Techmeme
December 5, 2013, 12:40 PM

Top News

David Pierce / The Verge:
Fixing the Nexus 5: with a new version of Android, Google tackles the camera  —  Android 4.4.1 is coming to help you take better pictures  —  Only a few years ago, Dave Burke remembers, cellphone users were just happy to have a camera at all.  But expectations have changed.
Brad Smith / The Official Microsoft Blog:
Microsoft to expand encryption, increase software transparency to protect customer data  —  Protecting customer data from government snooping  —  The following post is from Brad Smith, General Counsel & Executive Vice President, Legal & Corporate Affairs, Microsoft.
Nicole Perlroth / NYT Bits:
Microsoft's General Counsel: N.S.A. Hacks Were an ‘Earthquake’ for Tech  —  Microsoft is the latest company to try to protect its data from its own government.  —  An article on Thursday indicates that Microsoft is in the process of expanding and strengthening the encryption …
Wall Street Journal:
China Mobile signs deal with Apple, bringing iPhone option to 700 million+ subscribers later this month  —  Apple, China Mobile Sign Deal to Offer iPhone  —  Tie-Up Would Give Apple Access to 700 Million Subscribers … China Mobile Ltd. has signed a long-awaited deal with Apple Inc …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Twitter Names Marjorie Scardino, Ex-CEO Of Pearson, As The First Female Member Of Its Board  —  Twitter has announced the appointment of its first female board member, Marjorie Scardino, the former CEO of media company Pearson.  The appointment is effective immediately.
Bloomberg:
China Bans Financial Companies From Bitcoin Transactions  —  China's central bank barred financial institutions from handling Bitcoin transactions, moving to regulate the virtual currency after an 89-fold jump in its value sparked a surge of investor interest in the country.
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
AT&T launches ‘Mobile Share Value Plans’ with notable monthly savings for BYOD customers, 18-month Next option  —  AT&T has launched a new initiative called Mobile Share Value Plans that is designed to save customers money on their monthly AT&T mobile phone service bills.
Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:
Foursquare 7.0 Brings Scannable Design And Expands Proactive Recommendations To All Users  —  Way back in the ancient prehistory of 2009, Foursquare made its first foray into push notifications, at a time when using push at all was still rare.  Two years later, it made an attempt to capitalize …
Jason Del Rey / AllThingsD:
Online Retail Giant's Grocery Delivery Service AmazonFresh May Launch in San Francisco Next Week  —  Another online grocery delivery service seems set to launch in San Francisco, and it's a big one: AmazonFresh.  —  All signs are pointing to Amazon publicly launching the same- and next …
More: TechCrunch
Joe Mullin / Ars Technica:
Google's copyright win against Oracle is in danger on appeal  —  A federal judge ruled that API packages are like bookshelves in a library.  Will that view hold?  —  Nett E / flickr  —  The most dramatic outcome of the Oracle v. Google trial in spring 2012 wasn't anything the jury said …
Jon Fingas / Engadget:
Google invites Glass Explorer Edition owners to upgrade their eyewear  —  Google promised early Glass wearers that they could eventually upgrade to next-generation Explorer hardware, and that moment is finally at hand.  The company is now inviting owners to swap devices through a free mail exchange before February 5th.
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Twitter Is About To Officially Launch Retargeted Ads  —  Twitter is ready to roll out retargeted ads fueled by browser cookies, sources confirm.  Twitter could make the announcement as soon as tomorrow, expanding retargeted ads beyond the “experimental” phase that started in July.
Anna Yukhananov / Reuters:
Obama says he's not allowed iPhone for ‘security reasons’  —  (Reuters) - The troubled mobile phone maker BlackBerry still has at least one very loyal customer: U.S. President Barack Obama.  —  At a meeting with youth on Wednesday to promote his landmark healthcare law …
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Credit card fraud comes of age with advances in point-of-sale botnets  —  Inside the command and control channel of a point-of-sale botnet powered by StarDust.  —  IntelCrawler  —  Underscoring the growing sophistication of Internet crime, researchers have documented one of the first known botnets …
Dara Kerr / CNET:
Apple desktops overtake Dell on shoppers' holiday wish lists  —  Apple has long been the most-desired brand for tablets, smartphones, MP3 players, and streaming media devices on US shoppers' holiday lists.  And, for the first time, the company also got ranked as the top brand for desktops this year …
Caitlin Dewey / WorldViews:
Of the 7,776 languages in use in the offline world, fewer than five percent exist online  —  How the Internet is killing the world's languages  —  Less than five percent of current world languages are in use online, according to a recent study by prominent linguist András Kornai …
Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:
Layer aims to deliver XMPP-style open-source messaging interoperability for mobile apps  —  You have too many chat apps.  Can Layer connect them?  —  The people behind Jabber and Grand Central want to reinvent how we chat  —  Jeremie Miller almost brought on a golden age of instant messaging.
Tweets: @rsarver and @caseynewton
Diane Bartz / Reuters:
U.S. says online ads should be clearly marked, undeceptive  —  The growing online usage of ads designed to blend in with the rest of a website's content, a practice known as “native advertising,” may be illegal in some instances, the Federal Trade Commission warned on Wednesday.
Rana Foroohar / TIME:
TIME Exclusive: Icahn Files Apple Shareholder Proposal  —  The richest man on Wall Street is opening a new front in his quest to persuade Apple to part with more of its massive cash stockpile.  —  Veteran investor Carl Icahn is opening a new front in his quest to persuade Apple to part with more of its massive cash stockpile.
Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:
Pinterest's Engineering Lead Jon Jenkins Leaves To Launch His Own Startup  —  Jon Jenkins, who joined Pinterest a year ago as its head of engineering, is leaving the company in what he describes on Quora as a “bittersweet” decision.  Jenkins says wants to launch his own company, a wish he had even before he joined Pinterest.

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