Techmeme: Why Amazon Hired a Car Mechanic to Run Its Cloud Empire (Robert McMillan/Wired)

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February 20, 2013, 6:40 AM

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Reuters:

Apple, Mac computers hit by hackers who targeted Facebook — (Reuters) - Apple Inc was recently attacked by hackers who infected the Macintosh computers of some employees, the company said on Tuesday in an unprecedented disclosure that described the widest known cyber attacks against Apple-made computers to date.

Mike Isaac / AllThingsD:

This is the Site Likely Responsible For The Recent Major Tech Company Hacks. — Apple, Facebook, Twitter — all hacked. And there's probably more to come. — In the spate of large companies hacked in recent weeks, it seems that many of them have one thing in common.

More: Forbes, The Next Web, memeburn, The Verge, Mercury News, IntoMobile, Macgasm, Electronista and BuzzFeed

Bloomberg:

Malware Attack on Apple Said to Come From Eastern Europe — At least 40 companies including Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. were targeted in malware attacks linked to an Eastern European gang of hackers that is trying steal company secrets, two people familiar with the matter said.

More: The H Security, PC Magazine, Softpedia News, Lastest ITProPortal news, SiliconANGLE, ZDNet, Security and Risk, Businessweek, CNET, SocialTimes and Business Insider

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

After hack, Apple releases Java security update for Mac users

More: Apple, The Next Web, TUAW, TechnoBuffalo, CNN, MacRumors, AppleInsider, The Verge, MacDailyNews and SlashGear. Tweets: @reuters

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:

Microsoft's Windows Blue may have just hit milestone 1 — Summary: Alleged screen shots of Windows Blue have hit the Web just as Microsoft is said to have reached the half-way mark in the development of the Windows refresh expected this year. — The Windows team at Microsoft just completed …

More: Winaero, PC Pro, The Verge, Business Insider, WinBeta, Redmond Pie, Neowin and Softpedia News

Strategy Analytics:

Apple iPhone 5 Overtakes Samsung Galaxy S3 to Become World's Best-Selling Smartphone Model in Q4 2012 — According to the latest research from our Handset Country Share Tracker (CST) service, Apple's iPhone 5 overtook Samsung's Galaxy S3 to become the world's best-selling smartphone model …

More: Engadget, TechCrunch, The Next Web and SlashGear

Steve Wildstrom / Tech.pinions:

HTC One, Android Zero — There was a word missing from HTC's unveiling of its impressive new HTC One phone. HTC executives talked about the BlinkFeed streaming home screen, the redone Sense user interface, the BoomSound audio system, and the Zoe photo-plus-video app.

More: Pocketnow. Tweets: @reckless and @peterrojas

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:

Inside the HTC One: betting the company on two daring features

More: HTC Blog, PandoDaily, CNET, Forbes, Examiner and GeekWire

Steve Dent / Engadget:

HTC One coming to Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T in the US, arriving in UK on EE, Vodafone and O2

More: Sprint, Android Central, Mobile Magazine, Engadget, Gotta Be Mobile, The Verge and Engadget

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

EE, Three, BT, Vodafone, O2 All Win 4G Spectrum In The UK, But £2.3B In Bids Falls Short Of The £3.5B Expected — Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, has just announced the winners of the UK spectrum auctions for 4G spectrum on the low-frequency 800MHz band, used for LTE and other mobile broadband services.

More: Ofcom, Engadget, BBC, Inquirer, BetaNews, The Register, GigaOM, The Verge, The Next Web, Electronista, Neowin, dailywireless.org, Pocket-lint and SlashGear

Matt Brian / The Next Web:

Google shows what it's like to use Project Glass in new video and expands preorders — It's been almost a year since Google first unveiled its vision for Project Glass, but today the company has expanded preorders and released a new overview video, demonstrating how the glasses display interactions and services when they are in use.

More: The Verge, Engadget, Google+, SlashGear and SlashGear. Tweets: @projectglass

Bryan Bishop / The Verge:

US prepares economic countermeasures in light of recent cyberattacks — The recent rash of hacking attacks shows no sign of slowing — Apple today announced it had fallen victim to the trend — but the US government is preparing some measures to help address the situation.

More: Associated Press, CNET, Softpedia News and The Next Web

Ben Blanchard / Reuters:

China says U.S. hacking accusations lack technical proof

More: The Verge and Digits

Jason Schreier / Kotaku:

Source: The PS4 Will Be Out This November, And You'll Be Able To Control It With Your Phone — A reliable Kotaku source has informed us that the PlayStation 4, codenamed Orbis, will be out this November in the United States. — Our source—the same reliable source who back in early 2012 told us …

More: Pocket-lint, Softpedia News, Neowin, VG247, All Games Beta and destructoid

Robert McMillan / Wired:

Why Amazon Hired a Car Mechanic to Run Its Cloud Empire — On a rainy Monday in August 2011, a 10-million-watt transformer exploded in northern Virginia, sending an enormous voltage spike across the power grid. The surge hit an Amazon data center in Ashburn, Virginia …

More: Business Insider

Andrew Cunningham / Ars Technica:

Apple fixes Exchange (but not passcode unlock) bug with iOS 6.1.2 — iOS 6.1.2 brings a microscopic but important list of changes. — Apple has released the promised iOS 6.1.2 update today to fix the Exchange bugs that have been plaguing users since the release of iOS 6.1.

More: iPhone Hacks, The Next Web, TUAW, PadGadget, Computerworld, BGR, MacRumors, iPhone Alley Spectrum, Softpedia News, Neowin, MacStories, VentureBeat and CNET. Tweets: @stevekovach

John Biggs / TechCrunch:

3D-Printing Pen, The 3Doodler, Reaches Kickstarter Funding Goal In Hours — 3D printing can be complex or, if the 3Doodler is any indication, wildly simple. Built by a team of toy designers, the 3Doodler is a pen with a simple plastic extruder at the tip.

Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:

Hedge fund suit against Apple hangs on ‘irreparable harm’ — Judge agrees that Apple's proxy probably broke SEC rules, but hesitates to intercede — FORTUNE — It looks like billionaire hedge-fund manager David Einhorn won half his battle with Apple (AAPL) in a New York federal court Tuesday.

More: Reuters, Wall Street Journal, AppleInsider, CNET, Los Angeles Times, Reuters and DealBook

Arik Hesseldahl / AllThingsD:

On Its Way to Going Private, Dell Beats Street's Expectations — In what may — or may not — turn out to be its final earnings report as a publicly held company, computing giant Dell just reported profits that beat the expectations of analysts. — Dell reported earnings of 40 cents per share …

More: Business Wire, Electronista, Reuters, Bloomberg, WebProNews, The Next Web, Forbes and ZDNet

Tweets: @danprimack and @reuters

Nathalie Tadena / Wall Street Journal:

Dell Profit Slides 31% on Falling PC, Mobility Sales

Rip Empson / TechCrunch:

With $1.4M In Tow, Celly Launches On iOS To Let Anyone Create An Instant Mobile Social Network — Once upon a time, the pinnacle of social networking was the ability to connect with former classmates and share what your cat had for breakfast. Today, the requirements for social networking have evolved and are more immediate.

More: The Next Web

Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:

Sunrise for iPhone: a next-generation calendar app plugged in to Facebook and Google — Foursquare alums design a world where everything connects to your calendar — “I looked at my iPhone, and I don't use any of the default apps anymore,” says Pierre Valade.

More: The Next Web, The Industry, iDownloadBlog.com and 9to5Mac. Tweets: @reneritchie

Sam Biddle / Gizmodo:

Exclusive: The Burger King and Jeep Hacker Is Probably This DJ From New England — It was just going to be another boring President's Day on the Internet, when along came a spastic, hilarious hacker with a taste for McDonald's, Gucci Mane, and caps lock. Is a criminal mastermind behind the @BurgerKing (and likely @Jeep) takeover?

More: ABCNEWS, Marketing Land, VatorNews, Daily Dot, BuzzFeed, PC Magazine, Digits, CNET, Softpedia News, Los Angeles Times, VentureBeat, Gizmodo, The Verge and Betabeat

Tweets: @cadillac, @safety, @panzer, @danprimack, @mikeisaac and @digiphile

Matt Brian / The Next Web:

AT&T signs roaming deal with The Cloud to offer customers access to 16,000 free WiFi spots in the UK — In an effort to provide more connectivity when its customers travel outside the US, AT&T has signed a deal with BSkyB-owned WiFi hotspot provider The Cloud to offer up to 1GB per month free of charge when they visit the UK.

More: IntoMobile, Engadget, iMore, iDownloadBlog.com, TUAW, Android Community and Pocket-lint

Sean Hollister / The Verge:

Ubuntu phones won't ship till 2014, might be locked down by carriers — Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that smartphones running Ubuntu Linux would ship in October of this year. Ubuntu boss Mark Shuttleworth says that's a mistake. Today, the Canonical founder clarified …

More: PhoneArena, Pocket-lint, internetnews.com and The Next Web

Sharif Sakr / Engadget:

Ubuntu for tablets revealed with split screen multi-tasking, preview for Nexus slates coming this week

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