Techmeme
March 29, 2012, 11:45 AM

Top News

Matth / Nielsen Wire:
Smartphones Account for Half of all Mobile Phones, Dominate New Phone Purchases in the US  —  Almost half (49.7%) of U.S. mobile subscribers now own smartphones, as of February 2012.  According to Nielsen, this marks an increase of 38 percent over last year; in February 2011, only 36 percent of mobile subscribers owned smartphones.
Paul M. Barrett / Business Week:
Apple's War on Android  —  In her black robe and strand of white pearls, Lucy Koh projects the serious, deliberate demeanor befitting a U.S. District Court judge.  The Harvard-educated former federal prosecutor has served on the California state bench and as a partner in a Silicon Valley law firm …
Chris Gallagher / Reuters:
Star-struck Japan PM befriends Facebook's Zuckerberg  —  (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda frequently entertains dignitaries from all over the world, but he was a touch star-struck on Thursday when he hosted a young billionaire with a whiff of celebrity: Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.
Mark McDonald / IHT Rendezvous:
Zuckerberg in China: Let the Rumors Begin  —  HONG KONG — Mark Zuckerberg was spotted walking around Shanghai on Tuesday, which naturally led to a spike in online speculation about Facebook entering the Chinese market.  —  He said he was just on vacation with his girlfriend, Priscilla Chan.
Bloomberg:
Apple's Tim Cook Visits Foxconn IPhone Plant in China  —  Apple Inc. (AAPL) Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook visited Foxconn Technology Group's newly built manufacturing facility for the iPhone in Zhengzhou, China, as the U.S. company seeks to improve working conditions.
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Millennial Media Shares Pop 100 Percent In First Trade; Valued At Nearly $2B  —  Mobile ad network Millennial Media just debuted on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “MM,” and saw shares pop 97 percent in the first trade of $25.  The company initially priced its IPO at $13 per share last night …
Luke Plunkett / Kotaku:
The Next PlayStation is Called Orbis, Sources Say.  Here are the Details.  —  While the official reveal of Sony's next home console could still be months away, if not longer, Kotaku has today learned some important details concerning the PlayStation 3's successor.
Richard Lawler / Engadget:
iPhone 4 owners who don't want free bumpers can register for $15 antennagate settlements  —  The official website for the iPhone 4 “antennagate” class action settlement is live, as pointed out by co-lead counsel on the case Ira Rothken.  Of course, speaking of cases, if you're an iPhone 4 owner …
Dan Graziano / BGR:
Google's $199 Nexus tablet may pressure vendors to cut prices  —  It is widely believed that Google will entere the tablet market in 2012 with an own-branded 7-inch Android tablet.  The search giant has reportedly partnered with ASUS to build a $199 device that will compete against Amazon's Kindle Fire.
Roger Cheng / CNET:
AT&T promises biggest launch ever for Lumia 900  —  Nokia and AT&T's Lumia 900.  —  (Credit: CNET)  —  AT&T and Nokia are bringing out the big guns when they launch the Lumia 900 next month.  —  “At all levels, this is a notch above anything we've ever done,” AT&T device head Jeff Bradley …
Jacques Hebert / YouTube Blog:
Do You Have What it Takes to be the ‘Next’ great YouTube Vlogger?  —  Vlogging, or video blogging, videos are some of the most popular on YouTube.  And rightfully so—they're one of the few types of videos that literally anyone can create: all you have to do is sit in front of camera …
Austin Carr / Fast Company:
Bump Launches Payments App To Let You Share Money By Tapping Phones Together  —  More than a snazzy new feature, Bump Pay is the culmination of lessons learned by CEO David Lieb.  —  Bump, the app that lets users “bump” smartphones together to share contacts and photos, is launching another service to let users pay the same way.
Steve Lohr / New York Times:
New U.S. Research Will Aim at Flood of Digital Data  —  The federal government is beginning a major research initiative in big data computing.  The effort, which will be announced on Thursday, involves several government agencies and departments, and commitments for the programs total $200 million.
IDC:
Nearly 1 Billion Smart Connected Devices Shipped in 2011 with Shipments Expected to Double by 2016, According to IDC  —  FRAMINGHAM, Mass., March 28, 2012 -The universe of smart connected devices, including PCs, media tablets, and smartphones, saw shipments of more than 916 million units …
Joe Rossignol / iFans:
Apple Changes Catchphrase on iTunes Page, No Longer Copies Zune Website  —  A few weeks ago, it was discovered that Apple's iTunes page used the same “your entertainment, everywhere” slogan that appears on Microsoft's official Zune website.  It was unknown if it was purely a coincidence …
Thanks:@_jkk_
Matt Warman / Telegraph:
Vint Cerf attacks European internet policy  —  Vint Cerf, one of the founders of the modern web, has condemned a central plank of European proposals to regulate the internet as impractical to enforce and ‘terrifying’ in prospect.  —  Vint Cerf warned that proposed EU regulations for the internet would not be practical
More: TechEye
Arne Hess / the::unwired:
AVAILABILITY: HTC announces One X, One S and One V availability for next week [UPDATE]  —  Tagged under: [HTC] [HTC_One] [HTC_One_X] [HTC_One_S] [HTC_One_V] [HTC_Sense_4.0] [Android_4.0]  —  HTC today announced that its recently announced HTC One-series of Android smartphones will be available …

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Ben Popper / VentureBeat: