Techmeme: CBS Takes Stake in Syncbak, Eyeing Aereo Threat (Todd Spangler/Variety)

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April 22, 2013, 10:30 PM

Top News

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Netflix will offer $11.99 family plan with up to four simultaneous streams — Netflix currently permits subscribers to stream two movies or TV shows simultaneously from different devices, but according to the company's top executives, that limit is about to grow.

More: Ars Technica, MacRumors, Geekosystem, TIME and Gizmodo. See also Mediagazer

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Netflix Beats Analyst Estimates, With 29.2 Million US Subscribers And $1 Billion In Q1 Revenue — Netflix reported positive first-quarter numbers, including revenues of $1.02 billion during the first three months of the year. The company also announced that it added 2 million domestic in the quarter …

More: TechCrunch, The Verge, VatorNews, The Atlantic Wire, BetaNews, VentureBeat, Digits, GeekWire, The Next Web, Associated Press, Bloomberg, The Next Web, WebProNews, Tech Trader Daily, Engadget, paidContent, internetretailer.com and Business Insider

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Netflix Says Its “House of Cards” Strategy Worked, and Wall Street Agrees — Netflix's numbers are up, and they're what Wall Street wanted (for now!): Shares are up 19 percent. — Revenue came in at the billion-dollar mark that analysts were looking for, and the company's U.S. streaming …

More: CNNMoney.com

Andrew Wallenstein / Variety:

Netflix Surpasses HBO in U.S. Subscribers

More: Quartz and The Atlantic Wire

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Windows 8.1 set to bring back the Start button — Microsoft is preparing to revive the traditional Start button it killed with Windows 8. Sources familiar with Microsoft's plans have revealed to The Verge that Windows 8.1 will include the return of the Start button.

More: Computerworld, The Next Web, Redmond Pie, Digital Trends, PC World, Venture Chronicles, Examiner, Insider Monkey, GeekWire, TechSpot, Geek.com, CITEworld, VentureBeat, CNET, Windows Phone Central, InfoWorld, WinBeta, Forbes, ExtremeTech, BestTechie, Macgasm, Gizmodo and TechCrunch

Tweets: @m4tt, @parislemon and @dannysullivan

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:

Microsoft's Blue: What will developers do?

More: CNET and Computerworld

Adario Strange / DVICE:

Eric Schmidt: Google Glass not coming to you until 2014 — Every move that Google has made regarding its wearable Glass computer has been closely scrutinized, particularly the staggered, picky rollouts of the device, most recently with Glass Explorer applicants.

More: The Verge, SlashGear, TechCrunch, Droid Life, Pocketnow, BGR, The Droid Guy, AndroidHeadlines.com, UnleashThePhones, WebProNews and PhoneArena

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Google Glass code hints at spatial gestures, including two-finger browser zoom and winking to take a photo — Google appears to be planning an interesting set of gestures for its Glass project, letting you use your fingers, head, and eyes to perform certain functions.

More: VentureBeat, Engadget, Computerworld, Geek.com, ReelSEO Video Marketing, CNET, Ubergizmo, PetaPixel, Forbes, Android and Me, SocialTimes, AndroidHeadlines.com, BostInno, Gizmodo and Softpedia News. Thanks:@epro

hueypriest / reddit:

Reflections on the Recent Boston Crisis — After some reflection we want to share our thoughts about the reddit activity during the recent crisis in Boston. We all need to look at what happened and make sure that in the future we do everything we can to help and not hinder crisis situations.

More: Computerworld, CNN, nbcnews.com, BuzzFeed, PC Magazine, CNET, The Verge and VentureBeat

Tweets: @adrianchen and @jbrodkin

See also Mediagazer

Seth Fiegerman / Mashable:

Grooveshark CEO: 'I'm Broke' — When Grooveshark's co-founder and CEO Sam Tarantino talks about what happened to his music startup between 2011 and early 2012, he doesn't hold back: It was, he says, “a year of getting punched in the face 10,000 times.” — During that period …

More: Betabeat, Macgasm and Valleywag

Jon Healey / Los Angeles Times:

Grooveshark adds a new feature: broadcasting

More: TechCrunch, VentureBeat, The Verge and LAPTOP Magazine

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Yahoo! Unveils Brand New iOS App, Including Built-In Summly Summaries — Yahoo! acquired startup Summly for somewhere around $30 million just one month ago, but it's already bearing fruit. First, there was the Summly summarized version of its Q1 2013 earnings last week …

Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:

Google keeps losing: ITC finally tosses Motorola's complaint against Apple — This week begins for Google like last week ended: with another failure to convert the $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility into leverage against a major rival. On Friday a German court denied Google's Motorola …

More: CNET, Bloomberg, PC Magazine, Computerworld, AllThingsD, MacRumors, AppleInsider, Reuters, SlashGear and Engadget. Tweets: @bloombergnews

Stephen Shankland / CNET:

Facebook tries Google's WebP image format; users squawk — It's a major endorsement for the file format, but not some social-network members are upset to have lost their flexible, sharable JPEGs. — This shows the same image in JPEG and WebP, with WebP on the right.

More: Ars Technica, 1001 Noisy Cameras and AllFacebook

Alex Chitu / Google Operating System:

Google Now for Google's Homepage in Testing — It looks like Google Now won't be limited to Android, iOS and Chrome, it will also be added to Google's homepage. Some code from a page that's tested by Google offers more information about this feature. … That's how Google introduces the new feature.

More: Business Insider, BGR, VentureBeat, Search Engine Land, 9to5Google, Gizmodo, InfoWorld, TechSpot, CNET and Ars Technica

Jonathan Seff / Macworld:

iTunes Store adds ‘buy now, download later’ option for video and music — In March, I wrote an article about how Apple should change the way iTunes Store purchases work. Namely, that there should be a way to buy content now, but download it later—especially in the case of large video files such as movies or TV show seasons.

More: iMore, TUAW, Engadget, iDownloadBlog.com, The Next Web, Ubergizmo, SlashGear, iPhone Hacks and 9to5Mac

Andrew Chen:

Why developers are leaving the Facebook platform — Attitudes towards the Facebook platform have changed — Recently, Bill Gurley of Benchmark wrote a great piece on how platform companies like Facebook, iOS, Android, eBay, and others manage the ecosystem around them.

More: AllFacebook

Reuters:

Senate votes to move forward on bill taxing Internet sales — (Reuters) - A measure to empower U.S. states to require out-of-state retailers to collect online sales tax cleared a legislative hurdle in the Senate on Monday, after earlier winning official backing from President Barack Obama.

More: VentureBeat, Computerworld and Wonkblog

Steven Levy / Wired:

Nest's Plan to Stop Brownouts Before They Start — Living in Texas is unimaginable without air conditioning, especially on steamy summer afternoons. Unfortunately, there simply isn't enough power to go around—and when the energy companies suggest that residents not cool it during those hours, people ignore the pleas.

More: AllThingsD, GigaOM, CNET, Mercury News, NYT Bits, Engadget, VentureBeat, The Verge, TechCrunch and Mashable

Todd Spangler / Variety:

CBS Takes Stake in Syncbak, Eyeing Aereo Threat … CBS now owns a piece of Syncbak. The Eye has taken a minority stake in the local TV streaming-video venture backed by broadcasters, one way the industry is responding to over-the-top startup Aereo, which refuses to pay retransmission fees …

More: Wall Street Journal, CNET and Bloomberg. See also Mediagazer

Cotton Delo / AdAge:

Tumblr Launches Mobile Ads Today In Big Revenue Push — Users of iOS and Android Apps Will See Up to 4 Ads Per Day — Tumblr is launching its mobile ads today, marking the first time the 6-year-old startup is placing ads that look and feel like regular posts on the blog network.

More: Tumblr Staff, The Verge, VentureBeat, BetaNews, Betabeat, paidContent, SlashGear, CNET, TUAW, App Advice, IntoMobile, SocialTimes, Android Community, Marketing Land and WebProNews. See also Mediagazer

Sam Biddle / Valleywag:

Sorry to Disrupt: Valleywag Is Back — You're doing it again. It's only been a few years since we last met here, but you, Valley venture capitalist and Alley opportunist, are worse than ever. There will come a day when all the coddling and cheerleading you've become accustomed to curdles …

Tweets: @davemcclure and @owenthomas. See also Mediagazer

Mat Smith / Engadget:

Nokia granted preliminary injunction against HTC in the Netherlands over high-amplitude mics — Don't worry, this time it's not a patent issue. However, it is more bad news for HTC's oft-delayed One. Nokia has been granted an injunction by the Amsterdam district court, concerning the technology used by HTC in its current flagship.

More: Windows Phone Central, ZDNet, PhoneArena, The Verge, WMPoweruser, Phones Review, Techie Buzz and BGR

Barb Darrow / GigaOM:

CA snaps up Layer 7 as API management arena heats up — The management and quality control of application programming interfaces or APIs is hot now. That's why CA Technologies is acquiring Layer 7 in a deal announced Monday, just days after Intel announced plans to by Mashery, another API management player.

More: ZDNet and The Register

Scott Kirsner / Boston Globe:

Israel's Gizmox picks up $7.5 million to help companies convert existing apps to HTML5; will set up U.S. office in Cambridge — An Israeli company founded in 2007, Gizmox, is getting new funding from Cambridge venture capital firm Atlas Venture. Atlas is leading a $7.5 million funding round for Gizmox …

More: TechCrunch, VentureBeat, The Next Web, BostInno and Xconomy

Sharif Sakr / Engadget:

Nokia teases QWERTY phone announcement on April 24th — Official teasers rarely provide much in the way of detail, but this one from Nokia at least comes with a pretty picture. It reveals the rounded design language we have come to associate with the company's latest feature phones …

More: Nokia Conversations, Electronista, LAPTOP Magazine, CNET, Digits, Examiner, AllThingsD, IntoMobile, Inquirer, Insider Monkey, FierceWireless, Pocketnow, Mashable, Unwired View and VentureBeat

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