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6:45 PM ET, August 24, 2010

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Bloomberg:
Apple Said to Prepare New 99-Cent TV Show Rental Service  —  Apple Inc. is in advanced talks with News Corp. to let iTunes users rent TV shows for 99 cents and is in discussions with other media companies about similar deals, said three people familiar with the plan.
Aza Raskin / Aza on Design:
Firefox Panorama: Tab Candy Evolved  —  I am happy to announce that Tab Candy is coming to Firefox 4.  Starting today, Tab Candy will be called Firefox Panorama and be available as a feature in Firefox betas.  Head to the Firefox 4 feature list, or watch the video below …
RELATED:
Mike Beltzner / The Mozilla Blog:
Firefox 4 Beta Updated with Sync and Panorama  —  The latest update to Firefox 4 Beta is now available with new features that offer more control over your Web experience.  This release lets you own and control your personal Web experience by syncing your data across devices …
Apple:
iTunes U Downloads Top 300 Million  —  In just over three years, iTunes® U downloads have topped 300 million and it has become one of the world's most popular online educational catalogs.  Over 800 universities throughout the world have active iTunes U sites, and nearly half …
Shashi Seth / Yahoo! Search Blog:
Yahoo! Transitions Organic Search Back-End to Microsoft Platform  —  First let me say, wow, what a week!  As I hope everyone saw our post from last week, Yahoo! began transitioning certain back-end functions for Yahoo! Search over to Microsoft's search platform.
Ben Worthen / Wall Street Journal:
Businesses Add iPads to Their Briefcases  —  Some Companies, Which Barred the iPhone, Build Apps for Tablet Computer and Give Apple Gadget to Employees  —  When Apple Inc.'s first iPhone came out in 2007, many companies told their employees that the device wasn't appropriate for the workplace.
Brian Barrett / Gizmodo:
Please Stop Making New Phones With Old Firmware  —  We've reached the point where buying a “new” Android phone could still mean you're using firmware that's 18 months old.  There's got to be a better way.  —  Today's release of the Android 1.5-laden Dell Aero might be the most recent …
Discussion: DSLreports and Black Web 2.0
RELATED:
Emma Barnett / Telegraph:
Facebook Places ‘boring’ says Foursquare chief  —  Dennis Crowley, the co-founder of Foursquare, a location-based social network, has called Places, Facebook's new check-in tool, “boring” and “unexciting”.  —  Talking to The Telegraph, Crowley, said he had now had time to play around …
RELATED:
Robert McMillan / Computerworld:
Apple exec stashed $150K in shoe boxes  —  Bail for Paul Devine is set at $600K, plus any money he has in foreign bank accounts  —  IDG News Service - SAN JOSE — Federal agents found more than $150,000 in cash when they searched the house of Apple manager Paul Devine earlier this month, prosecutors said in court Monday.
Nielsen Wire:
African-Americans, Women and Southerners Talk and Text The Most in the U.S.  —  Think you can guess which Americans talk or text the most on their cellphones?  —  According to Nielsen, African-Americans use the most voice minutes - on average more than 1,300 a month.
Jonny Evans / Computerworld:
Why ‘open’ Android may lose the Apple iOS wars  —  Everyone's sleeping with Android and Apple should watch out, at least that's the threat on news Acer has also thrown in its lot with Android, hinting at truth in earlier predictions the firm intends releasing an Android 3.-powered iPod contender …
Discussion: Macworld, AppleInsider and MacStories
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Motorola Snaps Up 280 North For $20 Million  —  Motorola has acquired Y Combinator startup 280 North, we've confirmed.  We haven't confirmed, but have heard from multiple sources, that the price is around $20 million.  This is a sizable exit for the founders - the company has raised just $250,000 in a 2008 angel round.
Discussion: Tech Trader Daily, Electronista and Ajaxian, Thanks:atul
Chris Ziegler / Engadget:
Exclusive: HTC's Windows Phone 7-equipped T8788 breaks cover for AT&T  —  In case you needed any more evidence that AT&T is going all-in with Windows Phone 7, take a gander at this little beast, a phone known only as the HTC T8788 at this point (rest assured, you'll get a snappy, memorable …
RELATED:
Brandon Miniman / pocketnow.com:
Exclusive: Windows Phone 7 Web Browser Comparison (Video)
Tom Krazit / CNET News:
Google defends Android Market licensing server  —  A licensing system meant to ensure Android applications were properly downloaded has been hacked, and Google is looking into the issue.  —  Google introduced a new licensing system for the Android Market in late July in response to concerns …
RELATED:
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Topsy: Now Searching Tweets Back To May 2008  —  Looking for old tweets?  Look to Topsy.  The service has just expanded to have what it claims to be the largest searchable collection of past tweets, over 5 billion of them, stretching back to at least May 2008.
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb and Topsy Labs
Brian Barrett / Gizmodo:
The 300,000 Biggest Websites, Visualized With Their Icons  —  How do the 288,945 most heavily trafficked sites on the internet stack up against each other?  Take a very close look at this chart to find out.  —  While you could spend all day with a microscope trying to sort …
James Temple / San Francisco Chronicle:
Jack Dorsey connected the dots to create Twitter  —  During the mid-1980s, an introverted young teenager named Jack Dorsey sat for countless hours at his father's desk, in a small city outside of St. Louis, teaching himself to program on an early IBM personal computer.
Discussion: Laughing Squid, Thanks:atul
Jessica Guynn / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Square hires Keith Rabois, Silicon Valley veteran and investor  —  Keith Rabois is paying it forward.  —  Not only did Google land technology to help boost its social networking ambitions when it bought Slide this month, it got PayPal veteran and Internet superstar Max Levchin as well.
Thanks:mbaratz
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
Samsung Galaxy Tab gets official teaser video  —  Whoa, now we're talking.  It's short, sweet, and dramatic yet the official Samsung Galaxy Tab teaser video still manages to reveal a number of features.  We've got Android 2.2 running on a 7-inch display, video calling, Swype, HD movie playback, navigation, e-reader, and plenty more.
Agence France Presse:
Toshiba to launch first glasses-free 3D TV  —  TOKYO (AFP) - Japanese electronics giant Toshiba plans to market the world's first 3D television that does not need special glasses later this year, a report said on Tuesday.  —  Toshiba will unveil three models of the television …
Mike Melanson / ReadWriteWeb:
Pandora Adds Genre-Based Stations  —  Just the other day, I introduced my mother to music recommendation service Pandora.  We'd been discussing how my grandfather used to love listening to barbershop music and she said she missed it and would love to find a way to listen.
Greg Kumparak / MobileCrunch:
Virgin Mobile shifts up their MiFi plan: $40.  Unlimited.  Contract-free.  Glorious.  —  Man, these pre-paid carriers are really learning to pull on a geek's heartstrings.  Just months ago, Boost launched the US' first Android-powered prepaid phone, the Moto i1.
Ed Bott / Ed Bott's Microsoft Report Blog:
Fact check: malware did not bring down a passenger jet  —  I've been reading breathless and shocking “reports” for several days now explaining that “malware brought down a Spanish jet.”  And once again we have a case study in how the Internet echo chamber works to take a single report and distort it beyond recognition.
 
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 More Items: 
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
Iomega Portable Hard Drives Hit the Big USB 3.0
Discussion: SlashGear, Iomega, Gizmodo and Electronista
Caitlin Fitzsimmons / All Facebook:
Why Facebook Spam Could Soon Rival Email Spam
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Google Finance Now Looks Better In Your Mobile Browser
Ryan Grim / The Huffington Post:
Facebook Blocks Ads For Pot Legalization Campaign
Discussion: Adotas, Gawker, Boing Boing and NBC Bay Area
Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:
Apture Highlights brings richer browsing to any website
 Earlier Items: 
Tiffany Hsu / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Consumer Reports calls for protections on mobile payments through phones
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines Blog:
Tech companies' vision hampered by growth goggles as M&A picks up
Discussion: GMSV, Forrester Blogs, Digits and HP
Julie / Electronic Frontier Foundation:
Steve Jobs Is Watching You: Apple Seeking to Patent Spyware
Alexis Madrigal / The Atlantic Online:
How Mobile Devices Could Lead to More City Living