Techmeme: Mother sues Google over kids' apps after 5-year-old son buys $65 worth of virtual currency (Jeff John Roberts/Gigaom)

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March 11, 2014, 6:50 PM

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David Kushner / Rolling Stone:

The Flight of the Birdman: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out — How did a chain-smoking geek from Hanoi design the viral hit Flappy Bird - and why did he walk away? — By — Last April, Dong Nguyen, a quiet 28-year-old who lived with his parents in Hanoi, Vietnam …

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

iOS 8: Apple polishes Maps data, adds public transit directions service — Apple is readying an upgraded version of its iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Maps application for the next major release of iOS in an effort to battle Google for mobile maps supremacy, according to sources briefed on the plans.

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Disney Ponders the Biggest Big Media YouTube Bet Yet: Buying Maker Studios — Disney has been talking to Maker Studios about an acquisition that would value the YouTube network at $500 million or more, according to people familiar with the negotiations. — A deal isn't guaranteed.

More: Financial Times, Business Insider, PE Hub Blog, ReelSEO Video Marketing, Deadline.com and Tubefilter. See also Mediagazer

Arik Hesseldahl / Re/code:

Collaboration Software Maker Jive Explores Sale — Jive, the enterprise-focused software company that makes social communication and collaboration tools, has explored a sale during the last several months, sources familiar with the matter tell Re/code. — These sources say the company …

More: CITEworld, ZDNet, Reuters, GeekWire and Business Insider

Wall Street Journal:

Amazon hopes to boost MP3 sales with limited music streaming service for Prime members — Amazon Working on Music-Streaming Service — To Spur Song Purchases, Limits Would Be Placed on Listening — Amazon.com Inc. is hoping to offer an on-demand music-streaming service to customers …

More: The Verge and SlashGear

John McDermott / Digiday:

Twitter testing click-to-call button which allows mobile users to call advertisers directly — Twitter tries to prove its ads drive sales — As part of its continued effort to evolve and broaden its advertising capabilities, Twitter is now touting itself as a platform for effective direct response advertising.

More: Wall Street Journal, AllTwitter, Marketing Land and Street Fight. See also Mediagazer

Casey Newton / The Verge:

Baljeet Singh, developer of skippable pre-roll ads for YouTube, joins Twitter

More: Wall Street Journal, Computerworld, Marketing Pilgrim, Business Insider, VentureBeat and SocialTimes. Tweets: @kevinweil. See also Mediagazer

Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

Mother sues Google over kids' apps after 5-year-old son buys $65 worth of virtual currency — A New York woman whose child spent $65.95 on digital “Crystals” has filed a lawsuit on behalf of other parents across the U.S., claiming the Google Play store is full of games and apps that lure children into spending money.

More: SiliconBeat, Electronista, BGR, Phandroid, Pocketnow, SlashGear, The Next Web and The Switch

Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:

Apple Continues Pursuit Of IT And Education With Improvements To Its ‘Secret’ Loyalty Pricing — If you're unfamiliar with Apple's Loyalty Program, we'll forgive you. It's not all that well publicized and for pretty good reason. It only kicks in if you're the kind of person who spends …

More: Digital Trends, Electronista, Cult of Mac, iPhone in Canada Blog, App Advice, PC Magazine, Gigaom, AppleInsider, MacRumors and Breaking Apple News …

Ed O'Keefe / Washington Post:

Feinstein: CIA searched Intelligence Committee computers — The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday sharply accused the CIA of violating federal law and undermining the constitutional principle of congressional oversight as she detailed publicly for the first time how the …

More: New York Times, Guardian, NBC News, Wall Street Journal, Politico, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, NBC News, Bloomberg, Associated Press, Business Insider, NationalJournal.com, Techdirt, The Switch and CNN

Tweets: @ggreenwald, @benadida, @dangillmor, @charlie_savage and @binarybits

GSMArena.com:

Leaked ad says two rear cameras on the new HTC One will allow post-shot focusing, 3D effects — EXCLUSIVE: here's why the HTC One 2014 has two cameras — HTC experiments with cameras to set its One phones apart and The All New One will have two cameras but we didn't know why until now.

Liz Gannes / Re/code:

Secret-Sharing App Whisper Raising Another $30 Million at $200 Million Valuation — Whisper, the popular anonymous sharing app, is reeling in more money from venture capitalists, only six months after its last funding round. — The round is worth just shy of $30 million …

More: StrictlyVC, BuzzFeed, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, I4U News, Mashable, The Technology Chronicles, PandoDaily, Gigaom, SocialTimes, CNET and Om Malik. Tweets: @eghosao

Matthew Miller / ZDNet:

Jawbone releases UP 3.0 app for Android with support for new UP24 band — Summary: Just a couple months after the iOS release, Jawbone is now rolling out their UP 3.0 app for Android devices so you can now use the UP24 band with your favorite Android device. — Matthew Miller

More: Engadget, The Verge, TechCrunch, iMore, CNET, BGR, Gotta Be Mobile, Gigaom, VentureBeat and WebProNews

Andrew Harris / Bloomberg:

Mt. Gox U.S. Affiliate's Assets Frozen by U.S. Judge — Mt. Gox Inc., the American affiliate of the bankrupt Bitcoin exchange that lost track of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of virtual currency, had its U.S. assets frozen by a federal judge in Chicago.

More: Wall Street Journal

James Robinson / PandoDaily:

Google buys the ghost of Green Throttle Games, as TV arms race gathers speed — Four months after Santa Clara-based Green Throttle Games slowly shuffled off this mortal coil, PandoDaily has confirmed that its parts and labor have been quietly scooped up by Google as a possible asset …

More: 9to5Google

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Google Launches Add-On Store For Google Docs — Google today announced the launch of its add-on store for Google Docs' spreadsheet and word processor apps. The store, which resembles the Chrome Web Store in its design, currently features about 50 add-ons, with more coming in the near future.

More: Google Drive Blog, ZDNet, PC World, Engadget, Google Developers Blog, Google Operating System, chrome.google.com, The Verge, CNET, CITEworld, 9to5Google, The Next Web, WebProNews, Pocketables and Lifehacker

Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:

Instagram shoots for global expansion with big Android update — Instagram has always set a high bar for speed. While other photo apps add feature after feature, Instagram's updates generally come in the form of “Bug fixes and performance improvements.” Instagram's latest update for Android …

More: Instagram Blog, The Next Web, AllFacebook, Greenbot, Mashable, TechnoBuffalo, CNET, 9to5Google, Daily Dot, MobileSyrup.com, TechCrunch and Engadget. Tweets: @maxvoltar

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Google Updates Chrome Web Store With Support For Paid Extensions And Themes, Free Trials For Packaged Apps — Google made a couple of updates to its Chrome Web Store today and with these, developers can now use the store to offer free trials for packaged apps (which are able to run offline).

More: Google Developers Blog, Engadget and The Next Web. Thanks:@_trendspotter

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

Sprint owner vows “massive price war” if it can buy T-Mobile — “Three heavyweight fight” would put real pressure on Verizon and AT&T, CEO says. — The CEO of Sprint owner SoftBank said he'll start a “massive price war” if his company can purchase T-Mobile US.Sprint is attempting to buy T-Mobile but hasn't reached an agreement yet.

More: Bloomberg, Reuters, CNET, AndroidHeadlines.com, eWeek, Wall Street Journal, DSLreports, dailywireless.org and FierceWireless

Deborah Gage / Wall Street Journal:

Metamorphic Ventures raises ~$70M second fund, aims to bridge New York and Silicon Valley — Aiming to Bridge Silicon Valley and New York, Metamorphic Ventures Closes Second Fund — Silicon Valley may be the world's center of technology, but New York City drives a lot of other industries that need tech.

More: Metamorphic Ventures, VentureBeat, PE Hub Blog and StrictlyVC

John Ruwitch / Reuters:

Lenovo says China strike an IBM matter, but it won't cut wages — (Reuters) - Chinese PC maker Lenovo Group Ltd said it was up to IBM to resolve a wildcat strike at a China-based factory, as a deal to buy the U.S. company's server business had yet to be finalized.

More: Lenovo Newsroom, eWeek, TechWeekEurope UK, Wall Street Journal and Gigaom

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