code Blog:
Announcing Google Chart Tools
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb and AppScout, Thanks:atul