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6:40 PM ET, August 18, 2010

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Lee Mathews / Download Squad:
Google launching a Chrome OS tablet on Verizon, goes on sale November 26  —  The title pretty much says it all on this one, folks.  —  Yes, our source tells us that Google is building a Chrome OS tablet.  It's real, and it's being built by HTC.  No surprise there, since HTC churned out the Nexus One for Google.
Brian X. Chen / Gadget Lab:
Apple's App Store Director Sells His Own Fart Apps  —  Apple has long been an icon for quality products, but its overflowing iOS App Store is a crapshoot: Nuggets of quality are buried in a vast, steaming heap of inanity.  In fact, the man who oversees the App Store process runs a side business selling fart and urination apps.
RELATED:
Ryan Tate / Gawker:
Apple's ‘Freedom From Porn’ Enforcer Drawn To Porn Stars and Escorts on Twitter  —  As the director of Apple's app store, Phillip Shoemaker is responsible for enforcing Apple's controversially draconian policies on iPhone code and content.  So you'd think he'd have done a better job cleaning the online skeletons out of his closet.
Discussion: iLounge and everythingiCafe
Ryan Lawler / NewTeeVee:
Verizon to Put Live TV on the iPad  —  Verizon unveiled a series of new video applications today, including an upcoming iPad app that will allow FiOS subscribers to watch the same linear programming that is available on their TV screens on their tablet devices.
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
The Tragic Death of Practically Everything  —  Wired Editor in Chief Chris Anderson is catching flack for the magazine's current cover story, which declares that the Web is dead.  I'm not sure what the controversy is.  For years, once-vibrant technologies, products, and companies …
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
Microsoft's Arc Touch Mouse revealed?  —  It's not official until Microsoft says it is, but the image above of the rumored Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse was just snagged off a German online store.  Amazingly, the mouse arches its back for comfortable mousing before packing flat for easy transport.
Ashlee Vance / Bits:
Skype Loses Engineering Chief Before Offering  —  After just a month as chief development officer at Skype, Madhu Yarlagadda has left the company for personal reasons, a company spokesman said on Wednesday.  —  Mr. Yarlagadda's responsibilities at Skype included running engineering for all of its products …
Nick Bilton / Bits:
For the Class of 2014, No E-Mail or Wristwatches  —  Every year the administrators at Wisconsin's Beloit College put together a list of information about incoming freshmen that is shared with the school's professors.  It's not a list of student names, or the books they'll need to order for class.
Liz Gannes / GigaOM:
The Facebook Location Perspective, Then and Now  —  Back when I first got a Facebook account as a college student in the spring of 2004, it had a location feature.  There was a space on each user's profile that automatically indicated the dorm cluster from where they'd last logged in, based (I guess?) on their IP address.
Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent:
‘Powered By Bing’ Shows Up On Yahoo Search Pages—In Size 8 Font  —  Microsoft's Bing search engine isn't getting much branding play on the “powered by Bing” Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) search result pages, which are making their debut this week.  Do a search on Yahoo, and you'll need a magnifying glass …
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Thou Shalt Not Surprise Users: Twitter Suspends (Then Reinstates) Twifficiency  —  Yesterday, we noted the annoying phenomenon on Twitter that was Twifficiency.  For those unaware (though I'm not sure how you could be), it was a third-party app that hooked into Twitter to calculate a grade for you based on your Twitter usage.
Discussion: ProgrammableWeb and ReadWriteWeb
New York Times:
Investors Chide Michael Dell  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Dell's shareholders delivered a sharp rebuke of Michael S. Dell, the company's founder and chief executive, when a fourth of the investors withheld support of Mr. Dell in a recent vote.  —  In a regulatory filing released Tuesday …
Peter Parkes / Skype Mobile:
Skype mobile now available on Verizon Wireless multimedia phones on the BREW platform  —  Six months ago, we announced a strategic relationship between Skype and Verizon Wireless to create the Skype mobile application and make it available on a variety of Verizon Wireless' Android and BlackBerry smartphones.
Mike Melanson / ReadWriteWeb:
Facebook Status Gets Auto-Suggest  —  Facebook has begun automatically suggesting links to Facebook pages, groups, interests and even other users this morning, offering a drop-down list of suggestions as you type.  —  The feature is reminiscent of Google Suggest, which tries to predict …
Discussion: Inside Facebook and All Facebook, Thanks:rwwmike
Tim Stevens / Engadget:
Sandisk's 64GB integrated SSD is no bigger than a wafer-thin mint  —  Think your mobile device couldn't eat another byte, that it's stuffed full of storage?  Surely it has room for a tiny little thin SSD?  This is Sandisk's solution for storage in portable devices, the creation of a new class of storage: integrated SSD, or iSSD.
Eric Goldman / Technology & Marketing Law Blog:
The Problems With Google House Ads  —  [Note: This blog post has taken me 7 months to write, so I'm glad to be sharing it finally.  I am cross-posting it to Search Engine Land.]  —  Introduction  —  Many publishers run “house ads” to self-promote their own offerings.  Google does too.
Discussion: CNET News
Rio Caraeff / VEVO:
VEVO Goes Mobile!  Introducing VEVO for iPhone and iPod touch  —  The wait is over!  We are thrilled to announce today that our VEVO iPhone (including iPhone 4) and iPod touch App is available now FREE for download at the iTunes store (US & Canada).  —  Brought to you exclusively …
Los Angeles Times:
Google TV plan is causing jitters in Hollywood  —  Many worry that Silicon Valley will upend the entertainment industry just like the Internet ravaged the music and newspaper industries.  —  The two men leading Google TV believe technological innovation can make TV better and more profitable for everyone.
Ina Fried / CNET News:
Microsoft adds photo editing to Mac Office  —  Microsoft said Wednesday the next version of Office for Mac will get two key features that were part of the latest Windows version: photo editing and mini charts in Excel, known as Sparklines.  —  In a video posted on its Office for Mac Web site …
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Now You Can Search For Google Docs From Within Gmail (And It Catches Typos, Too)  —  Google may be synonymous with search, but some of the search functionality in its Apps products is sadly lacking — if you want to search for something in Google Docs, Calendar, or Gmail, you've had to do it from within its respective app.
Kyle VanHemert / Gizmodo:
What It's Like To Suddenly See Your Bank Account at Negative $900,000 Thanks to PayPal  —  This morning, 24-year-old web developer Derek Lanphier started seeing fraudulent charges on his PayPal account, adding up to about $3,000.  Then, moments later, his bank account balance was at -$888,871.91.
Austin Carr / Fast Company:
Iris Scanners Create the Most Secure City in the World.  Welcome, Big Brother  —  We've all seen and obsessively referenced Minority Report, Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Philip K. Dick's dystopian future, where the public is tracked everywhere they go, from shopping malls to work to mass transit to the privacy of their own homes.
Discussion: Gizmodo
Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:
Apple won't change antenna for Verizon iPhone, says expert  —  Dismisses talk of coating or change in design for possible CDMA iPhone  —  Computerworld - If an iPhone does appear on Verizon, don't expect Apple to change its antenna design, an expert said today.
 
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 More Items: 
LAPTOP Mag:
Mobile Flash Fail: Weak Android Player Proves Jobs Right
Krista Garcia / eMarketer and Blog Posts:
Restaurant Industry Emulates Groupon and Gilt's Recipe for Group-Buying
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
GDGT Gets Serious About User Gadget Reviews And Rising Above The Flamewars
Steve Rosenbaum / Silicon Alley Insider:
Jason Hirschhorn On MySpace, MTV, And What's Next
Vlad Savov / Engadget:
T-Mobile G2 gets a teaser site, will be network's first HSPA+ phone
PC World:
Swedish Pirate Party to Host Wikileaks Servers
Discussion: GigaOM, Tech Eye and The Register
 Earlier Items: 
Adrianne Jeffries / ReadWriteWeb:
Swipely Opens to Public, But Are People Ready to Broadcast What They Buy?
Discussion: VentureBeat, Mashable! and TechCrunch
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Millennial Media: Android OS Grew By 47 Percent In July …
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Confirmed: Facebook Rolling Out A New Slimmer, Sexier Like Button
Discussion: Inside Facebook
Howard Breuer / People.com:
Plastic Surgeon Was Texting in Car Before Fatal Crash
Discussion: Gizmodo, Techmamas and GottaBeMobile
Sam Kennedy / 1UP.com:
Google Shows the Future of Browser Games
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Your fears confirmed: “up to” broadband speeds are bogus
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Ben Sherwood and Joanna Coles take minority stakes in The Daily Beast; Sherwood will be CEO and publisher, and Coles will be chief creative and content officer

Laurence Peter / BBC:
Russia's Ministry of Justice labels BBC Russian correspondent Ilya Barabanov and science reporter Asya Kazantseva as “foreign agents”; both now live abroad

Sahil Patel / The Information:
Sources: Disney plans old-style TV channels within Disney+, with a continuous, scheduled stream of shows that are focused on certain genres like Star Wars

 
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