Techmeme: Pentagon says ‘absolutely no new orders have been placed’ for BlackBerry phones (Dan Seifert/The Verge)

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January 23, 2014, 4:50 PM

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Wall Street Journal:

4½", 5" screen iPhones expected in second half of year, smaller one further along in development, to feature metal casing, plastic casing scrapped — Apple iPhones to Come Out With Bigger Screens — Facing competition from rivals offering smartphones with bigger screens …

Microsoft:

Microsoft Reports Record Revenue of $24.52 Billion in Second Quarter — Double-digit growth in Commercial and Devices and Consumer segments drives record revenue. — REDMOND, Wash. — January 23, 2014 — Microsoft Corp. today announced revenue of $24.52 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2013.

More: Re/code, The Verge, TechCrunch, Associated Press, Digits, PandoDaily, CNET, ZDNet, Engadget, BGR, Tech Trader Daily, The Next Web, Business Insider, Forbes, Bloomberg and CNBC

Tweets: @jowens510 and @fxshaw

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:

Microsoft posts record revenue of $24.5B, beats earnings expectations in holiday quarter — Microsoft just announced revenue of $24.5 billion for the December quarter, up 14 percent from the same quarter a year ago — crediting growth in both its consumer and commercial business segments.

More: USA Today

Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:

Independent review board says NSA phone data program is illegal and should end — An independent executive branch board has concluded that the National Security Agency's long-running program to collect billions of Americans' phone records is illegal and should end.

More: Guardian, Guardian, Ars Technica, The Switch, Engadget, Boing Boing and Mashable

Tweets: @amadooooo, @ggreenwald, @trevortimm, @joanneleon and @jasonleopold

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Watchdog Report Says N.S.A. Program Is Illegal and Should End — WASHINGTON — An independent federal privacy watchdog has concluded that the National Security Agency's program to collect bulk phone call records has provided only “minimal” benefits in counterterrorism efforts, is illegal and should be shut down.

More: ClickZ and SlashGear. Tweets: @wearpants, @repscottperry, @dangillmor, @rsingel and @arusbridger

Phil Dzikiy / iLounge:

Apple TV may get game support with Bluetooth controllers and direct game downloads by March — Reports: Apple TV to add games in coming update — iLounge has heard from reliable industry sources that Apple TV will soon be getting proper game support in an update, likely to come in March or earlier.

More: BGR, MacRumors, AppleInsider, Cult of Mac, Gotta Be Mobile, App Advice, Touch Arcade, iDownloadBlog.com and Electronista

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Sources say new Apple TV box likely coming soon, App/Game Store possible — We've learned that Apple is making progress on its development of a successor to the current Apple TV and that the device is well into testing. We are led to believe that the new device, which is said to be a set-top box rather …

More: TechCrunch, Gigaom, The Verge, Ubergizmo, TechnoBuffalo, SlashGear, iPhone Hacks and Business Insider

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

iPhone 5s Owners Gobbling “Unprecedented” Levels Of Data, Study Finds — Users of flagship smartphones such as Apple's iPhone 5s and Samsung's Galaxy S4 are continuing to suck down more data than their tablet-wielding counterparts, according to a large-scale survey of mobile data consumption …

More: 9to5Mac, CNET, eWeek, BGR, MacRumors, LAPTOP Magazine, App Advice, ZDNet, SammyToday, SlashGear, iPhone in Canada Blog, TUAW, MacDailyNews, iDownloadBlog.com, iPhone Hacks, iClarified, Electronista and Softpedia News. Tweets: @pkedrosky

Kara Swisher / Re/code:

AOL Buys Personalization Startup Gravity for $90 Million in Cash — In a bid to add another publishing and advertising tool to its offerings, AOL has acquired personalization startup Gravity for about $90 million in cash. — As part of the deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter …

More: Business Wire, Re/code, Digits, New York Times, TechSpot, TechCrunch, The Next Web, Gravity, Reuters, Inc.com, Mashable, CNET, Business Insider, BGR India, Gigaom, ZDNet, Softpedia News, PE Hub Blog and WebProNews

Tweets: @bgarlinghouse, @davidhornik, @alexia, @ibarguen and @luke_beatty

See also Mediagazer

Dan Seifert / The Verge:

Pentagon says ‘absolutely no new orders have been placed’ for BlackBerry phones — Stock surges on news of a big win that never was — Last week, a press release from the Department of Defense announced the launch of a new mobile network within the agency that will utilize unclassified mobile devices …

More: CNNMoney.com, Washington Post, Gigaom, PhoneArena, CNBC and Businessweek

Tweets: @jbrodkin, @jbrodkin and @jbrodkin

Dune Lawrence / Businessweek:

Tor Anonymity Software vs. the National Security Agency — Last year, Edward Snowden turned over to the Guardian, a British newspaper, some 58,000 classified U.S. government documents. Just a fraction of the files have been made public, but they outline the National Security Agency's massive information-collection system.

Tweets: @libertylynx, @sheelahk, @nytimesbits and @jpaskin

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Twitter Launches Card Analytics To Let Publishers Monitor Impressions, Clicks And More — In a move that could give brands and publishers more insight into what to tweet, today Twitter is rolling out Analytics For Twitter Cards. The dashboard shows impressions, URL clicks …

More: The Official Twitter Blog, CNET, Re/code, Twitter Developers, ReadWrite, ZDNet, Marketing Land, The Next Web and SlashGear. Tweets: @joshconstine

John Biggs / TechCrunch:

Google Glass User Detained By Feds Talks About Ordeal — While some businesses are banning the high-tech wearable device Google Glass, a theatre owner in Columbus, Ohio, saw enough of a threat to call the Department of Homeland Security. The manager called in unnamed Homeland Security agents …

More: Business Insider and TechNewsWorld

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Facebook releases App Insights 2.0 beta with cleaner interface, actionable data, and improved reliability — Facebook today introduced the first major update to its App Insights product, aiming to help developers better understand how users interact with their apps.

More: Facebook Developer Blog, ReadWrite, Inside Facebook and WebProNews

Dennis Berman / Wall Street Journal:

Wal-Mart aims to match Amazon's service offerings in two years, continues warehouse build out — Wal-Mart Aims To Match Amazon's Service Offerings — Wal-Mart Will Continue To Build Out New Distribution Centers for Online Delivery — The head of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. 's e-commerce efforts predicted …

Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:

Pixelmator 3.1 brings 16-bit image support for Mac Pro, integrated photo printing and more — Pixelmator have released the latest version of their app today, version 3.1. As usual, it is available exclusively in the Mac App Store for $29.99. Codenamed Marble, this update brings several enhancements …

More: Pixelmator - Blog, Computerworld, AppleInsider, MacRumors, MacDailyNews, iDownloadBlog.com, iMore, MacNN and Lifehacker

Bloomberg:

Lenovo to Buy IBM Server Unit For $2.3 Billion Amid PC Slump — Lenovo Group Ltd., the world's largest maker of personal computers, will buy International Business Machines Corp.'s server business for $2.3 billion. — The deal price includes about $2 billion of cash and the rest in Lenovo stock …

More: IBM, DealBook, CNBC, The Verge, ZDNet, InfoWorld, Wall Street Journal, CNET, Internet Evolution, Reuters, Re/code, Gigaom, ZDNet, Gigaom Research, WebProNews and GSMArena Blog

Tweets: @qthrul, @bloombergtech, @ciscoservergeek and @edmondlococo

Chris Kohler / Wired:

Instead of porting its games to other mobile platforms, Nintendo should run its own platform — Everything You're Thinking About Nintendo Is Totally Wrong — The entire internet has weighed in with what it believes is the answer to Nintendo's financial woes: Go mobile, immediately.

Tweets: @mattbraga and @magicody

Wall Street Journal:

Lucrative Role as Middleman Puts Amazon in Tough Spot — While Business Is Key to Growth, Conflicts Arise Over Counterfeit, Unsafe Products — Last spring, Amazon.com Inc. moved to end its relationship with one of its biggest third-party sellers, saying that company had offered products that were illegal or otherwise prohibited.

Tweets: @kenbensinger, @shiraovide, @wsj, @drewdowell and @miriamgottfried

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

Nokia Says Lumia & Other Phone Sales Declined In Q4 As It Prepares To Sell Division To Microsoft — In what is likely to be Nokia's last quarterly earnings before it hands off its mobile phone making business to Microsoft, the Finnish mobile maker has reported lower sales of Lumia devices in its Q4.

More: The Verge, Computerworld, TechCrunch, CITEworld, Forbes, The Next Web, TechHive, GeekWire, PC Magazine, BGR, memeburn, Nokia, Softpedia News, Inquirer, Guardian, Softpedia News, Silicon Republic, InfoWorld, Re/code, Reuters, Gigaom, Bloomberg, Electronista, Gotta Be Mobile, BetaNews, CNET, My Nokia Blog and Engadget. Thanks:@riptari

Chris Burns / SlashGear:

Qualcomm acquires 1,400 Palm, iPAQ, Bitphone patents from HP — This afternoon Qualcomm has announced that they will acquire all of HP's remaining Palm-related patents. They will also be acquiring from Hewlett-Packard a number of other patents in the mobile sector, including those under the titles' iPAQ and Bitphone.

More: The Verge. Thanks:@t_chrisburns

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

NewsCred Raises $25 Million to Fill a Content-Marketing War Chest. (What's Content Marketing Again?) — Advertisers have spent the last few years toiling away in the social media fields, and now have long lists of followers on Twitter, Facebook and other platforms to show for their efforts.

More: TechCrunch, Gigaom, PandoDaily, PE Hub Blog and Tech City News

Tweets: @rafat and @adamostrow

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