Techmeme
January 15, 2014, 8:00 PM

Top News

Federal Trade Commission:
Apple to refund consumers at least $32.5M for in-app purchases made without parental consent  —  Apple Inc. Will Provide Full Consumer Refunds of At Least $32.5 Million to Settle FTC Complaint It Charged for Kids' In-App Purchases Without Parental Consent  —  Company Also Will Modify its Billing Practices Under FTC Settlement
John Paczkowski / Re/code:
Apple Agrees to FTC Consent Decree Over In-App Purchases (Memo)  —  Looks like Apple's settlement last year of a lawsuit over the unauthorized use of in-app purchasing in games and apps sold through the App Store wasn't enough for the Federal Trade Commission.
Fred Wilson / A VC:
How losing net neutrality will discourage investing in bandwidth-intensive startups  —  VC Pitches In A Year Or Two  —  Entrepreneur: I plan to launch a better streaming music service.  It leverages the data on what you and your friends currently listen to, combines that with the schedule …
Peter Kafka / Re/code:
What's Net Neutrality?  What Happened to Net Neutrality Yesterday?  What Happens Next?  A Q&A for the Rest of Us  —  Net neutrality is dead, and the Internet is in peril.  —  Or, maybe: Net neutrality is dead, and the Internet will be fine.  —  Or, perhaps: Net neutrality is threatened, but can be saved.
Kara Swisher / Re/code:
Yahoo COO Henrique De Castro, Mayer's No. 2, to depart after failing to move lagging ad business  —  “Dead Man Walking” Walks: COO Henrique De Castro Out at Yahoo  —  As has long been rumored, Yahoo COO Henrique De Castro is departing Yahoo.  I had reported last week that he was in big trouble …
Brent Rose / Gizmodo:
Google Play Movies and TV Finally Comes to iOS  —  First Google Play Books made its way to iOS.  Then Google Play Music undertook the pilgrimage.  So, it should be little surprise that today Google Play Movies and TV has finally made the jump.  This is significant not just because it brings …
Arik Hesseldahl / Re/code:
HP to Re-Enter Smartphone Market With “Phablets” in India  —  Hewlett-Packard will today announce plans to re-enter the market for smartphones and tablets that it exited in 2011, with a pair of voice-enabled tablets that will debut in India later this year.  —  HP's plans call for releasing …
CNBC:
Apple-China Mobile deal a ‘watershed’ moment: Tim Cook  —  By: Reporting by Eunice Yoon, Written by Dhara Ranasinghe  —  Apple CEO Tim Cook says the deal to sell iPhones on China Mobile's vast network is a “watershed” moment.  —  A deal to sell iPhones on China Mobile's vast network is a …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google Adds Optional Data Compression Feature To Chrome For Mobile, Reducing Your Data Usage By Up To 50%  —  Google today is officially announcing the release of a data compression feature for its Chrome mobile web browser which allows you to reduce your data usage on smartphones and tablets …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Zuckerberg Calls Snapchat A “Privacy Phenomenon”  —  Mark Zuckerberg thinks Facebook's innovated by creating a place where people could share what wasn't shared before, which is also why he thinks Snapchat is important.  Today in a low-profile talk at Stanford alongside discussions of the NSA …
More: AllFacebook and MashableThanks:@gallagherbilly
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft confirms Syrian Electronic Army hacked into employee email accounts  —  Microsoft has confirmed to The Verge that a “small number” of employee email accounts were accessed during the latest round of attacks by the Syrian Electronic Army.  The hacking group posted three internal emails …
More: Re/code and TechCrunch
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Silent Circle & Geeksphone Join Forces To Build Blackphone: A Pro-Privacy Android-Based Smartphone  —  As the reality of the extent and invasiveness of the security services' dragnet surveillance programs hits home, the pro-privacy movement has been cranking up its own ideas to counter spy-tech with pro-privacy tech.
Wall Street Journal:
Cloud-Software Startup Zendesk Hires Bankers for IPO  —  Maker of Online Help-Desk Software Part of Wave of Cloud Companies  —  Zendesk Inc., a maker of online help-desk software for businesses, has hired banks in preparation for an initial public offering this year.
Nicole Bogart / Global News:
Fitbit offers apology, refund to users experiencing skin irritation from Fitbit Force  —  TORONTO - Wearable technology company Fitbit is apologizing to customers after some users took to the web to complain about painful skin irritations they allegedly developed after wearing the Fitbit Force.
Kevin C. Tofel / Gigaom:
HP Chromebook 11 with LTE spotted with $379 price (possible $50 rebate too)  —  Earlier this morning, I noted that Altair announced its chip would power the HP Chromebook 11 LTE model on Verizon's network.  I figured the updated model would be available soon, but I didn't think it would be this soon.
Gabe Rivera / Techmeme News:
Why Techmeme's calendar is now listing even more events  —  Nearly two years ago, Techmeme began listing technology events, both on its front page, which showed events expected to result in news on Techmeme, and a dedicated events page which showed the same list, but projected several more months into the future.
Tweets: @roi and @gaberivera

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