Techmeme: Facebook's Latest Home Commercial Is Just The Right Amount Of Weird (Greg Kumparak/TechCrunch)

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April 13, 2013, 6:15 PM

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Richard Pérez-Peña / New York Times:

Cornell NYC Tech, Planned for Roosevelt Island, Starts Up in Chelsea — IF all the hopes and hype are warranted, a nondescript third-floor loft in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan offers a glimpse of the future, for New York City and for Cornell University.

Tweets: @biz and @jeffjohnroberts

Greg Kumparak / TechCrunch:

Facebook's Latest Home Commercial Is Just The Right Amount Of Weird — During the Facebook Home launch event, Zuck premiered the company's first commercial for the product. — Complete with half-naked dudes stuffed into luggage compartments, surprise drag queens, and an unintentionally spooky child, it was... pretty bad.

More: YouTube, Fortune, The Next Web, CNET, Android Authority, AllThingsD, Business Insider, The Verge, Neowin and The Verge

Josh Ong / The Next Web:

Hours in, Facebook Home suffering from poor Google Play reviews as 48% of users award it 1 star — Update: After reaching out to a Google spokesperson, they've told us us that only those who have installed the app are able to leave a review, proving that the reviews are from legitimate users …

More: iMore, AllThingsD, Electronista, VentureBeat, T3 News, TechnoBuffalo, PhoneArena and GigaOM

Kevin Collier / Daily Dot:

Google, Yahoo executives back CISPA through lobbying group — The battle raging around the Cyber Intelligence Security Protection Act (CISPA) just got a little dirtier. — A lobbying group that counts top executives at Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo as board members has officially thrown its support behind the controversial bill.

More: Hillicon Valley, The Verge, Techdirt, Mashable, International Business Times, The Next Web and ZDNet

Jan Chipchase / AllThingsD:

You Lookin' at Me? Reflections on Google Glass. … With the public beta launch of Google Glass, there has been a lot of discussion on why it will or won't fail. The ultimate benchmark for success is high: After someone has tried Glass, can they imagine life without it? — It's the wrong question.

More: Skift. Tweets: @counternotions

Tim Carmody / The Verge:

Surprise! Jeff Bezos explains to Amazon investors why no profits are a good thing — Can a public company prosper catering only to its customers? — Jeff Bezos' annual letter to Amazon investors is always worth reading, a peek into the mind of arguably the most important CEO in the technology industry.

More: Bloomberg, Slate, NYT Bits, bizjournals and Wall Street Journal

Tweets: @fmanjoo, @bgurley, @tcarmody, @rsarver and @carnage4life

See also Mediagazer

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Henry Blodget Helps Jeff Bezos Out With Some Writing

More: The Register

Danny Sullivan / Marketing Land:

The HTC First: How Facebook's New Phone Ruins FairSearch's Competition Complaint Over Android — Anti-Google lobbying group FairSearch lobbed an antitrust grenade at Google's Android operating system yesterday, complaining to the European Union that it violates competition laws.

More: The Verge

Ashlee Vance / Businessweek:

Apple's ‘Coach’ Campbell Sees Google Glass Starting Era of Intimate Objects — Apple's latest and greatest creation will be something ranging from a wristwatch to touch-ready lingerie, if you read the tea leaves laid out by Bill Campbell, a member of the company's board.

More: CNET, Cult of Mac, Electronista, 9to5Mac, iPhone Hacks, iPhone in Canada Blog, iMore, AppleInsider, MacRumors and iDownloadBlog.com

Alex Wilhelm / The Next Web:

Following ban, the US House of Representatives can again listen to Spotify — In This Week in Asinine, good news: The House of Representatives can once again listen to Spotify. — As reported in Red Alert Politics, The House is back up and streaming again.

More: Red Alert Politics

Ina Fried / AllThingsD:

T-Mobile Says First Day With the iPhone Was “Gangbusters” — After many, many days of trying to do business without an iPhone to sell, T-Mobile is pretty darn happy with its first day in the Apple business. — “Today has been gangbusters for T-Mobile,” Chief Marketing Officer Mike Sievert said in a statement to AllThingsD.

More: BestTechie, Gotta Be Mobile, T3 News, Fortune, PhoneArena, TechCrunch, AppleInsider, App Advice, TmoNews, Pocketnow, iMore, iDownloadBlog.com, Softpedia News, The Loop and TechCrunch

Marguerite Reardon / CNET:

Justice Dept. to FCC: Give small carriers a chance in next auction — The Justice Department told the FCC in a filing Friday that as it develops rules for the upcoming incentive spectrum auction, it must make sure that smaller players, like Sprint and T-Mobile, get access to low-frequency spectrum to help keep competition alive.

More: Ars Technica, Engadget, Seeking Alpha, Reuters, The Hill and Wall Street Journal

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:

EU court decision heralds multi-country European music licenses — (Reuters) - Europe's music royalties societies must now allow artists to sign up to a society of their choice and make multi-country licenses available to the likes of Amazon and Apple after a court backed an EU veto on national monopolies.

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