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11:30 AM ET, August 1, 2010

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:
Cookie Madness!  —  I just don't understand Julia Angwin's scare story about cookies and ad targeting in the Wall Street Journal.  That is, I don't understand how the Journal could be so breathlessly naive, unsophisticated, and anachronistic about the basics of the modern media business.
RELATED:
Peter Bright / Ars Technica:
Ballmer (and Microsoft) still doesn't get the iPad  —  “The operating system is called Windows,” claimed Steve Ballmer when asked about Microsoft's plans for the tablet/slate/pad form factor at the company's annual Financial Analyst Meeting on Thursday.  He expressed dismay …
Discussion: BetaNews and Computerworld
BBC:
Two Gulf states to ban some Blackberry functions  —  Two Gulf states have announced bans on some functions of the Blackberry mobile phone, claiming security concerns.  —  The United Arab Emirates is to block sending emails, accessing the internet, and delivering instant messages to other Blackberry handsets.
Discussion: Engadget
RELATED:
Tim Falconer / Wall Street Journal:
U.A.E. to Suspend Some BlackBerry Services  —  DUBAI—The United Arab Emirates said Sunday it will suspend some BlackBerry smartphone services from Oct. 11 in a dispute with Canada's Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of the device, over the monitoring of data.
Discussion: Computerworld
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Hacker shows how he can intercept cell phone calls with $1,500 device (video)  —  A security researcher showed in a live demo today how he can intercept cell phone calls on 80 percent of the world's phones with just about $1,500 worth of equipment.  —  Chris Paget, who also showed yesterday …
Elinor Mills / CNET News:
Researcher detained at U.S. border, questioned about Wikileaks  —  LAS VEGAS—A security researcher involved with the Wikileaks Web site was detained by U.S. agents at the border for three hours and questioned about the controversial whistleblower project as he entered the country on Thursday …
Clive Thompson / Wired:
Clive Thompson on the Death of the Phone Call  —  My phone bills are shrinking.  Not, unfortunately, in cost.  I mean they're getting shorter.  I recently found an old bill from a decade ago; it was fully 15 pages long, because back then I was making a ton of calls—about 20 long-distance ones a day.
Steve Cheney / TechCrunch:
Why Apple Should Buy Infineon: To Own Mobile And Screw Intel  —  Apple's earnings and revenue growth in mobile have been awe-inspiring to witness.  From zero presence three years ago, Apple is now the most profitable cell phone maker in the world.  —  Apple's success in this compressed period …
Discussion: 9 to 5 Mac
Fred / A VC:
Dave McClure's Investment Thesis  —  I've been a fan of Dave McClure since I met him some time ago.  He has strong opinions, he shares them liberally, spices them up with foul language, and finds himself involved with a lot of interesting entrepreneurs and companies.  In a nutshell, he's my kind of investor.
Ashlee Vance / New York Times:
In School Systems, Slow Progress for Open-Source Textbooks  —  INFURIATING Scott G. McNealy has never been easier.  Just bring up math textbooks.  —  Mr. McNealy, the fiery co-founder and former chief executive of Sun Microsystems, shuns basic math textbooks as bloated monstrosities …
Paul Carr / TechCrunch:
Blind Item: Which Editor of Valleywag Needs to Resign?  Right Now.  —  Criticising Valleywag in 2010 is something of a pointless exercise, like offering diplomatic counsel to the Ottoman Empire ten years after the Treaty of Lausanne.  More pointless still, attacking the site's titular editor Ryan Tate …
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Rival Smartphone Attenuation Videos Vanish From Apple's Website  —  Well this is interesting.  One of the key points at Apple's recent press conference to discuss the iPhone 4′s antenna, was that the problem (called “attenuation") is not unique to the iPhone 4.
 
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 More Items: 
Liz Gannes / GigaOM:
A Peek Inside the M&A Playbooks of Technology's Top Acquirers
Discussion: Inside Facebook
Priya Ganapati / Epicenter:
American iPad Users Pay Among the Highest for Data Worldwide
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
How North Korea could build a cyber army to defeat the U.S.
Rex Hammock / Rex Hammock's RexBlog.com:
Flipboard: The product is great, the hyperbole is grating
Discussion: Scripting News and AdAge
 Earlier Items: 
Marc Flores / IntoMobile:
Exclusive: Verizon 4G LTE Launching This Year; LTE Roadmap Detailed
Emily Lambert / Forbes:
High-Frequency Programmers Revolt Over Pay
Discussion: Salon
Kim Zetter / Threat Level:
WikiLeaks Posts Mysterious ‘Insurance’ File
Seth Rosenblatt / CNET News:
Tighter security coming in Firefox 4
Matthew Humphries / Geek.com:
8 future Gmail features/changes revealed with a single image
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Andrew Marchand / The Athletic:
Memo: ESPN's Jimmy Pitaro announces layoffs, mostly due to the NFL Network acquisition; sources: on-air personalities Karl Ravech and Ryan Clark are affected

Dan Shanoff / The Athletic:
Nielsen: the World Cup final drew 38.9M viewers on Fox, and 22M+ on Telemundo; taken together, the US audience size rivaled that of NFL playoff games

MJ Franklin / New York Times:
How publishers are cashing in on surging public interest in The Odyssey through splashy reissues; Circana BookScan says sales of The Odyssey rose by 76% YoY

 
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