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1:50 PM ET, August 22, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Bloomberg:
Motorola's Value Found in 18 Patents  —  Among Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.'s more than 17,000 patents, a group of 18 may prove most useful in Google Inc. (GOOG)'s effort to fend off litigation targeting the Android mobile platform.  —  The inventions date back to 1994 and form the heart …
RELATED:
New York Times:
Motorola's Identity Crisis
Discussion: MediaPost
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Skype To Acquire Year-old Group Messaging Service GroupMe  —  Skype will acquire group messaging service GroupMe, a service that was born at a hackathon at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York in 2010.  GroupMe was founded by Jared Hecht and Steve Martocci.  —  The terms of the deal, including price, aren't being disclosed.
RELATED:
Tricia Duryee / AllThingsD:
Skype Pays Around $85 Million For GroupMe  —  Skype has agreed to acquire GroupMe, a company that has developed a way to for a group of people to send messages to each across various smartphone platforms.  Terms of the deal were not disclosed.  Skype is in the process of being acquired by Microsoft.
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Why Skype bought GroupMe & Why it isn't enough
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Android vs Windows Phone 7: At least one handset maker thinking about it  —  The blockbuster deal between Motorola and Google is going to be a game-changer, and it will force many of the smaller handset makers to rethink their reliance on Google's Android operating system.
James Cowie / Renesys Blog:
The Battle for Tripoli's Internet  —  As dawn broke in Libya on the morning of Sunday 21 August, it appeared that the battle for control of Tripoli was underway.  Throughout the night, a steady stream of tweets and retweets emerged from Libyan sources, painting a confusing, often contradictory picture of the evolving situation.
RELATED:
Jonathan S. Geller / BGR:
HTC's September 1st event to feature only Windows Phone Mango devices: Eternity, Omega  —  BGR has exclusively learned that HTC plans to unveil several upcoming Windows Phone Mango devices at the company's upcoming event taking place on September 1st.  While Android is HTC's bread and butter of course …
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
iOS 5 includes early earthquake warning notifications for Japanese iPhone users  —  Following the devestating earthquake in Japan earlier this year, Apple has added a new early earthquake warning notification option to iOS 5. iOS 5 users in Japan can turn on early earthquake notifications …
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
A Simple Explanation for Why HP Abandoned Palm and Is Getting Out of the PC Business  —  HP acquired Palm at the end of April 2010, for $1.2 billion.  HP's CEO was Mark Hurd.  —  Three months later, in early August, Mark Hurd was forced to resign over that scandal with forged expenses and lies about his lady friend.
RELATED:
Poornima Gupta / Reuters:
Analysis: HP - Dial “M” for mayhem
Discussion: TechEye, AllThingsD, Monday Note and Pulse2
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Former Expedia Employees Raise $8 Million For Travel Search Startup Hopper  —  Hopper, a Montreal, Canada-based startup, has raised $8 million in fresh funding from Atlas Venture and previous backer Brightspark Ventures to try and ‘reinvent travel search’.  —  Hopper is still in stealth mode …
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Square Makes iOS Apps Speedier, No Longer Requires Signatures For Transactions Under $25  —  Disruptive mobile payments company Square has pushed a number of new updates to its iPhone and iPad apps today and rolled out a redesigned and updated website.  First, the apps are speedier and transaction speed has improved, says the company.
Sean Collins Walsh / New York Times:
Federal Push for ‘Cloud’ Technology Faces Skepticism  —  WASHINGTON — Before cost-cutting became fashionable in Washington, Vivek Kundra, the White House's chief information officer, was working to shrink the federal government's enormous budget for information technology.
Discussion: TechFlash and FierceVoIP
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
Fox's 8-Day Delay on Hulu Triggers Piracy Surge  —  One of the main motivations for people to download and stream TV-shows from unauthorized sources is availability.  If fans can't get a show through legal channels they turn to pirated alternatives.  —  This is one of the reasons …
Discussion: Gizmodo, GigaOM, ReadWriteWeb and SplatF
Brian Heater / Engadget:
HP TouchPad tops Amazon US sales, rumored for UK price drop  —  Well, it's official, the TouchPad is currently the hottest piece of consumer electronics around, and all it took was HP's complete abandonment of its current line of webOS devices.  The once maligned slate is currently atop Amazon's electronics sales list.
RELATED:
Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:
Miramax Launching Multi-Title Facebook Movie App In U.S., UK & Turkey  —  Watching movies on Facebook isn't new—Warner Bros. (NYSE: TWX), Paramount and Universal each are trying variations on the theme.  But today, paidContent can report, Miramax is launching the largest-scale Facebook …
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Amazon seeks Lab126 trademarks in advance of expected tablet debut  —  Amazon.com has quietly applied for trademarks on the name and logo of Lab126 — the internal group behind the Amazon Kindle e-reader and, by all accounts, an upcoming Android tablet from the Seattle company.
Jay Yarow / SAI:
Google Is Still In The $2 Billion+ Hunt For Hulu  —  Despite the fact that Google is taking on a $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola, the company is still in the hunt for Hulu, the Wall Street Journal reports.  —  Google joins Amazon, Yahoo, and DirecTV in the bidding process.
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
AMD stays the course with new desktop and laptop chips  —  Advanced Micro Devices is doing something today that seems rather unfashionable.  The chip maker is announcing a series of new additions to its desktop and laptop microprocessors.  —  It seems so mundane to introduce PC chips …
Zach Epstein / BGR:
Android, iOS gain U.S. market share in Q2 while BlackBerry slides, NPD says  —  Android's lead in the U.S. smartphone market was extended further in the second quarter of 2011 according to leading market research firm The NPD Group.  The firm on Monday released its second-quarter Mobile Phone Track report …
Mark Gurman / 9to5Google:
Verizon plans to take 300MB for $20/m data plan nationwide this holiday season  —  Late last week, Verizon introduced a new 300MB data plan for $20/month for the carrier's mid-Atlantic region.  This covers Maryland, Washington, DC, Virginia and North Carolina.
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Microsoft allies Ford and Toyota to collaborate on technology standards  —  Microsoft's Steve Ballmer is introduced to his new car by Ford's Alan Mulally (Microsoft file photo)  —  A new partnership announced between Ford and Toyota this morning is attracting lots of attention …
 
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 More Items: 
Eliot Van Buskirk / Wired.com:
Rdio Launches Unique Family Plan for Digital Music
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Best Buy Offering iPhone 3GS Free Today on Contract
Discussion: LAPTOP Magazine and The Loop
Amar Toor / Engadget:
Sony Ericsson unveils Live with Walkman handset for music-loving Android users
Melanie Lee / Reuters:
China's Sina invests up to $40 million in Tudou: source
Nancy Messieh / The Next Web:
Google Street View gets the green light in Israel
Emily Glazer / Wall Street Journal:
Having trouble landing investors? Try showing some attitude on Twitter
 Earlier Items: 
Brad McCarty / The Next Web:
Boutique startup accelerators: Natural progression, or impending danger?
Discussion: Tech Cocktail
James Robinson / Guardian:
‘Google needs television industry’ will be message at Edinburgh
Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:
Does Groupon Hope To Challenge Amazon With ‘Groupon Goods’?
Anna Heim / The Next Web:
Google fined in Brazil for refusing to reveal bloggers' identities
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Another EA Exec Jumps Ship To Zynga; Jeff Karp Joins As Chief Marketing And Revenue Officer
 

 
From Mediagazer:

New York Times:
Sources: Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo discussed a joint all-cash offer for Paramount, which is still in an exclusive negotiation window with Skydance

David Ingram / NBC News:
Hyundai says it is pausing ads on X, after one ad appeared next to antisemitic and pro-Nazi content; the ad appeared on a user profile that had 55K+ followers

Sara Fischer / Axios:
CalMatters, a nonprofit focused on CA politics and policy, acquires tech news nonprofit The Markup; CalMatters has ~$12.5M in funding and The Markup has $5M
 
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