Techmeme: Developer Behind “Flappy Bird,” The Impossible Game Blowing Up The App Store, Says He Just Got Lucky (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)

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February 3, 2014, 11:35 AM

Top News

New York Times:

As device makers strive to improve battery and charging tech, Apple tests inductive charging for its watch — Building a Better Battery — SAN FRANCISCO — The next breakthrough smartphone, or maybe the one after that, might not have a traditional battery as its sole source of power.

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Windows 8.1 Update 1 leaks on the web ahead of its March release — Microsoft's first update to Windows 8.1 has leaked today on various file sharing websites ahead of its March debut. The early build includes a number of changes that Microsoft is making to improve the keyboard and mouse experience in Windows 8.1.

Danny Sullivan / Marketing Land:

Hashtags in 57% of Super Bowl ads; Facebook led social networks with 5 mentions to Twitter's 4 — New Record For 2014: Hashtags Mentioned In 58% Of Super Bowl Ads … Hashtags were in 58 percent of Super Bowl ads, up from 50% in 2013 and setting a new record.

John Colucci / Engadget:

Super Bowl 2014 roundup: ads from Microsoft, T-Mobile, Beats, and more

More: The Verge, Marketing Land, CNET, TechCrunch, BetaNews and New York Times

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Here's How Facebook Rewards Celebrities Who Post About the Super Bowl

More: Nieman Journalism Lab, PandoDaily, Gigaom, VentureBeat, TechCrunch and Business Insider

Tweets: @dannysullivan, @cwarzel, @pkafka and @pkafka

See also Mediagazer

Leslie Kaufman / New York Times:

YouTube stars warn of thinning revenues as video uploads and production costs outpace ad rates — Chasing Their Star, on YouTube — It is 3 p.m., and outside another brilliant Los Angeles afternoon beckons. But Olga Kay has drawn her blinds, leaving her living room in a semidarkened haze.

More: BGR. Tweets: @aegies, @kevinyen, @ryanleslie and @gerrymcgovern. See also Mediagazer

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Developer Behind “Flappy Bird,” The Impossible Game Blowing Up The App Store, Says He Just Got Lucky — Flappy Bird, a game you can barely play for more than a few seconds without throwing your phone across the room in frustration, is dominating the App Store and Google Play.

Ina Fried / Re/code:

Apple Celebrates 30th Anniversary of the Mac With Movie Shot on iPhones — To mark the 30th anniversary of the Mac, Apple gave its store workers special T-shirts, changed its home page and granted ABC News an interview with CEO Tim Cook. — But its biggest anniversary project was one done in secret.

CB Insights:

72 of the Biggest, Costliest Startup Failures of All Time — No physician is really good before he has killed one or two patients. " - Proverb — For those who've been reading, we've had failure on the brain recently. This is partly because its a good counterbalance …

Tweets: @r and @brenthoberman

Jordan Kahn / 9to5Mac:

Cycloramic hits top of App Store after Shark Tank appearance, $500k investment & 100k downloads in an hour — What happens when your app gets featured on ABC's Shark Tank, the TV show where rich investors listen to pitches from wannabe entrepreneurs looking to raise funds?

More: Business Insider, Rude Baguette and App Advice. Tweets: @pkedrosky

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Required Reading: The Economist's Special Report On Tech Startups — It's not every day we here at TechCrunch just point to someone else's work and say, “Here, you should go read this.” But today's an exception, because The Economist has put together a 16-page Special Report on the rise of technology startups around the world.

More: Economist

Bloomberg:

Gates Seen Taking Bigger Products Role at Microsoft — Even as Bill Gates weighs giving up his title of chairman of Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), he's poised to remain involved at the company he co-founded in an area of its deepest need: crafting must-have products.

More: The Verge and Softpedia News

Drew Crawford / Sealed Abstract:

How in-app purchase is not really destroying the games industry — So there's an article on HN today about how in-app purchase is destroying the game industry. There are a couple of problems with this theory. — The original in-app purchase — See, in the in-app purchase model actually predates phones.

More: Baekdal Plus. Tweets: @hodapp, @ericford, @mattrix, @nimbledave, @kierongillen and @nimbledave

Nick Bilton / NYT Bits:

Facebook declines FiftyThree's request to change name of upcoming Paper news app — Makers of Paper App Ask Facebook to Change Its New App Name — If you go to Google and type in the word “paper,” the top result doesn't have anything to do with traditional pulpy vellum.

More: FiftyThree. Tweets: @mikeisaac

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