Techmeme
May 28, 2012, 9:25 AM

Top News

Nick Bilton / Bits:
Facebook Tries, Tries Again on a Smartphone  —  Can a software company build its own smartphone?  We may find out soon.  —  This past week, Google completed its acquisition of the hardware maker Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, which could lead to the search giant's making its own smartphone.
Henry Blodget / Business Insider:
If Facebook Really Goes Into The Mobile Hardware Business, Investors Should Run Away Screaming  —  Facebook is poaching ex-Apple engineers to build a smartphone, Nick Bilton of the New York Times reports.  —  This is the third iteration of Facebook's smartphone plans—from hardware to software and back to hardware again.
Robin Wauters / The Next Web:
Facebook rumored to buy facial recognition tech startup Face.com for up to $100 million  —  Ready for another post-IPO Facebook acquisition rumor?  —  Israeli business publication Calcalist reports (in Hebrew) that the social networking giant is close to purchasing face recognition technology company Face.com.
Randall Stross / New York Times:
Goodbye to Windows Live (and Whatever It Meant)  —  IF you own a Windows-based PC, you may like the operating system well enough.  Or you may merely tolerate it, if you give it much thought at all.  But whatever your feeling, “love” probably isn't the word that immediately comes to mind to describe it.
More: ReadWriteWebTweets: @simx and @bill_fischer
Lee Chyen Yee / Reuters:
China's Huawei, ZTE face EU action on telecom subsidies: FT  —  (Reuters) - The European Union is set to launch a major trade case against China's biggest telecom equipment makers, arguing that they have benefited from illegal government subsidies, the Financial Times said.
Joshua Brustein / New York Times:
For Tech Start-Ups, New York Has Increasing Allure  —  When Doug Imbruce wanted to start an interactive video company in 2009, he had no luck finding investors in New York.  So he moved to Silicon Valley — where venture capitalists were receptive to his pitch — and founded Qwiki.
Tweets: @kathyzucker and @vkwThanks:@adariostrange
Jean-Louis Gassée / Monday Note:
Decoding Share Prices: Amazon, Apple and Facebook  —  There are many religions when it comes to calculating the “right” price for the shares of a publicly traded company.  At a basic level, buying a share is an act of faith in the company's future earnings.
Tweets: @carnage4life
Simon Sharwood / The Register:
ITU adopts two ultra-high def TV specs  —  4K and 8K both get UHDTV moniker  —  The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has “agreed a draft new Recommendation on the technical details for ‘Ultra High Definition Television’,” but has decided that both 3840x2160 tellies, and future 7680 x4320 screens, both get the name UHDTV.
More: The Verge
Nicholas Holmes / The Next Web:
An inside look at Switzerland's seriously ambitious startup scene  —  Ah, Switzerland.  The land of chocolate, cow-bells, skiing and prices that make you want to cry.  A place that has built a global brand on providing a safe, risk-free haven for other people's money and not being disruptive or belligerent.
Tweets: @sirjrg
Wall Street Journal:
Facebook Flop Puts Investment Banker on the Spot  —  Morgan Stanley's Michael Grimes Draws Some Flak for Facebook's IPO Flop  —  Facebook Inc.'s botched initial public offering left Morgan Stanley investment banker Michael Grimes in an unusual spot: on the defensive.
John R. Quain / New York Times:
As Apps Move Into Cars, So Do More Distractions  —  THERE have been the sexy horsepower wars and dull best-in-class fuel-efficiency battles.  Now automakers are fighting an undeclared, escalating war over in-dash apps, worrying regulators about even more distracted driving.

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Earlier Picks

Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:
Iain Marlow / Globe and Mail: