Techmeme: 2013: mobiles stagnated, wearables a letdown, arrogance of tech's ruling class increased (Christopher Mims/Quartz)

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December 27, 2013, 9:05 AM

Top News

Jay Yarow / Business Insider:

Christmas shoppers on iOS outspent Android users by more than 5 to 1, according to IBM — Apple's iOS Completely Blew Away Google's Android For Shopping On Christmas — Apple's mobile operating system, iOS, continues to blow away Google's Android in mobile commerce, according to IBM analytics.

More: IBM, AppleInsider, MacRumors, iMore and VoIP Watch

Tweets: @monkbent, @john_frankel and @stevesi

David Streitfeld / New York Times:

As New Services Track Habits, the E-Books Are Reading You — SAN FRANCISCO — Before the Internet, books were written — and published — blindly, hopefully. Sometimes they sold, usually they did not, but no one had a clue what readers did when they opened them up. Did they skip or skim?

More: Mediashift, TechEye and RatcliffeBlog. Tweets: @suzannespecnyt. See also Mediagazer

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:

Christmas delayed: Amazon offers $20 gift cards, refunds shipping charges after UPS and FedEx problems — Didn't get what you expected under the tree? It's probably marooned in a package delivery center. — Following widespread complaints about absent packages, Amazon …

More: Digital Trends, internetretailer.com, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, WebProNews, Business Insider, BestTechie, Gizmodo, VentureBeat, BGR, Betabeat, SlashGear, IntoMobile, The Next Web and Gotta Be Mobile. Tweets: @jeff_jordan

Shelly Banjo / Wall Street Journal:

Surge of online orders causes fulfillment, delivery delays, frustrates customers on Christmas

More: UPS, BetaNews, AllThingsD, louisgray.com, TechnoBuffalo, Corporate Intelligence, VatorNews, InvestorPlace, The Verge, USA Today and VoIP Watch

Tweets: @levie and @eholmeswsj

Christopher Mims / Quartz:

2013: mobiles stagnated, wearables a letdown, arrogance of tech's ruling class increased — 2013 was a lost year for tech — All in, 2013 was an embarrassment for the entire tech industry and the engine that powers it—Silicon Valley. Innovation was replaced by financial engineering …

More: Nextgov and bloc note. Tweets: @alexia, @ktbenner, @nytimesbits, @karaswisher, @jeffturner, @jennydeluxe, @samfbiddle, @jayrosen_nyu and @rr

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:

Amazon's “best ever” season saw 1M new Prime members in one week, 426 items sold per second — Amazon Prime tops 20 million members as company touts its best holiday season ever — Amazon is exiting the 2013 holiday season with “tens of millions” of Amazon Prime members …

More: Amazon.com, SlashGear, AllThingsD, The Verge, Gigaom, NYT Bits, Yahoo! News, Mashable, Businessweek, Marketing Pilgrim, Benzinga, Softpedia News, Quartz, CNET, Businessweek, Gotta Be Mobile, Gigaom and The Next Web

Tweets: @zseward and @zseward

Thanks:@belril. See also Mediagazer

Ryan Huang / ZDNet:

Bitcoin exchanges suspend operations in India amid govt warning — Summary: India's Bitcoin trading platforms, including the largest, have suspended services following a recent public warning by the central bank over the risks of virtual currencies. — India's largest bitcoin trading platform …

More: RBI, dna, TechCrunch, The Econonomic Times, CoinDesk, The Hindu, The Next Web, The Financial Express, SlashGear, MarketWatch and Tech in Asia. Tweets: @pirateorg

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Plain Vanilla Games, Maker Of Ultra-Hot Trivia App QuizUp, Raises Another $22 Million From Sequoia — Plain Vanilla Games, the company behind ultra-hot trivia app QuizUp, has raised a $22 million Series B Round of financing. The financing was led by Sequoia Capital, with participation …

More: Betabeat, Business Insider, PE Hub Blog, The Next Web, Venture Capital Dispatch, VentureBeat, VentureBeat, The Verge, AllThingsD and StartupBook

Tweets: @startupljackson, @caseynewton and @semil

Thanks:@chrisvelazco

Grant Gross / PC World:

CTIA website shows mobile app data usage — A new website launched by mobile trade group CTIA shows smartphone and tablet users how much data is used by popular apps. — KnowMyApp.org, unveiled by CTIA Thursday, allows mobile device owners to estimate an app's data usage before it's downloaded.

More: Engadget, AppleInsider, Broadcasting & Cable and Android Community

David Hamilton / Web Host Industry Review:

China Unicom Launches Chinese Cloud Computing Service ‘Wo Cloud’ — Chinese telecom China Unicom has launched a full-service cloud computing and big data brand called “Wo-Cloud” built on OpenStack open-source cloud software and delivered from data centers in Hohhot and Langfang.

More: Talkin' Cloud and Gigaom

Farhad Manjoo / Wall Street Journal:

Snapchat's popularity shows we all may want a more erasable Internet — The Internet doesn't necessarily have to keep our digital effluvia around forever. Do we want it to be erasable? — The Internet doesn't necessarily have to keep our digital effluvia around forever, and Snapchat has proved it.

More: Business Insider, BGR and MacDailyNews

Tweets: @stevesi, @fmanjoo and @hunterwalk

Steve Dent / Engadget:

LG mum on smartwatch rumors, but confirms that a wearable device is coming — Amidst rumors of 2K displays and octa-core CPUs for the LG G3, the Korea Herald has just added another: The upcoming smartphone will come with a G-Arch smartwatch and G-Health fitness band.

More: The Korea Heald, Digital Trends, BGR, IntoMobile, Pocket-lint, Softpedia News, Ubergizmo, TechnoBuffalo, Electronista, BGR, PhoneArena, VentureBeat, Droid Life, MobileSyrup.com, WebProNews, MobileBurn.com and TechnoBuffalo. Tweets: @liliputingnews

Elyse Betters / Pocket-lint:

British banks to accept photos of cheques through smartphones, says UK Treasury — Almost four years late to the game, British banks will soon accept photos of cheques captured via smartphones, reducing the processing time from six to two days, according to the UK Treasury.

More: BBC, Guardian, Telegraph, T3 News and The Next Web

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