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1:45 PM ET, August 27, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Nilay Patel / Engadget:
Snow Leopard review  —  Snow Leopard.  Even the name seems to underpromise — it's the first “big cat” OS X codename to reference the previous version of the OS, and the list of big-ticket new features is seemingly pretty short for a version-number jump.  Maybe that's why Apple's priced …
Discussion: blogs.chron.com and broadstuff
RELATED:
Walter S. Mossberg / Personal Technology:
Apple Changes Leopard's Spots  —  For a company known for breakthrough products with cool features, Apple this week is doing something unusual: It is introducing a key product with very few new features that are visible to its users.  This new release, the latest major version …
Bernadette Irinco / TrendLabs:
Bogus Snow Leopard Update Sites Lead to DNS Changers
Om Malik / GigaOM:
How Big Is the Apple iPhone App Economy?  The Answer Might Surprise You  —  If I were to tell you that Apple's app economy was worth more than $2.4 billion a year, you would laugh hysterically, shake your head and walk out of the room, yes?  Surf on over to some other web site?
RELATED:
Paul Boutin / VentureBeat:
AdMob finds Android app users more scarce, but just as obsessed as iPhone app users
Eric Pfanner / New York Times:
Italian Regulators Investigating Google  —  PARIS — Italian competition authorities said Thursday that they were investigating Google, following complaints from publishers that the company was abusing its dominant position on the Internet to deny them a fair share of online advertising revenue.
RELATED:
Bloomberg:
Google News's ‘Dominant Position’ Probed by Italian Antitrust Regulators  —  Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) — Google Inc., owner of the most popular Internet search engine, is being investigated by Italian antitrust regulators after national newspapers said the company's news service deprives them of advertising revenue.
Nokia:
Maemo 5 injects speed and power into mobile computing  —  The new Nokia N900: Computer-grade performance in a handset  —  Espoo, Finland - Nokia today marked the next phase in the evolution of Maemo software with the new Nokia N900.  Taking its cues from the world of desktop computing …
Robert McMillan / PC World:
New Attack Cracks Common Wi-Fi Encryption in a Minute  —  Computer scientists in Japan say they've developed a way to break the WPA encryption system used in wireless routers in about one minute.  —  The attack gives hackers a way to read encrypted traffic sent between computers and certain types …
Monica Chen / DigiTimes:
Asustek to launch e-book reader under Eee family  —  Asustek Computer plans to launch an e-book reader under its Eee brand by the end of 2009 at the earliest, according to company president Jerry Shen.  —  Meanwhile, Micro-Star International (MSI) is also evaluating the e-book reader market, according to industry sources.
Farhad Manjoo / Slate:
Unchain the Office Computers!  —  Why corporate IT should let us browse any way we want.  —  During a town hall meeting for State Department workers last month, an employee named Jim Finkle asked Hillary Clinton a very important question: “Can you please let the staff use an alternative Web browser called Firefox?”
Discussion: CrunchGear and Techdirt
Brandon Badger / Google Book Search Blog:
Download Over a Million Public Domain Books from Google Books in the Open EPUB Format  —  Over the years, we've heard a lot from people who've unearthed hidden treasures in Google Books: a crafter who uncovered a forgotten knitting technique, a family historian who discovered her ancestor once traveled …
RELATED:
Robert Andrews / paidContent:
Pictures: Fire On Google's Roof, UK HQ Evacuated, Barbecue Blamed  —  Google's a hot company to work for - literally.  A fire atop its UK HQ on Victoria's Buckingham Palace Road in London forced its evacuation shortly after Thursday lunchtime.  “Yes, there has been a fire at Google (NSDQ …
Serkan Toto / MobileCrunch:
Apple finally enters the world's biggest mobile market: China to get the iPhone in October  —  Major Chinese news portal 163.com is reporting [Google machine translation] that Apple has finally signed a deal with China Unicom to bring the iPhone 3G to mainland China in October.
Tameka Kee / paidContent:
Console Price Wars: Microsoft Drops Xbox Elite Down To $299  —  Hoping to boost console sales this holiday season, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has dropped the price of its Elite Xbox 360 to $299.  The $100 price cut comes just about a week after Sony (finally) slashed the price of the PS3, also to $299.
Miguel Helft / Bits:
Is Google Entering the Mortgage Quote Business?  —  Google plans to begin offering loan quotes online as early as this month, a lawsuit filed in federal court this week claims.  The suit was filed by LendingTree, which offers consumers mortgage quotes and conditional loan offers online …
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
Ballmer to headline Windows 7 launch in New York City  —  Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will kick off the Windows 7 launch at an event in New York City on October 22, according to an invitation Microsoft has sent to various media members and bloggers.  —  To date, Microsoft officials have declined …
Discussion: CNET News and Softpedia News
Greg Sandoval / CNET News:
Is Pirate Bay sold?  Don't believe it  —  The caption running over a photo of Global Gaming CEO Hans Pandeya reads: “Pirate Bay Sold”  —  Hans Pandeya, CEO of Global Gaming Factory X, told reporters in Sweden on Thursday that his company's acquisition of The Pirate Bay will go through.
Discussion: p2pnet and The Register
RELATED:
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Boxcar 2.0 Is A Must-Have For the iPhone.  It's The Best Push Notification App Yet.  —  A few days ago, I wrote about the frustration over the delay in approving the new Facebook app for the iPhone.  That should launch any day now, and it's a good thing because as soon as it does …
Discussion: jkOnTheRun
Hans Wu / DigiTimes:
OmniVision becomes sole CIS supplier of new Apple iPod  —  OmniVision has secured CMOS image sensor (CIS) orders for upcoming Apple iPods, according to market sources.  —  OmniVision will be the sole supplier of 3.2-megapixel CIS products for new iPod nano, iPod classic and iPod Touch models …
Simon St. Laurent / O'Reilly Radar:
Why is HTML Suddenly Interesting?  —  Web developers couldn't stop talking about HTML and its evolution during the 1990s.  New features were usually tempting, though not always workable, and the Browser Wars meant that vendors competed by providing and copying features.
Discussion: Mashable!, Thanks:atul
Claire Cain Miller / Bits:
Ex-Forrester Analysts Resurface at Consulting Firm  —  Forrester Research, the big technology research company, has recently lost three of its star analysts.  They have now resurfaced at Altimeter Group, a consulting firm that helps big companies figure out how to use new technologies.
Discussion: Web Strategy and Technobabble 2.0
John Markoff / New York Times:
Defying Experts, Rogue Computer Code Still Lurks  —  It is still out there.  —  Like a ghost ship, a rogue software program that glided onto the Internet last November has confounded the efforts of top security experts to eradicate the program and trace its origins and purpose …
Scott Moritz / TheStreet.com:
AT&T Opted Out of Motorola's Android Plan  —  SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (TheStreet) — Motorola's (MOT Quote) one last chance has one fewer partner to help make it happen.  —  AT&T (T Quote) cancelled plans to carry Google (GOOG Quote) Android-powered phones later this year, says MKM Partners analyst Tero Kuittinen …
Discussion: I4U News
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Facebook Wants To Own Idea Of Crowdsourced Translations  —  Facebook is the biggest social network in the world, so it may come as a surprise to some that up until early 2008, it didn't offer any localized versions of the site at all.  The company managed to jumpstart its international presence …
Discussion: Techdirt, BaltTech and Softpedia News, Thanks:mrinaldesai
Globe and Mail:
Facebook agrees to privacy changes  —  Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart says Facebook has agreed to changes that will bring the social networking site into compliance with Canadian law.  —  In a press conference, Ms. Stoddart said Facebook, among other pledges, has agreed to new features …
 
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 More Items: 
Rafe Needleman / CNET News:
What's the best phone for Google Voice?
The Official Google Blog:
Translate documents: sharing across languages and generations
Discussion: TechCrunch
Timothy Prickett Morgan / The Register:
Tibco snaps up DataSynapse for $28m
Discussion: Mass High Tech
John Cook / TechFlash:
The Seattle Times partners with neighborhood news blogs
Tricia Duryee / mocoNews:
Don't Have VC Money? There's Contests Galore For Mobile Apps
Bloomberg:
SAP Ordered by Jury in Texas to Pay $139 Million to Versata Over Patents
Discussion: Tech Trader Daily and The Register
 Earlier Items: 
Ivor Tossell / Globe and Mail:
Progressive signals? From the Tories? On copyright?
Discussion: Michael Geist Blog and p2pnet
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Yoono Grows Up, Launches A Desktop App
Marcel van de Hoef / Bloomberg:
TomTom, Garmin See Map-Device Rebound in 2010, Defy ‘Terminal Decline’
Discussion: CrunchGear
Nicholas Kolakowski / eWeek:
Microsoft Downplays Yahoo Upgrades to E-Mail, Search, Messenger Apps
Discussion: GigaOM
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
The Scott Trust approves the sale of The Observer to Tortoise, despite two days of strikes by Guardian and Observer staffers against the deal

Harry Litman / Talking Feds Substack:
LA Times op-ed contributor Harry Litman resigns, saying he's protesting the “repugnant and dangerous” actions to appease Trump by owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong

Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
Sources: Condé Nast lays off some top executives including VPs and SVPs in marketing and sales, along with key staff in events, social media, and editorial jobs

 
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