Techmeme
December 10, 2013, 11:20 PM

Top News

The Switch:
NSA uses Google cookies to pinpoint targets for hacking  —  The National Security Agency is secretly piggybacking on the tools that enable Internet advertisers to track consumers, using “cookies” and location data to pinpoint targets for government hacking and to bolster surveillance.
The Switch:
New documents show how the NSA infers relationships based on mobile location data  —  Everyone who carries a cellphone generates a trail of electronic breadcrumbs that records everywhere they go.  Those breadcrumbs reveal a wealth of information about who we are, where we live, who our friends are and much more.
Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:
Twitter Apps Updated With New Swipeable Design And Photo Support In Direct Messages  —  Today, Twitter has announced an update to its apps that bring a renewed focus on direct messaging.  The app now features a direct link to DMs in the tab bar and allows you to send photos inside direct messages.
John Herrman / BuzzFeed:
Why Twitter Just Joined The Backchannel Wars  —  Direct messages to the forefront, big photos in tow.  Twitter knows: The service that controls messaging controls the world.  —  Another day, another new messaging app.  The only difference: This one is already installed on your phone.
Mike Isaac / AllThingsD:
Facebook Wants to Be a Newspaper.  Facebook Users Have Their Own Ideas.  —  Most people think of Facebook in a similar way: It's a place to share photos of your kids.  It's a way to keep up with friends and family members.  It's a place to share a funny, viral story or LOLcat picture you've stumbled upon on the Web.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Nokia's “Normandy” phone uses a forked variant of Android, a la Kindle Fire  —  This is Nokia's Android phone  —  Codename Normandy is ‘full steam ahead’  —  Nokia has been building its own Android phone according to multiple sources familiar with the company's plans.
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
The Pirate Bay Moves to .AC After Domain Name Seizure  —  A few hours ago Pirate Bay users were shocked to discover that their favorite torrent site was no longer loading.  —  Without warning the nameservers were removed from thepiratebay.sx domain, making it impossible to load the site in places where DNS entries were not cached.
Brian X. Chen / New York Times:
New York Asks Cellphone Carriers to Explain Why They Rejected Antitheft Switch  —  SAN FRANCISCO — New York State's top prosecutor is investigating why American cellphone carriers have yet to embrace antitheft software on Samsung smartphones, raising questions about possible coordination among the biggest carriers.
Yun-Hee Kim / China Real Time Report:
Google Scraps Plan to Build Hong Kong Data Center  —  Internet giant Google Inc. has scrapped a plan to build its own data center in Hong Kong and will instead expand its facilities in Taiwan and Singapore.  —  “While we see tremendous opportunity and potential in Hong Kong …
Arik Hesseldahl / AllThingsD:
Stealth Networking Startup VIPtela Raises $33 Million From Sequoia  —  There's a new stealth mode company to start watching in the software-defined networking space, and it is already raising some significant money.  —  Sources familiar with the matter tell AllThingsD that VIPtela …
Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:
Chromecast gets Plex, Vevo, RealPlayer, Viki and more with massive app update  —  A few months ago, a developer source told me that Google planned to release apps for its Chromecast streaming stick in waves.  Well, guess what: The first wave is here, and it's a massive one …
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
“We cannot trust” Intel and Via's chip-based crypto, FreeBSD developers say  —  Developers of the FreeBSD operating system will no longer allow users to trust processors manufactured by Intel and Via Technologies as the sole source of random numbers needed to generate cryptographic keys …
Lucas Mearian / Computerworld:
Online backup service SugarSync moves to paid-only model  —  SugarSync, which has offered 5GB of free capacity since its founding, today announced it will only offer that as a trial and that all capacity after the trial will have to be paid for.  —  SugarSync, an online service for data back up …
Jonathan Mayer / Web Policy:
Three hops from one phone number may let NSA analyze sizable proportion of US phone records  —  MetaPhone: The NSA Three-Hop  —  Co-authored with Patrick Mutchler.  —  MetaPhone is a crowdsourced study of phone metadata.  If you own an Android smartphone, please consider participating.
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
FCC halts AT&T plan to raise Internet prices on Sprint and other rivals  —  The Internet.  It's just a series of tubes.  —  Kendrick Erickson  —  The Federal Communications Commission yesterday halted a plan by AT&T to raise prices for “special access” customers, a potential rate hike …
Tim Peterson / AdAge:
Apple's iTunes Radio Hires Sales Exec From Cumulus Media  —  Former Cumulus Media Exec Michael Pallad Started Last Week  —  Apple's iTunes Radio has poached a top radio ad exec as it prepares to offer the service widely to advertisers in 2014.  —  Former Cumulus Media executive VP-sales Michael Pallad …
Mikey Campbell / AppleInsider:
Apple patents tech for making curved touch surfaces, displays  —  The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday awarded Apple a patent that describes a method for forming curved touch sensors with high structural rigidity, suggesting the company is experimenting with curved iOS device displays.
Dan Ackerman / CNET:
Dell joins the Chromebook club with the Dell Chromebook 11  —  This 11-inch laptop, running Chrome OS, is targeted at schools.  —  Dell is officially announcing its first Chromebook on December 11.  The system, to be called the Dell Chromebook 11 (HP also has a system called the Chromebook 11) …
More: PC World and Engadget

Sponsor Posts

Tribe AI:
Is AI just hype?  —  Find out how top enterprises use Tribe to get real business results.
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more  —  We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics.  Download reports immediately for just $100.
Zoho:
All new Zoho Workerly 2024  —  Staffing businesses around the world face a unique set of challenges when it comes to managing their temporary workforce.  With a constantly shifting job market and changing staffing needs …
Comprehensive.io:
Browse salary data from 3,000 startups for free  —  Click for FREE, immediate access to real-time compensation benchmarking data.  Paid version helps HR automate comp reviews and communicate total compensation to employees.
The Kevin Rose Show:
Henry Shukman, Lessons from an Authentic Zen Master
Gain unconventional wisdom and insights through conversations with top expert in AI, investing, wellness, technology, and culture.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Thu. 03/28 - Claude 3 Opus Surpasses GPT-4 For The First Time
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:20 PM ET, December 10, 2013.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Jon Russell / The Next Web:

Earlier Picks

Kaylene Hong / The Next Web:
Mike Beasley / 9to5Mac: