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12:40 AM ET, August 19, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
David Pakman / Silicon Alley Insider:
Why iLike Sold For Peanuts  —  The recent distressed exit of iLike reminds us of the need to build real value in our startups if we hope to create lasting companies and wealth.  —  I have seen cycles that last about 18 months or so in which traction gets substituted for value.
Discussion: hypebot and Music Ally
RELATED:
Ryan Tate / Gawker:
How a ‘Made’ Startup Was Clipped  —  Two years ago, music service iLike appeared to be set: Its CEO said it was “made,” its investor mused it could be a “billion-dollar winner,” and the press was enthralled.  Now the poster child is a cautionary tale.  —  iLike became something of an icon …
Olga Kharif / Business Week:
Can the Apple Touch Sell the Tablet?  —  The Mac and iPhone maker may join a host of tech players hoping to win big in tablet PCs, an area where some of the industry's biggest names have failed  —  Apple may be at the forefront of a renewed effort to bring back the tablet.
RELATED:
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Analyst Claims Two Apple Tablets Coming, One With 6-Inch Screen  —  In a report on the increasing hype surrounding tablet computers focused on Apple's much-anticipated tablet offerings, BusinessWeek cites market researcher Richard Doherty, who claims that Apple has developed two protoype tablet computers …
Discussion: GottaBeMobile.com
Om Malik / GigaOM:
How Smartphones Are Making Wi-Fi Hot Again  —  As many of you know, I recently moved to a new neighborhood in San Francisco.  The move came with its own share of ups and downs, but waiting for broadband was the most challenging for me.  It took almost five days to get the connection hooked up …
Discussion: dailywireless.org
RELATED:
Katherine Madariaga / Meraki:
Meraki Wireless Census Reveals Bold Shifts in Type and Number …
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:
Wikipedia Lauches Official iPhone App  —  The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organization behind the popular Wikipedia, just released its first official iPhone application for Wikipedia.  Wikipedia Mobile, which is available for free in the App Store now (iTunes link), gives users access to iPhone-formatted Wikipedia articles.
Scott M. Fulton, III / BetaNews:
First Google Chrome 4 reveals the beginnings of cloud synchronization  —  Download Google Chrome Dev channel build 4.0.201.1 from Fileforum now.  —  With Google, one tends to learn the meanings and intentions behind the many events in its development programs pretty much as they happen.
Discussion: internetnews.com
RELATED:
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:   HP CFO Doesn't See Win 7 Triggering PC Refresh Cycle
Paul Miller / Engadget:
Sony unveils slimmer PS3: $300, lands in September (updated!)  —  Hardly a surprise, but Sony got on stage today at GamesCom and confirmed what we've all known deep down in our hearts: the new, slimmer PS3 is really real.  It'll be out in the first week of September (September 1 in North America and Europe …
Chuq Von Rospach / Palm Developer Network Blog:
Bring Us Your Apps, and Sell Them, Too  —  Submit your webOS applications today for the Palm App Catalog e-commerce beta starting in mid-September  —  Starting today, you can submit your apps via email for consideration in the Palm App Catalog e-commerce beta program.
Nate Lanxon / CNET News:
Shocker: Windows 7 to sell in UK for half the US price!  —  We've been doing some investigating, friends — making phone calls, demanding answers.  And it was worth it.  We can confirm something very few people get to confirm: British shoppers aren't going to be totally shafted over software pricing for once.
Discussion: Slashdot
Charles Bremner / Times of London:
Google bruises Gallic pride as national library does deal with search giant  —  French pride took a knock today with news that the National Library is giving up a four-year fight for a Gallic riposte to Google and bowing to the might of the Californian search giant.
Discussion: CNET News, WebProNews and Gawker
Ina Fried / CNET News:
Microsoft asks for stay of Word injunction  —  Microsoft on Tuesday asked an appeals court to halt an injunction that would force the company to stop selling Microsoft Word in its current form.  —  A judge last week issued an injunction that would force Microsoft to stop selling versions …
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Is Mint Going After Freshbooks?  Its New Features Point In That Direction.  —  Personal finance tracking site Mint.com added a bunch of new budgeting and trending features today.  Mint presents consumers with a financial dashboard based on spending and income data from their bank, credit card, and other financial accounts.
Discussion: BloggingStocks and Bizzia
Julius Genachowski / blogband:
Welcome to Blogband  —  The National Broadband Plan is one of the most important initiatives that the FCC has ever undertaken.  To foster public dialogue about the National Broadband Plan, we're tapping the power of the Internet to launch a new FCC blog, called Blogband.  What better time to start blogging than now?
Jessi Hempel / Fortune:
Smartphone wars - BlackBerry's plan to win  —  Locked in an epic battle with Apple's iPhone, Research in Motion has managed to grow bigger and more dominant than ever.  But the competition is about to get tougher.  —  (Fortune Magazine) — For two Canadian guys who've spent …
RELATED:
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
MySpace Disables Auto-Play Of Profile Songs To Get Streaming Costs Under Control  —  MySpace Music, which launched a little less than a year ago, is the one bright spot of growth in an otherwise flatlining MySpace.  —  But all that popularity comes at a price - billions of free streaming songs …
Discussion: Music Ally and InformationWeek
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily:
Apple: How They Can Sell 50 Million iPhones A Year  —  Apple (AAPL) is on track to sell more than 50 million iPhones a year by the September 2011 fiscal year, Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi asserted in a research note this morning, up from an estimated 20 million in fiscal 2009.
Aaron Saenz / Singularity Hub:
Commanding Military Drones - Now iPhone Has an App for That  —  If you've got drones in different area codes, iPhone has an app for that.  MIT's Human and Automation Lab (HAL) has been able to control an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) using everyone's favorite smart phone.
Jennifer Martinez / GigaOM:
And Now a Service to Roll Your Own iPhone Apps  —  Sweb Apps publicly launched an eponymous web site today where small- and medium-sized businesses can create their own iPhone applications, providing a new way for them to market their services and promotions to the increasing number of smartphone users.
Royal Pingdom:
URL shortener speed and reliability shootout  —  With the rise of microblogging, URL shortening services have become extremely popular.  And no wonder; just imagine sharing links on Twitter without one.  Although some of these services have considerably more market share than others …
Discussion: TechCrunch, CNET News and Nimble Code, Thanks:atul
Ian Hamilton / App Advice:
First Look: Facebook 3.0  —  Joe Hewitt, the developer behind the iPhone version of Facebook, just graced my inbox with a copy of the Facebook 3.0 app he submitted to the App Store.  —  It feels more like the full Facebook than ever before and the whole interface is cleaner …
Chris Albrecht / NewTeeVee:
Redbox v. Universal Will Move Forward  —  Though two of its three claims were dismissed by a U.S. District Court judge yesterday, Redbox's lawsuit against Universal Studios Home Entertainment will proceed.  In his opinion, Judge Robert Kugler wrote: … Redbox brought the lawsuit …
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
The Press Releases of the Damned!  —  In the land of the press release, all news isn't good news-it's fantastic news.  Every product is revolutionary.  Each corporate merger is historic.  Even layoffs are masterstrokes that will turn around troubled companies.
Discussion: Slashdot
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
CDs still sell: Who are these people?!?  —  Apple's iTunes music juggernaut accounts for 25 percent of music sold.  The rub: Sixty-five percent of you are still buying CDs for your music in the first half of 2009, according to research firm NPD.  —  The big question today: Who are these people still buying CDs?
The ChubbyBrain Blog:
Venture Capital Backed Mobile App Startups Remain Predominantly Mobile OS Agnostic  —  Are venture capital-backed mobile app companies developing their apps on a single mobile OS or are they developing them to work on multiple operating systems?  A look at 2009's venture capital funding activity …
 
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 More Items: 
Web Ecology Project:
Detecting Sadness in 140 Characters:
Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
Finn fined just €3,000 for sharing 768MB of music
Discussion: freakbits.com
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
140 Characters?  That's A Lot Of Writing.  Just Post A Picture On DailyBooth
 Earlier Items: 
Michael Learmonth / AdAge:
A Display Ad That's Not a Banner Ad
Discussion: ClickZ and the Econsultancy blog, Thanks:mrinaldesai
Andrew Orlowski / The Register:
SpinVox: Patricia Russo joins, quits almost immediately
Discussion: TechCrunch Europe
Bill Mitchell / Newspay:
New York Times Invites Public Discussion of Paid Content
Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:
Google Tops In Search Satisfaction According To Pre-Bing Survey
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Paramount Global's board is considering replacing CEO Bob Bakish with an “Office of the CEO” made up of division heads on an interim basis

Andrew Marchand / The Athletic:
Sources: Amazon Prime Video has a framework deal for NBA broadcast rights for at least a decade, starting in 2025-26; ESPN/ABC is expected to keep the finals

Martin Pengelly / The Guardian:
Howard Stern of SiriusXM snags a surprise interview with President Biden, following reports of Biden's refusal so far to give The NYT a sit-down interview

 
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