Techmeme
November 29, 2012, 8:55 PM

Top News

John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Miscellaneous Thoughts and Observations on iTunes 11  —  There are redesigns and there are redesigns.  This one's the real deal.  It's not a rewrite though.  Clearly, in its heart, under the hood, this is still the same iTunes.  It's what you see (at least in the main window; see below) that's all new.
Nathan Ingraham / The Verge:
iTunes 11 finally available for download, features redesigned interface and increased iCloud support  —  Apple gave a sneak peek at iTunes 11 back at September's iPhone 5 event, and the software will finally make its way to consumers today.  The new iTunes features a sleek, streamlined interface …
Mg Siegler / TechCrunch:
iTunes — It Goes To 11.  (In Design, If Not Performance.)  —  Yes, that headline.  Obvious.  But appropriate.  —  Yes, after much delay (about a month), iTunes 11 is here today.  And yes, it is one of the biggest overhauls of the media management service yet.  Perhaps the biggest.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:
Merrill Lynch: T-Mobile USA may get the iPhone next week  —  The deal would give Apple access to 33 million more mobile subscribers  —  FORTUNE — It was only last week that Jim Alling, COO of T-Mobile USA, poured cold water on speculation that his company might finally start selling Apple's (AAPL) iPhones to its 33 million customers.
Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:
Microsoft's Surface Pro will be $899 for 64GB and $999 for 128GB models, as predicted  —  Earlier in the year we brought you the news that Microsoft's surface pricing would run in the $999 range.  Now, Microsoft has confirmed the pricing in a post by Surface GM Panos Panay.
Mike Isaac / AllThingsD:
After Deal Changes With Zynga, Facebook Could Now Make Its Own Games  —  Could Facebook delve into the game-making business?  —  According to documents filed with the SEC, it's possible.  —  Facebook and gaming giant Zynga revised their long-standing contract agreements on Thursday …
More: Betabeat and TechCrunch
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Zynga Loosens Its Deal With Facebook: No Longer Tied To Facebook Ad Units, Credits, Or Exclusivity  —  Zynga just filed a document with the SEC outlining new terms in its agreement with Facebook.  Overall, it seems that Zynga and Facebook establishing a little more distance and flexibility …
Matthew Prince / CloudFlare blog:
How Syria Turned Off the Internet  —  Today, 29 November 2012, between 1026 and 1029 (UTC), all traffic from Syria to the rest of the Internet stopped.  At CloudFlare, we witnessed the drop off.  We've spent the morning studying the situation to understand what happened.
Arik Hesseldahl / AllThingsD:
Horace Dediu / asymco:
The cost of selling Galaxies  —  In the post “Google vs. Samsung” I compared the profits of Google and Samsung Electronics' mobile (aka Telecoms) division.  It showed how Samsung has grown its mobile business to such a degree that, if sustained, could conceivably influence the way Android is controlled.
More: Fortune
Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:
Fantastical: the intelligent iPhone calendar app we've been waiting for is here (hands-on)  —  Can the best Mac calendar app transition to the small screen?  —  I'd consistently heard great things about Fantastical for Mac, but I wouldn't buy it.  I wasn't ready to pay upwards of fifteen dollars …
Leo Kelion / BBC:
Tony Fadell: From iPod father to thermostat start-up  —  Father of the iPod  —  Tony Fadell on changes at Apple, Nest and doubts about Kickstarter
Tricia Duryee / AllThingsD:
Confirmed: LivingSocial Slashes 400 Jobs in Attempt at Profitability  —  LivingSocial, the second-largest daily deals company in the U.S., has confirmed it is laying off 400 employees, or about 10 percent of its workforce, as it tries to turn a profit.  —  A spokesman confirmed that employees received the news this morning.
David Kravets / Wired:
Senate Committee Approves Bill Requiring Warrants for E-Mail  —  A Senate committee on Thursday unanimously backed sweeping digital privacy protections requiring the government, for the first time, to get a probable-cause warrant to obtain e-mail and other content stored in the cloud.
Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:
Scoop: Key pricing and launch details of Redbox Instant revealed  —  The online video joint venture Redbox Instant by Verizon is set to launch sometime before the end of the year.  The service is currently being tested in private beta, and Verizon and Redbox have kept mum on some key details.
More: Engadget
Caitlin McGarry / PC World:
AT&T still at bottom of Consumer Reports rankings, but boasts best 4G network  —  AT&T held onto its last place position in Consumer Reports' ranking of the four major U.S. cellphone carriers.  But the company can point to one bright spot in the annual ratings published by Consumer Reports Thursday …
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Hack could let browsers use cloud to carry out big attacks on the cheap  —  Scientists have devised a browser-based exploit that allows them to carry out large-scale computations on cloud-based services for free, a hack they warn could be used to wage powerful online attacks cheaply and anonymously.
AppleInsider:
iPhone 5 supply stabilizes in the U.S. for first time since launch  —  With the lucrative holiday shopping season in full swing, the popular iPhone 5 handset is now readily available in the U.S. at Apple's brick-and-mortar retail stores as the company has apparently overcome supply issues experienced since …
Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:
ITC staff supports judge's preliminary finding that Samsung infringes four Apple patents  —  On October 24, an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) of the International Trade Commission (ITC), a quasi-judicial agency that can impose import bans on patent-infringing products, made an initial determination …
Jessica Guynn / Los Angeles Times:
Judge orders Paul Ceglia to pay Facebook nearly $90,000 in fees  —  Paul Ceglia, indicted on charges of mail and wire fraud, exits federal court in New York.  (Peter Foley / Bloomberg / November 28, 2012)  —  Paul Ceglia, the New York man who has become famous for suing Facebook …
More: CNET
Lee Hutchinson / Ars Technica:
Dell releases powerful, well-supported Linux Ultrabook  —  In our recent ZaReason UltraLap 430 review, Ars alum Ryan Paul lamented that even though putting Linux on laptops is easier today than ever, it's still not perfect.  Some things (particularly components like trackpads and Wi-Fi chips) take some fiddling to get working.

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