Techmeme
October 17, 2012, 9:45 PM

Top News

John Letzing / Digits:
Google Stays Ahead of Silicon Valley Pack on Engineer Salaries  —  Google Inc. is staying well armed in at least one aspect of the ongoing battle for Silicon Valley talent.  —  The Mountain View, Calif., Internet company has faced a wave of competition in hiring in recent years thanks …
Steven Levy / Wired:
Google Throws Open Doors to Its Top-Secret Data Center  —  If you're looking for the beating heart of the digital age — a physical location where the scope, grandeur, and geekiness of the kingdom of bits become manifest—you could do a lot worse than Lenoir, North Carolina.
Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:
Google hosting Android event Monday, Oct 29th in New York  —  Google has issued an invite to an event in New York City on October 29th at 10am.  The purpose of the event is unknown aside from the fact that it has something to do with Android, and that the invite states “The playground is open.”
Colleen Taylor / TechCrunch:
Color: We Are Not Shutting Down  —  Color, the photo-sharing website which became well-known for securing $40 million in venture capital but has since had a bumpy road with lagging user numbers and turmoil at the executive levels, is not winding down operations, contrary to an anonymously-sourced report …
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
Pirate Bay Moves to The Cloud, Becomes Raid-Proof  —  The Pirate Bay is loved by millions of file-sharers but is also a thorn in the side of the entertainment industries.  —  The latter group continues to push authorities to take action against the site.  The Pirate Bay was raided back in 2006 …
Jack Dorsey:
Let's reconsider our “users” … During a Square Board meeting, our newest Director Howard Schultz, pulled me aside and asked a simple question.  —  “Why do you all call your customers ‘users’?”  —  “I don't know.  We've always called them that.”  —  It wasn't something I've thought about for some time.
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
With Surface looming, Microsoft fails to explain Windows 8 vs. Windows RT to consumers  —  If Microsoft Store reps don't know the difference, how will Surface buyers?  —  With only nine days remaining before an October 26th launch, Microsoft's Windows 8 marketing campaign is approaching full force.
David Talbot / Technology Review:
Computer Viruses Are “Rampant” on Medical Devices in Hospitals  —  A meeting of government officials reveals that medical equipment is becoming riddled with malware.  —  Computerized hospital equipment is increasingly vulnerable to malware infections, according to participants in a recent government panel.
Arik Hesseldahl / AllThingsD:
How Obama or Romney Should Have Answered the iPad Question  —  Toward the end of last night's presidential debate between President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney, the moderator, CNN's Candy Crowley, asked a perfectly legitimate question, one that Obama himself is once reported to have asked …
More: TechCrunch
Aaron Souppouris / The Verge:
A $99 Nexus tablet could spawn a new race to the bottom, but is it possible yet?  —  Yes, but not without compromises  —  Earlier today, perpetual rumor-mill DigiTimes reported that Google was readying a $99 Nexus tablet for release by the end of the year.
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft Office 365: More new packages and prices coming in November  —  Summary: There are even more versions of Microsoft's Office 365 than we've thought.  Another small-business and a mid-size business release are on deck.  And here's pricing for the lot.  —  Mary Jo Foley
Ari Levy / Bloomberg:
Violin Memory Said to File IPO With $2 Billion Valuation  —  Violin Memory Inc., a maker of flash memory for data centers, filed to go public last month under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, said two people familiar with the matter.  —  The deal is being led by JPMorgan Chase & Co. …
Wall Street Journal:
Sprint to Take Control of Clearwire  —  Sprint Nextel Corp. is set to gain control of partner Clearwire Corp. without an acquisition, people familiar with the matter said, a deal that will clarify a long-dysfunctional relationship that became a central issue in the No. 3 U.S. carrier's $20 billion acquisition by Japan's Softbank Corp.
Marcus Wohlsen / Wired:
MasterCard Is Selling Your Data Just in Time for the Holidays  —  Credit card companies make money by taking a cut every time you swipe your plastic at the checkout counter.  Now MasterCard has found a way to make those swipes pay over and over again.  —  As the Financial Times first reported …
Sam Byford / The Verge:
HTC J Butterfly preview: a stunning 5-inch 1080p phone for Japan (video)  —  440ppi Super LCD 3 sets the new standard in smartphone displays  —  The rumors were true: HTC has been working on a new flagship phone with a 5-inch 1080p display, and we got to see it in Tokyo today.
Mark Milian / Bloomberg Tech Blog:
How a YouTube Exec Built an Army With Google's ‘20 Percent Time’  —  Google has promoted its “20 percent time” option as a way to encourage employees to be entrepreneurial.  —  Officially, Hunter Walk has fewer than a dozen engineers working for him at YouTube on developing services for nonprofits and activists.
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook Wants To Dominate Paid Discovery By Now Letting Any Developer Buy Mobile App Install Ads  —  App developers pay huge sums for ads that gets them installs, and Facebook wants to gobble up that spend.  So today Facebook begins allowing all developers to buy its recently announced app install ads …
Jennifer Martinez / Hillicon Valley:
Internet providers set to crack down on illegal file-sharing  —  AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and other major Internet service providers are set to implement a copyright alert system aimed at cutting down on illegal peer-to-peer file sharing of copyrighted material “over the next several weeks,” …
Bryan Bishop / The Verge:
Uber launches taxi service in San Francisco after New York retreat  —  Uber admitted just yesterday that it was dropping the taxi component of its service for New York residents due to regulatory disputes, but that's not stopping the company from moving forward: it's launching a similar service in San Francisco today.
More: Uber Blog

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Earlier Picks

Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Élyse Betters / 9to5Mac:
Nathan Ingraham / The Verge: