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11:55 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
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 …
Tom Krazit / CNET News:
Google testing voice calling in Gmail  —  Google could be ready to turn Gmail into a communications hub by adding the ability to make phone calls from the Google Chat interface.  —  CNET has learned that Google is testing a Web-based service within Gmail that will allow users to place phone calls from their inboxes.
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.
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.
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 …
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.  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.
RELATED:
Joel Rosenblatt / Bloomberg:
Apple Manager Devine Must Allow Access to Safe Deposit Boxes
Discussion: Gizmodo, The Register and V3.co.uk
The JobsBloggers / Microsoft JobsBlog:
The Top Three hottest new majors for a career in technology  —  Have you ever wondered what fields of study are hot right now in the world of technology?  Or maybe you're starting to think about declaring your major and you're looking for some real world guidance?
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: GigaOM, Silicon Alley Insider and 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.
Audrey Watters / ReadWriteWeb:
Where the Startups Are, By Zip Code  —  As part of our “Never Mind the Valley” series here, we often feature communities outside the Silicon Valley that have become thriving centers for entrepreneurship.  We've profiled cities like Boston, Montreal, and Austin.
Discussion: PeteSearch, Feld Thoughts and CloudAve
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 …
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.
Amir Efrati / Digits:
Google Makes Change to Orkut as Facebook Wins in India  —  Facebook appears to have overtaken Google's Orkut in India.  At the same time, Google has rolled out new changes to beef up Orkut.  —  In 2004, Google launched social-networking site Orkut, which didn't take off in the U.S …
Natasha Murashev / All Facebook:
What Your “Cool” Facebook Friend Is Really Like  —  You probably have at least one Facebook friend who is constantly posting pictures of themselves at bars and commenting on everybody's wall and regularly updates their status with “smart” comments and checking in to every place they go and just seem irresistibly cool.
Greg Kumparak / MobileCrunch:
Virgin Mobile shifts up their MiFi plan: $40.  Unlimited.  Contract-free.  Glorious.  —  Man, these pre-paid carriers are really learning to pull on a geek's heartstrings.  Just months ago, Boost launched the US' first Android-powered prepaid phone, the Moto i1.
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
‘Angry Birds’ iPhone Game To Get Line Of Toys, Possibly Movie  —  According to Variety, Rovio, the company that makes ‘Angry Birds’ has been shopping the beloved iPhone game around Hollywood, and currently rolling out some franchising deals. … While we can't say anything definite …
Keith Andrew / PocketGamer:
Qwiboo's Vladimir Roth on why piracy is thriving on iPad  —  Consumers don't like duplication.  For the second time in as many weeks, a developer has been able to use OpenFeint's leaderboards to determine just how many people are pirating its games.Over the weekend, Qwiboo founder Vladimir Roth used Twitter …
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb and TUAW
John Timmer / Ars Technica:
Users are still idiots, cough up personal data despite warnings  —  Study after study has shown that users are the weak link when it comes to security.  Some of it, however, is not their fault: best security practices often go against everything we know about human behavior or mental capacity.
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 …
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 …
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 …
Joseph Menn / Financial Times:
Alibaba makes a second US purchase  —  Alibaba.com, the top online service matching manufacturers and wholesalers, on Tuesday night announced its second US acquisition this summer as part of a $100m plan to boost its presence in the world's largest economy.  —  The company based in Hangzhou …
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
 
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 More Items: 
Sarah Lacy / TechCrunch:
Elevation Moving to Acquire a Large Stake in Pandora
Kevin C. Tofel / GigaOM:
When It Comes to Ads, Why Are Android Users Click-Happy?
Matt Richtel / New York Times:
Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime
Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
Iomega Portable Hard Drives Hit the Big USB 3.0
Discussion: Iomega, SlashGear, Gizmodo and Electronista
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
Brian Barrett / Gizmodo:
The 300,000 Biggest Websites, Visualized With Their Icons
Discussion: Gizmodo Australia
 Earlier Items: 
Jonny Evans / Computerworld:
Why ‘open’ Android may lose the Apple iOS wars
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
Samsung Galaxy Tab gets official teaser video
Mike Melanson / ReadWriteWeb:
Pandora Adds Genre-Based Stations
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Topsy: Now Searching Tweets Back To May 2008
Discussion: Topsy Labs and ReadWriteWeb