Techmeme
May 21, 2012, 9:10 PM

Top News

Felix Salmon:
Morgan Stanley's $2.4 billion Facebook short  —  Matt Levine had a very wonky post on Friday afternoon about the dynamics of the Facebook IPO in general and of the very misunderstood greenshoe option in particular.  Now that we've all had a nice relaxing weekend, it's maybe worth revisiting that greenshoe …
Hayley Tsukayama / Washington Post:
Facebook closes at $34, far below IPO price  —  After a brutal day of trading, Facebook closed at $34.03, down nearly 11 percent and well below the company's initial offering price of $38.  —  Shares opened below the break-even mark and never recovered Monday.
Steven Sinofsky / MSDN Blogs:
Enhancing Windows 8 for multiple monitors … Connecting multiple monitors to a PC is one of the easiest ways to enhance your Windows experience.  Plug in a second monitor and you instantly double your working surface.  I've had a multi-monitor setup for the past 10 years …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Motorola Mobility Says $12.5B Google Deal To Close Tuesday Or Wednesday.  Layoffs Coming?  —  Google has reached the final regulatory hurdle to its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility, with China approving the transaction over the weekend, and today Motorola Mobility filed an 8-K form …
Seth Weintraub / 9to5Mac:
Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer sends brochure to Cupertino neighbors inviting feedback on new 'Campus 2′  —  Apple is currently involved in an outreach program to new neighbors in its planned “Campus 2″ area.  A brochure was mailed this week to residents surrounding the new campus …
Jordan Kahn / 9to5Mac:
Sony releases ‘Music Unlimited’ Spotify competitor as iOS app  —  Looking to rival competitors like Spotify and MOG, Sony today launched its Music Unlimited streaming service as an iOS app.  We told you back in January that it was coming, but today the free app officially hits the App Store …
Robert McMillan / Wired:
How Apple and Microsoft Armed 4,000 Patent Warheads  —  In many ways, Scott Widdowson is your typical electrical engineer.  Most days, when the weather's good, he bikes the 15 miles along the Ottawa River to his company's offices in the west end of the Canadian capital.
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Supreme Court declines to hear $675,000 file-swapping case  —  Boston student Joel Tenenbaum may be in for a second federal trial.  —  Appeal denied  —  United States Supreme Court  —  The Supreme Court this morning declined (PDF) to hear the appeal of admitted file-swapper Joel Tenenbaum …
John Cook / GeekWire:
Google pays $10M for TeraHop patents: Sale to help investors in fraud case recoup cash  —  Big technology companies are searching everywhere for patents, looking to protect themselves from future litigation.  Now, Google has emerged as the buyer of a patent portfolio in a complex fraud case …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
After Walking Away From Acquisition Talks With Facebook, Ark Opens Its People Search Engine  —  Following a jam-packed beta test and a jaw-dropping $4.2 million seed round, Ark people search is open for sign ups...at least for the next three days.  Ark lets you sift through profiles on Facebook …
More: GigaOM and CNET
Josh Lowensohn / CNET:
ITC once again sides with Apple, RIM in Kodak patent spat  —  The U.S. International Trade Commission today once again said Apple and Research In Motion are not infringing on a patent held by Eastman Kodak.  —  ITC administrative law judge Thomas Pender today posted his initial determination …
Brad Stone / Business Week:
Michael Moritz to Step Back at Sequoia Capital  —  Michael Moritz, the prominent Silicon Valley investor who has backed companies such as Google (GOOG), LinkedIn, PayPal, and Yahoo (YHOO), is stepping back from some of his responsibilities at his firm, Sequoia Capital, and has disclosed …
Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:
Google giving Cornell University 22k square feet of free office space at its NYC HQ for 5 years  —  Google's Larry Page today announced that the company would be giving over the use of 22,000 square feet of its New York City headquarters to CornellNYC Tech, while the university builds its new campus on Roosevelt Island.
Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:
Google Voice Founder Tackles Conference Calls  —  Uberconference debuts today as a new interface for conference calls — you know, those terrifically annoying occurrences that people in business deal with on a daily basis.  —  What's notable about the product is it comes from Craig Walker …
More: TechCrunch
Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:
Spotify expands to Australia and New Zealand  —  Spotify has just announced that it's expanding to Australia and New Zealand starting today, a few months after it announced availability in Germany.  All three tiers of Spotify (free, unlimited, and premium) will be available in New Zealand and Australia …
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Fab Seeking To Raise $100M At A Super Fab Valuation  —  Earlier today we spoke to Fab.com CEO Jason Goldberg at TechCrunch Disrupt, on the anniversary of his company's pivot from gay social network to design-focused flash sales site, and a week after its mini-pivot to curated social shopping site.
David Carr / New York Times:
The Atavist Matures as a Publisher and a Platform  —  It sounds like the setup for a very old, stale joke.  Three guys walked into a bar in Brooklyn to complain about the state of journalism ... except by the time these guys were done chatting and plotting, they had come up with an actual business.
Cecilia Kang / Washington Post:
FTC names Internet privacy expert as senior adviser  —  The Federal Trade Commission has named an Internet privacy expert to advise on mobile privacy and competition issues as the agency takes on high-profile investigations of potential harm to consumers by the Web's biggest firms.
Brier Dudley / The Seattle Times:
Q&A: T-Mobile CEO on layoffs, iPhone, mergers and more  —  After a detour through Dallas, Philipp Humm is finally getting to reshape T-Mobile USA.  —  Humm reinvigorated T-Mobile's German business before parent company Deutsche Telekom sent him to Bellevue in 2010, to rev up America's fourth largest wireless company.

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning  —  SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds.  Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Cape:
Most carriers track everything.  Cape doesn't.  —  Unlimited talk, text & data, 24-hr metadata deletion, network ID rotation, SIM-attack defense, and more.  Switch today and get 29% off for life.
Zoho:
App Spotlight: MessageWhiz SMS for Zoho CRM  —  App Spotlight brings you hand-picked solutions that enhance your Zoho apps and tools.  Visit Zoho Marketplace to explore all of our apps, integrations …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Channels with Peter Kafka:
The $12.5 Billion Lakers, the NFL's TV Fight, and Sports Media's Big Split
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Big Technology Podcast:
Nick Bostrom: Worries About AI Existential Risk Just Became More Concrete
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Training Data:
Rich Sutton and Khurram Javed: Why AI Models Stop Learning, and How to Start It Again
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
Subscribe to Training Data.
Invest Like the Best:
Ben Thompson on Big Tech, China, and the AI Boom Running Out of Money
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Lenny's Podcast:
OpenAI's Head of Design: This is the best time in history to be a designer | Ian Silber
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:10 PM ET, May 21, 2012.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Earlier Picks

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
Marguerite Reardon / CNET:
Jon Russell / The Next Web:
Daniel Terdiman / CNET: