Techmeme: Barnes & Noble's bad holiday: Nook, store and BN.com sales down (Laura Hazard Owen/paidContent)

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January 3, 2013, 4:20 PM

Top News

Peter Kaplan / Federal Trade Commission:

Google Agrees to Change Its Business Practices to Resolve FTC Competition Concerns In the Markets for Devices Like Smart Phones, Games and Tablets, and in Online Search — Landmark Agreements Will Give Competitors Access to Standard-Essential Patents; Advertisers Will Get More Flexibility to Use Rival Search Engines

The Official Google Blog:

The Federal Trade Commission closes its antitrust review — The U.S. Federal Trade Commission today announced it has closed its investigation into Google after an exhaustive 19-month review that covered millions of pages of documents and involved many hours of testimony.

More: Inquirer, Search Engine Watch, ReadWrite, Forbes, GeekWire, ValueWalk and WebProNews

Casey Newton / CNET:

What Google's settlement with the FTC means for users — In a major win for the search giant, it avoids a battle over search bias. — The Federal Trade Commission announced today that it has completed a nearly two-year investigation into Google's business practices. Here are some of the key takeaways:

More: Forbes, Business Insider and Gizmodo

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Google Settles FTC Antitrust Probe: Will Let Competitors Remove Content From Google Search …

More: ReadWrite, 9to5Google and VentureBeat

Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:

FTC orders Google to stop pursuit of SEP injunctions against ‘willing licensees’

Matt Brian / The Next Web:

Facebook launches voice in iOS and Android Messenger apps, tests VoIP calling in Canada — Facebook is continuing to fine-tune and adapt its Messenger mobile apps (iOS/Android), today pushing live updates which include a potentially disruptive feature: voice messages.

More: AllThingsD, The Verge, TechCrunch, CNET, AllFacebook, VentureBeat, Gizmodo, 9to5Mac, PhoneArena, iPhone in Canada Blog, Gotta Be Mobile, WebProNews, iDownloadBlog.com and App Advice

MG Siegler / TechCrunch:

That Apple/Waze Deal Hits A Roadblock — That Roadblock Being Reality (Not Happening) — Yesterday, we ran a big story: Is Apple Plotting A Route To A Waze Acquisition? Rumours On The Road Point To Yes. That's huge news for a few reasons: Apple rarely makes startup acquisitions …

More: Business Insider, MacRumors, CNET, iMore.com, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Macgasm, Gotta Be Mobile, iDownloadBlog.com, iPhone in Canada Blog, Forbes, FierceMobileContent News, everythingiCafe, InvestorPlace, Ubergizmo, PhoneArena, TechSpot, GigaOM, ValueWalk, BGR India and TUAW. Tweets: @jwherrman. Thanks:@mattlynley

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Nokia planning aluminum body for thinner, lighter Lumia 920 successor — Nokia is planning a new line of Lumia Windows Phone devices for 2013. Sources familiar with Nokia's plans have revealed to The Verge that the company is planning to switch to an aluminum construction for at least …

More: CNET, LiveSide.net, Ars Technica, Computerworld, Los Angeles Times, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, BGR, Business Insider, Electronista, Pocketnow, The Nokia Blog, MobileSyrup.com and WMPoweruser

Miguel Helft / Fortune:

The future according to Google's Larry Page — Google CEO Larry Page envisions a future in which computers plan your vacations, drive your cars, and anticipate your whims. Audacious? Maybe. But Page's dreams have a way of coming true. — FORTUNE — When Sir Martin Sorrell …

More: 9to5Google and The Verge. Thanks:@jpmanga

Jungah Lee / Bloomberg:

Samsung to Sell Tizen-Based Handsets After Google-Motorola Deal — Samsung Electronics Co. (005930), the world's largest seller of mobile phones, said it will start selling smartphones this year featuring the Tizen operating system backed by Intel Corp. — “We plan to release new …

More: PC Magazine, digitaltrends.com, ZDNet, CNET, AllThingsD, dailywireless.org, MobileSyrup.com, PhoneNews.com, PC World, Good Morning Silicon Valley, PhoneArena, Sammy Hub, GadgeTell, Pocketnow, TechCrunch and The Next Web

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Pinterest Acquires And Will Shut Down Recipe Discovery Site Punchfork — Pinterest has just made its first acquisition - the two-and-a-half-year-old recipe discovery and sharing site Punchfork. Rather than operate it independently, Punchfork will continue to run shortly but then its site …

More: CNET, PC Magazine, VatorNews, GigaOM, VentureBeat, BuzzFeed, Business Insider, Marketing Land and SocialTimes

Tweets: @jeffmiller and @5by5

Jason Del Rey / AdAge:

Buzzfeed Raises $19.3 Million to Make LOL Content for the Social Web — Building a Giant War Chest That Signals Greater Ambitions — Buzzfeed set out to re-invent the notion of content for the social web by allowing pictures of cute animals to co-exist with serious political coverage.

More: BuzzFeed, Media Decoder, Business Insider, VatorNews, Business Insider, Fortune, NYConvergence.com, Reuters, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, paidContent and Betabeat. Tweets: @rafat. Thanks:@delrey. See also Mediagazer

Jeremiah Rice / Android Police:

Sprint Will Begin Pay As You Go Service On January 25th, But Standard Sprint Phones Aren't Invited To The Party — If you want to use Sprint's network without signing a contract, there are a lot of options out there, including its subsidiary Boost Mobile, the American MVNO Virgin, and hybrid provider Republic Wireless, among others.

More: CNET, The Verge, CNET, VentureBeat, PC World, PhoneArena, FierceWireless, TechSpot, Gotta Be Mobile and AndroidGuys

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

YouTube Makes Your Phone A Remote Control By Pairing Its Mobile Apps With TVs From LG, Panasonic, Sony, And Others — So YouTube wants to have an app on every device, especially TVs. That way users can watch all of its content from their living room, just like regular TV.

More: YouTube Blog, The Verge, Mobile Marketing Watch, 9to5Google, GigaOM and Gizmodo. Thanks:@chrisvelazco

David Beren / TmoNews:

All T-Mobile Stores To Carry The Nexus 4 Beginning This Month — If you're still on the hunt for a Nexus 4 and we imagine you are since they are next to impossible to find then we've got some good news. T-Mobile stores are hoping to resolve the Nexus 4 inventory black hole …

More: Examiner, TechCrunch, IntoMobile, CNET, Engadget, AndroidGuys, AndroidOS.in and PhoneArena

Devindra Hardawar / VentureBeat:

Qualcomm CEO: Apple rejected our radio for the Newton, so we struck a deal with Palm — Here's a bit of pre-smartphone era history for you: Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs told Charlie Rose tonight that he tried to convince Apple to put a Qualcomm radio in the Newton PDA during the 90s but was shot down.

More: 9to5Mac, TUAW, BetaNews, iPhone in Canada Blog and Gizmodo

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Barnes & Noble's bad holiday: Nook, store and BN.com sales down — As it had warned investors last week, Barnes & Noble announced disappointing holiday sales Thursday. For the nine-week period ending December 29, 2012, Nook device sales, in-store sales and BN.com sales were all down from the same period last year.

More: Barnes & Noble, Inc., The Shatzkin Files, Media Decoder, internetretailer.com, Engadget, WebProNews, CNET, Reuters, Neowin and The Verge. See also Mediagazer

Tricia Duryee / AllThingsD:

eBay Tries Two New Ways to Sell: Drop-Off Points and Home Pick-Up — Gail Weber had never sold anything on eBay, but she was interested in the concept after inheriting a number of antique vases, platters and plates. — “I'm not intimidated by going on eBay, but I don't know how to sell, and PayPal is another deterrent,” she said.

More: VentureBeat, Gizmodo and The Verge

Vlad Savov / The Verge:

The Ubuntu phone has a speed problem, and I'm not talking about lag — If your hardware roadmap is measured in years rather than months, you may have a problem — As software launches go, yesterday's announcement of Ubuntu for phones was quite the success for parent company Canonical.

More: internetnews.com, TechCrunch and The Tech Report

Abram Brown / Forbes:

Reading Twitter's Tea Leaves: At $11 Billion Valuation, IPO Prep May Start In Late 2013 — The dismal performance by newly public tech companies—looking at you, Zynga and Groupon and Facebook—may not clip Twitter's wings after all. — A report by Greencrest Capital …

More: digitaltrends.com, Daily Mail, SiliconANGLE, VentureBeat, CNET, Business Insider, AllTwitter, WebProNews and Mashable!

Kim-Mai Cutler / TechCrunch:

A Little Sleuthing Leads Nexus 4 Enthusiasts To Estimate About 400K In Sales Of The Device — Google and LG's Nexus 4 has been such a coveted item this past holiday season, that it's been in and out of stock since its release in mid-November. Because Google doesn't publicly comment on device sales …

More: BGR, The Verge, Examiner, TmoNews, Business Insider, Gotta Be Mobile and PhoneArena

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

Square's Mobile Card Readers Now Sold At Starbucks' 7K Company-Operated Stores — Square is announcing today that Starbucks is the next retail partner to sell its mobile card readers. The payments company also has a deal with the coffee giant to process transactions and accept Square Wallet.

More: VentureBeat, NYT Bits, CNET and GeekWire

Connie Guglielmo / Forbes:

Life After The iPhone: How AT&T's Bet On Apple Mobilized The Company — AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, who took over just as the iPhone was launched, talks about the fame, pain and change that's taken place under his leadership. (Photo credit: Matthew Hawthorne) — Steve Jobs needed some advice.

More: The Verge, Redmond Pie and iPhone in Canada Blog

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