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5:50 PM ET, June 20, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Revealed: Facebook's music plans involve Spotify, others  —  For the past few months, I have been hearing about Facebook and Spotify getting a lot closer as companies, with a much tighter integration between the two services.  However, Facebook's musical ambitions go beyond Spotify and include other music services and applications.
RELATED:
Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry / SAI:
Inside Facebook's Next Billion Dollar Business
Discussion: Screenwerk and RazorianFly
CircleID:
New Top-Level Domains Approved by ICANN  —  The Board of ICANN today gave final approval to the most dramatic change to the Internet in four decades — allowing the expansion of new Top-Level Domains (TLDs).  This monumental decision will allow companies and organizations to turn their own brands …
RELATED:
Caterina Fake / Caterina.net:
New Startup!  —  Entrepreneurs gonna entrepreneur.  I have a new startup!  We are building something consumer-facing, something social — all the things I love best — for optimal founder-market fit!.  It's crazy times in the Valley and while I prefer doing startups when the going's tough …
Discussion: VatorNews, cdixon.org and SAI
RELATED:
Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:
Caterina Fake Raising $2M for New Social Start-Up  —  Caterina Fake, co-founder of Flickr and Hunch and an investor in companies like Etsy, has a new start-up that she says will be consumer-facing and social.  —  She's raising what looks like a $2 million round, according to an SEC filing …
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Why We Often Blindside Companies
John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:
Consumers Don't Want Tablets, They Want iPads  —  A theory: Though consumers desire the iPad for the functions it performs, they want it more for what it is.  Just as many preferred the iPod to the generic MP3 player, so too do they prefer the iPad to the generic “tablet.”
Kellex / Droid Life:
Exclusive: Tiered Data Plans Headed to Verizon July 7, Packages Start at $30 for 2GB  —  We knew that July 7 was going to mark the beginning of something after Verizon extended out the free 4G hotspot promo one more time to the 6th, but what we weren't 100% sure of was if it would have to do with tiered data.
Jonathan S. Geller / BGR:
RIM is black-burying carriers with half-baked BlackBerrys  —  Launching new products is always difficult.  Launching new products with hundreds of different carriers is exponentially more difficult.  Apparently there is an easy way and a hard way to do things, however, and RIM has been making carriers offers they can't refuse.
Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Hulu Plays Along With Apple's New Rules.  Who's Next?  —  Apple's new subscription rules could have posed a problem for services like Hulu.  But when Steve Jobs changed his mind earlier this month, life got a lot easier.  —  Here's the old version of the Hulu Plus subscription app for the iPad:
Darren Murph / Engadget:
Huawei MediaPad revealed: world's first 7-inch Android 3.2 tablet, dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm CPU  —  It's here folks — the planet's first Android 3.2 tablet.  Huawei just introduced a downright luscious new slate over in Singapore, with CommunicAsia being the launchpad for the 7-inch MediaPad.
RELATED:
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
‘Reminder: Call Dad’ Is Another Notch In Google's Belt Of Social Fail  —  Google, Google, Google ... I don't know if it's that you just don't understand the intricacies of interpersonal relationships or if getting the social stuff right is just extremely difficult ...
Kashmir Hill / The Not-So Private Parts:
Now Your Embarrassing/Job-Threatening Facebook Photos Will Haunt You For Seven Years  —  These privacy sunglasses are seeming like more of a necessity  —  Last week, the Federal Trade Commission gave a stamp of approval to a background check company that screens job applicants based on their Internet photos and postings.
Jesus Diaz / Gizmodo:
Lulzsec and Anonymous Declare Open War Against All Governments and Fat Cats  —  Lulzsec and Anonymous have just declared full open war against all governments, banks and big corporations in the world.  They are calling all hackers in the world to unite.  Their objective is to fully expose all corruption and dark secrets:
RELATED:
Foursquare Blog:
Wow!  The foursquare community has over 10,000,000 members!  —  And, to commemorate this pretty crazy occasion, we put together a little infographic.  Be sure to click through to see it bigger; if you're anything like us, watching the full-size animated map puts butterflies in your tummy.
Charles Newark-French / Flurry:
Mobile Apps Put the Web in Their Rear-view Mirror  —  Although the Internet entered the mainstream a mere 15 years ago, life without it today is nearly incomprehensible.  And our use of the web has rapidly changed as well.  In simple terms, it has evolved from online directories (Yahoo!) …
Rick Osterloh / The Big Blog:
Skype Gets More Social with Deeper Facebook Integration  —  We are excited to announce the new Skype 5.5 Beta version for Windows, which enhances the user experience and features new updates to Skype based on user feedback.  Skype is also continuing to bring people together whenever …
Thea / Groublogpon:
The Groupon Guide to the “Quiet Period”  —  At the bottom of each Daily Groupon feature, users can find Groupon the Cat, slouching majestically across a cloud of pure wisdom.  Groupon dispenses ancient truisms that still have relevance to our modern lives, as evidenced by today's entry:
Discussion: TechCrunch, VatorNews and SAI
Claire Cain Miller / New York Times:
Investors Provide Millions to Risky Start-Ups  —  PALO ALTO, Calif. — What if you threw a $41 million party and nobody came?  A start-up company called Color knows how that feels.  —  In March, Color unveiled its photo-sharing cellphone application — and revealed that it had raised $41 million …
Rip Empson / TechCrunch:
Decide Launches An Electronics Shopping Service That Tells You When To Buy (And Wait)  —  Decide.com has been cloaked in stealth mode for nearly the last two years.  During that time, the startup has remained tight-lipped about what it's been up to, while at the same time managing …
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Google To FCC: Stop Letting The Voice Network Tail Wag The Internet Dog  —  The Internet carries nearly 160 times more traffic than voice networks in North America, yet many of the regulations and inter-carrier traffic fees are based on the quickly receding era when voice networks ruled.
David Kocieniewski / New York Times:
Companies Push for Tax Break on Foreign Cash  —  Some of the nation's largest corporations have amassed vast profits outside the country and are pressing Congress and the Obama administration for a tax break to bring the money home.  —  Apple has $12 billion waiting offshore, Google has $17 billion and Microsoft, $29 billion.
Discussion: TechFlash
Miguel Bustillo / Wall Street Journal:
Best Buy Battles Over Use of ‘Geek’  —  Retailer Fights to Protect Squad's Trademark; Putting Rivals—and a Priest—on Notice  —  Just a few decades ago, a geek was a carnival freak who bit the heads off of chickens and rats.  —  Then geek became a catchall word for socially maladjusted individuals …
Discussion: ITProPortal and GMSV
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Meet The First Indie Publisher To Sell A Million Kindle Books  —  Amazon is touting its self-publishing platform today with the announcement that John Locke has become the first independently published author to become a member of the “Kindle Million club,” selling over 1 million Kindle books using Kindle Direct Publishing.
Jack Purcher / Patently Apple:
Apple Officially Acquires “AirDrop” & Files for “Photo Stream” Trademark in Canada  —  On June 17, 2011, the US Patent & Trademark Office published documentation relating to the legal transfer of the “Airdrop” trademark from Urban Airship to Apple.  Urban Airship was only granted their certificate …
Discussion: TUAW, 9 to 5 Mac and The Loop
Michael Rose / TUAW:
Noterize acquired by Nuance, points to more iOS voice savvy  —  The popular note-taking app Noterize made the short list of apps that D7 Consulting leveraged in its iPad trial; it also made it into Apple's ‘Iconic’ TV ad in January.  It's been absent from the App Store for a bit, though, and now we know why.
 
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 More Items: 
Erica Ogg / CNET News:
Hackers claim 177K e-mails from Sony Pictures France
Paul Thurrott / Windows Phone Secrets:
Microsoft is porting Zune HD apps to Windows Phone
Discussion: GeekWire, WinRumors and The Next Web
Dana Wollman / Engadget:
HP TouchPad goes up for pre-order starting at $500, will be available July 1
Discussion: ZDNet
Brian Heater / Engadget:
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 getting Gingerbread in August, can finally show face in public (video)
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
eBay Closes $2.4 Billion Acquisition Of GSI Commerce
 Earlier Items: 
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:
The Android Market: 'It's a loud, obnoxious baby'
Discussion: Gizmodo and Electronista
Vlad Savov / Engadget:
DARPA setting up a $130 million ‘virtual firing range’ to help battle cyber attacks
Discussion: Neowin.net and CNET News.com
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Yup, YouTube Counts Video Ads As Regular Views
Discussion: Adotas
Nelson D. Schwartz / New York Times:
Small Group Rode LinkedIn to Big Payday
Discussion: Betabeat
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Adobe Software Updates To Help Devs Build iOS, PlayBook And Android Apps
Miguel Helft / New York Times:
Tech Firms' Workers Sell Shares, Fearing a Bubble Will Burst
Discussion: MediaPost, SAI and Betabeat
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Ryan Grim / Drop Site News:
An investigation finds that OCCRP, which works with major newspapers on scoops like the Panama Papers, is primarily bankrolled by the US and its Western allies

Kat Tenbarge / NBC News:
Some reporters say they are finding more readers and less hate on Bluesky, as Elon Musk turns X into an increasingly difficult place for journalists

John Jurgensen / Wall Street Journal:
Paramount co-CEO Chris McCarthy aims to revitalize Showtime by using successful formulas like Yellowstone from Paramount+ and investing in high-profile projects

 
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