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8:05 AM ET, September 20, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Osama Bedier / The Official Google Blog:
Launching Google Wallet on Sprint and working with Visa, American Express and Discover  —  In May we announced Google Wallet—an app that makes your phone your wallet—with Citi, MasterCard, Sprint and First Data.  With Google Wallet, you can tap, pay and save using your phone and near field communication (NFC).
RELATED:
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Source: Facebook To Launch Read, Listened, Watched, And Want Buttons  —  The cat is out of the bag that Facebook is going to launch something big at its developer conference f8 this week.  We've heard about the social music services that could be debuting in a few days …
RELATED:
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Facebook's Spartans Ready For Battle, But War Won't Come At f8  —  Facebook's f8 is quickly approaching — by all accounts, it's going to be massive.  Ten days ago, I laid out some of what we were hearing would be coming.  Now it's time for one important update — for something not coming: Project Spartan.
Discussion: SlashGear and Electronista
Eric Mack / CNET News:
Facebook hides ‘Poke’ button ahead of rumored redesign
Discussion: @r
John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:
HP Cutting 500 Jobs at webOS Division (Updated)  —  The layoffs have begun at Hewlett-Packard's Palm division.  —  The company, which announced plans to shutter its webOS hardware business back in August is sacking hundreds of employees as a result.  —  Sources close to HP say the company plans …
Katherine Rushton / Telegraph:
Microsoft paid out ‘more than £1 million’ to female executive  —  Microsoft paid out “more than £1 million” to silence a female executive who was unfairly overlooked to become managing director of its business in Britain.  —  Natalie Ayres worked at the computer software company …
Dan Reimold / MediaShift:
Google+: Social Media Upstart ‘Worse Than a Ghost Town’  —  I wanted to log on to Google+.  I swear I did.  But the thought of it made me tired.  —  I recently wrote a piece for MediaShift on the perils of tweeting interview requests.  Like I've done for past pieces and many of the posts …
Discussion: @fredericl and Loic Le Meur Blog
Topher Kessler / CNET News:
OS X Lion passwords can be changed by any local user  —  In OS X, user passwords are encrypted and then are stored in files called “shadow files” which are placed in secure locations on the drive.  Based on system permissions, the contents of these files can then only be accessed and modified by the user …
Dan Goodin / The Register:
Hackers break SSL encryption used by millions of sites  —  Beware of BEAST decrypting secret PayPal cookies  —  Researchers have discovered a serious weakness in virtually all websites protected by the secure sockets layer protocol that allows attackers to silently decrypt data that's passing between …
Discussion: CNET News
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
American Express Buys Virtual Currency Monetization Platform Sometrics For $30M  —  Exclusive: In a push to boost its payments platform for the gaming industry, American Express, has acquired virtual currency platform and in-game payments provider Sometrics.
Aaron Smith / Pew Internet:
Americans and Text Messaging  —  Some 83% of American adults own cell phones and three-quarters of them (73%) send and receive text messages.  The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project asked those texters in a survey how they prefer to be contacted on their cell phone and 31% …
Vlad Savov / This is my next:
Intel Ivy Bridge chips to support 4k resolution  —  Ivy Bridge, Intel's 22nm successor to the currently dominant Sandy Bridge generation of processors, has been the subject of most of the talk at IDF this past week.  And yet, one of its highlight features managed to go by almost unnoticed …
Spencer Soper / Morning Call:
Allentown: Inside Amazon.com warehouse workers complain of brutal conditions  —  Lehigh Valley workers tell of brutal heat, dizzying pace at online retailer.  —  Elmer Goris spent a year working in Amazon.com's Lehigh Valley warehouse, where books, CDs and various other products are packed …
Discussion: Bits, TechFlash and Gizmodo
Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:
WSJ Social, For a World Where Facebook Is the New Internet  —  Is Facebook a friend of news companies, or is it a rival?  No matter how much success publishers have piggybacking off its traffic, they can't escape the cruel math: The more of their time consumers spend on Facebook …
Ben Popper / Betabeat:
New Patent Law Only Makes Life Harder for Startups and Universities  —  Let me introduce you to my lobbyist.  Image by David Saracino  —  President Obama signed a bill on Friday that was supposed to be a sweeping reform of America's badly broken patent system.
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft Blog:
Microsoft: Desktop apps will run on Windows 8 on ARM  —  Summary: Windows 8 Metro-style apps and Desktop apps are going to offer two different experiences.  But both kinds of apps are going to be available on both x86/x64 and ARM PCs and tablets.  —  I've heard numerous folks who attended Build …
Kevin C. Tofel / GigaOM:
Why Verizon just launched a $99 LTE phone  —  Verizon introduced a new Android smartphone on Monday.  The Pantech Breakout runs on Verizon's fast 4G network but will only cost $99 after rebate when it appears in stores on Thursday.  The low purchase price requires a two-year contract …
RELATED:
PC Magazine:
AT&T vs. Verizon: LTE, Head-to-Head
Discussion: GSMArena Blog and FierceWireless
Greg Kumparak / TechCrunch:
The Guy Behind The Qwikster Twitter Account Realizes What He Has, Wants A Mountain Of Cash  —  Last night, Jason went to bed a normal man, with a normal Twitter account (albeit one with a weed-smoking Elmo as the avatar), and a few dozen followers.  —  This morning, Jason woke up to an inbox full …
Bloomberg:
Google, Oracle Ordered to Meet Again Tomorrow in Android Dispute Mediation  —  Google Inc. and Oracle Corp. (ORCL) are scheduled to meet again tomorrow after a daylong session yesterday in an attempt to resolve a lawsuit alleging the search engine company's Android technology infringed Oracle's patents.
Telegraph:
Animal rights group PETA to launch pornography website  —  People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), no stranger to attention-grabbing campaigns featuring nude women, plans to launch a pornography website in the name of animal rights.  —  Imogen Bailey appears in a PETA advert.
Discussion: PC Magazine
Chris Ziegler / This is my next:
Exclusive: unannounced Motorola Android tablet caught on film, possibly a 7-incher  —  We've obtained exclusive footage this morning of a new Motorola tablet (shown above) that looks to be a lot sleeker and thinner than the 10-inch Xoom that launched earlier this year; the slightly angled corners …
Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Have Facebook apps really created $15B in economic value?  —  Has the “app economy” sparked by the Facebook platform led to the creation of almost a quarter of a million new jobs and over $15 billion in spinoff benefits for the real U.S. economy?  That's the claim made by a study released Monday …
Mike Shields / Digiday:
Microsoft Pins TV Hopes on Xbox  —  Many in the media industry have wondered whether Microsoft's Xbox gaming console represents a looming threat to the cable industry, given its growing library of video options, including TV and movie rentals and Netflix streaming.  It turns out Xbox might replace the cable box.
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Hi5 Confirms “Significant” Layoffs, Wraps Them In Mumbo Jumbo Speak  —  Earlier today, we heard social network Hi5 was laying off a large number of their remaining employees.  When we pinged them about this, we expected the usual “no comment” or simply no response.  Instead, here's what we got from President/CTO Alex St. John:
Discussion: Develop
 
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 More Items: 
Chris Smith / AppleInsider:
Qantas Airways to test iPad 2 as in-flight entertainment solution
Discussion: Techie Buzz, 9to5Mac and TiPb
Arif Durrani / MediaWeek:
Embattled Yahoo prepares Livestand launch with magazine publishers
Discussion: Business Insider
Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:
Apple closes trading at all-time high of $411.63, up 10.1% since Jobs stepped down
Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:
Manifesto-Driven Unthink Promises a Social Network Where Users Own Their Accounts
Discussion: PSFK, PR NewsChannel and VatorNews
 Earlier Items: 
Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:
Why this image is most likely a retooled iPhone 4 prototype, not the iPhone 5 [Updated]
Electronista:
Google asks Android devs to prep apps for Ice Cream Sandwich
Frank Gruber / Tech Cocktail:
Groupon Co-Founders Purchase The Historic Wrigley Building
Discussion: Chicago Sun Times and Bloomberg
Dan Frommer / SplatF:
10 things to remember about Netflix while scratching your head about Qwikster
Philip Delves Broughton / Financial Times:
Book review: The Lean Startup
Nilay Patel / This is my next:
HP's 7-inch TouchPad Go leaks out on Chinese forum
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Paramount Global's board is considering replacing CEO Bob Bakish with an “Office of the CEO” made up of division heads on an interim basis

Martin Pengelly / The Guardian:
Howard Stern of SiriusXM snags a surprise interview with President Biden, following reports of Biden's refusal so far to give The NYT a sit-down interview

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Memo: CNN's Poppy Harlow is leaving the network; she joined in 2008 and most recently co-hosted CNN This Morning, which was effectively canceled earlier in 2024

 
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