Techmeme
December 23, 2013, 7:10 PM

Top News

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
Apple acquired mapping firm BroadMap's talent, location-infused Evernote competitor Catch  —  Apple has been on a roll this year in terms of acquisitions.  According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, the Cupertino firm acquired 15 companies this year, but only ten have been revealed.
Bloomberg:
Apple-Backed Rockstar Said to Hold Discussions to Sell Patents  —  A consortium created by Apple Inc. (AAPL), Microsoft Corp. and other technology companies to acquire $4.5 billion of patents from Nortel Networks Corp. in 2011 is holding discussions to sell a portion of those patents, according to people with knowledge of the plans.
The RSA Blog:
RSA categorically denies it entered into secret agreement with NSA to weaken its security  —  RSA RESPONSE TO MEDIA CLAIMS REGARDING NSA RELATIONSHIP  —  Recent press coverage has asserted that RSA entered into a “secret contract” with the NSA to incorporate a known flawed random number generator into its BSAFE encryption libraries.
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Jack Dorsey Joins Disney's Board Of Directors  —  The Walt Disney Company just announced that Jack Dorsey (co-founder and CEO Square, as well co-founder and chairman at Twitter, as if you didn't know) has joined its board if directors.  —  “Jack Dorsey is a talented entrepreneur …
New York Times:
In Tech Buying, U.S. Still Stuck in Last Century  —  WASHINGTON — Four years after President Obama vowed to “dramatically reform the way we do business on contracts,” the spectacular failure of the HealthCare.gov website has renewed calls for changes in how the government hires and manages private technology companies.
Kwame Opam / The Verge:
HP reportedly may launch cheap, big smartphones by the end of this year  —  Reporting on HP's desire to return to the smartphone market, sources tell The Information that the company plans to release new six- and seven-inch phablets by the end of the year.  The devices will be aimed …
Graham Morrison / TechRadar:
Interview with Chris DiBona, the Director of Open Source at Google  —  How open source changed Google - and how Google changed open source  —  INTERVIEW We chat to Google's head of open source software … Google has just celebrated its 15th birthday, and much of its success is thanks to Linux and open source software.
Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:
Samsung shows just how awkward life can be in its latest Galaxy Gear ad  —  In Samsung's world, the quickest way to a woman's heart is through your Galaxy Gear smart watch.  —  The tech industry has become well known for its odd, tone-deaf advertisements, and Samsung's latest is no exception.
Barb Darrow / Gigaom:
Seagate snaps up hard disk testing expert for $374M  —  Amid all the hoopla about flash storage, it pays to step back and remember that hard disks are still storing a heckuva lot of our stuff, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.  Remember flash fanboys, even slow tape storage lives on.
Apple:
China Mobile & Apple Bring iPhone to China Mobile's 4G & 3G Networks on January 17, 2014  —  iPhone 5s & iPhone 5c Available for Pre-Registration Beginning December 25, 2013  —  Apple® and China Mobile today announced they have entered into a multi-year agreement to bring iPhone® to the world's largest mobile network.

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More News

Bloomberg:

Earlier Picks

Ina Fried / AllThingsD:
John Biggs / TechCrunch: