This week, Andrew Sorcini, Devindra Hardawar, Dwayne De Freitas, and Christopher Burnor take a look at other companies that are storing your data without your permission, following last week’s coverage of the Path debacle, and later we examine former TechCrunch reporter turned Crunchfund partner MG Siegler‘s claim that tech journalists today are foregoing putting research and expertise into their work in favor of using sensationalism to chase page views. But first, the headlines…

Google develops a home entertainment system, two Kickstarter projects hit the $1 million mark, SNL pokes fun at Verizon marketing, Steve Jobs earns a posthumous Grammy, Twitter beats MSM on news of Whitney Houston‘s death, The Pirate Bay says goodbye to .torrent files, Apple readies the iPad3 (and tests an 8-in. tablet), and Apple invites inspections of its suppliers.

Podcast

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Show Links

• Contest: $50 “˜Cash Cab’ Giveaway on Geeks of Doom

Headlines

• Google Developing Home Entertainment System
• Google’s Foray Into Hardware Will Be A Total Disaster “” Here’s Why
• Kickstarter crosses threshold as two projects hit $1 million in donations
• SNL on Verizon’s 4G marketing: “It’s an old person’s nightmare”
• Steve Jobs wins posthumous Grammy, accepted by Apple iTunes chief Eddy Cue
• Twitter Breaks Whitney Houston Death News 27 Minutes Before Press
• The Pirate Bay Says Goodbye to (Most) Torrents on February 29
• iPad 3 announcement March 7, quad-core, possible 4G LTE
• Apple, Suppliers Test Tablet With Smaller, 8-in. Screen
• Fair Labor Association Begins Inspections of Foxconn

Audible Book of the Week

• The Clockwork Universe: Isaac Newton, The Royal Society, and the Birth of the Modern World by Edward Dolnick

Musical Interlude

Hot Topic

iPhone app contact data update & The State of Tech Journalism

• Twitter stores full iPhone contact list for 18 months, after scan
• Apple: App Access to Contact Data Will Require Explicit User Permission
• Your address book is mine: Many iPhone apps take your data
• Content Everywhere, But Not A Drop To Drink
• Hit men, click whores, and paid apologists: Welcome to the Silicon Cesspool
• Paris Lemon and the No Good, Very Bad Day
• Happy Valentine’s Day, Tech Bloggers

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