Techmeme: What you need to know about the Flashback trojan (Rich Mogull/Macworld)

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April 9, 2012, 7:10 AM

Top News

Jason Freedman / 42Floors:

Did everybody see what just happened? The pendulum has swung. — The feeling was palpable. Y Combinator had sixty-five companies present (42Floors was one of them). And we saw 500 eager investors, frenzied almost, excited to invest in entrepreneurs. One investor emailed me four times …

More: Josh Hannah. Tweets: @pkedrosky, @eghosao, @cdixon, @mikeolson, @msuster, @stevecheney, @joshelman, @mg, @rsarver, @hunterwalk and @davewiner. Thanks:@jasonfreedman

Brian X. Chen / Bits:

On Release Date, Crucial Nokia Phone Is Hard to Buy in New York — AT&T said last month that when Nokia's new Lumia 900 phone went on sale April 8, it would benefit from the company's biggest product introduction ever, exceeding even the iPhone's. — The big day is here.

More: VentureBeat, The Verge, Examiner, PC Magazine, IntoMobile, WMPoweruser, SlashGear, Appboy Blog and Engadget

Tweets: @cisco_mobile, @bxchen and @thurrott

Jessica Guynn / Los Angeles Times:

Ex-Facebook insiders building next wave of Silicon Valley firms — An elite group of Facebook friends, most still in their 20s, have already helped change the world. Now they're working together to do it again. — SAN FRANCISCO — All eyes are on Facebook Inc., which is on the verge of a $100-billion initial public stock offering.

Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:

AT&T's iPhone unlock process detailed: A quick online chat, Apple does the unlocking, requires IMEI only — If you're looking to have your iPhone unlocked from AT&T's service, you can do so over the company's online chat and Apple is the one actually doing the unlocking.

More: Computerworld, MacRumors, iDownloadBlog.com, How To Arena and Electronista

Tweets: @chpwn and @mccarron

Nick Bilton / Bits:

While Apple Is Criticized for Foxconn, Other Companies Are Silent — Apple's rivals are quick to say how much better, faster, cheaper or more popular their smartphones, computers and tablets are. — Yet when it comes to working conditions in the Chinese factories that build these competing products …

More: PC Magazine, The Verge, iDownloadBlog.com, Neowin, VentureBeat and John Moltz's …. Tweets: @8of12

Rich Mogull / Macworld:

What you need to know about the Flashback trojan — We've entered a new era in Mac security, but there's no need to panic — On April 4, Russian antivirus vendor Dr. Web published strong evidence that more than 500,000 Macs have been infected by the latest variant of the Flashback trojan.

More: Web 2.0 Asia Blog, The Apple Core Blog, TUAW, Digital Trends, Zscaler Research, USA Today, PC World, Hardware 2.0 Blog, The Mac Security Blog, eWeek, Pulse2 Technology … and Technovia

Robin Parrish / Apple Gazette:

Inside Apple HQ — Outside the main entrance at Apple Headquarters — Insiders call it the Mothership. It's Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California, and to Apple fans, it's a place thought of with romance and wonder. Only the privileged elect have ever been deep within …

More: Redmond Pie, iThinkDifferent, Softpedia News and App Advice

Shinichi Saoshiro / Reuters:

Sony to cut global workforce by 10,000: Nikkei — (Reuters) - Sony will cut its global workforce by about 10,000, or 6 percent of its entire workforce, by as early as the end of 2012, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Monday. — The loss-making electronics firm may also request …

More: CNET, Engadget, The Verge and Electronista

Dante D'Orazio / The Verge:

Netflix offers details on its recommendation engine, says it guides 75 percent of viewership — Neftlix has taken to its blog to post part one of an exploration into its recommendation engine. The company offers little in terms of hard data and algorithms (those are promised for part two) …

More: The Netflix Tech Blog and Engadget. Tweets: @lizgannes, @madsviktor and @dannysullivan

Felix Gillette / Business Week:

Thorsten Heins: Into RIM's Ring of Fire — On a recent Friday afternoon, Thorsten Heins, the 54-year-old chief executive officer of Research In Motion (RIMM), entered a drab conference room at the company's headquarters in Waterloo, Ont., and endeavored to explain why he was the right man for an impossible job.

More: The Verge. Tweets: @yclaer

Dante D'Orazio / The Verge:

One Laptop per Child program not improving math or language test scores, according to study — The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program started shipping its affordable and durable computers to students in developing countries back in 2007, and since then well over a million have been deployed to countries around the world.

More: Economist. Tweets: @ernestlehmann, @suburbanlion and @bm_

Robin Wauters / The Next Web:

AOL sells more than 800 patents to Microsoft in $1 billion+ cash deal — Huge news from the patent front this morning, as AOL (note: my employer until very recently) and Microsoft have struck a deal that will see the former sell more than 800 of its patents to the Redmond software giant.

More: Business Wire

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Selling Digital Fear — The crowded building's not on fire. After an exhaustive investigation of the top 100 Facebook apps, the Wall Street Journal didn't find any serious privacy violations. While sensationalizing the dangers of online privacy sure drives page views and ad revenue …

More: Technology Liberation Front and PC World

Wall Street Journal:

Selling You on Facebook — Many popular Facebook apps …

More: Monday Note, CNET, Pulse2 Technology …, Friending Facebook Blog and raganwald's posterous

Tweets: @carr2n and @eldon

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