Techmeme: U.S. government warns merchants on methods used by Target hackers (Larry Downing/Reuters)

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January 16, 2014, 7:05 PM

Top News

James Ball / Guardian:

NSA collects almost 200 million text messages a day in global “untargeted” sweep — NSA collects millions of text messages daily in ‘untargeted’ global sweep — The National Security Agency has collected almost 200 million text messages a day from across the globe …

More: Channel 4, Examiner, The Register, Los Angeles Times, Engadget, VentureBeat, ZDNet, Digital Trends, Techdirt, CNET, TechCrunch, The Verge, TheHill, TechnoBuffalo, Gotta Be Mobile, Gizmodo, BBC, SlashGear and Mashable

Tweets: @jamesrbuk, @guardianproject, @csoghoian, @mattblaze, @noahshachtman, @benedictevans, @jamesrbuk, @openrightsgroup, @tprophet, @mattblaze and @coneee

Bloomberg:

Obama Said to Keep NSA in Charge of Phone Records for Now

Tweets: @rj_gallagher

Alex Chitu / Google Operating System:

Google Now integrated in Chrome Canary builds, with weather, scores, traffic, and reminder cards — Google Now in Chrome for Desktop — Google Now cards are available in the latest Chrome Canary build for Windows and Mac (34.0.1788). You only need to go to chrome://flags/#enable-google- now …

Jason Del Rey / Re/code:

Twitter Gets Serious About Commerce, Nears Deal With Payments Startup Stripe — Twitter is close to letting its users purchase products directly through the social network and is nearing a deal with payments startup Stripe to help it accept credit card payments from its users, according to a person familiar with the deal.

More: CNET. Tweets: @rsarver and @kenli729

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Twitter Also Considered PayPal For Its Square-Market Competitor

Thanks:@alexia

Ina Fried / Re/code:

T-Mobile expands ETF payment program to include US Cellular, other regional carriers — T-Mobile Broadening Its Program to Pay Switchers — T-Mobile plans to expand a recently introduced program that pays new customers up to $350 for breaking their contract with a rival carrier.

More: BGR, MacRumors, Engadget, IntoMobile, AndroidHeadlines.com, TechnoBuffalo, SlashGear, TmoNews and Droid Life. Tweets: @kenli729

Sinead Carew / Reuters:

Price war in U.S. mobile market raises fear of profit hemorrhage

More: DSLreports

Matthew J. Belvedere / CNBC:

Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson says Google, not Apple is the greatest innovator in the world — Google steals innovation crown from Apple: Isaacson — iPhones begin selling at China Moblie on Friday — This is a big deal, says Walter Isaacson, Aspen Institute, discussing Apple's deal …

More: 9to5Mac, App Advice, the rajam report, Business Insider, BGR, InvestorPlace, 9to5Google, SiliconBeat and Cult of Mac

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook Launches Trending Topics On Web With Descriptions Of Why Each Is Popular — Following tests of Twitter-style Trending Topics on the web and mobile in August, Facebook today officially launches a redesigned “Trending” section on its web homepage's sidebar in the US, UK, Canada, India and Australia.

More: Facebook, Computerworld, VatorNews, BetaNews, TechHive, Newsy, ReadWrite, VentureBeat, Marketing Land, NYT Bits, Digital Trends, POPSUGAR, AllFacebook, GeekWire, Inside Facebook, SlashGear, The Verge and SiliconBeat

Tweets: @jboorstin, @caseynewton, @jboorstin, @joshconstine, @fmanjoo and @cwarzel

Thanks:@anthonyha. See also Mediagazer

Larry Downing / Reuters:

U.S. government warns merchants on methods used by Target hackers — Merchandise baskets are lined up outside a Target department store in Palm Coast, Florida, December 9, 2013. — (Reuters) - The U.S. government sent a confidential, 16-page technical bulletin to retailers and other merchants …

More: The Verge

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Target will testify before Congress over massive holiday data breach

More: TheHill

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Nokia's Android phone includes Windows Phone-like UI — Images of Nokia's Android phone, codenamed Normandy, were originally published in November, but a number of recent leaks have provided a closer look at the hardware and its software. Vizileaks has published what appears …

More: ZDNet, Gigaom, TechHive, CITEworld, Android and Me, Pocket-lint, pocketnow.com, Gizmodo, WinBeta, MobileSyrup.com and PhoneArena

Matt Drance / Apple Outsider:

The Net Neutrality Endgame — The U.S. Court of Appeals made a significant and troubling decision this week: it shut down a 2010 FCC decree that prevented internet service providers ("ISPs") from selectively enhancing or restricting traffic to certain destinations (websites, streaming services …

More: Techdirt and Music Ally. Tweets: @panzer

Nilay Patel / The Verge:

The wrong words: how the FCC lost net neutrality and could kill the internet

More: Re/code, Kotaku, Free Press Blog, Gigaom, New Yorker and PC Gamer. See also Mediagazer

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Rdio takes on Spotify with free Web streaming for US users — Rdio today announced it is making its music streaming service free on the Web for all US users. In other words, you can access the company's over 20 million songs, as well as albums, playlists, and stations from any computer without paying a dime.

More: Rdio Blog, Evolver.fm, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Gigaom, The Verge, Android Beat, SlashGear, iPhone Hacks and Lifehacker. See also Mediagazer

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Spotify Drops Free Web Listening Time Limit Everywhere - A Big Scalability Milestone

More: Gizmodo, ReadWrite, Newsy, TechnoBuffalo, Inc.com, The Register, Computerworld, Inquirer, The Verge, SlashGear, BGR, CNET, Engadget, GSMArena Blog, Business Insider and Overclockers Club

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:

Intel Beats Q4 Revenue Forecasts With Top Line Of $13.8B, Misses On Profit With EPS Of $0.51 — Today Intel reported its fourth-quarter earnings, including revenue of $13.83 billion and earnings per share of $0.51. Investors had expected Intel to earn $0.52 per share on revenue of $13.72 billion.

More: Intel Newsroom, Intel, VentureBeat, PC World, Engadget, ZDNet, Re/code, The Verge, Mercury News, VentureBeat, Electronista and Reuters

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

NPD: Apple grabbed 42% of US smartphone share in Q4 2013, Samsung took 26%, as HTC, Motorola, and BlackBerry fell — In Q4 2013, Apple and Samsung were the clear winners in the US smartphone race. iPhone ownership increased from 35 percent in Q4 2012 to 42 percent in Q4 2013 …

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Shopkick Starts 100-Store iBeacon Trial For American Eagle, Biggest Apparel Rollout Yet — Apple's iBeacon technology, which uses Bluetooth LE to send notifications to users when they're inside a physical store, is making another mainstream advance today: Shopkick — the location-based offers startup …

More: The Verge, SlashGear, Cult of Mac, MacRumors, MacNN and 9to5Mac. Tweets: @mdudas

Reuters:

Casually-dressed security guards seen monitoring Google commuter buses in San Francisco — Latest perk on Google buses: security guards — (Reuters) - First, San Francisco-based commuters to Google Inc got buses with plush seats and free WiFi. Now, they are getting security.

More: CNET and Valleywag. Tweets: @alexia, @lexnfx and @mcbridesg

Christopher Mims / Quartz:

Someone's refrigerator just took part in a malicious cyberattack — Between December 23 and January 6, more than 100,000 internet-connected smart “things,” including media players, smart televisions and at least one refrigerator, were part of a network of computers used to send 750,000 spam emails.

More: Gizmodo. Tweets: @eevee, @thecyberwire, @mims and @yelvington

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

OUYA Founding Team Member And VP Of Product Development Departs — One of OUYA's founding members, Muffi Ghadiali, has left the company, TechCrunch has learned. Ghadiali was instrumental in helping launch the OUYA on Kickstarter and to the consumer market, and has previous experience working for Lab126 …

More: Co.Labs, Phandroid, AndroidHeadlines.com, SlashGear, The Escapist and Joystiq. Thanks:@vmgarmstrong

Alex Howard / E Pluribus Unum:

IRS enables Americans to download their tax transcripts over the Internet — Earlier today, at the White House Education Datapalooza, an official from the United States Department of the Treasury informed a packed theater and livestream that students, parents and citizens would finally be able …

More: irs.gov, TechCrunch, Gizmodo and Ubergizmo. Tweets: @digiphile. Thanks:@digiphile

Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:

Facebook plans suite of standalone mobile apps for 2014 — Messenger is just the tip of the iceberg — Facebook's new Messenger app is lightning fast and utilitarian — a vision of the “mobile first” mentality Facebook promised one year ago. In an earnings call two weeks after Messenger launched …

More: SlashGear and Digits. Tweets: @anttihirvonen, @simonkhalaf, @chartier, @mgrooves and @hamburger

Ben Gilbert / Engadget:

Steam Controller drops touchscreen, adds physical buttons (update: new controller image) — It turns out that Valve's hardware beta was an actual beta: the Steam Controller is dropping its touchscreen and adding some physical buttons before going up for sale via Steam and at retail later this year.

More: Steam Database, The Verge, PC Gamer, Geek.com, Gotta Be Mobile, T3 News, VentureBeat, The Tech Report, GamesIndustry International, Softpedia News, Electronista, Kotaku and VG247

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