Weekly Knowledge Dump: Tech News for 9.23.11

The Weekly Knowledge Dump is the weekly tech column that gives you the biggest news in the tech world for the past week, plus a guide to all of the interesting but non-news stories from the past week. It’s like backing up a dump truck of knowledge to your brain.

Google Wallet Launches

Google officially unveiled their new phone-based payment system this week. Using a technology called Near Field Communication, you can simply tap your phone to a credit card payment processor and it will automatically charge your credit or debit card. Google has partnered with all three major credit card companies and Citibank to make their systems work together. This might seem futuristic to U.S. consumers, but the Japanese have been paying for things with their phones for almost a decade now.

Would You Like to Know More?

Facebook Changes Things, Pisses Off Users

Every time Facebook changes something, people get up in arms. No matter how small, each little change is bound to piss off someone. This weeks change was  a major update to Facebook’s main feature, the newsfeed. Previously, people were able to switch between seeing updates that Facebook deemed important and the latest updates. If you didn’t want to see one or the other, you could simply switch views. Now, however, Facebook had made it so that they show up together on one page. Your important updates appear at the top of the page and then the recent updates appear below that…or in a sidebar; there really is no way to enable or disable the sidebar feature and there doesn’t seem to be rhyme or reason as to when it shows up in the sidebar. Not surprisingly, the reaction has been extremely negative, as it always is. But in a week or two, people will be used to it and won’t even care anymore.

Would You Like to Know More?

WSJ Launches a New, Facebook-ized Version of their Paper

In slightly less infuriating Facebook news, The Wall Street Journal announced a new version of their paper, called WSJ Social. The new edition of the paper will be available solely through Facebook and features a simplified design that is intended to draw people in in a way that the normal WSJ website cannot. According to the WSJ, they want to be wherever the readers are…and most of them are on Facebook. They have also said that for the first few weeks, the paper will be free to access but that they will eventually move it behind their paywall and start charging people for access.

Would You Like to Know More?

HP Lays Off 500 People from WebOS Division

Just weeks after HP killed it’s TouchPad and Pré smartphones, it has started laying off employees from the WebOS division. The WebOS division (formally known as the Global Business Unit) is comprised mostly of employees who joined HP when the acquired Palm a little over a year ago. Since then, HP has decided to shutter WebOS development. It’s not surprising that HP is firing these people, but they barely gave WebOS a chance.

Would You Like to Know More?

ALSO: This is too cool for me to not share, so enjoy.

Bonus: Interesting Dispatches from the Past Week

Here is a small selection of interesting articles that aren’t really news, but are still worth reading anyway:

• Recipe for Any Android Phone Review Ever by Stephen M. Hackett (512 Pixels)
• Browser Break Up by Tim Bray (TBray.org)
• The Case for Going Metro Only On ARM by John Gruber (Daring Fireball)