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7:50 PM ET, August 24, 2010

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Bloomberg:
Apple Said to Prepare New 99-Cent TV Show Rental Service  —  Apple Inc. is in advanced talks with News Corp. to let iTunes users rent TV shows for 99 cents and is in discussions with other media companies about similar deals, said three people familiar with the plan.
RELATED:
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:
99¢ TV shows coming Sept. 7 - report
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider
Aza Raskin / Aza on Design:
Firefox Panorama: Tab Candy Evolved  —  I am happy to announce that Tab Candy is coming to Firefox 4.  Starting today, Tab Candy will be called Firefox Panorama and be available as a feature in Firefox betas.  Head to the Firefox 4 feature list, or watch the video below …
RELATED:
Mike Beltzner / The Mozilla Blog:
Firefox 4 Beta Updated with Sync and Panorama  —  The latest update to Firefox 4 Beta is now available with new features that offer more control over your Web experience.  This release lets you own and control your personal Web experience by syncing your data across devices …
Shashi Seth / Yahoo! Search Blog:
Yahoo! Transitions Organic Search Back-End to Microsoft Platform  —  First let me say, wow, what a week!  As I hope everyone saw our post from last week, Yahoo! began transitioning certain back-end functions for Yahoo! Search over to Microsoft's search platform.
Apple:
iTunes U Downloads Top 300 Million  —  In just over three years, iTunes® U downloads have topped 300 million and it has become one of the world's most popular online educational catalogs.  Over 800 universities throughout the world have active iTunes U sites, and nearly half …
Jessica Guynn / L.A. Times Tech Blog:
Square hires Keith Rabois, Silicon Valley veteran and investor  —  Keith Rabois is paying it forward.  —  Not only did Google land technology to help boost its social networking ambitions when it bought Slide this month, it got PayPal veteran and Internet superstar Max Levchin as well.
Discussion: The Social, Thanks:mbaratz
Nielsen Wire:
African-Americans, Women and Southerners Talk and Text The Most in the U.S.  —  Think you can guess which Americans talk or text the most on their cellphones?  —  According to Nielsen, African-Americans use the most voice minutes - on average more than 1,300 a month.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Motorola Snaps Up 280 North For $20 Million  —  Motorola has acquired Y Combinator startup 280 North, we've confirmed.  We haven't confirmed, but have heard from multiple sources, that the price is around $20 million.  This is a sizable exit for the founders - the company has raised just $250,000 in a 2008 angel round.
Discussion: Electronista, Tech Trader Daily and Ajaxian, Thanks:atul
Ben Worthen / Wall Street Journal:
Businesses Add iPads to Their Briefcases  —  Some Companies, Which Barred the iPhone, Build Apps for Tablet Computer and Give Apple Gadget to Employees  —  When Apple Inc.'s first iPhone came out in 2007, many companies told their employees that the device wasn't appropriate for the workplace.
Emma Barnett / Telegraph:
Facebook Places ‘boring’ says Foursquare chief  —  Dennis Crowley, the co-founder of Foursquare, a location-based social network, has called Places, Facebook's new check-in tool, “boring” and “unexciting”.  —  Talking to The Telegraph, Crowley, said he had now had time to play around …
RELATED:
Brian Barrett / Gizmodo:
Please Stop Making New Phones With Old Firmware  —  We've reached the point where buying a “new” Android phone could still mean you're using firmware that's 18 months old.  There's got to be a better way.  —  Today's release of the Android 1.5-laden Dell Aero might be the most recent …
Discussion: DSLreports and Black Web 2.0
RELATED:
Robert McMillan / Computerworld:
Apple exec stashed $150K in shoe boxes  —  Bail for Paul Devine is set at $600K, plus any money he has in foreign bank accounts  —  IDG News Service - SAN JOSE — Federal agents found more than $150,000 in cash when they searched the house of Apple manager Paul Devine earlier this month, prosecutors said in court Monday.
Brian Barrett / Gizmodo:
The 300,000 Biggest Websites, Visualized With Their Icons  —  How do the 288,945 most heavily trafficked sites on the internet stack up against each other?  Take a very close look at this chart to find out.  —  While you could spend all day with a microscope trying to sort …
Jonny Evans / Computerworld:
Why ‘open’ Android may lose the Apple iOS wars  —  Everyone's sleeping with Android and Apple should watch out, at least that's the threat on news Acer has also thrown in its lot with Android, hinting at truth in earlier predictions the firm intends releasing an Android 3.-powered iPod contender …
Discussion: Macworld, AppleInsider and MacStories
Chris Ziegler / Engadget:
Exclusive: HTC's Windows Phone 7-equipped T8788 breaks cover for AT&T  —  In case you needed any more evidence that AT&T is going all-in with Windows Phone 7, take a gander at this little beast, a phone known only as the HTC T8788 at this point (rest assured, you'll get a snappy, memorable …
Caroline McCarthy / The Social:
Twitter: Yes, we're building out a sales team!  —  Confirming a bunch of disparate blog rumors about individual hires, Twitter confirmed on Tuesday—after previously declining to comment—that it's building out a sales team and has hired a News Corp. veteran to helm it.
James Temple / San Francisco Chronicle:
Jack Dorsey connected the dots to create Twitter  —  During the mid-1980s, an introverted young teenager named Jack Dorsey sat for countless hours at his father's desk, in a small city outside of St. Louis, teaching himself to program on an early IBM personal computer.
Discussion: Laughing Squid, Thanks:atul
Agence France Presse:
Toshiba to launch first glasses-free 3D TV  —  TOKYO (AFP) - Japanese electronics giant Toshiba plans to market the world's first 3D television that does not need special glasses later this year, a report said on Tuesday.  —  Toshiba will unveil three models of the television …
Mike Melanson / ReadWriteWeb:
Pandora Adds Genre-Based Stations  —  Just the other day, I introduced my mother to music recommendation service Pandora.  We'd been discussing how my grandfather used to love listening to barbershop music and she said she missed it and would love to find a way to listen.
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
Samsung Galaxy Tab gets official teaser video  —  Whoa, now we're talking.  It's short, sweet, and dramatic yet the official Samsung Galaxy Tab teaser video still manages to reveal a number of features.  We've got Android 2.2 running on a 7-inch display, video calling, Swype, HD movie playback, navigation, e-reader, and plenty more.
Electronista:
Windows 95 marks 15th birthday in uncertain Microsoft future  —  Microsoft reached a milestone today as Windows 95 reached the 15th anniversary of its launch on August 24, 1995.  The OS was the highest-profile debut ever for Microsoft and saw rare lines for a software launch …
AVG Blogs / Roger Thompson:
Where are the safest and most dangerous places in the world to use the internet?  —  w During the last week of July, AVG researchers compiled a list of virus and malware attacks by country picked up by AVG security software.  —  This means we have compiled data from over 127 million computers …
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
Iomega Portable Hard Drives Hit the Big USB 3.0  —  Do you own a computer with USB 3.0 ports?  Probably not.  You will, though-and when you do, you'll want USB 3.0 devices so you can take advantage of the sizable speed boost.  —  USB 3.0-equipped peripherals, like USB 3.0 PCs, remain somewhat exotic.
Discussion: Iomega, SlashGear, Gizmodo and Electronista
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Topsy: Now Searching Tweets Back To May 2008  —  Looking for old tweets?  Look to Topsy.  The service has just expanded to have what it claims to be the largest searchable collection of past tweets, over 5 billion of them, stretching back to at least May 2008.
Discussion: Topsy Labs and ReadWriteWeb
 
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 More Items: 
Audrey Watters / ReadWriteWeb:
Where the Startups Are, By Zip Code
Discussion: PeteSearch, Feld Thoughts and CloudAve
Matt Richtel / New York Times:
Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime
Natasha Murashev / All Facebook:
What Your “Cool” Facebook Friend Is Really Like
Caitlin Fitzsimmons / All Facebook:
Why Facebook Spam Could Soon Rival Email Spam
Ed Bott / Ed Bott's Microsoft Report Blog:
Fact check: malware did not bring down a passenger jet
Wayne Friedman / MediaPost:
Borrell: Online Ad Spend To Gain 17.5% In 2011
Discussion: Adweek and WebProNews
 Earlier Items: 
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Google Finance Now Looks Better In Your Mobile Browser
Ryan Grim / The Huffington Post:
Facebook Blocks Ads For Pot Legalization Campaign
Discussion: Adotas, Gawker, Boing Boing and NBC Bay Area
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
New Research Suggest Google Book Search Helps Publishers A Lot More Than It Hurts
Discussion: Search Engine Land
Julie / Electronic Frontier Foundation:
Steve Jobs Is Watching You: Apple Seeking to Patent Spyware