Techmeme
October 11, 2012, 10:55 AM

Top News

Reuters:
Japan's Softbank in talks for $12.8 billion Sprint stake  —  (Reuters) - Softbank Corp (9984.T), Japan's third-largest mobile carrier, is in talks to buy a majority stake in U.S. telecoms company Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N) in a deal worth more than 1 trillion yen ($12.8 billion) …
Dennis K. Berman / WSJ Blogs:
Sizing Up a Softbank Takeover of Sprint  —  Japanese mobile carrier Softbank — the country's premier technology investor — is mulling a takeover of the struggling US wireless carrier Sprint Nextel Corp. in a deal expected to exceed $12.81 billion.  —  An early read on what such a deal would mean.
Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:
Eric Schmidt: Android-Apple Is the Defining Fight in the Industry Today  —  The fight between Google and Apple over mobile devices is great for consumers, but the patent wars that have resulted are awful, said Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, in conversation tonight with our own Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher.
Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Eric Schmidt Can't Wait for Self-Driving Cars, Won't Predict When Google Maps Come Back to Apple  —  You wanted new news from Eric Schmidt about the state of the Apple-Google war?  So did all of us.  But the Google chairman was mostly mum on that subject.  He was happy, however …
iFixit:
iPod Touch 5th Generation Teardown  —  We got our hands on Apple's new iPod Touch.  First thing we do: get inside to see just how much “funner” the new generation is compared to the older generations.  Join us for all the fun to come by following iFixit on Twitter or friending us on Facebook.
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Apple iPod nano review (2012)  —  Here's the thing: you can't really write a review of the new iPod nano.  What is there to say?  It is a small slab of aluminum with a multitouch screen that plays music files exactly as well as every iPod before it.  —  That is to say, it plays MP3 and AAC files extremely well.
More: MacRumors and The Verge
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
RockMelt For iPad: A Browser Built For Touch That Turns The Web Into A Feed So Content Comes To You  —  Surfing the Internet can feel like you're running in circles, constantly checking your favorite sites for updates.  The RockMelt team believes that content should be delivered, not hunted …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Google Gives Street View A 250K-Mile Update Across 17+ Countries, Its Biggest Update Ever; Maps API Now Features Time Zones  —  Google is continuing to gain points on the mapping front, today launching yet more features for the product at a time when Apple's offering continues to appear weak by comparison.
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Google Chrome exploit fetches “Pinkie Pie” $60,000 hacking prize  —  An image displayed on a computer after it was successfully commandeered by Pinkie Pie during the first Pwnium competition in March.  —  A hacker who goes by “Pinkie Pie” has once again subverted the security of Google's Chrome browser …
Nicholas Carlson / Business Insider:
A $12 Billion Move In Apple Stock Seems To Have Started With Tweets From A Single Anonymous Source In China  —  Apple's stock dropped 2.21 percent on Monday.  —  A few analysts blamed the drop - worth more than $12 billion - on a strike of 4,000 Chinese workers at Apple's manufacturer.
Matt McGee / Search Engine Land:
Google Starts To Downplay Zagat Scores; It Should Ditch Them Altogether  —  Google is changing the way it collects local business reviews and displays them in search results, making the Zagat score a less prominent piece of information.  —  That's a good thing in my opinion, and many people …
Steven Musil / CNET:
Thousands of student records stolen in Florida college breach  —  The confidential information of nearly 300,000 students, faculty, and employees accessed in hack, education officials warn.  —  Hackers have accessed the confidential information of nearly 300,000 students, employees …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google+ Mobile Apps Now Support Pages, iOS App Gets iPhone 5 Support And Finally Lets You Edit Your Posts  —  Google just launched the latest version of its Google+ apps for Android and iOS.  The most important new feature in this update is support for Google+ pages.
Simon Goodley / Guardian:
Facebook accused of taking UK for a ride  —  Figures suggest only 11% of sales in UK are declared, with company benefiting from basing its HQ in Dublin  —  Facebook has been accused of taking the British taxpayer for a ride after experts suggested the company had depressed sales figures …
Alistair Barr / Reuters:
Amazon gets FCC's OK to sell Kindle Fire 4G tablets  —  (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc received approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to sell its high-end Kindle Fire 4G tablets, a company spokeswoman said on Wednesday.  —  Amazon unveiled the new tablets last month, but the devices had not secured FCC clearance.

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Mike Dano / FierceWireless: