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7:25 PM ET, August 3, 2010

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Alex Wagner / PhoneDog.com:
BlackBerry Torch for AT&T: available August 12 for $199.99 … It may have been outed early a couple of times this morning, but now the BlackBerry Torch 9800 is officially official, complete with pricing and availability.  The Torch will be available on AT&T beginning August 12th for $199.99 with a two-year contract.
RELATED:
Boy Genius Report:
BlackBerry Torch 9800 hands on  —  We wrapped up the RIM and AT&T event with some hands on time with the just-announced though hardly-a-secret BlackBerry Torch 9800.  Here are some first impressions:  — The hardware (casing, build quality, feel) is typical RIM — it's great.
Katie Marsal / AppleInsider:
RIM attempts to create Apple-like buzz with BlackBerry Torch event  —  In an uncharacteristic move, Research in Motion held a media event Tuesday in New York City to generate buzz for its new BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone, an AT&T handset with a multi-touch screen and slide-out keyboard.
Wilson Rothman / msnbc.com:
Underwhelming BlackBerry spells doom for RIM
Discussion: Gizmodo and Ars Technica, Thanks:wjrothman
Greg Sandoval / CNET News:
Apple's plan for Lala cloudier than ever  —  SAN FRANCISCO—A speedy launch of an iTunes cloud-music service hasn't materialized the way many at the large record companies expected.  —  The thinking among some music insiders was that once Apple acquired the proper music licenses …
RELATED:
Chris Foresman / Ars Technica:   Cloud-based iTunes could be about the video, not the music
Google Mobile Blog:
Introducing the new Search History link on Google  —  Have you ever tried to remember how to get back to a website that you found from a recent search?  Today in the US, we're launching a new search history feature which helps you quickly get back to sites you've been to and see items …
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb and The Next Web
Financial Times:
Motorola and Verizon team up for TV tablet  —  Motorola is developing a digital tablet device that will allow users to watch television on it, as the US mobile phone group attempts to chip away at a market established by Apple's popular iPad.  —  The device, which will have a 10-inch screen …
Alex Chitu / Google Operating System:
Google Multiple Sign-in, Now Available  —  Google is rolling out a feature I mentioned in a previous post: signing in to multiple Google accounts simultaneously from the same browser.  When you go to the Google accounts page, you might see a new option: “multiple sign-in”.
Chris Pendleton / Bing Maps Blog:
Bing's Bringing Sexy Maps  —  Over the last few weeks a few of you lucky ducks got to experience a new map type we were flighting.  Around 10% of users were seeing our new maps in all its aesthetic glory.  Today, we're releasing it to everyone.  The new map type has two experiences …
John Schwartz / New York Times:
F.B.I., Challenging Use of Seal, Gets Back a Primer on the Law  —  The Federal Bureau of Investigation has taken on everyone from Al Capone to John Dillinger to the Unabomber.  Its latest adversary: Wikipedia.  —  The bureau wrote a letter in July to the Wikimedia Foundation …
Jesus Diaz / Gizmodo:
Apple Security Breach Gives Complete Access to Your iPhone  —  Right now, if you visit a web page and load a simple PDF file, you may give total control of your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad to a hacker.  The security bug affects all iOS 4 devices and the iPad.  —  The vulnerability is easily exploitable.
Donald Melanson / Engadget:
Microsoft teases something ‘flat’ and ‘touchy’  —  Microsoft Hardware was a bit of a late-comer to Twitter, but it sure is making up for lost time — it's just posted a pair of intriguing tweets teasing as yet unannounced product.  The first is simply the phrase “Don't be so touchy …
Antonio Garcia-Martinez / AdGrok:
New York will always be a tech backwater, I don't care what Chris Dixon or Ron Conway or Paul Graham say  —  Last Tuesday, legendary tech investor Ron Conway addressed the glop-eating masses at Y Combinator during our usual Tuesday illustrious-speaker dinner.
Discussion: Stowe Boyd
Steve Cheney / TechCrunch:
Why Checking Into Foursquare With Your Phone in Your Pocket Won't Always Work  —  Updating your location in the background on mobile apps is gaining momentum as a use-case, most recently with an app allowing you to Check-In On Foursquare Without Taking Your Phone Out Of Your Pocket.
Discussion: The Huffington Post
RELATED:
Ed Oswald / BetaNews:
Skype founders launch mobile subscription music service  —  Skype, Kazaa, and Joost creators Janus Friis with Niklas Zennström launched Rdio on Tuesday, aiming to offer an inexpensive way to provide unlimited streaming music from mobile phones.  In addition, the service would allow users …
RELATED:
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Spotify Who?  Rdio Launches In The US And Canada, Lands More Indie Music Deals
Jon Swartz / USA Today:
‘Start-up King’ Mike Cassidy strikes Silicon Valley gold  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Entrepreneurs rarely succeed in Silicon Valley— much less repeat success.  —  Twice was the charm for Steve Jobs (Apple and Pixar) and Marc Andreessen (Netscape and Loudcloud).  Jim Clark achieved a trifecta (Silicon Graphics, Netscape, Healtheon).
Discussion: DealBook
Greg Kumparak / MobileCrunch:
Is Verizon lying about the Droid's capabilities?  —  Yesterday, Verizon made it clear that while the original Droid would be getting Android 2.2, it would not be getting one of Android 2.2′s most coveted features: WiFi HotSpot.  In other words, you wouldn't be able to flip a switch …
Discussion: Gadget Lab and Electronista
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:
With iPad, Apple is No. 3 in portables  —  If you count tablets as notebook PCs, Apple just passed Asus, Lenovo, Toshiba and Dell  —  Click to enlarge.  Source: Deutsche Bank  —  Apple is usually considered an also-ran in the global PC market.  —  But the chart at right …
BBC:
Web attack knows where you live  —  The attack exploits the way routers handle requests for ID information  —  One visit to a booby-trapped website could direct attackers to a person's home, a security expert has shown.  —  The attack, thought up by hacker Samy Kamkar …
Audrey Watters / ReadWriteWeb:
Scholars Build Blog-to-eBook Tool in One Week  —  Twelve digital humanities scholars walk into a barn-raising... It's not the opening line of a witty joke you try to deliver at your next tenure-track job interview.  —  This past week, a dozen scholars participated in the One Week One Tool workshop …
Jesus Diaz / Gizmodo:
How Apple's App Store Censoring Process Works  —  Minutes after telling you about Funny Shoppers—an iPhone application that showcases the trashiest of Walmart's clientele—Apple deleted it from their store.  It wasn't a surprise.  What happened before and after shows how arbitrary their app censoring process is.
Economist:
The end of Wintel  —  As Microsoft and Intel move apart, computing becomes multipolar  —  THEY were the Macbeths of information technology (IT): a wicked couple who seized power and abused it in bloody and avaricious ways.  Or so critics of Microsoft and Intel used to say …
Discussion: Cult of Mac and broadstuff
David K / Mobility Digest:
Microsoft Continues To Screw Up HTML Email In WP7  —  Raise your hand if you've used Windows Mobile and thought that it's ridiculous that every time you get an html email with embedded images that you need to press somewhere to get the content.  And of course if you're offline that means no soup for you.
 
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 More Items: 
Robert McMillan / Computerworld:
Google fixes flaw in Audio CAPTCHA
Priya Ganapati / Gadget Lab:
Foxit eSlick E-Reader Nears its End
Discussion: SlashGear and OhGizmo!
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
fflick's Sentiment Engine Turns Twitter Into A Crowdsourced Movie Critic
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft Blog:
Microsoft's LightSwitch: Building business apps for Web, PCs and cloud
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
UPDATED: EMusic Gets a New CEO, Promises Cloud-Based Locker Service For 2011
Discussion: VentureBeat and paidContent
 Earlier Items: 
Marina Zhunich / European Public Policy Blog:
Worrying restrictions on Internet access in Russia
Audrey Watters / ReadWriteWeb:
Venture Capital Human Capital Report Examines Who Gets Funded
Discussion: CB Insights, Xconomy and Black Web 2.0
Noah Shachtman / Danger Room:
Latest Launch Brings China Closer to ‘GPS’ of Its Own
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
The FTC bans noncompete clauses that restrict job switching, potentially complicating hiring in Hollywood as firms try to protect trade secrets and other info

Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
An interview with NPR CEO Katherine Maher, who defends NPR and accuses critics of “bad faith distortion” of her past comments about the First Amendment

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Apollo-backed US investment group Concord increases its bid for Hipgnosis Songs Fund, to $1.5B, just over the last offer from Blackstone

 
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