Techmeme
March 4, 2014, 8:55 AM

Top News

TechCrunch:
Facebook in talks to buy Titan Aerospace for $60M, plans to use solar drone tech for providing internet access  —  Facebook In Talks To Acquire Drone Maker Titan Aerospace  —  Facebook, one of the primary backers of the Internet.org initiative, which aims to bring affordable Internet access …
Microsoft Corporation:
Microsoft CEO announces departure of Tony Bates and Tami Reller, names Mark Penn Chief Strategy Officer, Chris Capossela CMO  —  Satya Nadella announces changes to senior leadership team  —  In the past month, I've had the opportunity to talk with many of you - in person, on Yammer …
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer retiring after 18 years  —  Apple's chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer will retire at the end of September, after 18 years at the company.  Luca Maestri, Apple's vice president of finance, will become his successor.  —  10 years as CFO
More: TechCrunch and Apple
Daniel Eran Dilger / AppleInsider:
Apple's voracious appetite for acquisitions outspent Google in 2013  —  Apple is quietly investing far more money to acquire talent, technology and production capacity than the market appears to realize, having liberally outspent even Google over the past year.  —  Apple's acquisition investments over the past quarter
Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:
Dish just secured rights to launch an internet TV service  —  Dish and Disney confirmed a Wall Street Journal report that they've reached a retransmission agreement late Monday, and they did so with a bang: Not only does the agreement force Dish to turn off automated ad skipping for ABC shows …
Amy Schatz / Re/code:
Justice Department Backs Broadcasters in Aereo Dispute  —  In a Supreme Court filing Monday, the Justice Department backed broadcast networks in their fight against online video streaming startup Aereo.  —  Justice Department lawyers argued that Aereo's broadcast television streaming service infringes …
Mike Isaac / Re/code:
Twitter Snafu Triggers Mass Reset of User Passwords  —  If you're a Twitter user, you may have an email sitting in your inbox telling you to change your password right now.  —  You aren't alone.  —  A number of Twitter users received password reset request emails from the microblogging service …
Reuters:
Ukraine hit by cyberattacks: head of Ukraine security service  —  (Reuters) - Ukraine's telecommunications system has come under attack, with equipment installed in Russian-controlled Crimea used to interfere with the mobile phones of members of parliament, the head of Ukraine's SBU security service said on Tuesday.
More: Gizmodo
Stuart Dredge / Guardian:
Flappy Bird clones account for 95 out of 300 new iOS games in 24 hour period  —  Here are 95 Flappy Bird-inspired iOS games... released in the last 24 hours  —  From Tappy Bieber and Annoying Flappy Fly to Flappy Beard Hipster Quest and Flying Mustache  —  Tappy Bieber is just one of the Flappy Bird clones hitting the App Store.
More: Cult of MacTweets: @stevenf
Jason Del Rey / Re/code:
With Square Capital, Square Begins Offering Controversial Merchant Cash Advances  —  Square's search for new revenue streams is pushing it toward a controversial industry: Merchant cash advances.  —  The financial product, which operates outside of the regulation of loans …
More: TechCrunch, Inc.com and PE Hub BlogTweets: @caseynewtonThanks:@delrey
Robin Wauters / Tech.eu:
Belgian judge considers forcing ISPs to block Apple websites over ‘misleading’ product warranties  —  A Belgian magistrate is reportedly considering forcing ISPs to block Apple websites in the country, following a complaint about the company ‘misleading’ consumers on EU-wide product warranty …
More: ZDNet and Gigaom
Capital New York:
Culture blog The Awl bolsters its tech writing talent, hires Buzzfeed's John Herrman and The New Yorker's Matt Buchanan  —  The Awl hires Matt Buchanan from The New Yorker, John Herrman from Buzzfeed  —  Matt Buchanan and John Herrman are leaving their positions at The New Yorker and Buzzfeed …
Tom Cheredar / VentureBeat:
Game-rental service Gamefly now getting into movies to compete with Netflix  —  Updated at 3:40 p.m. PST with a response from Gamefly CEO Dave Hodess.  —  Video game rental service Gamefly has launched a new movie rental business that will take on Netflix's disc-by-mail business.
Bertel King, Jr / Android Police:
Microsoft Makes The Office 365 Android SDK Available For Download  —  Today Microsoft has released the Office 365 software development kit for Android.  With it, the company wants to invite developers to access Office data inside their apps.  The SDK provides APIs granting permission …
More: GitHub, Gearburn and WinBeta
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft wants Xbox Live to power Android and iOS games  —  Xbox Live is primarily used in Microsoft's consoles and Windows or Windows Phone games for achievements, friend lists, and game matchmaking.  While Microsoft has experimented with achievements on iOS and Android recently …
Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:
Samsung spent nearly $20M on ad time during Oscars; Galaxy Note 3 used for Ellen's selfie shot  —  Behind Oscar Selfie: Samsung's Ad Strategy  —  Marketer Spent Nearly $20 Million on Ad Time—and Got Product Placement for Galaxy Phone  —  Samsung Electronics Co. likely spent nearly $20 million …
Steven Millward / Tech in Asia:
China's latest state-run search engine ChinaSo launches, unlikely to fare better than earlier ones  —  China has a new state-run search engine that nobody will ever use  —  China has a new search engine today, though most web users won't notice or ever visit it.

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Earlier Picks

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