Techmeme
October 11, 2012, 2:35 PM

Top News

Reuters:
Sprint confirms in talks on potential sale to Softbank  —  (Reuters) - Japanese mobile carrier Softbank Corp may buy a majority stake in Sprint Nextel Corp to establish a foothold in the U.S. wireless market, in what could be the largest Japanese acquisition ever in America.
Ina Fried / AllThingsD:
Sprint Confirms Talks With Softbank Over “Substantial Investment”  —  Sprint confirmed Thursday that it is in talks with Japan's Softbank about a possible deal.  —  The No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier said the discussions are about a “substantial investment by Softbank” but offered few other details.
Daisuke Wakabayashi / Wall Street Journal:
Softbank in Advanced Talks to Acquire Sprint Nextel  —  TOKYO—Japanese mobile carrier Softbank Corp. is in advanced talks to buy U.S. operator Sprint Nextel Corp. in a deal expected to exceed ¥1 trillion ($12.81 billion) in value, a person with knowledge of the negotiations said Thursday.
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:
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 …
Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:
Apple's US injunction on Samsung Galaxy Nexus reversed by appeals court  —  The US injunction on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus that Apple earned by way of a patent judge earlier this year has been reversed by an appeals court, reports Reuters.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit …
Alistair Barr / Reuters:
Exclusive: eBay starts daily deals for services, taking on Groupon  —  (Reuters) - EBay Inc has quietly launched an online marketplace for deals on local services, taking on Groupon Inc and expanding into a potentially big category.  —  Called eBay Lifestyle Deals, the offers are being run …
Glenn Peoples / Billboard.Biz:
Business Matters: The Truth About Pandora's Payments to Artists  —  Pandora mounted an effective publicity campaign Tuesday by revealing the amounts of royalties some artists' songs generate on its service (as opposed to how much money those artists are actually collecting).
Aaron Souppouris / The Verge:
LG Nexus handset revealed in clearest shots yet  —  Russian site Onliner has got its hands on LG's new Nexus, revealing the device with perfect clarity for the first time.  The site confirms what we've already heard about the device: it's a remodeled version of LG's Optimus G. Dubbed the LG-E960 …
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.
More: Bloomberg
Jordan Crook / TechCrunch:
Bridging The Gap Between Pawn Shop And Bank, Borro Raises $26M Led By Canaan Partners  —  Borro, a personal asset lending platform, has just received a massive $26 million funding round led by Canaan Partners.  The service essentially classes up the idea of collateral loans …
Steve Dent / Engadget:
Samsung Galaxy S III mini pops up, we go hands-on  —  When word first started trickling out that Samsung planned to make a mini version of the Galaxy S III, it had the air of plausibility — we've heard from many a person about the too-large size of that phone for their hands.
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.

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Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch: