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6:35 PM ET, March 30, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Emil Protalinski / Ars Technica:
Microsoft to kill Encarta later this year  —  Microsoft has announced that it is discontinuing its Encarta line of products.  The software products will be gone by June 2009 and the website will go down October 31, 2009.  —  When I first saw this, I had to do a double take.
RELATED:
Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent.org:
Victim Of Wikipedia: Microsoft To Shut Down Encarta  —  Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) will discontinue both its MSN Encarta reference Web sites as well as its Encarta software, which have both been surpassed by rising competitors, like Wikipedia.  In a message posted on the MSN Encarta Web site …
Discussion: Mashable!
Ina Fried / CNET News:
Microsoft, TomTom settle patent dispute  —  Microsoft and TomTom have reached a settlement in their respective patent suits, the companies said Monday.  —  As part of the deal, as TomTom will pay Microsoft for coverage related to mapping patents and file-management patents that Microsoft claimed …
RELATED:
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Is a Shorter Web Address Worth Big Money? bit.ly Raises $2 Million  —  Here's another Web 2.0 riddle that seems particularly hard to solve post-Lehman: What's the value of a service that takes a long Web address and makes it shorter?  —  One answer: Several million dollars.
Darren Murph / Engadget:
Netflix raising rates for Blu-ray subscribers by around 20 percent  —  Ruh roh.  In a move that will undoubtedly cause an incredibly raucous stir, only to fade away as movie renters realize that Netflix is still the best deal going, America's most adored by-mail rental service is hiking the price of Blu-ray rentals once again.
RELATED:
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
MySpace Embraces Microsoft Platforms For Mobile And Web Applications  —  Two Microsoft-related announcements coming from social networking giant MySpace today: the portal is adding support for Windows Mobile-run phones to its new mobile application, due this summer, and bringing …
RELATED:
Tom Krazit / CNET News:
Microsoft drops plan to charge for WinMo updates
Discussion: Electronista
Michael S. Scherotter / MSDN Blogs:
Silverlight for the MySpace Developer Platform
IAB:
Internet Advertising Revenues Surpass $23 Billion in '08, Reaching Record High  —  Q4 '08 Revenues Total $6.1 Billion; Growth Continues Despite Difficult Economy  —  Internet advertising revenues in the U.S. remain strong, topping $23 billion, according to the 2008 Internet Advertising Revenue Report …
RELATED:
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
IAB Reports Internet Advertising Grew 10 Percent Last Year; Outpacing TV  —  In an upbeat report this morning, the Interactive Advertising Bureau reported that internet advertising in the U.S. grew 10.6 percent to $23.4 billion.  (The entire report is embedded below).
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
Macworld Expo Moves, Accepts Its Nickname  —  Here's the first hint of how IDG's Macworld Expo will change in the wake of Apple's decision to pull out of the show: It's moving from early January to February 9th-13th (which includes a Saturday-the show has been weekday only).
MG Siegler / VentureBeat:
Twitter quakes as San Francisco shakes  —  Earthquake news and Twitter have long gone hand in hand because of Twitter's instant mass-communication ability.  Today, an earthquake shook the San Francisco Bay area (where Twitter's headquarters is located, along with many of its original users), and Twitter traffic went nuts.
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Intel launches Nehalem server chips to improve data center efficiency  —  Intel introduced its Xeon 5500 Series family of server chips today — chips it hopes will be the standard for data centers of the future.  —  The chips (formerly code-named Nehalem) are the server variant …
RELATED:
Rory Cellan-Jones / dot.life blog:
Is Skype on the iPhone a big deal?  —  So, after plenty of rumours, and even more leaks, the “free” internet calls service Skype will finally come to Apple's iPhone on Tuesday.  Is this the moment that Voip - to use the ugly jargon - finally makes the leap from the laptop to the mobile?
Discussion: Skype Journal, last100 and BBC
RELATED:
Joe Wilcox / Microsoft Watch:
Lauren Is Right: Macs Cost More Than PCs  —  [Editor's Note: This is one of two companion posts about Microsoft's newest “I'm a PC” commercial, featuring computer shopper Lauren.  At Apple Watch, “Microsoft Shatters Mac Pricing Myths” explains how the 60-second spot dispels the most common defenses for Mac pricing.]
John Paczkowski / Digital Daily:
Microsoft Acquires Yahoo ... VP of Ops  —  Add another name to the list of Yahoo employees defecting to Microsoft.  Dayne Sampson, Yahoo's VP of operations for search and advertising, has fled the company for its former suitor, Microsoft confirmed to Digital Daily.
Katie Marsal / AppleInsider:
RBC says iPhone 3G ‘Pro’ won't boost iPhone momentum  —  The Royal Bank of Canada is maintaining its bearish near-term outlook on shares of Apple, claiming that although consumer interest in a new version of the iPhone remains healthy, sales of the new device are unlikely to provide the company …
Dan Sabbagh / Times of London:
Authors fight free books site Scribd for ‘pirating’ their work  —  Bestselling novels are reproduced without publishers' permission  —  Publishers and agents representing the authors J. K. Rowling and Ken Follett were battling last night to get free copies of their novels removed …
Discussion: TechCrunch and HipMojo.com
Matt Cutts / Gadgets, Google, and SEO:
Hacking Google: Retro Links Revives Old Google Feature  —  Google sometimes turns off features.  One such feature that I remember fondly is that at the bottom of Google's search results, we offered nine other search engine suggestions.  The idea was if you didn't find what you were searching for on Google …
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
TheFunded Not Shutting Down  —  We're always happy to give a wide berth to people pulling April Fools pranks, but even so it's pushing it to do it on March 27.  If you go that early, you need to be side-splittingly funny or earn our disdain until we've forgotten all about it.
Sascha Segan / Gearlog:
Motorola, Cricket Launch QA4 Touch-Screen Phone  —  Cricket Wireless and Motorola today announced the low-cost carrier's highest-end phone so far, the Motorola Evoke QA4.  The QA4 will be Cricket's first touch-screen phone.  —  The Evoke is a somewhat oval-shaped slider phone (4.25" x 2" …
Kirby Chien / Reuters:
Google launches free, legal music downloads in China  —  BEIJING (Reuters) - Google Inc on Monday launched free downloads of licensed songs in China, while sharing advertising revenue with major music labels in a market rife with online piracy.  —  Lee Kai-Fu, president of Google in greater China …
Stephen Shankland / CNET News:
Yahoo Net service comes to Samsung TVs  —  Yahoo technology to bring Internet services to TVs has fledged from the demonstration realm to become a available in actual product, Samsung TVs.  —  Yahoo calls the technology TV Widgets, but Samsung is branding it as Internet@TV.
Discussion: last100
Nathan Fouts / Mommy's Best Games' dev log:
Big fish in a shallow pond  —  True to their word, Microsoft has provided Community Games sales data by the end of March.  The results are, in one word, sobering.  —  First, let me just reiterate that we have been very upfront about what Mommy's Best is trying to achieve.  We want to make kick ass games, full-time.
Discussion: paidContent.org, Gamasutra and VG247
Abbey Klaassen / AdAge:
Using Social Media to Listen to Consumers  —  A Vocal Few Don't Represent the Majority but Could Signify a Larger Issue  —  NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — If the social-media sphere attacks your brand, do “real people” hear the screams?  Not likely, according to surveys that indicate marketers …
Discussion: PR 2.0, Thanks:sbauman
 
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 More Items: 
Phone Arena:
Verizon's MiFi 2200 is your own personal Hotspot
Discussion: jkOnTheRun and Engadget Mobile
John Paczkowski / Digital Daily:
Sun Sacks 1,500  —  Looks like Sun is “aligning its business …
Discussion: PC World
Department of Homeland Security:
DHS Releases Conficker/Downadup Computer Worm Detection Tool
Discussion: SC Magazine US and Guardian, Thanks:atul
John Herrman / Gizmodo:
Opera Mobile 9.7 to Support Flash, Google Gears, Server-Side Compression
Discussion: DailyTech
John Cook / TechFlash:
Ignition sets up offices in Seattle
Discussion: Xconomy
Omar El Akkad / Globe and Mail:
Meet the Canadians who busted GhostNet
Discussion: CircleID
 Earlier Items: 
Mark Walsh / MediaPost:
Journalists Jump Print's Sinking Ship For AOL Jobs
Discussion: Screenwerk
John Biggs / CrunchGear:
Dell launches colorful Inspiron line
Discussion: Engadget and Gizmodo
Olga Kharif / Business Week:
Serious Threats to Sirius Radio
Markcuban / blog maverick:
Are Tweets Copyrighted ?  —  Here is a question for all you legal scholars out there.
Discussion: Techdirt and MediaMemo
Erica Sadun / Ars Technica:
Chrome for OS X: State of the Browser
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Paramount's Shari Redstone backs CBS co-host Tony Dokoupil after execs criticized his work and says she lacks editorial control but “something needs to be done”

Emanuel Maiberg / 404 Media:
A group of Wikipedia editors form the WikiProject AI Cleanup to “combat the increasing problem of unsourced, poorly-written AI-generated content” on the website

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Derek Jeter, co-founder of The Players' Tribune, launches Cap 2 Productions to produce TV and streaming content, with projects planned for ESPN, Apple, and more

 
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