Techmeme
October 25, 2012, 8:25 AM

Top News

Reuters:
Apple's Schiller defends iPad mini's price tag  —  (Reuters) - Apple marketing wizard Phil Schiller defended the $329 price of the new iPad mini tablet, saying consumers will be willing to pay for quality not found in less expensive devices from rivals like Google and Amazon.
Quentin Fottrell / MarketWatch:
BBC:
Microsoft's Steve Ballmer has plans for more hardware  —  Steve Ballmer: 'This is one of two or three big moments in Microsoft's history'  —  Microsoft's chief boss has confirmed he plans to release more devices.  —  Steve Ballmer told the BBC: “Is it fair to say we're going to do more hardware?
Kim-Mai Cutler / TechCrunch:
Zynga Reports Third Quarter Revenue Of $317M, Shares Pop 12.7% In After-Hours  —  Zynga said it saw third quarter revenue of $317 million, which was slightly above the lower range of $300 million to $305 million the company said it would see earlier this month.  Bookings came in at $256 million, up 11 percent year-over-year.
Tricia Duryee / AllThingsD:
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
Torrent Site Webhost Ordered to Pay “Piracy” Damages  —  For years Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN has tried to find out who is behind the SumoTorrent website.  —  After being initially hosted in the Netherlands, the site moved to Canada to escape BREIN's jurisdiction, but it later returned as a client of hosting provider XS Networks.
More: CNET and Softpedia News
Moritz Jaeger / ZDNet:
Google, Microsoft and Nokia launch one-stop ‘hide from maps’ service in Germany  —  Summary: Google, Microsoft and other companies have come together to help Germans to blur pictures of their properties in mapping services like Google Street View.  The service has been made necessary …
Dara Kerr / CNET:
Judge steps down in patent lawsuit filed over Apple's Siri  —  In a new lawsuit that claims Apple's virtual personal assistant is infringing on already developed patent technology, the judge recuses himself because of “interest” in the tech company.  —  A recently filed lawsuit over Apple's Siri …
More: ZDNet
Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:
Apple wins preliminary ruling from U.S. ITC that Samsung violates 4 design and touch patents  —  Apple has won a preliminary ruling against Samsung in an ITC case that had begun last year, reports Bloomberg.  The ruling states that Samsung has violated four Apple patents related to iPhone design …
Audrey Watters / Hack Education:
Education, Technology “Journalism,” and the Apple PR Machine  —  I wasn't planning to write anything about Apple's media event yesterday.  I tuned in to the livestream, but when all the announcements were made, it seemed clear to me that nothing that was revealed on stage in San Jose was that significant to education.
Eliza Kern / GigaOM:
Rewarder gets $7 million to fulfill your oddest, nerdiest dreams  —  Have a penchant for pomegranates and or a longing to be Lucius Malfoy?  You're in luck - Rewarder, the startup launching Wednesday with a $7 million Series A funding round, hopes to make all your weirdest dreams come true.
Chris Ziegler / The Verge:
Samsung Series 3 Chromebook review  —  With ARM, has Google's cloud-based laptop finally found its soulmate?  —  People laugh when I pull the old Samsung Series 5 Chromebook out of my bag.  I almost feel the need to apologize for it when I turn it on: “Here's a $450 laptop that just browses the web.
Mihoko Matsubara / ISN:
A Stuxnet Future?  Yes, Offensive Cyber-Warfare is Already Here  —  According to Mihoko Matsubara, the Stuxnet attack on Iran's nuclear facilities demonstrates that well-resourced actors now have the capacity to use offensive cyber capabilities to fragment command and control structures …
Jon Russell / The Next Web:
Alibaba-owned e-commerce giant Taobao quietly launches mapping service in China  —  Apple's decision to ship iOS 6 without Google Maps last month was an opportunity seized upon by Baidu in China almost immediately.  Now, following the calm after the #Mapgate storm, a new challenger has entered …
Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:
Bowker: Number of self-published books up 287% since 2006  —  In a new report on self-publishing, Bowker — the company that handles ISBNs (book identifier codes) and other bibliographic info for books published in the U.S. — says that the number of print and ebooks self-published annually …

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