Techmeme: Apple vs. Google vs. Facebook vs. Amazon (Wall Street Journal)

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December 26, 2012, 11:30 PM

Top News

Carl Franzen / TPM IdeaLab:

Netflix ‘Social Features’ Coming In 2013, Once President Signs Bill — Netflix will introduce “social features” for U.S. users in 2013, the company told TPM Wednesday, following a bill passed by Congress just before the holiday break that removes previous restrictions that prevented companies from sharing customer video rental history.

More: TechCrunch, The Verge, CNET, digitaltrends.com, The Next Web, VentureBeat and Electronista. See also Mediagazer

David Kravets / Wired:

Feds Requiring ‘Black Boxes’ in All Motor Vehicles — Federal regulators are proposing that new automobiles sold in the United States after September 2014 come equipped with black boxes, so-called “event data recorders” that chronicle everything from how fast a vehicle was traveling, the number of passengers and even a car's location.

More: VentureBeat

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Gracenote's Ad Replacement System That Personalizes TV Commercials Will Start Trials In 2013 — Most TV commercials are poorly targeted and show things you'd never buy. But not for long. Gracenote's new ad replacement system combines viewing habits with personal info to show you more relevant commercials.

More: VentureBeat and The Verge

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Google Extends Free Gmail Voice Calls In The U.S. And Canada Through 2013 — This is becoming somewhat of a holiday tradition for Google: the company just announced that it is extending it free domestic calls from Gmail in the U.S. and Canada for yet another year.

Richard Lai / Engadget:

Nubia Z5 unveiled in China with quad-core chip, 5-inch 1080p display and 7.6mm thickness — Much like many Chinese smartphone brands these days, ZTE sub-brand Nubia had prematurely given away the main selling points of its Z5 ahead of its Beijing launch today, but there were still some surprises.

More: Unwired View, BGR, CNET, Android Community, IntoMobile, The Droid Guy, LAPTOP Magazine, GadgeTell, Electronista, Ubergizmo and PhoneArena

Wall Street Journal:

Apple vs. Google vs. Facebook vs. Amazon — The Lines Between Software and Hardware Continue to Blur — Four big technology fiefs—Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. —have been creeping into each other's turf for years. In 2013, their war is set to escalate around two fronts: hardware and search.

More: PC Magazine, 9.blog and Marketing Pilgrim

New York Times:

Real and Virtual Firearms Nurture a Marketing Link — As Electronic Arts prepared to market Medal of Honor Warfighter, the latest version of its top-selling video game released in October, it created a Web site that promoted the manufacturers of the guns, knives and combat-style gear depicted in the game.

More: digitaltrends.com, Polygon, SlashGear, GamePolitics blogs and Forbes

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Yahoo's Mayer Hoping What Happens With Big Advertisers at CES Doesn't Stay in Vegas — So far in the six-month reign of Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, there has been a pile of attention paid to the flashy cultural changes (free food!), much-needed rehauls of key mainstays (Flickr, Yahoo! Mail …

Kashmir Hill / Forbes:

Oops. Mark Zuckerberg's Sister Has A Private Facebook Photo Go Public. — Being a member of the Facebook founder's family won't protect you from having your privacy breached on the social network. On Tuesday night, Randi Zuckerberg — older sister to Facebook's CEO …

Jake Smith / 9to5Mac:

Apple reportedly moving Mac mini production to US with Foxconn — Digitimes has shed more light on Tim Cook's early December announcement that a Mac line's production will be moved to the US in 2013. According to the hit-and-miss publication this evening, Cupertino-based Apple will move …

More: DigiTimes, AppleInsider, The Verge, MacRumors and PhoneArena

Robert O'Harrow Jr / Washington Post:

Health-care sector vulnerable to hackers, researchers say — Video: Government and business leaders in the United States and around the world are rushing to build better defenses - and prepare for the coming battles in the digital universe. To succeed, they must understand one of the most complex …

More: The Verge, GigaOM and AllThingsD

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Google's music matching reportedly replacing explicit songs with clean versions — Some users of Google Music's new scan-and-match functionality, recently rolled out in the US, are complaining of problems when it comes to explicit content in their library. Explicit songs are reportedly …

More: Droid Life, Los Angeles Times, BGR, Wired, Pocketnow, Examiner, Engadget, InvestorPlace, LAPTOP Magazine, SlashGear, Mashable! and Lifehacker

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