Techmeme
December 25, 2013, 3:15 PM

Top News

Reuters:
Exclusive: Target hackers stole encrypted bank PINs - source  —  (Reuters) - The hackers who attacked Target Corp (TGT.N) and compromised up to 40 million credit cards and debit cards also managed to steal encrypted personal identification numbers (PINs), according to a senior payments executive familiar with the situation.
Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:
Rescator.la, a major marketplace for cards stolen in Target hack, linked to Ukrainian man  —  Who's Selling Credit Cards from Target?  —  The previous two posts on this blog have featured stories about banks buying back credit and debit card accounts stolen in the Target hack and that ended …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Google punishes Rap Genius in search ranking for SEO practices, founders seek resolution  —  Google Destroys Rap Genius' Search Rankings As Punishment For SEO Spam, But Resolution In Progress  —  Google hit back hard today after it learned lyrics site Rap Genius had been using dubious SEO tricks to attain top spots in search results.
Violet Blue / ZDNet:
Researchers publish Snapchat code allowing phone number matching after exploit disclosures ignored  —  Summary: Snapchat's previously undocumented API and code for two exploits have been published, allowing mass name/phone number matching, and mass creation of bogus accounts.  —  Violet Blue
More: Business InsiderTweets: @violetblue
Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:
Google sues to protect Android device makers from Rockstar patent infringement suits  —  Google sues to protect Android device makers from Apple-backed patent hell  —  Google has filed a new lawsuit to challenge an Apple-backed consortium known as Rockstar that is using dubious patents …
Donna Tam / CNET:
Sony drops music streaming service Gracenote  —  Sony has sold its ownership of Gracenote, a service that matches and streams music across multiple devices, the electronics company announced Monday.  The company sold all of its shares to the Tribune Co. for $170 million.
Carmel Deamicis / PandoDaily:
Lyft ends donation payments, launches surge pricing and East Bay service  —  Tonight, Lyft sent out an email to its user base announcing big changes.  The company is launching service in the East Bay, from Oakland to Castro Valley.  It's expanding its Los Angeles coverage to Pasadena, Long Beach, the San Fernando Valley, and Malibu.
Jonathan Cheng / Wall Street Journal:
Samsung Phone Studied for Possible Security Gap  —  Israeli Researchers Point to Alleged Vulnerability in Galaxy S4  —  SEOUL—The security platform for Samsung Electronics Co. 's best-selling Galaxy S4 smartphone suffers from a vulnerability that could allow malicious software to track emails …
Liana B. Baker / Reuters:
SoftBank gets closer to buying T-Mobile: report  —  (Reuters) - Japan-based SoftBank Corp (TYO:9984) is in final stages of talks with T-Mobile (TMUS.N)parent company Deutsche Telekom (DTE.DE)about acquiring the U.S.-based wireless carrier, the Nikkei news service reported on Tuesday, citing anonymous sources.
Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:
Justine Sacco And The Self-Inflicted Perils Of Twitter  —  A few weeks ago, I had a drink with my friend Justine Sacco and we talked about what makes for a good Tweet.  —  Justine is an easy person to like — frank, funny, quick to laugh.  To a reporter, she's the kind of flack who's all too rare …

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Earlier Picks

Michael Crider / Android Police:
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica: