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8:40 PM ET, August 15, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Larry Page / The Official Google Blog:
Supercharging Android: Google to Acquire Motorola Mobility  —  Since its launch in November 2007, Android has not only dramatically increased consumer choice but also improved the entire mobile experience for users.  Today, more than 150 million Android devices have been activated worldwide …
RELATED:
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Exclusive: Guess who else wanted to buy Motorola?  —  Google may not have had much of a choice when it came to buying Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion.  If it didn't, someone else would have and that would have put the company in an even bigger patent hole.
Henry Blodget / The Business Insider:
THE TRUTH ABOUT THE GOOGLE-MOTOROLA DEAL: It Could End Up Being A Disaster  —  A very interesting move by Google this morning, buying handset hardware maker Motorola for $12.5 billion.  —  Google deserves credit for a big, bold move.  —  But let's be real: This deal could end up being a disaster.
Dan Lyons / Real Dan Lyons Web Site:
Suck on it, AppleSoft — Google pulls a rope-a-dope  —  Everyone was baffled when Google made those crazy bids for the Nortel patents last month.  Remember?  They bid things like the distance from the earth to the sun, the number pi, and some other wacky numbers from mathematics.
MG Siegler / parislemon:
Rope-A-Dope, Indeed  —  Sometimes you want so badly to say “I told you so!” after months of getting kicked in the ass, that you do so without really looking into what you're writing about.  Or even thinking, really.  —  Such is the predicament Dan Lyons finds himself in today.
Discussion: Daring Fireball
Bloomberg:
Google Deal Said to Have $2.5 Billion Reverse Breakup Fee  —  Aug. 15 (Bloomberg) — Google Inc.'s acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. includes a reverse breakup fee of $2.5 billion, according to a person close to the situation.  —  Google would pay Motorola Mobility that sum upon failing …
Chris Ziegler / This is my next:
Google buying Motorola: Nokia, Samsung, and other industry players react  —  Google said this morning that it dropped its “top five” Android partners a line yesterday to let them know that this Motorola acquisition was taking place — so naturally, many of them had prepared statements ready to go.
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines Blog:
Google's $12.5 billion Motorola Mobility bet: 6 reasons why it makes sense
Arik Hesseldahl / AllThingsD:
Google's Motorola Deal Will Spur Antitrust Regulators to Action
Discussion: Deal Journal, Reuters and CNET News
Andreas Udo de Haes / Computerworld:
Apple's evidence may be flawed in European Samsung case  —  Pictures of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 submitted into evidence look more like the iPad than the actual Samsung device does  —  (COMPUTERWORLD NETHERLANDS) — Apple and its lawyers have, perhaps inadvertently, misled the judge …
RELATED:
Daniel Cooper / Engadget:
Did Apple alter photos of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in its injunction filing?
Discussion: BGR
Sara Jerome / Tech Daily Dose:
FCC Probing Wireless Blocking by San Francisco Authorities  —  The Federal Communications Commission is investigating actions last week by the transportation authority in San Francisco which interrupted wireless service in commuter stations in an effort to foil protesters who had planned demonstrations.
RELATED:
Demian Bulwa / San Francisco Chronicle:
BART braces for evening protest
Discussion: Gizmodo and Mercury News
Jonathan S. Geller / BGR:
Exclusive: 4G LTE iPhone currently in carrier testing  —  Apple's iPhone 5 is set to be unveiled in the next month or so, though no one quite knows what the device will feature thanks to the ongoing flood of rumors.  Sure, we have a pretty good idea of what it will look like …
Ed Bott / The Ed Bott Report Blog:
Microsoft declares victory over Linux, names Apple and Google main rivals  —  Summary: Normally, reading a company's annual report is better than Ambien for lulling oneself to sleep.  But this year Microsoft's lawyers allowed some actual competitive insight to sneak into the normally dull 10-K reports …
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
Official Steve Jobs biography set for November 21 release, based on forty interviews  —  According to Barnes and Noble's website, the official Steve Jobs biography - titled Steve Jobs: A Biography - is becoming available on November 21, 2011.  This is a big leap from the previously announced March 6 …
Ben Parr / Mashable!:
President Obama Joins Foursquare  —  Foursquare has just gained its highest-profile user yet: President Barack Obama.  —  “The White House is now on Foursquare, a location-based social networking website, which is the latest way for you to engage with the administration,” The White House said on its blog.
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Twitter Opens Photo Service To Third-Parties — API Hints At Other Media Down The Line  —  It's been two and a half months since Twitter first unveiled their own photo sharing service, in partnership with Photobucket.  Just last week, they finished rolling it out to all users.
Laura Hazard Owen / mocoNews:
New Amazon Student App Also Offers 6 Free Months Of Amazon Prime  —  It's not as good a deal as Amazon's offer last year that gave anyone with a .edu e-mail address a free year of Amazon Prime, but the new Amazon Student iOS app does come with six months of free two-day shipping.
Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
iOS devs pay $50,000 for collecting children's info in apps  —  The parent company of Broken Thumbs Apps—a prominent iOS app maker responsible for games like Zombie Duck Hunt, Truth or Dare, and Emily's Dress Up—has today settled with the Federal Trade Commission over its apparent collection …
AppleInsider:
Construction begins at site of Apple's Grand Central Terminal store  —  Construction is now underway at New York's Grand Central Terminal, where Apple is hard at work on a new retail store that may open this year.  —  Temporary scaffolding can now be seen on the second floor at the world-famous terminal.
Discussion: MacRumors, TUAW and iDownloadBlog.com
Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:
Most Android vendors lost their Linux distribution rights, could face shakedown or shutdown  —  Last week I read about an Android licensing issue that I wasn't previously aware of.  It's a pretty serious one, and it's not that hard to understand.  The short version is that
Discussion: Neowin.net and Roughly Drafted
Lee Mathews / ExtremeTech:
Mozilla takes Firefox version numbers to the next level... by removing them  —  A great collective gasp issued from tuned-in Firefox fans when Mozilla announced that it was switching to a Chrome-like release schedule for its browser.  The goal was to make Firefox more adaptable and to keep pace …
Discussion: SiliconFilter
Brian Heater / Engadget:
TabCo reveals itself as Fusion Garage, unveils Grid 10 tablet and Grid 4 smartphone  —  After months of teasing, TabCo finally revealed itself to the world — as suspected, the brand is, in fact a reboot of Fusion Garage, the company that gave the world the much maligned JooJoo tablet.
Tricia Duryee / AllThingsD:
Airbnb Pumps Up Security With New Hires and Guarantees  —  Airbnb continues to roll out new security features at a breakneck pace to thwart mounting concerns over whether the site is a safe way to rent out your primary residence to travelers.  —  The heavily backed San Francisco start …
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
iOS 5 Assistant based on Siri technology, may tap into contacts, calendars, e-mail  —  Siri's iPhone app promotional video: how iOS Assistant will likely function  —  While we were able to exclusively report on substantial evidence that Apple is planning a system-wide voice navigation system called …
Discussion: SlashGear
 
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 More Items: 
Electronista:
Microsoft drops Reader after Amazon, Apple take over
Discussion: TechCrunch
Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
South Korea's “real names” debacle and the virtues of online anonymity
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
IAB Calls on ICANN to Withdraw Controversial Plan for New Top-Level Domains
Discussion: Business Wire and Betabeat
Eric Schmidt / Detroit Free Press:
Guest commentary: Detroit can win by using genius of the Internet
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Google Is Now The Proud Owner Of Android.me
Discussion: 9to5Google
 Earlier Items: 
Ina Fried / AllThingsD:
RIM Hopes Small Businesses Can Help With Cloudy Future
Discussion: TechCrunch
Noreen O'Leary / Adweek:
IPG Sells Half of Facebook Stake for $133 million Return on $5 million investment
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Time Warner Cable Buys Cable Company Insight Communications For $3 Billion
Matthew Lasar / Ars Technica:
Feature: Mad about metered billing? They were in 1886, too
Neal Gabler / New York Times:
The Elusive Big Idea