Techmeme
June 20, 2012, 9:25 AM

Top News

Reuters:
Microsoft kept PC partners in dark about Surface  —  (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp kept its personal computer partners largely in the dark about its plans to launch a competing tablet computer, with some long-time collaborators learning of the new gadget only days before its unveiling, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Mary Branscombe / TechRadar.com:
What's unique about Microsoft's Surface tablet Touch Cover?  —  We look at the technology behind the Surface tablet  —  There's an awful lot of tech going on in the Surface tablet  —  With eyebrows raised following the decision to launch its own hardware, what's inside Microsoft's Surface tablet that makes it worth considering?
More: ZDNet and ZDNet
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Memo: Ballmer rallies troops around Surface, hints at Office, Windows Phone news  —  Yesterday was a big moment in Microsoft's history, as the company unveiled its own tablet computer, Surface, moving into the PC hardware business for the first time.  —  After unveiling the tablet on stage in Hollywood …
Michael Sippey / Twitter Blog:
A new way to experience profiles: with or without replies  —  When you visit a Twitter user's profile, you may want to see his or her original Tweets rather than their conversations.  Then again, you may enjoy seeing the back-and-forth exchanges they have with other Twitter users.
Walt Mossberg / AllThingsD:
Galaxy Quest: One Phone Aimed at All Networks  —  While smartphones based on Google's Android operating system collectively outsell Apple's iPhone, no single Android phone has risen to become a giant hit the way the iPhone has.  Instead, there has been a profusion of often-confusing models …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
A Redesigned, Slicker PayPal Is Coming Tomorrow; Some Seeing New Look Today  —  PayPal, the eBay-owned online payments service that is making significant inroads into mobile, is giving its website an overhaul to make it easier for its 100 million+ users to pay and get paid, find help …
Washington Post:
U.S., Israel developed Flame computer virus to slow Iranian nuclear efforts, officials say  —  View Photo Gallery — Stuxnet and other big worms and viruses: The computer virus is growing in popularity as the weapon-of-choice in the Middle East.  Here's a look at some of the more notable viruses and worms.
Ina Fried / AllThingsD:
Microsoft's Phone Efforts Move Into the Spotlight Wednesday  —  While Monday was a huge day for Microsoft, thanks to the Surface tablet, Wednesday is also shaping up as a pretty important milestone.  —  The company is set to meet with developers to talk about the future of Windows Phone …
Mark Milian / Bloomberg:
New Incubators Focus on Hardware  —  Arye Barnehama had an idea for a headband that could measure a person's level of focus.  So last year, he recruited people with the know-how to design software and arrange circuit boards to help build it.  —  “We had a really great foundation for the company,” he said.
Matt Brian / The Next Web:
Google Mail no more: German users can switch to a Gmail.com email address today  —  Nearly seven years after it had to rebrand its Gmail service as Google Mail in Germany, Google has today announced that users in the country will now be able to use a gmail.com email address from today.
BBC:
UK waterways to become active routes on Google Maps  —  At the moment, waterways in England and Wales are not listed as routes on Google Maps  —  Google Maps users may soon find it easier to plan a trip on one of UK's waterways.  —  The US search engine has teamed up with the Canal and River Trust …
Ryan Paul / Ars Technica:
First look at the curved tabs in Firefox's new Australis design  —  A Mozilla developer published a Firefox build that shows the new tab style.  —  A screenshot of the custom Firefox build with the Australis tab style.  —  Earlier this year, we reported on Mozilla's effort to unify the look …
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
Indian ISPs Unblock BitTorrent Sites After Appeal  —  Last month millions of Indians were shaken up by what appeared to be a mass anti-piracy action from the Government.  —  Many of the country's leading Internet providers had blocked access to a wide range of file-sharing …
Nick Turner / Bloomberg:
RIM's Job Cuts Under Way as Company Seeks $1B in Savings  —  Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM), the struggling maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, is cutting jobs as part of a broad cost-saving effort aimed at trimming $1 billion in operating expenses.  —  “RIM has committed to achieving …
Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:
Greplin Recasts Itself as Cue, an Intelligent Personal Assistant App  —  Greplin, the personal search start-up, is trying to become more helpful and more mainstream with the launch of a new personal assistant app called Cue.  —  Cue is an app that processes users' emails, contacts and files.
Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:
Bing Ties Yellow Pages Sites For Most Accurate Local Data  —  In April I wrote about a local data accuracy study preformed by a company called Implied Intelligence.  The company offers data services to publishers and developers.  In April the company found that yellow pages site Superpages bested Google Maps …
Cyrus Farivar / Ars Technica:
Chinese online censorship targets “collective action” posts  —  A Harvard team finds that China's Internet policy allows more than most realize.  —  We all know that China and the Internet aren't exactly BFFs.  The Great Firewall of China has been around for over 15 years now, and it shows no sign of crumbling.
Robin Wauters / The Next Web:
Berlin startup Moped lands $1m from top investors, launches messaging app for iOS and Web  —  Moped, a Berlin startup that is ‘rethinking messages from the ground up’, has raised $1 million in seed funding from Germany's Earlybird Ventures and high-profile U.S. investors like Lerer Ventures, SV Angel and Betaworks.
Ben Popper / The Verge:
After Facebook's IPO flub, value of tech startups falls back to earth  —  A string quartet played a medley of pop radio hits as several hundreds startup founders, Goldman Sachs bankers, and venture capital investors, chatted over drinks inside a gleaming neon temple of Angel Orensanz in lower Manhattan.
Spencer Ackerman / Wired:
NSA: It Would Violate Your Privacy to Say if We Spied on You  —  Gen. Keith Alexander, center, the head of the National Security Agency, visits Afghanistan, 2010.  Photo: ISAF  —  The surveillance experts at the National Security Agency won't tell two powerful United States Senators …
Rip Empson / TechCrunch:
Kiosked Nabs $5.75M From Rovio Chairman To Give Publishers An Alternative To Banner Ads  —  Banner ads have been around for over a decade, and though they may have been effective back in the mid-'90s, today they just feel like relics.  You probably can't remember the last time you clicked on one.
Michael Larabel / Phoronix:
NVIDIA PR Responds To Torvalds' Harsh Words  —  NVIDIA's PR department has issued a statement following the harsh comments by Linus Torvalds last week where he referred to the graphics company as the single worst company they have ever dealt with, called them out on not supporting Optimus, and other issues.

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