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5:00 AM ET, December 20, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
AT&T:
AT&T Ends Bid To Add Network Capacity Through T-Mobile USA Purchase  —  AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) said today that after a thorough review of options it has agreed with Deutsche Telekom AG to end its bid to acquire T-Mobile USA, which began in March of this year.  The actions by the Federal …
RELATED:
Arik Hesseldahl / AllThingsD:
Sprint Wins the Argument, but It's Still Losing the War  —  Shares of Sprint are rallying by about 6 percent in after-hours trading, on word that AT&T has abandoned its $39 billion bid for T-Mobile.  —  That's really only a jump of 13 cents per share — a figure that says a lot about the pickle …
Dan Frommer / SplatF:
AT&T-Mobile deal is dead: Now what?  —  AT&T's $39 billion bid for T-Mobile is finished: Thanks to the U.S. government's efforts to block the deal, AT&T is pulling out.  So, now what?  — AT&T will have to pay T-Mobile a $3 billion breakup fee, plus a large amount of wireless spectrum …
Discussion: Deal Journal and Sramana Mitra
Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM:
Despite AT&T's defeat, wireless deals will continue
Discussion: DSLreports
Emily Chang / @emilychangtv:
AT&T pulls bid for T-Mobile USA, expects pre-tax charge of $4 billion in the fourth quarter via @BloombergTech
Discussion: Business Insider
Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:
Apple wins ITC ruling of narrow technical scope against HTC: a limited victory but just the beginning  —  After twice postponing its final ruling on Apple's first complaint against HTC, the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) has finally announced its decision.
RELATED:
Zach Epstein / BGR:
HTC responds to ITC ruling, says it has a solution ready to address Apple patent violations  —  HTC on Monday responded to a ruling from the United States International Trade Commission that will ban the import of several HTC devices beginning April 19th, 2012.
Seth Weintraub / 9to5Google:
Google X's wearable technology isn't an iPod Nano, but rather a heads up display (glasses)  —  Google Goggles gets a new meaning  —  The New York Times today relayed an open secret among some in the Google community: the company is working on wearable technology in its secret off-campus Google X lair.
Paul Sloan / CNET News:
Marc Andreessen: Predictions for 2012 (and beyond)  —  Marc Andreessen's view of the world boils down to software.  —  From where he stands, as the guy who co-founded Netscape Communications and now co-runs the powerful Silicon Valley venture firm Andreessen-Horowitz, no industry is safe from software.
Discussion: Business Insider
Laurie Segall / CNNMoney.com:
What's really behind Twitter's staff exodus  —  NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Twitter's transformation from startup to power player has hit its rocky adolescent stage.  In the past six months, more than a dozen high-level employees have departed.  The sudden exodus set Silicon Valley chattering: What's going on at Twitter?
Discussion: ITworld.com
Ben Popper / Betabeat:
Source: Groupon Doesn't Have The Cash to Build Its New Data Center  —  In the run up to its recent IPO, a number of outlets reported that the daily deal giant Groupon was running short on cash.  Over at the Motley Fool, Evan Niu noted that the company had $243.9 million in cash and equivalents …
Discussion: Business Insider
Stanford Law Review:
Don't Break the Internet  —  Two bills now pending in Congress—the PROTECT IP Act of 2011 (Protect IP) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House—represent the latest legislative attempts to address a serious global problem: large-scale online copyright and trademark infringement.
RELATED:
Dina Bass / Bloomberg:
Microsoft Shrinking Margins Loom on Cloud Push  —  Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)'s push into cloud computing will help the company compete with Google Inc. (GOOG), Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Salesforce.com Inc. (CRM) It also will hurt profit margins.  —  The company's cloud software lets corporate customers pay …
Discussion: Internet Evolution
John Tenanes / Facebook:
Our New Menlo Park Home  —  This morning, the final wave of employees walked through the doors of the new Facebook Menlo Park campus, and my team greeted them with coffee, snacks, and maps to help them find their new desks.  For years, we've been moving from one building to the next …
Brian Heater / Engadget:
Two days in the desert with Apple's lost founder, Ron Wayne  —  “I have to ask you something,” Ron Wayne begins, as we stand to leave his office, signaling the close of our day-long conversation.  He takes a slightly dramatic pause, adding, “compared to other people, is my life really that interesting?”
Discussion: TUAW
Jon Russell / The Next Web:
First the court, now Samsung beating Apple in Australia's mobile market  —  Fresh from beating Apple in the court room in Australia — after the ban on its Galaxy Tab was overturned earlier this month — Samsung has leapfrogged its rival to take the top spot in the country's smartphone market …
Lori Grunin / CNET News:
A more secure SD for HD content  —  Panasonic, Samsung, SanDisk, Sony, and Toshiba today announced an agreement to develop new content-protection technology for SD cards and embedded flash.  Dubbed “Next Generation Secure Memory Initiative,” the press release claims the as-yet undeveloped technology …
Social Media Intelligence:
Friends & Frenemies: Why We Add and Remove Facebook Friends  —  To friend or to de-friend, that is the question.  New research from NM Incite, a Nielsen McKinsey company, reveals that there are innumerable factors that help Facebook users decide to add a friend or cull someone from the fold …
Brad McCarty / The Next Web:
Google pays $18 million to shutter Apture, CloudFlare clones it in 12 hours  —  Even if you've never heard of Apture, you've probably used the company's products before.  If you've ever been on a site where you copied some text, and then had a box pop up that offered to show you context related …
Chris Dixon:
An internet of people  —  Over the past few years, a bunch of web-based marketplaces have gotten popular - Etsy, Kickstarter, AirBnb, to name a few.  Many of these business ideas had been tried before but are succeeding only now.  —  When a trend like this emerges, it's always interesting to ask “why now?”
Discussion: parislemon
Sebastian Anthony / ExtremeTech:
Firefox 9 unofficially released, JavaScript performance improved by 20-30%  —  Ahead of an official release tomorrow, Firefox 9 has winged its way to various mirrors across the web and is now available to download from the official Firefox website — no messing around with a hammered Nightly FTP server this time, oh no!
Karim Temsamani / Google Mobile Ads Blog:
A look back at 2011  —  Mobile turned a corner this year.  As smartphones and tablets became a part of our everyday lives, business owners' conversations shifted from ‘Why should I advertise on mobile or build a mobile website?’ to ‘How do I get started?’.  —  Five major industry trends emerged …
Lucas Mearian / Computerworld:
Hard drive manufacturers slash warranty periods  —  Seagate cuts warranties from five years to one for certain desktop and laptop drives  —  Seagate and Western Digital are cutting back on hard drive warranties, in some instances from five years to one, in order to save money or redirect it to product development.
 
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 More Items: 
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Seagate now officially owns Samsung's hard drive business
Susan Decker / Bloomberg:
Sprint Sues Time Warner, Comcast Over Digital Phone Technology
Discussion: Light Reading and Tech Daily Dose
Matthew Goldstein / Reuters:
Exclusive: Falcone's wireless company running out of cash
Jonathan S. Geller / BGR:
HTC Elite flagship phone and 4G LTE Windows Phone to hit AT&T in early 2012
Tarmo Virki / Reuters:
Nokia CEO says to keep headquarters in Finland: TV
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines Blog:
Red Hat third quarter solid, better than expected
Discussion: The Register and Tech Trader Daily
Andrew Hampp / Billboard:
Exclusive: MySpace Launches New Music Player, Search Function, Facebook Integration
Discussion: Electronista and hypebot
 Earlier Items: 
Nathan Olivarez-Giles / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
IBM ‘5 in 5’ predicts no more passwords, mind-reading smartphones
Chris Ziegler / The Verge:
‘So, what phone should I buy?’ and other unanswerable questions
 

 
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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