Around the Web 8.11.08: Judge kills MIT talk, Apple can kill iPhone apps

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(Post updated at 11:26 a.m. with a MarketWatch link featuring more details about Sharon Waxman’s online news venture.)

-- Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs says the iPhone App Store is on pace to pull in $360 million in revenue and that users have downloaded 60 million programs. Oh, and the iPhone includes hidden code that lets Apple kills apps if it wants to. WSJ

-- From National Enquirer reporter to TV executive to McDonald’s worker to Internet entrepreneur: How Stephen Chao made it. LAT

-- The latest Is-Google-a-media-company story: The Net giant is annoying some of its media partners by delivering some of its own websites, such as Knol, high in its search results. But there’s not much evidence Google is giving its own services preferential treatment. NYT

-- Sign up for an e-mail or text message alert when Barack Obama’s VP candidate is announced. But prepare for campaign spam. Top of the Ticket

-- What do Tina Brown and Bonnie Fuller bring to the Web party? Hefty resumes. Web Scout

-- Verizon Communications reached a three-year labor contract with two of its unions, heading off a possible strike. LAT

-- A slowdown in business spending on software, telecom equipment and other capital expenditures bodes ill for the nation’s economy. LAT

-- Former NYT Hollywood reporter Sharon Waxman landed $500,000 to launch an entertainment-business news site. PaidContent and MarketWatch

-- Three MIT students planned to give a presentation about security flaws in the automated fare system in Boston’s subway system. A federal judge said no way. AP via SiliconValley.com

-- MIT’s student newspaper published the banned slides. Digg

-- Chris Gaither