Techmeme
March 29, 2012, 4:10 PM

Top News

Jay Yarow / Business Insider:
Tim Cook Might Abandon Steve Jobs' ‘Thermonuclear War’ On Android  —  Top Apple executives have met with top Samsung executives about settling their patent fights, Paul Barrett at Bloomberg Businessweek reports.  —  Barrett writes, “Apple CEO Tim Cook does not seem to share his predecessor's passion about laying all foes to waste.
More: CNET and MacDailyNews
Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:
Paper: the next great iPad app, from the brains behind Courier  —  Georg Petschnigg throws his hands into the air as he traces thousands of years of human evolution that led us to develop the fragile wrists we need to use tools.  Petschnigg locks his wrist into place and pretends to scribble …
Charles Arthur / Guardian:
Google's Android has generated just $550m since 2008, figures suggest  —  Data provided in response to Oracle claim suggests iPhone generated four times more revenue than Google's own handsets  —  Android generated less than $550m in revenues for Google between 2008 and the end of 2011 …
Matth / Nielsen Wire:
Smartphones Account for Half of all Mobile Phones, Dominate New Phone Purchases in the US  —  Almost half (49.7%) of U.S. mobile subscribers now own smartphones, as of February 2012.  According to Nielsen, this marks an increase of 38 percent over last year; in February 2011, only 36 percent of mobile subscribers owned smartphones.
Christopher Mims / Technology Review:
Google's New ‘Account Activity’ Is a Sham  —  When it comes to privacy, Google wants to be the good guy .  Too bad that's not enough.  —  Google Account Activity is Google's fairly transparent attempt to differentiate itself from Facebook by being open about what it knows about you.
Larry Dignan / CNET:
Best Buy feels Amazon squeeze, to close 50 big-box stores  —  Selling consumer electronics isn't as easy as it used to be for Best Buy.  The big-box retailer is closing 50 stores and compensating employees based on customer service after its fiscal fourth-quarter sales fell short of expectations.
Hulu Blog:
Hulu Plus Arrives on Seven Android Tablets.  With a Brand New Style.  —  Today marks a very special day for us at Hulu.  From the beginning, our focus has been to bring the world's most beloved TV shows and movies to entertainment fans whenever they want, wherever they want.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google Now Using ReCAPTCHA To Decode Street View Addresses  —  Have you started seeing images in online reCAPTCHAs that look suspiciously like house numbers pulled from Google Street View?  Well, as it turns out, that's exactly what they are.  Google confirmed it's currently running …
Bloomberg:
Apple's Tim Cook Visits Foxconn IPhone Plant in China  —  Apple Inc. (AAPL) Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook visited Foxconn Technology Group's newly built manufacturing facility for the iPhone in Zhengzhou, China, as the U.S. company seeks to improve working conditions.
Richard Lawler / Engadget:
iPhone 4 owners can register for $15 antennagate settlements (updated)  —  The official website for the iPhone 4 “antennagate” class action settlement is live, as pointed out by co-lead counsel on the case Ira Rothken.  Of course, speaking of cases, if you're an iPhone 4 owner who has taken advantage …
Sarah Mitroff / VentureBeat:
Fake ID holders beware: facial recognition service Face.com can now detect your age  —  Facial-recognition platform Face.com could foil the plans of all those under-age kids looking to score some booze.  Fake IDs might not fool anyone for much longer, because Face.com claims …
Brett Slatkin / Google Small Business:
A fast, accurate, and affordable way to do online market research  —  From international brands to local food trucks, every business wants to make important decisions with their customers' feedback in mind.  Which version of your new logo will people like better?  How much interest do dog owners have in organic dog food?
Paul Sawers / The Next Web:
London taxi app Hailo takes on $17m in series A funding led by Accel, and gears up for US launch  —  London-based taxi app Hailo has announced a whopping $17m Series A funding round, which is one of the largest European first-rounds in recent times.  —  The Next Web first covered Hailo back in November …
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Google adds real-time traffic estimates to Maps directions  —  Google has started rolling out traffic estimates for Maps users in selected areas.  When you search for driving directions in places with the feature, you'll see an ideal or average time at the top, followed by a time marked “in current traffic.”
Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Spotify Keeps the Free Music Party Going in the U.S.  —  Good news for American Spotify users who don't want to pay for their music: The streaming service will continue to let them listen to anything they want, without restrictions, for a while longer.  —  The free-music party was supposed …
Iain Marlow / Globe and Mail:
RIM begins laying off high-level staff: source  —  Research In Motion Ltd.'s RIM-T new CEO Thorsten Heins has begun getting rid of high-level staff at the troubled smartphone giant, according to a source close to the company.  —  Ahead of RIM reporting fourth-quarter and year-end financial results …

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Farhad Manjoo / Slate:
Lauren Goode / AllThingsD:

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