Techmeme
May 5, 2012, 9:20 AM

Top News

Brian X. Chen / Bits:
AT&T Chief Regrets Offering Unlimited Data for iPhone  —  When Randall Stephenson, AT&T's chief executive, spoke about the state of the wireless industry at a conference this week, he shared some surprisingly frank comments about the iPhone.  In particular, he said that he wished the company …
Wall Street Journal:
Resume Trips Up New Yahoo Chief  —  Hedge fund Third Point LLC continued its attack against Yahoo Inc.'s management, calling for the immediate termination of Chief Executive Scott Thompson amid admitted inaccuracies in his academic credentials.  —  Third Point, which owns about 5% of Yahoo …
Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:
Yahoo's Thompson Asks Employees to “Stay Focused” — Except Not on Him  —  Of course, the Yahoo internal memo for the Yahoo internal crisis of the week!  —  Here is CEO Scott Thompson's email today to employees about the controversy around the fact that he does not have a computer science degree …
More: CNET
John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:
Sara Forden / Bloomberg:
Google Said to Face Fine by U.S. Over Apple Safari Breach  —  Google Inc. (GOOG) is negotiating with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over how big a fine it will have to pay for its breach of Apple Inc. (AAPL)'s Safari Internet browser, a person familiar with the matter said.
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Facebook Buys Location-Based Discovery App Glancee  —  A little under one month after its acquisition of Instagram, Facebook has acquired Highlight competitor and ambient location app Glancee.  —  The social network has already shut down the developer's passive location app and all three co-founders …
Steve Ragan / SecurityWeek:
Official Fix for PHP Flaw Easily Bypassed, Researchers Say  —  On Wednesday, a remote code execution vulnerability in PHP was accidently exposed to the Web, prompting fears that it may be used to target vulnerable websites on a massive scale.  The bug itself was traced back to 2004, and came to light during a recent CTF competition.
Shibani Mahtani / Wall Street Journal:
The Other Facebook Founder  —  Atop $2 Billion Fortune, Eduardo Saverin Gave Up Silicon Valley for Singapore's Tech, Society Scene  —  SINGAPORE—Facebook Inc. founder Mark Zuckerberg is one of the most famous chief executives in the world.  His former business partner and friend, Eduardo Saverin, is big in Singapore.
More: Techi.com
Sarah Lacy / PandoDaily:
Sequoia Confirms Existence of “Stealth” Scout Program.  Who's Next?  —  On Wednesday we uncovered a potentially worrying trend of VCs investing in very early stage companies by giving money to network rich, cash poor entrepreneurs — or “scouts.”  —  Ostensibly, the trend has a lot of advantages for the investors involved.
Chris Kanaracus / Computerworld:
Oracle wants ex-Sun CEO Schwartz's testimony barred in Google suit  —  The move comes as jurors deliberate over whether Google violated Java copyrights, as part of the trial's first phase  —  Oracle has asked a judge to bar Google from using testimony given by former Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz …
Jacob Aron / New Scientist:
Touché brings touch control to everyday things  —  Forget smartphones or tablets - the future of touch control could be doorknobs, furniture or even your own body.  Researchers at Disney Research in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, have created Touché, a system that can detect a variety of touch gestures on everyday objects.
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Emergency Flash update fixes security bug being used to hijack PCs  —  Adobe has released an emergency update for its Flash Player that fixes a security bug that's being actively exploited to hijack Windows computers running the ubiquitous software.  —  The “object confusion vulnerability” …
Declan McCullagh / CNET:
FBI: We need wiretap-ready Web sites — now  —  The FBI is asking Internet companies not to oppose a controversial proposal that would require firms, including Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, and Google, to build in backdoors for government surveillance.  —  In meetings with industry representatives …
Spencer Ackerman / Wired:
Kickstarter of Doom: Hoax Site ‘Funds’ Torture Bus, Death Drones  —  Crowdsourcing a next-gen drone or a rolling torture center?  Uh, yeah, Kickstriker is a hoax.  —  Inspired by the Kony 2012 fad, a group of New York University grad students has set up the wartime version of Kickstarter …
More: Betabeat
Matt McGee / Search Engine Land:
Google's April Updates: Bigger & Tiered Index, Document Ranking, Sitelink Changes & More  —  If it's the first Friday of the month, it must be time for Google to share its latest list of search quality updates.  And, like clockwork, Google didn't disappoint today — the company has posted …
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
White House Reiterates Plans To Veto CISPA In Its Current Form; Though For The Wrong Reasons  —  As I'm sure you remember, the House passed CISPA with a few amendments — some of which may have limited the possible abuses, while at the same time expanding the scope.
Chris Foresman / Ars Technica:
iOS app success is a “lottery”: 60% (or more) of developers don't break even  —  There is no shortage of stories about lone developers who made an app for the iPhone or iPad and had runaway success.  But in the real world, the majority of app makers struggle to break even, according to a recent survey by marketing firm App Promo.
Josh Halliday / Guardian:
Cameron to consider ‘opt in’ porn plan  —  Government to consult with internet service providers on blocking adult material on the internet in the UK  —  The government is to consider introducing new filters for online pornography, in a move likely to be fiercely resisted by internet service providers.

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Cody / iDownloadBlog.com: