Techmeme
May 2, 2012, 6:55 PM

Top News

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Exclusive: $99 Xbox 360 + Kinect bundle launching next week with two-year subscription  —  Microsoft is planning to launch a $99 Xbox console package with a monthly subscription as early as next week, according to our sources.  The software giant will offer the 4GB console with a Kinect sensor …
Ross Miller / The Verge:
It's official: Target will phase out all Kindle-branded products this spring  —  Last night we reported on Target's plans to discontinue sale of the Kindle due to “conflict of interest,” and now the company has confirmed to us that it will, indeed, discontinue sale.
Wil Wheaton / WWdN: In Exile:
Google is making a huge and annoying mistake.  —  I like Google Plus.  Some of the smartest people I've ever read are on Google Plus, and the Hangout is amazing.  —  But Google is doing everything it can to force Google Plus on everyone, and it's pissing me off.  —  Yesterday, I tried to like a video on YouTube.
John Cook / GeekWire:
Zillow to buy RentJuice for $40M in cash, posts record revenue and profits  —  Zillow is using some of its new-found cash to gobble up San Francisco's RentJuice, adding a new set of technologies that help landlords and property managers more easily keep track of properties, upload photos, manage revenue and deals.
David Cohen / AllFacebook:
Facebook Introduces Open Graph Action Links  —  Allfacebook Marketing Conference AllFacebook.de SocialTimes Send an anonymous tip  —  Move over, action verbs, and make way for action links, which Facebook introduced today as a way for users to interact directly with timeline applications.
Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Amazon Gets Into the Sitcom Business  —  Amazon has been stocking up its Web-video offering with lots of old TV shows.  Now it's going to start making some of its own.  —  The company is pulling back the covers (a bit) on its plans to produce kids' shows and sitcoms via its “Amazon Studios” …
Kim-Mai Cutler / TechCrunch:
Yelp's Post-IPO Earnings: $27.4M in Revenue, Up 66% From A Year Earlier, But Net Loss Triples  —  In its first ever earnings report as a publicly-traded company, Yelp said it earned $27.4 million in revenue, up 66 percent from the $16.5 million it made in the same time a year ago.
Enigmax / TorrentFreak:
Pirate Bay Enjoys 12 Million Traffic Boost, Shares Unblocking Tips  —  Last Friday the UK High Court ruled that several of country's leading ISPs must censor The Pirate Bay website having ruled in February that the site and its users breach copyright on a grand scale.
Jessica Dolcourt / CNET:
Verizon's LTE-powered in-home broadband goes national  —  While Sprint and T-Mobile are struggling to launch their 4G LTE networks, Verizon apparently has enough LTE to power your devices at home.  —  Starting Thursday, Verizon's HomeFusion Broadband service will bring LTE-powered Internet access nationwide.
Steven Bertoni / Forbes:
The 26-Year-Old VC Who Cashed In On Instagram  —  Joshua Kushner was in Mexico in April for a family Passover trip, up late in his hotel room reading The Power Broker, Robert Caro's biography of New York City's master builder, Robert Moses, when the text message arrived from an insider.
Stuart Dredge / Guardian:
The dark side of in-app purchases  —  Decision to make music game unplayable is controversial, but it's not the only example  —  The glory days of guitar-based music games may be firmly in the past, yet there are plenty of people still firing up Rock Band or Guitar Hero on their consoles for a nostalgic glow.
Jennifer Baker / PC World:
Programming Languages Not Copyrightable Rules Top EU Court  —  Europe's top court ruled on Wednesday that the functionality of a computer program and the programming language it is written in cannot be protected by copyright.  —  The European Court of Justice made the decision in relation …
Paul Sloan / CNET:
Frustrated advertisers to Facebook: Take our money — please!  —  With the social network's huge IPO getting nearer, this is the sort of news that Mark Zuckerberg doesn't need to hear just now.  With a reach approaching 15 percent of the world's population, Facebook is a thriving media business.
Jon Russell / The Next Web:
Google introduces ‘VC Office Hours’, Google+ hangouts with top Silicon Valley figures  —  Google+ is often lamented for failing to capture the attention of mainstream social network users and, almost in response to that accusation, Google is launching an interesting initiative that will see top figures …
Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Spotify (Finally) Shows Up on the iPad  —  You wanted a Spotify iPad app?  You've got a Spotify iPad app.  —  It's pretty, and it takes advantage of the tablet's bigger screen to showcase artist artwork and other cool stuff.  Just like you'd expect from an iPad app.  —  Demo video is at the bottom of this post.
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
OS X Mountain Lion update adds helpful ‘Do Not Disturb’ option for notifications  —  Apple's update to OS X Lion Preview 3 adds a very helpful new “Do Not Disturb” feature for notifications.  The feature is a toggle accessible at the top of Notification Center that allows users to block incoming alerts and banners.
Jennifer Van Grove / VentureBeat:
Prezi zooms past 10M users, releases PowerPoint import tool  —  In building an intuitive and fluid alternative to PowerPoint, startup Prezi is helping presenters reimagine their productions.  Tuesday, the company announced that it surpassed 10 million users, and released a PowerPoint import tool …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Down, Not Out: Nokia Goes On The Offensive With 11 Lawsuits Against HTC, RIM And ViewSonic Covering 45 Patents  —  As Nokia continues to try to turn itself around as a mobile phone business, it is also playing on the offense in the legal game: today it announced that it has filed fresh round …
Kevin J. O'Brien / New York Times:
European Regulators May Reopen Street View Inquiries  —  BERLIN — Privacy regulators in Britain, Germany and France said Wednesday that they may reopen or expand their investigations into Google's illegal collection of Internet data for its Street View service following revelations …
David Pierce / The Verge:
LTE-enabled PlayBook coming soon, says RIM CEO Thorstein Heins  —  Rumors have been swirling that RIM is preparing an LTE version of its PlayBook tablet, but rumor no longer: CEO Thorstein Heins let us know this morning at a press briefing at BlackBerry World that there will indeed be an LTE-capable PlayBook in the near future.
Brendan Sasso / Hillicon Valley:
Senate to examine Obama plan for online privacy ‘bill of rights’  —  The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will examine the Obama administration's plan to protect users' online privacy at a hearing on May 9, committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) announced Wednesday.
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Bing Strips Down Results Page To Make Google Look Like “Search Overload”  —  While Google keeps cramming its search results pages full of tools and social content, today Bing confirmed with me the full roll out a redesigned search results page that completely clears the left sidebar …
Arik Hesseldahl / AllThingsD:
After Testifying in Oracle-Google Trial, Scott McNealy Speaks Out  —  Having testified in the Oracle-Google trial with a decidedly different viewpoint from that of his successor, former Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy took to Bloomberg TV yesterday to talk a little about Java, and licensing of its APIs, and other matters yesterday.

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