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12:40 PM ET, August 22, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Skype To Acquire Year-old Group Messaging Service GroupMe  —  Skype will acquire group messaging service GroupMe, a service that was born at a hackathon at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York in 2010.  GroupMe was founded by Jared Hecht and Steve Martocci.  —  The terms of the deal, including price, aren't being disclosed.
RELATED:
Tricia Duryee / AllThingsD:
Skype Pays Around $85 Million For GroupMe  —  Skype has agreed to acquire GroupMe, a company that has developed a way to for a group of people to send messages to each across various smartphone platforms.  Terms of the deal were not disclosed.  Skype is in the process of being acquired by Microsoft.
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Why Skype bought GroupMe & Why it isn't enough
Ben Popper / Betabeat:
GroupMe Acquired by Skype for More than $50 Million
Discussion: Betabeat, Thanks:betabeat
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
iOS 5 includes early earthquake warning notifications for Japanese iPhone users  —  Following the devestating earthquake in Japan earlier this year, Apple has added a new early earthquake warning notification option to iOS 5. iOS 5 users in Japan can turn on early earthquake notifications …
Bloomberg:
Motorola's Value Found in 18 Patents  —  Among Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.'s more than 17,000 patents, a group of 18 may prove most useful in Google Inc. (GOOG)'s effort to fend off litigation targeting the Android mobile platform.  —  The inventions date back to 1994 and form the heart …
RELATED:
New York Times:
Motorola's Identity Crisis
Discussion: MediaPost and Slashdot
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Android vs Windows Phone 7: At least one handset maker thinking about it  —  The blockbuster deal between Motorola and Google is going to be a game-changer, and it will force many of the smaller handset makers to rethink their reliance on Google's Android operating system.
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
A Simple Explanation for Why HP Abandoned Palm and Is Getting Out of the PC Business  —  HP acquired Palm at the end of April 2010, for $1.2 billion.  HP's CEO was Mark Hurd.  —  Three months later, in early August, Mark Hurd was forced to resign over that scandal with forged expenses and lies about his lady friend.
RELATED:
Poornima Gupta / Reuters:
Analysis: HP - Dial “M” for mayhem
Discussion: AllThingsD, TechEye, Pulse2 and Gizmodo
Jean-Louis Gassee / Monday Note:
HP: What Léo Apotheker's Decisions Mean
James Cowie / Renesys Blog:
The Battle for Tripoli's Internet  —  As dawn broke in Libya on the morning of Sunday 21 August, it appeared that the battle for control of Tripoli was underway.  Throughout the night, a steady stream of tweets and retweets emerged from Libyan sources, painting a confusing, often contradictory picture of the evolving situation.
RELATED:
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Former Expedia Employees Raise $8 Million For Travel Search Startup Hopper  —  Hopper, a Montreal, Canada-based startup, has raised $8 million in fresh funding from Atlas Venture and previous backer Brightspark Ventures to try and ‘reinvent travel search’.  —  Hopper is still in stealth mode …
Jay Yarow / SAI:
Google Is Still In The $2 Billion+ Hunt For Hulu  —  Despite the fact that Google is taking on a $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola, the company is still in the hunt for Hulu, the Wall Street Journal reports.  —  Google joins Amazon, Yahoo, and DirecTV in the bidding process.
Sean Collins Walsh / New York Times:
Federal Push for ‘Cloud’ Technology Faces Skepticism  —  WASHINGTON — Before cost-cutting became fashionable in Washington, Vivek Kundra, the White House's chief information officer, was working to shrink the federal government's enormous budget for information technology.
Discussion: FierceVoIP
Frederic Lardinois / SiliconFilter:
Unleaked: Former WikiLeaks Spokesperson Destroys Over 3,500 Unpublished Documents  —  Daniel Domscheit-Berg, a German technology activist and former spokesperson for whistleblower organization WikiLeaks, announced today that he has destroyed over 3,500 unpublished documents that used to sit …
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
AMD stays the course with new desktop and laptop chips  —  Advanced Micro Devices is doing something today that seems rather unfashionable.  The chip maker is announcing a series of new additions to its desktop and laptop microprocessors.  —  It seems so mundane to introduce PC chips …
Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:
Miramax Launching Multi-Title Facebook Movie App In U.S., UK & Turkey  —  Watching movies on Facebook isn't new—Warner Bros. (NYSE: TWX), Paramount and Universal each are trying variations on the theme.  But today, paidContent can report, Miramax is launching the largest-scale Facebook …
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Amazon seeks Lab126 trademarks in advance of expected tablet debut  —  Amazon.com has quietly applied for trademarks on the name and logo of Lab126 — the internal group behind the Amazon Kindle e-reader and, by all accounts, an upcoming Android tablet from the Seattle company.
Zach Epstein / BGR:
Android, iOS gain U.S. market share in Q2 while BlackBerry slides, NPD says  —  Android's lead in the U.S. smartphone market was extended further in the second quarter of 2011 according to leading market research firm The NPD Group.  The firm on Monday released its second-quarter Mobile Phone Track report …
Nancy Messieh / The Next Web:
Google Street View gets the green light in Israel  —  After nearly being shut down in Switzerland, sued in Oregon, and paying settlements amounting to €100,000 in France and €150,000 in Belgium, the controversial Google Street View is coming to Israel.
Paul Taylor / Financial Times:
Lenovo chief puts down Apple channel  —  Lenovo, the Chinese PC-maker, is looking to challenge Apple's dominance of the tablet computer market with a family of devices designed to appeal to a broader audience than Apple's single iPad model.  —  “We will be one of the strongest of the players in this area …
Amar Toor / Engadget:
Sony Ericsson unveils Live with Walkman handset for music-loving Android users  —  Four months after unveiling the relatively bare bones W8, Sony Ericsson has now taken the wraps off yet another Walkman phone, known as the Live with Walkman.  Powered by a 1GHz processor …
 
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 More Items: 
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Best Buy Offering iPhone 3GS Free Today on Contract
Discussion: LAPTOP Magazine and The Loop
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
Fox's 8-Day Delay on Hulu Triggers Piracy Surge
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, SplatF and GigaOM
Melanie Lee / Reuters:
China's Sina invests up to $40 million in Tudou: source
Emily Glazer / Wall Street Journal:
Having trouble landing investors? Try showing some attitude on Twitter
Mark Gurman / 9to5Google:
Verizon plans to take 300MB for $20/m data plan nationwide this holiday season
Brad McCarty / The Next Web:
Boutique startup accelerators: Natural progression, or impending danger?
Discussion: Tech Cocktail
 Earlier Items: 
James Robinson / Guardian:
‘Google needs television industry’ will be message at Edinburgh
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Does Groupon Hope To Challenge Amazon With ‘Groupon Goods’?
Anna Heim / The Next Web:
Google fined in Brazil for refusing to reveal bloggers' identities
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Facebook, Twitter Drew Record Numbers Of U.S. Visitors In July
Zusha Elinson / New York Times:
After Cellphone Action, BART Faces Escalating Protests
Discussion: CNET News
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Another EA Exec Jumps Ship To Zynga; Jeff Karp Joins As Chief Marketing And Revenue Officer
Zee M Kane / The Next Web:
Twitter Just Got the Respect it Deserves
 

 
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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