Techmeme
October 17, 2013, 5:00 PM

Top News

Mike Isaac / AllThingsD:
Twitter Plans to Revamp Its Private Messaging Product  —  Twitter's entire premise is based on publicness.  “Join the conversation in the global town square!” the company likes to say.  —  But, over the past year, Twitter has come around to seeing the value of being more discreet.
Brandon LeBlanc / The Windows Blog:
Windows 8.1 now available!  —  Less than a year ago we were preparing to launch Windows 8, which introduced our vision of highly personalized mobile computing.  And here we are today announcing the global availability of Windows 8.1.  Windows 8.1 demonstrates our commitment to continuously improving …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Windows 8.1 review: step in the right direction, but still a work in progress  —  Windows 8.1 review  —  It's take two for Microsoft's ambitious operating system  —  A year ago, Microsoft “reimagined” the look and feel of Windows, and placed a risky bet on the future of computing.
Jordan Golson / MacRumors:
First Magazine Advertisement for iPhone 5s Appears, Highlights Touch ID Sensor  —  Apple has started a new print advertising campaign for the iPhone 5s.  The first spot, running on the back of this week's issue of The New Yorker, showcases the Touch ID-equipped home button of the new gold iPhone 5s.
FaryaabS / SamMobile:
Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE (GT-I9505) receives official Android 4.3 update  —  Samsung promised at its Mobile UNPACKED Episode 2 event that it will start rolling out Galaxy S4 updates in October and we are very pleased that Samsung has kept their promise.  As Samsung has just started rolling out Android 4.3 …
Dana Mattioli / Wall Street Journal:
China's Lenovo is considering buying Blackberry  —  Lenovo Group Ltd. is actively considering a bid for all of BlackBerry Ltd. , according to people familiar with the matter.  —  The Chinese personal-computer and smartphone maker has signed a “non-disclosure” agreement that enables it to look …
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
iPhone takes 51% share of smartphone activations at Verizon in Q3, unit sales flat compared to Q2 … Verizon has just reported their results for the third quarter, with smartphone sales topping 7.6 million units.  While the press release does not disclose details about iPhone performance …
Ted Johnson / Variety:
isoHunt to Shut Down as Part of Settlement With Studios  —  The website isoHunt will shut down as part of a settlement in a massive piracy suit filed by Hollywood studios, the MPAA said on Thursday.  —  U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Chooljian canceled a planned hearing after she was informed of the settlement.
Ina Fried / AllThingsD:
AT&T Announces $5 Tablet Day Passes, Deal to Power Tesla's In-Car Wireless  —  While consumers are clearly buying tablets in droves, getting them to fork over to connect them to cellular networks has been another story.  —  Buyers have overwhelmingly chosen Wi-Fi-only models, and …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook Brings Post/Comment Editing And Photo Comments To iOS To Catch Up With Web  —  Facebook's trying hard to be a mobile first company, but a lot of new features still come out on desktop first where it's easier to test.  But today, the options to edit posts and comments after publishing …
John Koetsier / VentureBeat:
Facebook ad profit a staggering 1,790% more on iPhone than Android  —  Nov. 12 - 13, 2013  —  A study of more than 200 billion ads on Facebook says that mobile ads on iPhone generate 1,790 percent more return on investment than ads on Android.  Even worse, advertising on Android actually costs more than it returns.
Joan E. Solsman / CNET:
AOL dethrones Google at top of video-ad ranking  —  With CEO Tim Armstrong's biggest takeover — Adap.tv — in the fold, AOL edges ahead of Google in ComScore's listing of the biggest video-ad properties.—YouTube is still the king of Internet video, but AOL's takeover of Adap.tv last month is making it the richest in that kingdom.
David Meyer / GigaOM:
Ubuntu launches on mobile - but without some key elements  —  Thursday sees the release of Ubuntu “Saucy Salamander” 13.10, the first version of the Linux distribution to explicitly support smartphones and tablets, as well as desktop PCs and servers.  There aren't any Ubuntu mobile devices on sale yet …
Dan Primack / Fortune:
Behind the VC numbers: Higher prices, less control  —  Five unexpected venture capital deal trends.  —  FORTUNE — Venture capitalists invested $8.1 billion into 981 U.S.-based companies last quarter, according to PitchBook Data.  That's basically flat from the prior quarter …
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
LG's G Pad 8.3 available today in the US for $349.99  —  LG's G Pad 8.3 tablet is going on sale in the US today for $349.99.  The G Pad 8.3 is a small, well-built Android tablet sized perfectly to compete with the iPad mini, but when it was first announced back in early September …
Richard Lawler / Engadget:
Hulu officially announces its new CEO, former Fox exec Mike Hopkins  —  Hulu has had a tumultuous 2013, as it lost founding CEO Jason Kilar in January, then went through the sale process, again, before sticking with its original owners, again.  Confirming last week's rumors from Bloomberg and Reuters …

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Dieter Bohn / The Verge:

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