Techmeme
December 31, 2013, 12:35 PM

Top News

Jay Hathaway / Daily Dot:
The NSA has nearly complete backdoor access to Apple's iPhone  —  The U.S. National Security Agency has the ability to snoop on nearly every communication sent from an Apple iPhone, according to leaked documents shared by security researcher Jacob Appelbaum and German news magazine Der Spiegel.
iFixit:
Mac Pro Late 2013 Teardown  —  After making its debut during the WWDC 2013 Keynote, the reimagined, reformulated Mac Pro finally arrived at iFixit's doorstep.  Join us as we turn the (very) Late 2013 Mac Pro inside-out.  Step 1 — Mac Pro Late 2013 Teardown The new Mac Pro has been released …
Mat Honan / Wired:
I, Glasshole: My Year With Google Glass  —  An anecdote: I wanted to wear Google Glass during the birth of our second child.  My wife was extremely unreceptive to this idea when I suggested it.  Angry, even.  But as we got a bit closer to the date, she began to warm to it and eventually landed somewhere …
Chris Vallance / BBC:
Cash machines raided with infected USB sticks  —  The thieves focused on high value notes to minimise the time they were exposed  —  Researchers have revealed how cyber-thieves sliced into cash machines in order to infect them with malware earlier this year.
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
Pirate Bay Uploads Surge 50% in a Year, Despite Anti-Piracy Efforts  —  2013 has been an eventful year for The Pirate Bay, to say the least.  —  The site celebrated its tenth anniversary, but with pressure from copyright holders mounting, it had to switch domain names no less than six times.
jessica lessin:
Paul Graham:
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Sam Thielman / Adweek:
Netflix Knocks a Dollar Off Its SD Streaming Service for New Users  —  Netflix has cracked down on password sharing this year (the streaming service has a $12-per-month plan if you want to stream on four devices simultaneously), but it looks like there's a new tier to its pricing plan …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Sprint Wants To Revive Nextel As A Business Brand, Merge Boost + Virgin Mobile Into ‘Sprint Freedom’  —  It was only six months ago that Sprint decommissioned and shut down the Nextel iDEN push-to-talk network, and while the carrier has no plans to bring that legacy service back, the brand is another story.
Mike Rose / Gamasutra:
Days of the holiday mobile game gold rush are fading, says new report  —  Although this holiday period saw the biggest spike in mobile app and game downloads to date, the rate at which mobile is growing has slowed significantly, according to a new report from Flurry.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify: Revolutionizing Commerce with Winter Edition '26  —  Over 150+ new features transform how merchants build, design, and grow—with technology that amplifies creative vision.
Zoho:
Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control  —  Picture this: It's Monday morning.  You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI's 2026 Priority, Disney's AI Play, Datacenter Buildout Trouble
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
Australia Kicks Kids Off Social Media + Is the A.I. Water Issue Fake? + Hard Fork Wrapped
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Access:
Why the next AI frontier is phone calls, with Beside CEO Maxime Germain
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Great Chat:
So what happens after AGI?
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Lachlan Cartwright Started in Tabloids. Now He's a Must-Read Media Gossip.
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 12:35 PM ET, December 31, 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

Earlier Picks

Jordan Kahn / 9to5Mac:
Joe Weisenthal / Business Insider:
Aimee Groth / Quartz:
Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents: