Techmeme
March 19, 2012, 9:35 PM

Top News

Apple:
Apple Announces Plans to Initiate Dividend and Share Repurchase Program  —  Expects to Spend $45 Billion Over Three Years  —  Apple® today announced plans to initiate a dividend and share repurchase program commencing later this year.  —  Subject to declaration by the Board of Directors …
Erica Ogg / GigaOM:
With dividend, Tim Cook thinks differently about Apple  —  While playing the “Steve would never do that” game is seldom a great idea — it's akin to calling yourself a fortune teller or a mind reader — it is fairly safe to say, based on his prior statements and declarations …
More: WebProNews
Jordan Golson / MacRumors:
New iPad Sales Top 3 Million In Under 4 days  —  Apple announced today that it has sold 3 million new iPads in less the four days of availability, calling it the “strongest iPad launch yet.” … Apple didn't announce first weekend sales numbers for the iPad 2 as they were in extremely short supply …
AppleInsider:
AT&T sets single-day record for iPad sales, activations  —  AT&T announced on Monday that the launch of the new iPad set a new single-day record for sales and activations of Apple's touchscreen tablet.  —  The new 4G LTE-capable iPad went on sale last Friday, March 16, and in that 24-hour span …
Kim-Mai Cutler / TechCrunch:
Zynga Is In Talks To Buy “Draw Something” Maker OMGPOP  —  Zynga is in talks to acquire OMGPOP, the maker of massive hit Draw Something, according to a source with direct knowledge of the discussions.  It's my understanding that the talks have not yet entered the more advanced …
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Amazon Acquires Robot-Coordinated Order Fulfillment Company Kiva Systems For $775 Million In Cash  —  Amazon has just announced that it will acquire order fulfillment company Kiva Systems for $775 million in cash.  We've embedded the release below.  —  Kiva Systems' interconnected hardware …
Dina Bass / Bloomberg:
Microsoft Said to Finish Windows 8 in Summer, With October Debut  —  Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) will finish work on Windows 8 this summer, setting the stage for personal computers and tablets with the operating system to go on sale around October, according to people with knowledge of the schedule.
Adam Z Lein / pocketnow.com:
Nokia's Redesign of the Windows Phone UI  —  We all know that back when the Nokia and Microsoft partnership was announced, Nokia was given special rights to alter the user interface as they saw fit.  At least with the current Lumia devices, we didn't see much of a redesign at all …
Amanda Lenhart / Pew Internet:
Teens, Smartphones & Texting  —  Teens are fervent communicators.  Straddling childhood and adulthood, they communicate frequently with a variety of important people in their lives: friends and peers, parents, teachers, coaches, bosses, and a myriad of other adults and institutions.
Mike Daisey:
Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated  —  “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”  —another American monologist Many consider this week's THIS AMERICAN LIFE episode one of the most painful they've ever listened to.  In particular the segment with me is excruciating …
Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:
HTC rumored to have bought MOG  —  HTC's Beats Audio unit may have bought music subscription service MOG, according to a rumor reported by Business Insider Monday.  Insider writer Matt Rosoff based his report on a single source, but we have since also heard from a source that term sheets went …
Avram Piltch / LAPTOP Magazine:
Tablet Chip Showdown: Nvidia Tegra 3 vs. the New iPad's A5X  —  When Apple announced the new iPad earlier this month, CEO Tim Cook claimed that the new iPad's new A5X chip offers four times the performance of Nvidia's quad-core Tegra 3 CPU.  Now that the new iPad has hit the street …
Tricia Duryee / AllThingsD:
Groupon Scheduler Rolls Out in Beta as Part of Larger Tech Ambitions  —  Groupon doesn't want to be known as just a deals company.  —  As many others have proven (Google, Amazon, LivingSocial, etc.), that business is easy to replicate.  Instead, the Chicago-based company wants to be known as a technology company for local merchants.
Stephen Chapman / Between the Lines Blog:
New iPad feature ‘Dictation’ sends/stores private data to Apple servers  —  Summary: Dictation is one of the key features of the new iPad; however, using it requires more than meets the eye.  Read all about it in this post.  —  After spending a solid weekend with the new iPad …
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
Google Defends Hotfile (and Megaupload) in Court  —  Google has filed a brief at a federal court in Florida defending the file-hosting site Hotfile in its case against the MPAA.  The search giant accuses the movie companies of misleading the court and argues that Hotfile is protected under the DMCA's safe harbor.
More: CNET and TechCrunch
Bloomberg:
Facebook Is Said to Plan Paying 1.1 Percent Fee to Banks  —  Facebook Inc. (FB), the social- networking website seeking to raise $5 billion in an initial public offering, will pay underwriters a 1.1 percent fee, two people with knowledge of the company's plans said.
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz And Khosla Back Big Data Startup ClearStory  —  There's more money from big-name investors for big data.  ClearStory Data, a newly launched startup focused on bringing big data technology to the masses, has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding …
Matt Brian / The Next Web:
Apple launches ‘Answers from the community’ support listings on product pages  —  In an attempt to help persuade customers visiting the product pages on its website, Apple has introduced a new “Answers from the community” section to listings, allowing visitors to answer frequently asked questions that consumers may pose.
More: MacStories and TUAW
Rip Empson / TechCrunch:
Plancast Founder Mark Hendrickson Joins Obvious-Incubated Lift As Head Of Product  —  Last June, Biz Stone and Evan Williams teamed up with long-time collaborator (and early Twitter employee) Jason Goldman to dust off and re-start The Obvious Corporation — the very idea incubator that produced …
Sarah Mitroff / VentureBeat:
Now you can share your Dropbox folders with your Facebook friends  —  Dropbox announced Monday morning on Twitter that you can now share your Dropbox folders with friends on Facebook.  —  The integration isn't huge, but it's perhaps a sign of what Dropbox has been working …
Aaron Souppouris / The Verge:
Without ads, Android apps could be more than twice as power-efficient  —  A team of researchers from Purdue University and Microsoft has discovered that up to 75 percent of app-related battery drain in Android can be caused by ad-serving processes.  Led by Abhinav Pathak …

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Myriam Joire / Engadget: