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12:10 PM ET, August 18, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Brad Molen / Engadget:
AT&T streamlining individual messaging plans August 21st, leaving unlimited as the sole survivor  —  Do not adjust your computer screen, because the screenshot you're seeing above is real.  Confirmed by multiple sources, we've exclusively learned that AT&T — the protagonist of choice …
RELATED:
Ben Patterson / here's the thing:
Don't want an unlimited messaging plan? Options are few, far between, and expensive
Discussion: Android Phone Fans, Thanks:benpatt
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
IBM produces first working chips modeled on the human brain  —  IBM has been shipping computers for more than 65 years, and it is finally on the verge of creating a true electronic brain.  —  Big Blue is announcing today that it, along with four universities and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency …
Matt Rosoff / The Business Insider:
Android Boss Andy Rubin Split His First Huge Bonus Check With His Employees  —  When the first Android phone shipped in 2008, Andy Rubin received a multimillion dollar check from his bosses at Google.  —  He turned around and gave some of the money away to the 100 or so employees on the Android team.
RELATED:
Staska / Unwired View:
What a blunder.  LG had a contract to build first Android phone, but walked away from the deal  —  Wow!  Is this LG's biggest strategic blunder or what?  —  According to Wall Street Journal (subscription required), back when Google was still working on it's mobile OS in secret …
Discussion: PhoneArena and SlashGear
Josh Ong / AppleInsider:
Apple accused of selling refurbished iPhones as new in China  —  A well-known consumer rights advocate in China has filed two lawsuits against Apple after customers reported purchasing iPhone 4s from Beijing Apple Stores only to discover their warranties were for less than a year …
RELATED:
Zach Epstein / BGR:
Most Android apps sit idle, top-50 apps make up 61% of all usage, Nielsen finds  —  Nielsen on Thursday ushered in a new era of mobile device usage reporting brought about by customer metering software installed on thousands of iOS and Android devices around the U.S. Rather than relying …
Derek Kessler / PreCentral.net:
HP France outs white 64GB TouchPad with 1.5GHz processor [Update: shipping in 1-2 weeks, official statement from HP]  —  The 64GB HP TouchPad has been a bit of a unicorn as of late, but true to HP form, they've up an unceremoniously revealed it in Europe.  A small footnote of a button …
Andrew Harris / Bloomberg:
Motorola Mobility Faces Suit Over $12.5 Billion Google Sale  —  Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) — Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. and its chief executive officer, Sanjay Jha, were sued by a shareholder claiming they failed to get the best price when they agreed to sell the company for $12.5 billion to Google Inc.
Jonah Jones / Google LatLong:
Rain or shine, see the weather in Google Maps  —  Whether you're organizing a trip overseas or a picnic at a local park, knowing the weather forecast is a crucial part of the planning process.  Today, we're adding a weather layer on Google Maps that displays current temps and conditions around the globe …
Discussion: The Next Web
Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Ahead of Tablet Launch, Amazon Boasts About Its Digital Video Library  —  Amazon says that recently announced deals with CBS and NBC Universal have pushed up its library of digital movies it rents and sells to 100,000 titles, up from 90,000.  —  But let's be very clear about this: The …
Scott Merrill / TechCrunch:
Red Hat CEO At LinuxCon: I Have No Idea What's Next  —  Jim Whitehurst, CEO of Red Hat, just delivered a terrific opening keynote presentation for LinuxCon.  Whitehurst isn't just a businessman, he's also a geek.  He used Linux and open source before joining Red Hat, and the opportunity …
Bloomberg:
AOL Discounted Gets Last, Best Hope  —  For a private equity firm that's looking for the cheapest way to get online, AOL Inc. (AOL) is trading for 57 cents on the dollar.  —  The Internet pioneer spun off from Time Warner Inc. (TWX) in 2009 plunged to a record low last week after cutting …
Discussion: The Business Insider
Daniel Eran Dilger / AppleInsider:
Verizon's Android share down dramatically following iPhone 4 launch  —  In less than six months, Verizon Wireless' share of Android phones sold in the US has eroded from 51.4 percent to 41.1 percent, indicating a huge shift among Verizon subscribers to iPhone 4.
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Andreessen Horowitz Leads $15M Round In Cloud Business Intelligence Platform GoodData  —  Startup GoodData, which provides companies with a cloud-based business intelligence (BI) platform, has raised $15 million in funding led by Andreessen Horowitz with existing investors General Catalyst Partners …
Henry Blodget / The Business Insider:
Don't Mean To Be Alarmist, But Groupon Is Running Low On Cash  —  One of the fastest-growing companies in history, Groupon, is running low on cash.  —  The company is not broke.  It can also presumably raise additional capital in the private markets if its IPO gets further delayed.
Discussion: HBR.org, Betabeat, reDesign and LAUNCH
Jeremy Keeshin / thekeesh.com:
Who Does Facebook Think You Are Searching For?  —  Have you ever wondered how Facebook orders your search results?  Clearly they have some ordering about who they think you are looking for, and they seem to guess pretty well.  I can only guess, but it seems like they order it based on who you interact with …
Help Net Security:
Researchers identify first flaws in the Advanced Encryption Standard  —  Researchers have found a weakness in the AES algorithm.  They managed to come up with a clever new attack that can recover the secret key four times easier than anticipated by experts.
ConsortiumInfo.org The Standards Blog:
W3C Launches New “Agile” Standards Development Platform  —  By anyone's measure, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has been one of the most important and influential standards development organizations of the information technology age.  Without its efforts, the Web would literally not exist as we know it.
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Windows Phone games: Details on Microsoft's ‘Fast Async’ service  —  As part of an update about upcoming Windows Phone gaming features, Microsoft this week offered a teaser about a new service called “Fast Async” — promising that it will improve gameplay for turn-by-turn (a.k.a. asynchronous") Xbox Live games on the phones.
Electronista:
Apple only major PC builder in Western Europe still growing  —  Mac grows in Europe in Q2 2011 while Windows falls  —  Apple was the only major computer manufacturer in Western Europe to keep growing this past spring, Gartner uncovered in a continent-wide breakdown on Wednesday.
Greg Kumparak / TechCrunch:
Apple, It's Time To Block iOS 5 Beta Users From Reviewing Apps  —  “Yeah, each new iOS announcement is very... bittersweet.  We love it because it means new APIs for us to build on, bug fixes for things we've had to work around, and, ideally, more people buying the platform we build for.
Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:
Miami court deals huge setback to Motorola Mobility's defense against Microsoft  —  Motorola Mobility's defense strategy against Microsoft's patent infringement lawsuit just suffered a major setback.  The best defense in patent disputes is a good offense, but after an order issued today …
Ian Hardy / MobileSyrup.com:
TELUS Samsung Galaxy S II Hercules surfaces again!  —  Here it is Canada!  You can consider this confirmation that the Samsung Galaxy S II Hercules is coming to TELUS.  We first saw a pic a few weeks ago, but now a couple more images have surfaced.  Look at this gem of an Android!
Kevin C. Tofel / GigaOM:
Why your next smartphone may have a larger HD screen  —  Samsung is reportedly shrinking down the size of full high-definition screens and will create them for large smartphones and small tablets.  The company's Super AMOLED Plus technology, which arrived earlier this year …
Bob Van Voris / Bloomberg:
Facebook Says ‘Authentic Contract’ E-Mailed by Ceglia to Lawyer  —  Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) — Paul Ceglia, the western New York man claiming part-ownership of Facebook Inc., e-mailed the “authentic contract” disproving his claim to a law firm in 2004, a lawyer for the company told a judge.
 
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 More Items: 
Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
Fanbois treat criticism of favorite brands as threat to self-image
John Hiesler / Edible Apple:
Delta deploying iPads to pilots as electronic flight bag replacements
Discussion: TechCrunch, O'Grady's PowerPage and TUAW, Thanks:edibleapple
Matt Rosoff / The Business Insider:
Windows 8 Will Have An App Store And A “Human Interaction Platform”
Eric Savitz / The Tech Trade:
Kodak: Patents For Sale
 Earlier Items: 
Bloomberg:
Jive Software Said to Hire Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs for IPO
@anonyops:
The leak today of BART officer data could be the work sanctioned by those who truly support anonymous, or agent provocateurs. Stay skeptical
Wolfgang Gruener / ConceivablyTech:
Beyond Windows 8: Patent Hints To A Future Streaming OS
Terry Baynes / Reuters:
AT&T sues customers seeking to block T-Mobile deal
Discussion: Inquirer, SlashGear, CNET News and Gizmodo
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Authentic Brands licenses Sports Illustrated's publishing rights to The Players' Tribune owner Minute Media for 10 years, with plans to keep the print edition

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Ofcom rules that five GB News programs presented by Conservative politicians have broken its due impartiality rules and puts the channel “on notice”

Todd Spangler / Variety:
YouTuber MrBeast announces a deal with Prime Video for Beast Games, a reality-competition show with 1,000 contestants, promising the winner a $5M cash prize

 
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