Techmeme
August 8, 2012, 5:20 PM

Top News

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google Search app for iPad and iPhone adds voice-based answers, available in the ‘next couple of days’  —  Google has updated its search app for iOS to include voice-based questions and answers.  You can “ask for the weather in a natural way” and it will provide results.
The Official Google Blog:
Building the search engine of the future, one baby step at a time  —  Larry Page once described the perfect search engine as understanding exactly what you mean and giving you back exactly what you want.  It's very much like the computer I dreamt about as a child growing up in India …
Peter Ha / TechCrunch:
Square Partners With Starbucks Raises $25M For Series D; Howard Schultz Joins The Board  —  It might not be the funding announcement we've been hearing rumors about but today Square announced that they've partnered with Starbucks.  But there's more!  —  Square will soon begin processing …
Groklaw:
SCO Files for Chapter 7: “There is no reasonable chance of ‘rehabilitation’”  —  SCO Group has now filed [PDF] for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection.  They are in Chapter 11 now.  What is the difference?  Chapter 11 means you are trying to reorganize and survive as a corporate entity.
Jon Russell / The Next Web:
IDC: Android and iOS now power record 85% of all smartphones shipped, as RIM hits 3-year low  —  If you own a smartphone, the chances are it is an iPhone or powered by Google's Android operating system.  That observation has rung true for some time but the two platforms have taken their domination …
Tricia Duryee / AllThingsD:
Zynga's COO John Schappert Steps Down, Effective Immediately  —  Zynga has anounced that the compnay's COO John Schappert has stepped down from the company effective immediately.  —  This comes as perhaps no surprise given that last week it leaked out that the social game company's Founder …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
YC-Backed Grid Reinvents The Spreadsheet For The Tablet Age  —  Popular wisdom has it that tablets are great for consuming content but aren't that useful for creating it.  Don't tell that to Josh Leong, though.  His Y Combinator-backed startup, Grid, is based around the idea that a tablet should be a great place for spreadsheets.
Tweets: @scobleizer
Sascha Segan / PC Magazine:
Microsoft's Massive Metro Mistake  —  Don't call it Metro.  Call it overkill.  —  There's an old saw that Windows users adopt every other version of Microsoft's OS, and Microsoft seems to be trying to make this “new every two” legend come true, if we believe Microsoft guru Mary Jo Foley's recent story …
Mary Branscombe / TechRadar.com:
Microsoft is already working on Surface 2 tablets  —  Exclusive A dozen job adverts for “the next generation” posted online  —  Microsoft Surface: great design but there's more to come  —  The Surface tablets that Microsoft will start selling on 26 October at Microsoft Stores …
Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:
Netflix Brings ‘Just For Kids’ User Interface To The Xbox 360  —  Netflix is making it even easier for kids to bypass channel surfing and search for their favorite shows and characters, with an updated app for the Xbox 360.  The latest version of Netflix's Xbox 360 app, which went live this morning …
Christina Farr / VentureBeat:
A brainchild of ex-Googlers, Upstart lets you invest in people  —  Would you fork over a small portion of your income for the next decade in exchange for funding?  —  The team behind Upstart, (pictured, above) a new crowdfunding platform, is willing to bet that this will be a viable option …
AllThingsD:
Samsung's 2010 Report Says Its Galaxy Would Be Better if It Were Just More Like the iPhone  —  As part of its case against Samsung, Apple has shown snippets of an internal Samsung document comparing the original Galaxy S phone with the iPhone.  —  On Tuesday, Apple managed to get the whole 132-page document admitted into evidence.
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Sprint CEO Dan Hesse's plan to fight AT&T and Verizon: ‘doing the right thing’  —  Sprint is feeling pretty positive about itself these days.  Most obviously, it dodged a bullet when AT&T failed to acquire T-Mobile, but since then Sprint's last quarterly results were better than usual …
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft holiday pop-up stores coming to NYC, San Francisco, Vancouver  —  Summary: Microsoft is prepping for a busy holiday 2012 season by opening temporary pop-up brick-and-mortar stores in about a dozen cities in North America.  —  Microsoft officials said earlier this summer that they planned …
More: CNET and The Verge

Sponsor Posts

Soxton:
Fast, affordable law for startups  —  Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better.  We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts.  Join the waitlist for early access!
F5:
Accelerate AI Adoption at F5's AI Virtual Summit  —  Learn how to architect, secure, and scale AI for production with real-world insights from industry leaders on June 23.  Register now to save your spot.
Zoho:
Don't Do.  Just Tell.  With Zoho MCP for Bigin.  —  Dear small business owners,This one's a little different.We're not here to walk you through a checklist of features.  We're here to tell you about something …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Invest Like the Best:
Alex Sacerdote - How to Invest Through Technology Cycles
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Lenny's Podcast:
Father of the iPod and iPhone on building taste, judgment, and creativity in the AI era | Tony Fadell
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
Will Apple (Finally) Get AI Right At WWDC?, Anthropic's Worry, Microsoft vs. OpenAI
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Vanta's Christina Cacioppo: The Underdog Turning 'Nonsense' Compliance Into A $4.2B Security Standout
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Hard Fork:
Hot I.P.O Summer + What Is A.I. Doing to Math? + HatGPT
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
AI's Mythos Moment: Rishi Sunak on preparing governments for AI
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:20 PM ET, August 8, 2012.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Earlier Picks

Nathan Olivarez-Giles / Wired: