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8:25 PM ET, August 14, 2006

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Jeff Clavier / Jeff Clavier's Software Only:
AOL acquires Userplane to expand AIM network  —  A brief interruption of my holiday schedule to announce a great news: portfolio co Userplane has been acquired by AOL LLC a couple of weeks ago, and I just heard that the official press release is now up there.
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Black Voices:
AOL Acquires Userplane  —  Company's Industry-Leading Web-Based Chat & Instant Messaging Services Will Expand the AIM Network, Serve Social Networking Audiences and Emerging Online Communities  —  AOL LLC today announced that is has acquired Userplane (http://www.userplane.com) of Los Angeles …
Marshall Kirkpatrick / TechCrunch:
Userplane purchased by AOL
Microsoft:
Microsoft Invites the World to Create Its Own Xbox 360 Console Games for the First Time  —  More than 10 esteemed universities to add XNA Game Studio Express and Xbox 360 game development into their curricula starting this fall.  —  In the 30 years of video game development …
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Todd Bishop / Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Software Notebook: Xbox offers do-it-yourself games  —  ONE OF THE HOTTEST online trends is to get people to create and contribute their own material — things like reviews, photos and videos.  —  But will user-generated content work for video games?  Microsoft plans to find out.
Robert Levine / New York Times:
Microsoft Has a Starter Kit for Aspiring Game Designers
Discussion: Google Watch, B2Day and Jeffrey McManus
Damon Darlin / New York Times:
Dell Recalls Batteries Because of Fire Threat  —  Dell is recalling 4.1 million notebook computer batteries because they could erupt in flames, the company said today.  This will be the largest safety recall in the history of the consumer electronics industry, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said.
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CNET News.com:
Dell to recall 4 million batteries  —  update Dell and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission plan to recall 4.1 million notebook batteries on Tuesday, a company representative confirmed Monday.  —  The recall affects certain Inspiron, Latitude and Precision mobile workstations …
Discussion: Neowin.net and TechBlog
Paul Miller / Engadget:
Segway launches two new models: the i2 and x2  —  As rumored, Segway is launching two new versions of their still-looks-nerdy-as-ever two wheel Human Transporter.  The biggest update is the new "LeanSteer" system that does away the clunky grip-based control for turning …
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Sara Ivry / New York Times:
Segway Plans 2 New Models of Transporter
Discussion: Valleywag
Ken Belson / New York Times:
Verizon Is Rewiring New York, Block by Block, in a Race for Survival  —  It's 9 in the morning, and a team from Verizon has been stringing fiber optic cable along a residential side street in the Bronx for three hours.  In a basket about 20 feet in the air, James DeMattia guides the cable …
Matt Marshall / SiliconBeat:
NetVibes, the slick "homepage" company, raises $15 million  —  NetVibes, the Paris based company that lets you personalize your home page with cool little modules that you can drag across the screen, has raised $15 million in more financing.  —  If you go there and play …
Discussion: paidContent.org
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Marshall Kirkpatrick / TechCrunch:
Browster 2.0 makes MySpace easier to use  —  Browser plug in Browster released version 2.0 of its product this weekend and is aiming to make MySpace profiles easier to view.  A Windows download for IE and Firefox, Browster preloads pages from search results and provides a live minibrowser when inserted lightning bolts are hovered over.
USA Today:
HSN to offer point and shop by TV remote  —  See something you like on Home Shopping Network?  Point your remote at the TV.  Hit "select."  And buy, buy, buy!  —  At least, that's what HSN (IACI) hopes its viewers will do.  —  On Monday, HSN is announcing the nation's first shop-by-remote system for digital TV customers.
Marguerite Reardon / ZDNet:
Verizon adds multiroom DVR  —  Verizon Communications plans to offer a digital video recorder that allows its TV customers to watch recorded programs on multiple TVs in any room in the house, the company said Monday.  —  The new multiroom DVR, made by Motorola, lets customers view recorded programs on up to three televisions at once.
John Battelle / John Battelle's Searchblog:
GOOGLE'S NEW VIDEO TAB - WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?  —  Just off the phone with an AP reporter (Jessica Mintz, sharp reporter from the Journal who moved over) who was grokking the fact that Google has added Video to its hallowed first tier of search options on the home page, and relegated Froogle to a pop up window off the "more" link.
Shailaja Neelakantan / GigaOM:
Indian Villages, Internet and Crazy Headlines  —  A mere Web site or a laptop doesn't empower the underprivileged.  Developing countries like India need technology, yes, but what they need more are coherent projects with reliable delivery systems that link technology to the country's needs.
Jeremy Toeman / LIVEdigitally:
10 Tips on Maximizing Laptop Battery Performance  —  I am on the planes a decent amount of the time (100,000 miles by late May) and tend to spend a chunk of my flights using my laptop.  Most of the time it's productive, but it can also include a DVD or the occasional game …
Discussion: jkOnTheRun and GottaBeMobile.com
Ionut Alex. Chitu / Google Operating System:
The New Blogger  —  As noted by Tony Ruscoe, Blogger migrates to Google Accounts.  You can add Blogger to your Google Account, but you'll create a new Blogger account.  —  If you already use Blogger, there's a migration page that doesn't work yet, but says something very interesting:
 
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 More Items: 
Darren Murph / Engadget:
Seagate hoping to get 60GB and 120GB drives into iPods
Discussion: CrunchGear and The Tech Report
David Berlind / Between the Lines:
Another cease and desist letter from Apple regarding usage of "pod" turns up
Matt Marshall / SiliconBeat:
MeeVee wants to be your TV Guide: Raises $8 million more
Nicole Girard / CNET News.com:
Second Lifers get first look at new hotel chain
Discussion: Techdirt and Kevin Maney
Caroline McCarthy / CNET News.com:
Microsoft blogging software available in beta
Brian Benzinger / Solution Watch:
VideoJug - Life Explained. On Film.
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Wireless Data, It Sells Well
Discussion: MocoNews.net
Jeremy Wright / b5media:
Call for Bloggers: All Ye Business Folk
 Earlier Items: 
Nathan Weinberg / InsideGoogle:
DO WE NEED TO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT GOOGLE?
Stephen Shankland / CNET News.com:
HP offers Debian Linux support
Evan Blass / Engadget:
Nokia handset doubles as a Bluetooth mouse
Discussion: jkOnTheRun and 21talks
Tony Walsh / Clickable Culture:
Linden Lab to Reform 'Second Life' Population Stats
Discussion: 3pointD.com and Mathew Ingram
Jason Clarke / Download Squad:
Getting Things Done Software Systems (Part 1 of 2)
Marshall Kirkpatrick / TechCrunch:
Fox to sell video on demand on MySpace, across other sites
Darren Rowse / ProBlogger Blog Tips:
Lists - Group Writing Project
John Naughton / Observer:
Websites that changed the world