Check out Mini-Techmeme for simple mobiles or Techmeme Mobile for modern smartphones.
8:50 PM ET, September 20, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Carolyn Y. Johnson / Boston Globe:
Project ‘Gaydar’  —  At MIT, an experiment identifies which students are gay, raising new questions about online privacy  —  It started as a simple term project for an MIT class on ethics and law on the electronic frontier.  —  Two students partnered up to take on the latest Internet fad …
Discussion: UMBC ebiquity and Slashdot
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
Pink and Microsoft Tablet (Take 2): A couple of updates  —  Project Pink and the rumored remake of a Microsoft Tablet are back on the rumor treadmill this weekend.  —  It's been quiet out there lately on both fronts.  Here's a recap — plus a couple of small updates — that I've heard recently about these two skunk-works efforts.
Discussion: ithinkdifferent
RELATED:
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Eric Schmidt's Favorite Google Product?  Chrome!  —  What's Google CEO Eric Schmidt's favorite Google product at the moment?  When I asked him that this week, I expected a “I love all my children equally” answer.  Instead, Schmidt surprised me answering without hesitation: Google's Chrome browser.
Discussion: louisgray.com and Neowin.net
TechCrunch:
What Have VCs Really Done for Innovation?  —  This is a guest post by Vivek Wadhwa, an entrepreneur turned academic.  He is a Visiting Scholar at UC-Berkeley, Senior Research Associate at Harvard Law School and Executive in Residence at Duke University.  Follow him on Twitter at @vwadhwa.
Thanks:atul
RELATED:
Chris / Adventures in Capitalism:
VCs Are Useless?  That's Bulls**t.  —  Vivek Wadhwa has a guest post up on TechCrunch, “What Have VCs Really Done For Innovation?”  It's obviously meant to court controversy.  Mission accomplished.  —  This post is my refutation.  Wadhwa's post claims:
Vladimir Vukievi:
WebGL in Firefox Nightly Builds  —  Last night, I checked in some more work from Mark Steele (who's focusing on the Firefox WebGL implementation), and along with that, enabled WebGL in trunk nightlies.  (Finally!)  —  If you're not familiar with WebGL, it's the evolution of work …
Discussion: Download Squad and Raph's Website
Brad Stone / New York Times:
Can Amazon Be Wal-Mart of the Web?  —  THE hum of 102 rooftop air conditioners and a chorus of beeping electric carts provide the acoustic backdrop in Amazon.com's 605,000-square-foot distribution facility on this city's west side.  But the center's employees can almost always hear Terry Jones.
RELATED:
Lee Mathews / Download Squad:
At long last, GIMP v2.8 to finally implement single-window interface  —  The GIMP is one of those applications that people either seem to love or hate.  While it's always been a powerful and capable alternative to big commercial apps like Photoshop, GIMP's multiple floating window interface has been hard for some users to adapt to.
Michael Bettiol / Boy Genius Report:
We've got the goods on some upcoming AT&T smartphones from HTC and Garmin-ASUS  —  While many of you spent last night watching grown men pummel one another into submission, we here at BGR put in some over time so we could get to the bottom of the pricing of some upcoming AT&T smartphones.
Joshua Auerbach / GigaOM:
New Media Demands a New Kind of Media Company  —  The media like nothing more than to cover the media.  For that reason, there has been near-endless coverage of the struggles of “old media” companies trying to succeed online.  Pundits debate the possible return of “pay walls” to the web …
Thanks:atul
Charles Arthur / Guardian:
Phorm sheds directors, grumpy website and... money?  —  The webside adware company is getting low on directors, and possibly cash, as it prepares to announce its financial results.  What's the outlook?  —  Remember Phorm?  Of course you do - everyone's favourite (sometimes, or often …
Discussion: Telegraph
Darren Murph / Engadget:
GSM Palm Pre now looking at ‘autumn’ launch in Germany  —  You know, we admire Palm's patience.  We knew a GSM Pre was in the works about 8.43 minutes after its CES presser ended in January, and we've been waiting all this time for some carrier in some part of the New World to grab hold …
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of Techmeme at 8:50 PM ET, September 20, 2009.

View the current page or another snapshot:


 
 Techmeme Sponsor Posts: 
Google:
Reimagine your photos with a prompt  —  Our new native image generation and editing is state-of-the-art, and ranked #1 in the world.  Try it for free in the Gemini app.
Zoho:
Streamline Every Conversation with Zoho Voice Messaging Templates  —  Every growing business knows that customer conversations are the heartbeat of support, sales, and success.  In fast-moving communication channels …
Sevalla:
Sevalla - PaaS from the future  —  Deploy your app before your coffee gets cold.  It's that simple.  Application, database, object storage and free static site hosting.  Start with $50 free credit!
Bitrix24:
Bitrix24 powers the next generation of high-performing businesses  —  Chat, projects, CRM, and automation — all in one place.  Replace dozens of tools so your team moves faster, collaborates smarter, and grows effortlessly.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
Sponsor Techmeme
 
 See Also: 
Techmeme: site main
Techmeme River: reverse chronological Techmeme
Techmeme Mobile: for phones
Techmeme Leaderboard: Techmeme's top sources
 
 Subscribe: 
Techmeme RSS feed
Techmeme on X
Techmeme on Mastodon
 
 
 More Items: 
Nick Heath / CNET News:
Why virus writers are turning to open source
Discussion: digg.com
Tony Plohetski / Austin American-Statesman:
Police ready to ‘take on’ commenters, chief says
Kevin Walsh / GigaOM:
With Broadband, Quality Should Trump Penetration
Oliver J. Chiang / Forbes:
Creating A Hit IPhone Game
 Earlier Items: 
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols / Computerworld:
WiMax in 2010: Too little, too late?
Paul Carr / TechCrunch:
WITTC50?:  Will there be a TechCrunch50 next year?  What Jason wants, Jason Getz
Discussion: P2P Foundation
Cade Metz / The Register:
Google Apps sics crawlers on public docs and sheets
Justin Smith / Inside Facebook:
Josh Elman Leaving Facebook, Returning to More “Hands-On” Product Role
Discussion: All Facebook, Thanks:atul
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Vanity Fair:
Vanity Fair announces new hires, including Ta-Nehisi Coates as senior staff writer and Adrienne Green as executive editor, plus new contributing editors

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Tubi announces its first slate of creator-led shows, including with YouTuber Joey Graceffa, as it seeks to expand emerging talent's access to Hollywood

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Kamal Ahmed, who previously hosted The Telegraph's The Daily T podcast, leaves to join Fortune as executive editorial director for UK and Europe

 
Sister Sites:

Mediagazer
 Top news and commentary for media professionals from all around the web
memeorandum
 What US political commentators are discussing online right now
WeSmirch
 The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page