Techmeme
March 16, 2012, 12:00 PM

Top News

Jenna Wortham / Bits:
James Bamford / Wired:
The NSA Is Building the Country's Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say)  —  The spring air in the small, sand-dusted town has a soft haze to it, and clumps of green-gray sagebrush rustle in the breeze.  Bluffdale sits in a bowl-shaped valley in the shadow of Utah's Wasatch Range to the east and the Oquirrh Mountains to the west.
Julia Angwin / Wall Street Journal:
Google in New Privacy Probes  —  Regulators in the U.S. and European Union are investigating Google Inc. for bypassing the privacy settings of millions of users of Apple Inc.'s Safari Web browser, according to people familiar with the investigations.  Google stopped the practice last month …
Brooke Crothers / CNET:
Evidence of Apple chip design change in iPad teardown  —  Apple needs some serious silicon to drive that gorgeous, pixel-dense display.  —  (Credit: Apple)  —  Apple has changed the design of the main chip in the new iPad with tweaks to accommodate a higher-performing chip, according to teardown analysis.
Tim Rowe / AllThingsD:
The New Law That Will Turn the Start-Up World Upside Down: Crowdfunding  —  Remember that special moment when we all realized that the Web was going to remake yard sales and auctions, but we didn't know yet who was going to win?  (And then eBay left the rest in the dust?)
Matt Brian / The Next Web:
Confirmed: Sprint pulls the plug on LightSquared 4G contract, repays $65 million  —  Reports suggested it was imminent but today Sprint has officially confirmed that it has pulled the plug on its LTE 4G contract with LightSquared, which will return $65 million in repayments to the struggling wireless company.
Chris O'Brien / SiliconBeat:
Hiring of Kevin Rose by Google sends all the wrong signals to Silicon Valley  —  “Embrace failure” is the first thing anyone will tell you is the secret to Silicon Valley's success.  There are other things of course, but that's likely the first thing that will pop out of people's mouths.
More: SiliconANGLETweets: @pkedrosky and @rycaut
Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
The new iPad is a beautiful reminder of how stupid data plans are  —  Apple's new iPad is magnificent.  The screen is superb, the processor is fast, and despite its newfound LTE cellular connectivity, the battery life lasts.  And yet, I'd never, ever recommend you buy an LTE tablet …
Quentin Hardy / Bits:
Better Economic Forecasts, From the Cloud  —  GT Nexus used shipment data to track countries' import-export balance in 2008, left, and 2011.  The diagonal line represents balanced trade.  —  Someday soon, the Federal Reserve may be dead, at least for economic information.
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
The Retina iPad Apps To Test Tonight And Tomorrow  —  The new iPad nears.  Apparently Walmart will be selling them in just a few short hours, well before Apple itself does tomorrow morning.  Meanwhile, the first direct-to-consumer shipments should be hitting anytime now.
Paul Thurrott's / SuperSite for Windows:
Microsoft Office 15 Preview  —  Forget the rumors.  Here's what it's really like to use the Office 15 Technical Preview, which Microsoft recently made available only to a select group of customers under non-disclosure agreement.  I was able to get my hands on a copy, and while it's …
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
PayPal Here: hands-on photos with the new credit card reader and app  —  We just ran through a demo of the PayPal Here app that was unveiled today and there's frankly not anything complicated or surprising about using this as a credit card payment system — especially if you're at all familiar with Square.
David Marcus / The PayPal Blog:
Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:
Intel Capital Invests $21 Million In Swedish Eye-Tracking Tech Company Tobii  —  Intel is betting big on the future of human interfaces with a $21 million (143 million kronor) investment in Tobii, a Swedish company that has been working for years on eye-tracking laptops and other devices.

Sponsor Posts

Soxton:
Fast, affordable law for startups  —  Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better.  We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts.  Join the waitlist for early access!
F5:
Accelerate AI Adoption at F5's AI Virtual Summit  —  Learn how to architect, secure, and scale AI for production with real-world insights from industry leaders on June 23.  Register now to save your spot.
Zoho:
Website traffic analytics: How to read your data and take action  —  Traffic is up.  Sessions look healthy.  The dashboard is full of green arrows and yet — conversions are flat, revenue targets are slipping, and the leads coming through aren't closing.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Lenny's Podcast:
Father of the iPod and iPhone on building taste, judgment, and creativity in the AI era | Tony Fadell
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
Will Apple (Finally) Get AI Right At WWDC?, Anthropic's Worry, Microsoft vs. OpenAI
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
Hot I.P.O Summer + What Is A.I. Doing to Math? + HatGPT
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Vanta's Christina Cacioppo: The Underdog Turning 'Nonsense' Compliance Into A $4.2B Security Standout
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Great Chat:
Who are the billboards for?
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
AI's Mythos Moment: Rishi Sunak on preparing governments for AI
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 12:00 PM ET, March 16, 2012.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Earlier Picks