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4:05 AM ET, January 4, 2012

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Why Twitter's “verified account” failure matters  —  The new year brought a treat for those who like to follow aging media moguls, with the launch of official Twitter accounts belonging to both News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch and his wife Wendi Deng, including some awkward banter around …
RELATED:
Guardian:
Wendi Deng Twitter account is a fake  —  If the news that Wendi Deng had joined her husband Rupert Murdoch on Twitter and promptly engaged in flirtatious banter with the likes of Ricky Gervais seemed too good to be true, that's because it was.  Despite an official verified “tick” …
Larry Downes / Forbes:
Why Best Buy is Going out of Business...Gradually  —  Electronics retailer Best Buy is headed for the exits.  I can't say when exactly, but my guess is that it's only a matter of time, maybe a few more years.  —  Consider a few key metrics.  Despite the disappearance of competitors including Circuit City …
Ed Oswald / BetaNews:
Windows Phone partners bet $100M on Nokia Ace  —  The importance of the Nokia Ace to Microsoft's mobile plans is apparent as sources tell BetaNews of a major marketing push for the smartphone in the second quarter of this year.  The Ace will launch in late March, sources confirm …
Discussion: Electronista and WMPoweruser
RELATED:
Evan Blass / pocketnow.com:
More Nokia Lumia 900 “Ace” Details Revealed  —  We've gotten some more information on the upcoming Nokia Ace for AT&T — whose codename for the device is Eloko — including confirmation that it is indeed the Lumia 900 which will be sold globally as Nokia's flagship Windows Phone.
Sacha Greif:
How I Designed CodeYear.com in 1 Hour  —  Code Year is a great initiative by the folks behind Codecademy.  The concept is simple: sign up to Code Year, and each week you'll receive a new coding exercise.  By the end of the year, you'll be well on your way to becoming a coder.
Discussion: Tech Cocktail and parislemon
RELATED:
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Codecademy's CodeYear Attracts 100,000 Aspiring Programmers In 48 Hours
Jennifer Van Grove / VentureBeat:
Embroiled in the Google sponsored-post debacle, Unruly raises $25M (exclusive)  —  Happier times: Unruly team poses for company photo  —  A five year-old company that seeks to deliver “awesome social video campaigns” finds itself embroiled in a hairy Internet pickle on a day that would have otherwise been ripe for celebration.
RELATED:
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Google's Chrome Page No Longer Ranks For “Browser” After Sponsored Post Penalty
Fraser Speirs:
Misconceptions About iOS Multitasking  —  There is one iOS “tip” that I keep hearing and it is wrong.  Worse, I keep hearing it from supposedly authoritative sources.  I have even heard it from the lips of Apple “Geniuses” in stores.  —  Here is the advice - and remember it is wrong: … Wrong.
Discussion: Macgasm
Matt Lynley / Business Insider:
Uber Is Refunding Some Customers After Charging Them An Arm And A Leg On New Year's Eve  —  Car service startup Uber is offering refunds to some customers who were hit with unexpectedly high fees on New Year's Eve.  —  Normally you open the app and tell Uber to come pick you up.
RELATED:
Rocky Agrawal / VentureBeat:   Car service Uber passes economics test, fails marketing
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google requiring default ‘Holo’ theme in Android 4.0 devices for Android Market access  —  When Google unveiled the SDK for Android 4.0, the first thing we noted about Ice Cream Sandwich is that the default “Holo” theme would be baked right in at the OS level.
Financial Post:
RIM leaning toward new chairman: sources  —  Under intense pressure from a group of shareholders, Research in Motion Ltd. is preparing to unveil a corporate shakeup at the beleaguered BlackBerry maker that could see co-founders Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie relinquish their titles as co-chairmen of the board, according to sources.
RELATED:
John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:
Kindle Fire Nibbles at iPad Holiday Sales  —  Apple may have sold as many as two million fewer iPads than expected this holiday season, and Amazon's new Kindle Fire tablet may be to blame.  —  Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt pruned his forecast for Apple's fiscal first quarter today …
Michael Arrington / Uncrunched:
Nobody Goes to Facebook Anymore.  It's Too Crowded.  —  A year ago Steven Levy suggested that Facebook should give us each a single “friend-list do-over.”  —  A lot of commenters challenged him.  “Grow some balls and just unfriend people,” said one of the more even tempered readers.
Discussion: @howardlindzon
Ian King / Bloomberg:
Intel Confronts Qualcomm in Vegas Standoff  —  A looming clash between Intel Corp. (INTC) and Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) will take center stage at the Consumer Electronics Show next week in Las Vegas, with both chipmakers seeking to control the future of mobile devices.
Discussion: DailyTech
Reuters:
Verizon CEO cancels CES appearance  —  (Reuters) - The chief executive of Verizon Communications has canceled his appearance in a keynote panel at the 2012 Consumer Electronics show, the telephone company said on Tuesday.  —  The company said that a schedule change is preventing CEO Lowell McAdam …
Discussion: The Verge and PhoneArena
Bill Slawski / SEO by the Sea:
IBM Assigns 217 More Patent Filings to Google including Wireless Phones and Javascript Widgets  —  Looks like Google and IBM are working together again to build up Google's patent portfolio, from an update at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patent assignment database.
Adrian Chen / Gawker:
Reddit Has Gone Mad with Power  —  The past few weeks have seen an impressive burst of political activism from nerd hive Reddit.  Now they're talking about “destroying” senators.  Oh jesus, this does not bode well.  —  It started in late December, when the domain registrar company GoDaddy voiced …
Anil Dash:
Foursquare: Today's best-executing startup  —  About two years ago, Fred Wilson and I were talking about which startups we found interesting and I mentioned offhandedly that Foursquare was far and away the one that I thought had the most potential to be a huge, meaningful business.
Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:
Klout Confirms Mega Funding Round  —  Klout confirmed today that it has raised Series C funding — a round that actually closed back in November and had been a bit of an open secret in tech circles for the past couple months.  —  Klout CEO Joe Fernandez said Kleiner Perkins lead the round, with Chi-Hua Chien joining the Klout board.
Karen Gullo / Bloomberg:
Apple Loses Bid to Keep Software Information Under Seal in Psystar Case  —  Apple Inc. (AAPL) failed to convince a judge that information about its software in court filings that's already available on the Internet and in print is “'trade secrets” that should remain sealed from public view.
Discussion: CNET and Electronista
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
New Microsoft patent: Walking directions that avoid crime-ridden neighborhoods  —  Microsoft was issued a patent today on a computer system for “pedestrian route production” — better known as walking directions — that automatically adjusts the route for the unique conditions encountered by a person going from place to place on foot.
Discussion: VentureBeat and GottaBeMobile, Thanks:johnhcook
Eric Eldon / TechCrunch:
CrunchBase Reveals: The Average Successful Startup Raises $25.3 Million, Sells For $196.8 Million  —  Most investments fail but the few successful ones more than make all the money back — or so startup investors hope.  But what sort of returns do these profitable exits bring in?
 
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 More Items: 
Mikael Ricknäs / PC World:
Nokia: Phone Charging Using Solar Power Comes With Many Challenges
Discussion: Nokia Conversations and Slashdot
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
On The Day Of The Iowa Caucus, Barack Obama Joins Instagram
Discussion: Instagram and Black Web 2.0
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Amazon's Silk Browser ported from Kindle Fire to other Android devices
Discussion: The Android Soul
Josh Ong / AppleInsider:
Rumor: Apple, Google may bid on English Premier League TV rights
Discussion: Daily Mail and MacRumors
Paul Venezia / InfoWorld:
Mobile app developers to get their own professional organization
Paula Rooney / Open Source Blog:
Mozilla rings in new year with 2.0 license overhaul
Discussion: Updating the MPL
Dan Tynan / ITworld:
Privacy been violated? Call the PRC
Discussion: Mercury News
 Earlier Items: 
Dion Almaer / techno.blog:
The rise and fall of webOS is an epic tale; webOS != Web OS
Dan Graziano / BGR:
Transformer Prime to get Android 4.0 on January 12, official bootloader unlock tool soon
Rajat Agrawal / BGR India:
Spot the difference: Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus Vs Apple iPhone 3G
Discussion: BGR and CNET, Thanks:rajatagr
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
January Apple event to focus on two ‘large projects’ relating to education, iTunes
Roger Capriotti / The Windows Blog:
The US Says Goodbye to IE6