Techmeme
July 2, 2012, 7:30 PM

Top News

Brandon LeBlanc / The Windows Blog:
Upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $39.99  —  We set out to make it as easy as possible for everyone to upgrade to Windows 8.  Starting at general availability, if your PC is running Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 you will qualify to download an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for just $39.99 in 131 markets.
Ki Mae Heussner / GigaOM:
Exclusive: Amazon buys 3D mapping startup UpNext  —  It looks like Amazon is building up its presence in the mapping business.  The tech giant today closed a deal to acquire 3D mapping startup UpNext, GigaOM has learned.  —  For Amazon, which doesn't have a mapping service of its own …
Jeremy Kessel / Twitter Blog:
Twitter Transparency Report  —  Wednesday marks Independence Day here in the United States.  Beyond the fireworks and barbecue, July 4th serves as an important reminder of the need to hold governments accountable, especially on behalf of those who may not have a chance to do so themselves.
Ina Fried / AllThingsD:
Microsoft Writing Off Nearly All of the $6.3 Billion It Paid for aQuantive  —  Microsoft said on Monday that it is taking a $6.2 billion non-cash charge to account for its disappointing 2007 acquisition of Internet advertising firm aQuantive.  —  That's a huge charge …
Gary Allen / ifoAppleStore:
Apple Tweaks Genius Bar To Increase Capacity  —  In reaction to an ever-increasing number of visitors to its Genius Bars and limited space to seat them, Apple is testing out a new configuration that increases Genius Bar capacity, and emphasizes the use of iPads to manage service records.
Zack Whittaker / CNET:
Nokia: We have a Windows Phone ‘contingency plan’  —  Nokia has a plan in its back pocket should a deal with Microsoft fall through, or the forthcoming Windows Phone 8 software update fail to generate interest, according to Nokia's board chairman.  —  Speaking on his debut television appearance …
Kari Tillman / ATT Blogs:
Samsung Galaxy S III Arrives at AT&T stores July 6  —  Great news, the wait is finally over!  I'm excited to share with you that the Samsung Galaxy S III will arrive in AT&T stores on July 6th.  —  Thousands of customers, who just couldn't wait, have already preordered it and have the device in hand.
Chris Velazco / TechCrunch:
Mozilla's Boot To Gecko Becomes Firefox OS, Scores Support From Sprint, Deutsche Telekom, ZTE, And More  —  Mozilla's Boot to Gecko project has come a long way in just under a year — what began with the idea of building a mobile operating system based on open web standards like HTML5 has led …
Horace Dediu / asymco:
RIM's tailspin  —  The number of BlackBerry phones sold fell 41% year-on-year in the last RIM fiscal quarter.  Sequentially the fall was 30%.  Though surprisingly poor, I note that Nokia's smartphone business fell even more dramatically last quarter (down 50% y/y and 39% sequentially).
Julia Dahl / Mental Floss:
When His Project Was Canceled, an Unemployed Programmer Kept Sneaking Into Apple to Finish the Job  —  by Julia Dahl … Ron Avitzur knew his project was doomed.  By the time his bosses cut the cord in August 1993, his team was actually relieved.  The graphing calculator program …
Shayndi Raice / Wall Street Journal:
Facebook Eyes Social Network for Acquisitions  —  As newly public Facebook Inc. attempts to branch out to new areas such as e-commerce, it's searching across its own social network for acquisitions.  —  Facebook has always touted itself as a platform for software developers to build apps that reach its more than 900 million users.
Communications of the ACM:
Google's Hybrid Approach to Research  —  In this viewpoint, we describe how we organize computer science research at Google.  We focus on how we integrate research and development and discuss the benefits and risks of our approach.  The challenge in organizing R&D is great because CS is an increasingly broad and diverse field.
Federico Viticci / MacStories:
App Store Adding New “Food & Drink” Category  —  The App Store will soon be updated with a new “Food & Drink” category, according to developers of existing iOS applications who received an email from Apple today about the upcoming change.  “In the next few weeks”, applications …
Nathan Ingraham / The Verge:
Google Places for iOS renamed as Google+ Local, now includes Zagat scores and voice search  —  Google revamped its Google Places service back in May, adding data from its purchase of Zagat and renaming it Google+ Local.  Now, the company has gone ahead and similarly revamped its iOS app …
Arik Hesseldahl / AllThingsD:
Weekend Lightning Stung Amazon and Instagram Right Where It Hurts  —  Friday night's severe lightning storm knocked out power to millions of people on the East Coast, killed more than 20 people and left a sweltering mess in its wake.  —  The list of damages is long, but if you go down far enough …

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Brooke Crothers / CNET:
More: BetaNews