Techmeme: Before Facebook Deal, WhatsApp Was Helping BuzzFeed and Shazam Go Viral With New Platform Tools (Liz Gannes/Re/code)

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February 21, 2014, 12:10 AM

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Amir Efrati / The Information:

Google Was Willing to Beat Facebook's $19B Offer for WhatsApp — Last week, Google CEO Larry Page met with WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum in a last-ditch effort to prevent the rapidly growing messaging app from selling itself to Facebook, according to three people involved in the deal.

More: eWeek, Valleywag, Mercury News, BGR, The Switch, BuzzFeed, Ubergizmo, AppleInsider, Business Insider and TechnoBuffalo

Tweets: @startupljackson, @pkafka, @ericnewcomer and @amir

Thanks:@ericnewcomer

Liz Gannes / Re/code:

Before Facebook Deal, WhatsApp Was Helping BuzzFeed and Shazam Go Viral With New Platform Tools — Unlike mobile messaging competitors like Line and WeChat, WhatsApp has taken a resolute stance against becoming a platform that distributes games and other apps.

More: Nieman Journalism Lab, Digiday, New Yorker, Quartz, Gawker, POPSUGAR and dailywireless.org

Tweets: @buzzfeedben, @mattbuchanan and @lheron

See also Mediagazer

Evelyn M. Rusli / Wall Street Journal:

WhatsApp: the Bomb That Shook Silicon Valley — On Wednesday afternoon, in a modern office building in San Francisco, entrepreneur Daniel Raffel saw a news alert cross his phone: Facebook Inc. had just paid $19 billion for messaging startup WhatsApp. — The founder of mobile app Snapguide …

Tweets: @monkbent, @wsjd, @borthwick and @jonrussell

Nicholas Carlson / Business Insider:

‘Early’ WhatsApp Employees Will Make $160 Million Each — Yesterday, Facebook bought messaging app WhatsApp for $19 billion — $12 billion in stock, $4 billion in cash, and another $3 billion in stock grants for employees that will vest over the next four years. — How much will WhatsApp's employees make in the deal?

More: Forbes, Gawker, POPSUGAR and BBC

Kara Swisher / Re/code:

Q&A With Sequoia's Jim Goetz on Wassssup With the WhatsApp Deal — So I lobbed in a call to Sequoia Capital this morning to get its VC-of-the-moment Jim Goetz's take on the blockbuster deal in which Facebook forked over $19 billion dollars to buy one of its portfolio companies, WhatsApp.

More: PE Hub Blog, TechCrunch, CNN and PandoDaily. Tweets: @hanelly

Peter Lauria / BuzzFeed:

Mark Zuckerberg Comes Of Age As A Mogul — The Facebook CEO has grown into a cocksure leader, solid operator, and gutsy deal-maker, even if the casual dress remains. — Jonathan Ernst / Reuters — Noticeably absent from the mounds of coverage of how Facebook's $19 billion acquisition …

More: San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times, Reuters, AdAge, Wall Street Journal, DealBook, Slate, Guardian, FierceMobileIT News and SocialTimes. Tweets: @peterlauria3

Jessi Hempel / Fortune:

Google offered to buy WhatsApp for $10 billion

More: Gigaom, DealBook, TechnoBuffalo, CNET, Gigaom Research, Tech Trader Daily, BGR, iPhone in Canada Blog and iDownloadBlog.com …. Tweets: @charlesarthur

Adam Bryant / New York Times:

Satya Nadella, Chief of Microsoft, on His New Role — This interview with Satya Nadella, the new chief executive of Microsoft, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant. — Q. What leadership lessons have you learned from your predecessor, Steve Ballmer?

More: The Verge, Quartz, Digits, Business Insider, Gigaom and WinBeta

Tweets: @nytcorneroffice, @trengriffin and @benthepcguy

Thanks:@petewootton

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Google Launches Project Tango Smartphone To Experiment With Computer Vision And 3D Sensors — Google today announced Project Tango, an Android-based prototype 5″ phone and developer kit with advanced 3D sensors out of its Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) hardware skunkworks group.

More: Google ATAP, Computerworld, eWeek, Engadget, BBC, BetaNews, UnleashThePhones, Gigaom, ZDNet, Ars Technica, The Verge, Gizmodo, IntoMobile, Droid Life, MobileSyrup.com, VentureBeat, ReadWrite, Gotta Be Mobile, TechnoBuffalo, Android Authority, Electronista, Re/code, 9to5Google, BGR, CITEworld and Digits. Tweets: @eghosao

Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:

Inside The Revolutionary 3D Vision Chip At The Heart Of Google's Project Tango Phone

More: Movidius, The Next Web, MacRumors and eWeek. Thanks:@_trendspotter

Om Malik / Gigaom:

Om Malik leaves day-to-day operations at Gigaom, becomes full partner at True Ventures, site raises $8M more — Now that Gigaom is all grown up, it's time for the next chapter — It's a new year (although it's well underway) and I'm excited to talk about the new phase at Gigaom.

More: True Ventures, Om Malik and TechCrunch

Tweets: @hnshah, @davemcclure, @briansolis, @jason_pontin, @timoreilly, @pkafka, @raanan, @shak, @carr2n, @hblodget, @nitashatiku, @johnolilly, @alexia and @rafat

See also Mediagazer

Amanda Lefebvre / Office Blogs:

Office Web Apps rebranded as Office Online at Office.com — Introducing Office Online at Office.com — Today, you'll notice something new about Office.com and Office Web Apps-now officially called Office Online. An online version of the Office you know and trust has been available for quite a while …

Tom Warren / The Verge:

More Cortana details: Siri/Google Now-like virtual assistant to replace Bing search feature in Windows Phone 8.1 — Apple has Siri, and Microsoft is about to get Cortana — Microsoft has been in a state of “shut up and ship” with Windows Phone for more than a year now.

More: BGR, Gizmodo, Engadget, SlashGear, TechCrunch, TechnoBuffalo and WebProNews. Tweets: @chrismessina

Carl Franzen / The Verge:

Steve Jobs will appear on a US postage stamp in 2015 — Many of his creations reduced the need to send physical mail, but late Apple founder Steve Jobs will still get a fitting tribute from the US Postal Service: his likeness will appear on a postage stamp beginning in 2015, according to a document obtained by The Washington Post.

More: Federal Eye, Engadget, The Technology Chronicles, The Register, 9to5Mac, iMore, MacRumors, App Advice, iPhone in Canada Blog, AppleInsider, iDownloadBlog.com …, Cult of Mac, MacNN and AppleTell

Matt Brian / Engadget:

New Google WiFi app could automatically log you into Starbucks and other private hotspots — Google is working on a new WiFi app that could take a lot of the drudgery out of accessing wireless hotspots. According to our sources, the search giant has built Android and iOS versions of an app …

More: TechnoBuffalo, iPhone Hacks, Phandroid, Electronista, iDownloadBlog.com …, everythingiCafe, 9to5Google, App Advice, BGR and Droid Life

Ben Woods / The Next Web:

4G data: The USA is second-slowest while Australia is fastest — OpenSignal has released a report today looking at the state of LTE coverage and speeds around the world, revealing that, contrary to what you might expect, not all LTE networks perform comparably.

More: OpenSignal, Guardian, Quartz, Sydney Morning Herald, Network World, TheFonecast.com, Gizmodo Australia, Android Community, Gizmodo, AndroidHeadlines.com, TmoNews and FierceWireless

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Former Motionloft CEO Jon Mills Arrested By The FBI — Jon Mills, the founder and former CEO of real-world analytics startup Motionloft, has been arrested by the FBI, the bureau has confirmed. The arrest follows allegations that Mills lied to investors about an acquisition of his company …

Tweets: @ryanlawler, @bensign, @benparr and @caseynewton

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:

Meg Whitman buys more time as HP beats earnings estimates — Caption: Hewlett-Packard chief executive Meg Whitman — Hewlett-Packard reported earnings that beat Wall Street's earnings expectations. — Analysts had expected a big drop in quarterly revenue, but HP exceeded estimates on both profits and revenues.

More: hp.com, CNET, eWeek, The Register, Bloomberg and Mercury News

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:

Adobe releases emergency Flash update amid new zero-day drive-by attacks — Adobe has released an emergency update for its widely used Flash Player to combat active attacks that exploit a previously unknown security bug that hackers are actively exploiting to surreptitiously install malware on end-user computers.

More: FireEye Blog, helpx.adobe.com, ZDNet, Threatpost, PC World, SC Magazine, 9to5Mac and MacRumors

Tim Bray / ongoing:

Tim Bray leaving Google, cites requirement that he end working remotely from Vancouver — Leaving Google — As of March 17th I'll be an ex-employee. It's an amicable separation in the face of irreconcilable differences: I wouldn't move to California and Google wouldn't open a Vancouver office.

More: 9to5Google, Re/code and WebProNews

Tweets: @gaberivera, @stevesi, @fmanjoo, @shanselman, @qthrul, @jeresig, @arj, @dhh, @theromit, @jyarow and @timbray

Erin Griffith / Fortune:

Birchbox raising $50M Series B — The New York-based subscription and commerce company did $80 million to $100 million in revenue in 2013. — FORTUNE — Birchbox is close to closing a $50 million Series B round of funding, according to several sources familiar with the situation.

Tweets: @shaig

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:

Groupon Skyrockets After Hours On Q4 Beat With Revenue Of $768.4M, EPS Of $0.04 [Update: Following Enthusiasm, Investors Turn Sour] — Update 1: Investors bid Groupon massively higher following a better than expected financial performance. However, a mere 10 minutes after pushing Groupon up nearly 15 percent, the tone turned.

More: Business Wire, VatorNews, Tech Trader Daily, Re/code, ValueWalk and internetretailer.com

Ernesto / TorrentFreak:

“Pirate Sites Generate $227 Million In Ad Revenue a Year” — It's no secret that running a torrent portal, linking site, or cyberlocker can be highly profitable. Thus far, however, only a few have attempted to quantify the money that flows into these businesses.

More: AdExchanger, Marketing Land, hypebot and Softpedia News. See also Mediagazer

Salvador Rodriguez / Los Angeles Times:

Google creates ‘near-real-time’ deforestation tracking tool — Google and several partners have launched Global Forest Watch, a website that makes it possible for users to track global deforestation. — Google is bringing awareness to global deforestation with a new website that lets users …

More: Google LatLong, BetaNews, Boing Boing and The Verge

Devindra Hardawar / VentureBeat:

Online bank Simple acquired by Spain's BBVA for $117M — will focus on international growth — Nobody expected this Spanish banking acquisition. — Simple, the online bank devoted to offering a more humane alternative to traditional banking, announced today that it's being acquired …

More: Simple Blog, The Verge, TechCrunch, Webrazzi, The Next Web, Oregonian, Mashable, Android Community and Gizmodo. Tweets: @kimheras

Jon Southurst / CoinDesk:

Bitcoin Price Hits $135 on Mt. Gox Following Office Move and Verification Demand — Updates and rumors related to Mt. Gox this week include: a possible company relocation, a requirement for users to hold verified accounts to withdraw bitcoins and a fall in Gox's listed price of bitcoin.

More: Computerworld, TechCrunch, Bitcoin Magazine, newsBTC, ValueWalk, Business Insider, MoneyBeat, Investing.com, International Business Times and PFhub.com ™. Tweets: @coindesk

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