Techmeme: Exclusive: Facebook to charge merchants to run Offers (Reuters)

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September 20, 2012, 4:10 PM

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Nilay Patel / The Verge:

Wrong turn: Apple's buggy iOS 6 maps lead to widespread complaints — Apple has a maps problem. — The major new feature of the company's new iOS 6 mobile operating system is a new mapping module developed by Apple itself — a replacement for the Google-supplied maps that have been standard on the iPhone since it debuted in 2007.

More: SplatF, The Next Web, TheJournal.ie, BuzzFeed, TUAW, New York Magazine, TechWeekEurope UK and MobileSyrup.com

BBC:

New Apple maps app under fire from users — Users have complained about the quality of satellite images in the new software (bottom) — Inaccuracies and misplaced towns and cities in Apple's new map software have provoked anger from users. — In June Apple announced it would stop using Google Maps …

Piers Dillon Scott / The Sociable:

That's not an airport, it's a farm - Irish Minister for Justice considers Apple's iOS 6 Maps dangerous — Ireland's Minister for Justice has a few concerns with Apple's new iOS6 map application. The main one being that iOS6′s new mapping app identifies Airfield Garden, a working farm in a residential area, as an actual airport.

More: Examiner, Search Engine Land, TheJournal.ie, TechCrunch, Guardian, TPM IdeaLab, iMore.com, Better Broadband Blog, The Next Web and Pulse2 Technology …. Tweets: @lessien

Steve Huff / Betabeat:

iOS6 Maps are So Bad They Inspired Their Own Mocking Tumblr — A few days ago Waze CEO Noam Bardin kvetched that Apple's native mapping app would stink up iOS 6. If The Amazing iOS 6 Maps Tumblr is any indication, he was right. — The screengrabs posted on the site come from iPhones and iPads.

More: Technology Review. Tweets: @jasonsantamaria, @xdamman, @tomwarren, @sirkneeland, @tim, @clairecm and @mathewi

Reuters:

Exclusive: Wal-Mart stops selling Amazon Kindles — (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc will no longer sell Amazon.com Inc's Kindle products, making the world's largest retailer the second major chain to stop selling Amazon's devices, according to an internal memo and a source familiar with the situation.

Reuters:

Exclusive: Facebook to charge merchants to run Offers — (Reuters) - Facebook Inc said it will start charging businesses to run Offers on its social network, turning a previously free service into a potential revenue generator at a time when Wall Street is demanding new sources of growth and profit from the company.

More: SiliconANGLE, Marketing Land, Los Angeles Times, CNNMoney.com, Inside Facebook, Business Insider, Forbes, CNET, Marketing Pilgrim, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Pulse2 Technology …, The Tech Block and Techie Buzz. Tweets: @eldon

Jordan Golson / MacRumors:

Swiss Federal Railways Says Apple Copied Its Iconic Railway Clock — Switzerland's Schweizerische Bundesbahnen, or Swiss Federal Railway service, has accused Apple of using their iconic clock in its Clock app for iPad without permission, according to a report in the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger [Google Translate].

More: CNET, TechCrunch, Business Insider, Gizmodo, ValueWalk, Mashable!, iDownloadBlog.com, 9to5Mac and TUAW

Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:

Facebook tests automatic ‘Photo Sync’ uploads on Android — Facebook has begun testing a new feature for Android owners that syncs photos you shoot on your phone straight to your Facebook account. It's a hybrid of Google+'s instant photo-upload feature and Apple's Photostream …

More: Inside Mobile Apps, digitaltrends.com, VentureBeat, LAPTOP Magazine, CNET, WebProNews, Android News, Rumours …, MyBroadband Tech and IT News, Softpedia News, The Next Web, 9to5Google, Pulse2 Technology …, Gizmodo UK, Techie Buzz, Gotta Be Mobile and PhoneArena

Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:

Microsoft wins third German injunction against Google's Motorola over high-power patent — Google just suffered a strategically very important defeat at the Munich I Regional Court, where Presiding Judge Dr. Peter Guntz just announced a ruling in Microsoft's favor against wholly-owned Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility.

More: BGR, CNET, PC Magazine, PandoDaily, Associated Press, WebProNews, iDownloadBlog.com, PhoneArena, The Tech Block, AllThingsD, Datamation.com and Engadget. Tweets: @fosspatents

Richard Rubin / Bloomberg:

Microsoft Avoided Billions in U.S. Tax, Senate Memo Says — A U.S. Senate committee memo said Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) used aggressive international tax maneuvers to avoid billions of dollars in taxes over the past three years. — The report, released in advance of a 2 p.m. hearing in Washington today …

More: The Next Web, CNET, GeekWire, Computerworld, Seattle Times and Pulse2 Technology …

Miyoung Kim / Reuters:

Samsung to add iPhone 5 to U.S. lawsuits vs Apple — (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co plans to add Apple Inc's iPhone 5 to existing patent lawsuits against its U.S. rival, stepping up its legal challenge to Apple as the two smartphone leaders seek to assert rights to key technologies.

More: AllThingsD, Examiner, DSLreports, FOSS Patents, digitaltrends.com, Mobile Magazine, CNET, GigaOM, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Phones Review, DailyTech, MacRumors, IntoMobile, TechCrunch, Mashable!, ZDNet and Pulse2 Technology …

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Netgear Debuts New NeoTV, NeoTV PRO and NeoTV MAX Streaming Players To Take On Roku — Netgear unveiled an all-new lineup of streaming media players today, including the NeoTV, NeoTV PRO and NeoTV MAX, available for $49.99, $59.99 and $69.99 respectively beginning today, September 20.

Ganesh T S / AnandTech:

Netgear Updates Entertainment Lineup with Push2TV 3000 and NeoTV 300 Series

More: The Verge

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Business Card Upstart Moo.com Buys Flavors.me To Expand Its Digital Profile — Moo.com, the online-to-print business card company that was one of the UK's earlier startup successes, is branching out: it is buying all of the assets of Flavors.me, the site where people can create online personal profiles …

More: VentureBeat, Wired.co.uk, Flavors.me Blog, Techie Buzz, Forbes, GigaOM, Pulse2 Technology …, PandoDaily and Betabeat

Brad Stone / Business Week:

Is Amazon Preparing to Get Fresh in California? — Last weekend was a momentous one for about 12 percent of the country. The state of California started requiring online retailers to collect state and local sales tax from residents. That means that prices on Amazon, the world's largest Internet store …

Tweets: @lihall

Jeff John Roberts / GigaOM:

US government and Stack Exchange launch crowdsourced patent process — A new partnership between the US government and a popular Q&A site may help rid the country of the low quality patents that have produced an endless series of lawsuits that threaten to stunt parts of the technology sector.

More: Ars Technica, StackExchange Blog, The Verge and Techdirt

Eric Savitz / Forbes:

Unwired Planet Sues Apple, Google With Infringing 10 Patents Each — Unwired Panet, the wireless Internet technology company formerly called Openwave, this morning said it has filed patent infringement complaints against both Apple and Google in federal court in Nevada.

More: TechCrunch, CNET, Business Wire, bizjournals, Datamation.com, AllThingsD and The Next Web. Tweets: @inafried

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Facebook launches Shared Activity plugin to help users control what they are sharing through apps — Facebook today announced a new plugin called Shared Activity, which lists a user's activities published from a given app to Facebook, including Open Graph activities, Like button stories, and comment plugin activities.

More: VentureBeat, Facebook Developer Blog, PC Magazine, The Verge, CNET and BuzzFeed. Tweets: @launchticker

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Apple and publishers subpoena Amazon in ebook pricing case — Apple wants the Department of Justice to turn over the interviews it conducted with Amazon employees as part of the ebook pricing lawsuit. In an August filing, Apple wrote, “Amazon was the driving force behind the Government's investigation …

More: iDownloadBlog.com and Pulse2 Technology …

Ina Fried / AllThingsD:

Major League Baseball Hopes iPhone Tickets Will Be a Hit — While riding to San Francisco's AT&T Park on Wednesday, an alert popped up on my phone letting me know that the Giants game was nearby, even though I was still on the train nearing the ballpark. — As I neared the gate …

More: SlashGear, Inquirer, Pulse2 Technology …, Macgasm, PhoneArena and The Next Web

Enigmax / TorrentFreak:

Pirate Bay Financier Files For Bankruptcy, Focus Shifts To Peter Sunde — Following their earlier convictions for copyright infringement, Pirate Bay co-founders Gottfrid Svartholm and Fredrik Neij, former site spokesman Peter Sunde, and financier Carl Lundström all owe a considerable amount in damages.

More: Pulse2 Technology … and Plagiarism Today

Eric Slivka / MacRumors:

Apple's iTunes and Mac App Store Traffic Increases Ninefold for iOS 6 Launch Day — Networking company Sandvine today took a look (via The Loop) at Apple's iTunes Store and Mac App Store traffic yesterday as compared to the previous two Wednesdays, noting that traffic spiked to nine times …

More: The Loop, Network World and TechCrunch

Alex Wilhelm / The Next Web:

Microsoft announces YouthSpark, a program to help 300 million kids get a better education and start a business — Today Microsoft announced YouthSpark, a program designed to help 300 million children in 100 countries “get a great education, find work or start their own business.”

More: ReadWriteWeb, The Official Microsoft Blog, Seattle Times and Neowin

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