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As my Ars colleague Andrew Cunningham reports, Sparrow—the makers of the much-beloved eponymous mail app for Mac OS X and iOS—has been acquired by Google. And aside from critical updates, new development on Sparrow is dead. Sparrow users have been thanked for our support and our dollars, and left behind with the rest of the office trash as Leca and his team move to their shiny new Mountain View offices.

RT @Techmeme: Uniloc files patent infringement suit against Mojang (@stephnunneley / VG247)

RT @Techmeme: Uniloc files patent infringement suit against Mojang (@stephnunneley / VG247)

RT @gigaom: .@derrickharris stands with Al Franken - at least when it comes to facial-recognition software:

RT @cnnbrk: Colorado #theatershooting unfolds in real time on social media.

The iPhone 5, Apple's next generation iPhone expected to go on sale around October, will come with a 19-pin connector port at the bottom instead of the proprietary 30-pin port "to make room for the earphone moving to the bottom", two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Everyone's expecting Amazon to launch a Kindle Fire successor soon — the company needs a refreshed model to compete with Google's new Nexus 7 — but apparently the company has much bigger things planned than one new model. President of US retail for Staples Demos Parneros told Reuters that Amazon is set to introduce five or six new tablet SKUs, with at least one of those models sporting a 10-inch screen. It's not clear yet whether these will all be distinctly different models; it wouldn't surprise us if several of these SKUs were merely different storage capacities for the new Kindle Fire models.

A new survey out from 451 Research/ChangeWave on consumer smartphone sentiment found that Apple’s iPhone 5 — whatever that may turn out to be — is seeing an “unprecedented” wave of advance demand — higher than any other iPhone model has had before, with 14 percent of respondents saying they were “very likely” to buy the iPhone 5.

The Canon EOS M with 22mm lens will ship in October with a retail price of $799.99, and will be available in a selection of colors. The EF-M 18-55mm lens and EF-EOS M mount adapter will ship at the same time, with respective $299.99 and $199.99 suggested retail prices.

Leo's Tool: Android: Friday, a new personal assistant app for Android that keeps an eye on the things you do with your Android phone, collects and organizes them into a kind of "personal Wikipedia" that's all about you. It then uses that database to help you make smart decisions about who you call, where you go, and how you spend your time. You can ask Friday questions about your own life and activities, and Friday will have the answers for you.

RT @Techmeme: Apple will provide an adapter for the new, smaller Dock connector set to debut with the iPhone... htt ...

RT @Techmeme: AT&T posts Q2 profit of $3.9B, sells 3.7M iPhones (@rogerwcheng / CNET)

RT @Techmeme: AT&T posts Q2 profit of $3.9B, sells 3.7M iPhones (@rogerwcheng / CNET)

RT @Techmeme: Samsung posts record $5.9 billion profit on smartphones (Miyoung Kim / Reuters)

RT @Techmeme: Samsung posts record $5.9 billion profit on smartphones (Miyoung Kim / Reuters)

RT @Techmeme: Consumer Reports Joins the Netflix Pile-On (@pkafka / AllThingsD)

RT @Techmeme: Consumer Reports Joins the Netflix Pile-On (@pkafka / AllThingsD)

RT @Techmeme: Google Handwrite lets us scribble our way through mobile searches (video) (@jonfingas / Engadget) htt ...

RT @karaswisher: NBC's Today Show Has Been Ignorant About Tech Since Long Before the Olympics

NBC insults viewer intelligence, says Olympic Opening Ceremony is too 'complex' for online audience | The Verge | |

The network edited out a moving tribute to the victims of the July 7 bombing and replaced instead with an interview with swimmer Michael Phelps. On a lighter note, Twitter users also jumped on the network's Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera for their commentary during the ceremony. The hashtag #ShutUpMattLauer was used by many on Twitter to jab at NBC's hosts. "The Olympics does bring people together! America is united in the opinion that Matt Lauer and Meredith Veiera should shut up," tweeted @OddlySaid. Some of Lauer and Viera's finer moments include linking Madagascar, the African island nation, to the animated movies, reminding viewers that most of the athletes marching in the ceremony would not win a medal, and talking over the many, many musical interludes.

RT @hackernewsbot: The Mac App Store’s future of irrelevance...

RT @Techmeme: The known unknowns of Skype interception (@csoghoian / slight paranoia)

RT @Techmeme: The known unknowns of Skype interception (@csoghoian / slight paranoia)

RT @Techmeme: Google Fiber Is The Most Disruptive Thing The Company's Done Since Gmail (@mattrosoff /... ...

RT @Techmeme: Apple Buying into Twitter: Neither Likely nor Implausible (@harrymccracken / Techland) ...

RT @Techmeme: Apple Buying into Twitter: Neither Likely nor Implausible (@harrymccracken / Techland) ...

There is no guarantee that the two companies, which are not in negotiations at the moment, will come to an agreement. But the earlier talks are a sign that they may form a stronger partnership amid intensifying competition from the likes of Google and Facebook.

I always give Apple the benefit of the doubt when they screw up, because 9 times out of 10, they provide awesome products and awesome service. But they had to know they were screwing people over by removing something like this from their computers. Am I wrong in feeling jilted?

RT @Techmeme: Samsung Makes Another Case to Have Apple's "Sony Style" Put Before Jury (@inafried / AllThingsD) http ...