Every day, the Fortune staff spends hours poring over tech stories, posts, and reviews from all over the Web to keep tabs on the companies that matter. We’ve assembled the day’s most newsworthy bits below.
- Comcast lost 275,000 basic cable subscribers during the company’s third quarter, attributing the loss to the economy, the housing crunch and competition. Despite that, the company reported third quarter revenues of $5.91 billion, up 7% from a year ago. (New Tee Vee)
- The Russian government has set aside $4.89 billion to develop a Windows competitor to reduce its dependence on Microsoft and better monitor computer security. (Tech Spot)
- Yahoo hired Ross Levinsohn to replace Hillary Schneider as Executive Vice President of the Americas. The former head of Fox Interactive Media’s duties will include running Yahoo’s media group, advertising sales, and partnerships for the Americas region. (silicontap)
- According to a recent filing, Facebook spent more than $6,600 on lobbying in California between April and June primarily directed towards the Social Networking Privacy Act. Introduced in the state Senate in February, the bill would restrict social networking sites like Facebook from displaying the contact info of minors. (Digital Society)
- Apple may be working with SIM-card maker Gemalto to create an effectively blank SIM card that would let European customers buy a phone via the web or Apple Store and visit the carrier to get it properly set up. This would potentially free up consumers to consider a number of European carriers. (Silicon Angle)
- On the heels of news that the white iPhone 4 has been delayed until Spring 2011, new rumors abound that Apple cancel plans of releasing it altogether. (Erictric)
- Sorry, Firefox fans. Mozilla says it’s delaying the release of Firefox 4 until next year due to software instabilities and other bugs. (Neowin)
- Google is reportedly close to buying an 18-story building in Chelsea, Manhattan to the tune of $2 billion. (Fortune Tech)
- Virgin Mobile just may have the best smartphone deal on the planet: $249 for the Samsung Intercept and $25 a month with unlimited messaging and data. (Fortune Tech)
