Techmeme
March 4, 2014, 7:30 PM

Top News

John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
iOS 7.1 to ship in time for next week's iTunes Festival, will be needed to stream event  —  iOS 7.1 and the iTunes Festival at SXSW  —  Apple's first iTunes Festival in the U.S. starts a week from today at SXSW in Austin.  Apple is going to stream the performances to iOS devices using an app …
Alvin Wong / UnleashThePhones:
Video shows setup process for Cortana on leaked build of Windows Phone 8.1  —  Exclusive: Cortana Voice Assistant on Windows Phone 8.1 [VIDEO]  —  Building on the videos showing off various brand-new features in the upcoming Windows Phone 8.1 update that we have brought you …
Matt Brian / Engadget:
Hands-on with Apple's CarPlay: when Siri met Ferrari (video)  —  Apple's in-car infotainment system has been a long time coming.  After it was announced at the company's annual WWDC conference in June last year, “iOS in the Car” flew under the radar, only to undergo a rebrand and launch publicly yesterday under a new moniker: CarPlay.
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Intel buying health-tracking wristwatch maker Basis for around $100M  —  Basis Goes To Intel For Around $100M  —  With $96.7M In Funding, Powa Technologies Debuts PowaTag For Mobile And Audio-Triggered Commerce  —  Intel has won the Basis auction, we're hearing, at a price of around $100 million according to one source.
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 …
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget:
Roku's new Streaming Stick works with most TVs, drops price to $50  —  When Roku released its first Streaming Stick in late 2012, it was a tough sell.  It cost $99 (as much as the highest-end Roku box), only worked with TVs that were certified as “Roku Ready,” and it didn't even ship with a remote.
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer retiring after 18 years, to be replaced by VP of finance Luca Maestri  —  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.
Nikkei:
Japan to regulate Bitcoin trades, impose taxes  —  TOKYO — The Japanese government will set rules for trading bitcoins, defining the virtual tender not as a currency but as a commodity akin to gold.  —  Gains from trading bitcoins on online exchanges, and purchases made with them will be subject to Japanese tax.
More: Gigaom, Reuters, VentureBeat and ValueWalk.  Tweets: @kashhill
Alex Hern / Guardian:
Bitcoin bank Flexcoin closes after hackers steal 896 bitcoin worth £365,000, Poloniex loses 12.3% of reserves in separate hack  —  Bitcoin bank Flexcoin closes after hack attack  —  Bank admits it does not have resources to cover loss of 896 bitcoin worth £365,000 stolen in raid
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 …
Joan E. Solsman / CNET:
Scoop: Spotify hires Beats Music former head of product  —  Fredric Vinna, part of Beats Music's early team of creators, recently left the streaming music service and will soon begin work at its main rival, Spotify.  —  The rivalry between Spotify and Beats Music, two key streaming music services, is deepening.
Dante D'Orazio / The Verge:
HBO Go is coming to the PlayStation 3 today  —  After a very long wait, PlayStation 3 owners will finally be able to stream HBO shows on their consoles.  The console is getting its very own HBO Go app starting today, according to an announcement on the official PlayStation Blog.

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Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch: