Techmeme
December 27, 2013, 9:05 AM

Top News

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?
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 …
Shelly Banjo / Wall Street Journal:
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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.
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.
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.
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.

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John Herrman / BuzzFeed: