Techmeme
April 4, 2012, 7:20 AM

Top News

Joshua Topolsky / The Verge:
Lumia 900 review  —  It occurred to me that the Lumia 900 review would be one of the more important critiques of a product that I write this year.  For those of you who don't know the backstory here, the new LTE-equipped, AT&T-bound smartphone represents what could be the beginning of a new era …
Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic:
Nokia Lumia 900 teardown reveals mediocre hardware, reasons for great price  —  Takeaway: Nokia's Lumia 900 is an attractive Windows Phone handset, but TechRepublic uncovers hardware that's a step behind the Galaxy Nexus and iPhone 4S.  —  Nokia, Microsoft, and AT&T are placing huge bets on the Lumia 900.
Walter S. Mossberg / AllThingsD:
It's Big, It's Blue, It's Windows, but Can It Beat Rival Phones?  —  In the lucrative and competitive world of smartphones, Apple's iPhone is the most popular device and Google's Android—used by phone makers like Samsung and Motorola—is the most widely used operating system.
Matt Brian / The Next Web:
Instagram for Android hits 1m downloads in under 24 hours  —  Instagram's Android launch has been a successful one, with the company hitting the 1 million downloads mark in less than 24 hours since it became available on the Google Play marketplace.  —  It app had been a long time coming.
More: The Verge
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:
Facebook Smacks Back at Yahoo With Patent Claims in Counter-Lawsuit  —  Facebook has just taken strong aim back at Yahoo with a patent lawsuit of its own, claiming infringement over a number of issues.  —  “From the outset, we said we would defend ourselves vigorously against Yahoo's lawsuit …
Andy Greenberg / The Firewall:
These Are The Prices AT&T, Verizon and Sprint Charge For Cellphone Wiretaps  —  If Americans aren't disturbed by phone carriers' practices of handing over cell phone users' personal data to law enforcement en masse-in many cases without a warrant-we might at least be interested to learn …
Danielle Kucera / Bloomberg:
Amazon Tests in-App Purchase Service to Challenge Apple, Google  —  Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), the world's largest online retailer, is testing a service that lets tablet users make purchases through mobile applications, a sign it may enter a market pioneered by Google Inc. (GOOG) and Apple Inc. (AAPL)
Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:
Yahoo's Layoffs Tomorrow Morning of up to 2,000 Will Only Be the First Move of a Larger Purge to Come  —  According to sources close to the situation, Yahoo's massive round of layoffs — which is likely to impact up to 2,000 employees — is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg that will hit …
Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Time Inc. Hearst, Conde Nast, Meredith Launch “Netflix For Magazines”  —  Remember Next Issue Media, the “Hulu for Digital Magazines” consortium made up of the biggest names in publishing?  It has finally delivered something worth talking about: Call it Netflix for Magazines.
Mikael Ricknäs / Computerworld:
Samsung delays Galaxy Tab 2 family launch until end of April  —  More work on Android 4.0 is needed before the products can ship, according to Samsung  —  Samsung's low-cost tablets, the Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) and Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1), have been delayed, and will now start shipping in the U.K at the end of April, the company said Tuesday.
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Surprise: Microsoft makes list of top 20 Linux kernel contributors — first time ever  —  Has Microsoft figured out a cure for cancer?  —  The company, whose CEO Steve Ballmer once famously compared Linux to that disease, is now one of the top 20 contributors of code to the open-source …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
What Took So Long?  Germany's Samwer Brothers Rumored to Launch a Square Clone Soon  —  Square, the mobile payment startup founded by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, is one of Silicon Valley's hottest companies right now.  It's no surprise then, that German clone factory Rocket Internet …
More: GigaOM
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Facebook Threatens To Sue TechCrunch Commenter  —  Last year, Alexia covered a funny Chrome web browser extension called “Defaceable” that allowed you to comment anonymously on Facebook and on other websites using Facebook Comments.  Instead of having to associate your comment with your real name …
More: GuardianTweets: @davezatz
Brian Bondy / Brian R. Bondy:
A working Firefox Windows 8 Metro prototype, status update 3  —  The Firefox Roadmap lists a 2012 Q2 goal of providing a working Firefox prototype on Metro.  —  As of last week, we have a working browser in Metro.  It currently looks and feels the same as the Android browser.
Chris Foresman / Ars Technica:
Apple holds the master decryption key when it comes to iCloud security, privacy  —  Ars recently attempted to delve into the inner workings of the security built into Apple's iCloud service.  Though we came away reasonably certain that iCloud uses industry best practices that Apple claims …
Jim Dalrymple / The Loop:
Stanford, Open University reach 50 million downloads on iTunes U  —  Two of Apple's university partners reached significant milestones this month on the company's free education service, iTunes U. Both Stanford and Open University reached 50 million downloads of their respective content.
Daniel Frankel / paidContent:
Researcher: Over 1 Million U.S. Cable Subscribers Cut Cord In 2011  —  Cable and satellite TV subscription growth slowed down more than had been previously reported, and cord-cutting was a primary factor.  But don't worry about it — a revolution that will re-create the current multi-channel access paradigm is still a long way away.
Nick Bilton / Bits:
Prismatic Hopes to Create a New Category of Social News  —  For many, Twitter and other social sites have become a central repository for news.  Online, people follow mainstream news outlets, journalists, bloggers, friends and family, who all individually stand on their digital soapboxes …
Tweets: @alexia and @semil
Drew Olanoff / The Next Web:
Google+ Profiles get personal, now includes address book information from Google Contacts  —  The march towards merging all of Google's products continues, and this time it's Google Contacts that's getting the social treatment.  —  The Google Contacts team announced last night …
More: UbergizmoThanks:@cosmicrami
Matt McGee / Search Engine Land:
Google's March Updates: Anchor Text, Image Search, Navigational Search & More  —  Google's latest round of search quality updates is now available, and — at the risk of sounding like a grumpy old SEO — this month's seems even more difficult to grasp than normal.

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Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune: