Techmeme: Layoffs Hit eBay's Magento Division; Product Chief Exits (Jason Del Rey/Re/code)

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March 13, 2014, 5:30 PM

Top News

Mark Zuckerberg / Facebook:

Zuckerberg called Obama over spying, says the US should champion, not threaten the internet — As the world becomes more complex and governments everywhere struggle, trust in the internet is more important today than ever. The internet is our shared space. It helps us connect. It spreads opportunity.

More: The Verge, The Switch, Guardian, CNET, Gigaom, CNNMoney.com, BuzzFeed, Wall Street Journal, TheHill, Fox News, AllFacebook, TechCrunch, Re/code, Business Insider, The Next Web, Forbes, Truthdig, SlashGear, Valleywag, WebProNews and Mashable

Tweets: @ryantate, @jonathan_blow, @koenrh, @markgongloff, @rj_gallagher, @aestetix, @davidgoldmancnn, @cnntech, @ggreenwald and @ggreenwald

Businessweek:

Target could have stopped theft of 40M credit card numbers after security alarms, but didn't — Missed Alarms and 40 Million Stolen Credit Card Numbers: How Target Blew It — The biggest retail hack in U.S. history wasn't particularly inventive, nor did it appear destined for success.

More: Engadget, BGR, TechCrunch, TechSpot, Consumerist, The Daily Caller, DailyTech, CNET, Business Insider, Financial Post, Reuters, Gotta Be Mobile, Gizmodo, Mashable, The Verge, Electronista and Nextgov

Tweets: @emilychangtv, @bw, @tyrangiel, @kashhill, @jimaley and @bradstone

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple developing Preview and TextEdit apps for iOS to view files stored in iCloud by OS X versions — iOS 8: Apple works to further push iCloud as the future of the file system — When Apple introduced both iOS and iCloud, its goal was to eliminate the classic file system found in Mac OS X …

More: LAPTOP Magazine, PadGadget, Pocketnow, Pocket-lint, Haverzine, Geek.com, MacRumors, eWeek, Business Insider, Softpedia News, iLounge, The Verge, Engadget, TechnoBuffalo, Redmond Pie, iPhone Hacks, MacDailyNews, iPhone in Canada Blog, SlashGear, iDownloadBlog.com, Gotta Be Mobile, TechCrunch, iMore, App Advice, AppleTell, BGR and MacNN

Tweets: @irace and @benjaminzamayo

Thanks:@llsethj

Dan Primack / Fortune:

Event ticketing platform Eventbrite has raised around $50M in new funding at a valuation of over $1B — Exclusive: Eventbrite joins $1 billion club — Popular event ticketing company raises around $50 million in new round of funding at a big valuation. — FORTUNE — Event ticketing …

More: Wall Street Journal, The Technology Chronicles, VatorNews, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, PE Hub Blog and Re/code

Tweets: @danprimack and @rafat

Liz Gannes / Re/code:

Just a Month After Google Capital Funding, Renaissance Learning Sells for $1.1B — Google Capital valued Renaissance Learning at $1 billion when it put $40 million into the educational assessment company in mid-February. Just a month later, Renaissance Learning is worth $1.1 billion …

More: VatorNews, PE Hub Blog, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, TechCrunch, VentureBeat and SiliconBeat

ZDNet:

Microsoft and Nook redo their agreement; no Microsoft e-reader in the works — Summary: It looks like the Nook Windows 8 app may be superseded by a Microsoft reading app. But the planned Nook Windows Phone app is seemingly tabled. — On March 10, Microsoft and Nook Media updated …

More: PC World, GeekWire, CNET, Engadget, LiveSide.net, Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, 24/7 Wall St., Fox Business, SlashGear, InvestorPlace and Windows Phone Central. Tweets: @maryjofoley. See also Mediagazer

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Google removes underlined links, says goodbye to 1996 — Google started life as a research project in 1996 to crawl the internet and create a search engine. 18 years later, Google is now removing the last of the design left over from that era. Starting today, the '90s-style underlined links …

More: Jon Wiley, BetaNews, Search Engine Land, Gizmodo, internetretailer.com, Los Angeles Times, Ars Technica, 9to5Google, PC World, Search Engine Land and Search Engine Roundtable

Javed Anwer / Times of India:

Sources: Microsoft makes Windows Phone OS free for two Indian phone makers — MS offers Windows Phone OS free to Indian players — NEW DELHI: Desperate times call for desperate measures. With Windows Phone failing to make a significant dent in the market share of Google's Android …

Luke Johnson / Trusted Reviews:

Huawei to release dual OS Android-Windows Phone handset in the US in Q2 — Huawei: We are still committed to Windows Phone but dual OS is better — More Huawei Windows Phone handsets are incoming — With the Windows Phone platform continuing to increase its market share …

More: LAPTOP Magazine, SlashGear, PC World, CNET, Gizmodo, DailyTech, Phandroid, WinBeta, Softpedia News, WMPoweruser, BGR and Engadget

Laura Hazard Owen / Gigaom:

Amazon is raising the price of Prime to $99/year, adds same-day Prime Fresh delivery for $299/year — Amazon Prime customers, who have been paying $79 per year for unlimited two-day shipping and other perks, will pay $99 per year when their membership renews. Here's the text I saw on my Prime page this morning (h/t @sarahw):

Bloomberg:

Facebook unveils 15-second video ads selling for $1M-$2.5M a day, targets TV marketing budgets — Facebook Unveils Video Ads to Court TV's Market — Facebook Inc. (FB) is releasing its long-awaited video-advertising product today, as the world's largest social network moves to diversify …

More: Facebook for Business, Re/code, The Next Web, Ars Technica, TechCrunch, AllFacebook, Gigaom, Business Insider, Mashable, Variety and Mashable. See also Mediagazer

Jordan Kahn / 9to5Google:

Google drops price of all monthly Google Drive plans to $2/100GB, $10/1TB, $100/10TB — Google announced today on its blog that it's lowering the monthly pricing plans it offers for users buying extra storage on Google Drive. Google attributes the changes to “recent infrastructure improvements” …

More: The Official Google Blog, Re/code, PC Magazine, BGR, Computerworld, 9to5Mac, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Next Web, Gizmodo, VentureBeat and Electronista

Tweets: @labnol and @benedictevans

Bloomberg:

Starbucks Plans to Test Mobile Ordering This Year — Starbucks Corp. (SBUX), the world's largest coffee-shop operator, will test a smartphone service this year that lets customers order items ahead of time at some U.S. cafes, part of a push to promote its mobile application.

More: ZDNet, GeekWire, Shiny Shiny, Consumerist, Gotta Be Mobile, iPhone in Canada Blog and CNET

eMarketer and Newsroom Posts:

Desktop Search to Decline $1.4 Billion as Google Users Shift to Mobile — Overall desktop ad spending set to decline in 2014 while mobile grows 83.0% — Desktop search in the US is poised for a significant decline this year as paid clicks on Google shift toward mobile devices, according to new figures from eMarketer.

More: VentureBeat, Wall Street Journal, Search Engine Land and Tech News Plus

Chris Welch / The Verge:

FCC approves AT&T's purchase of Leap Wireless, says it's ‘in the public interest’ — The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's acquisition of Leap Wireless, the company that operates the popular Cricket brand of prepaid wireless service. Acknowledging that an unchecked deal …

More: Tech Trader Daily, ZDNet, Re/code, Gizmodo, Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg

Mark Milian / Bloomberg:

Masayoshi Son on how Softbank scored the deal to become iPhone's exclusive carrier in Japan — How Steve Jobs Got the iPhone Into Japan — The iPhone, it's safe to say, is big in Japan. Toward the end of last year, three out of every four smartphones sold in Japan were iPhones …

More: AppleInsider, TechSpot, Cult of Mac, iPhone in Canada Blog, The Loop, iDownloadBlog.com and MobileBurn.com. Tweets: @iankennedy. Thanks:@srikardr

Jennifer Baker / PC World:

Europe embraces common charger rules to end mobile compatibility nightmare — European Union politicians have vowed to end the “nightmare” of non-compatible phone chargers. — The European Parliament on Thursday gave its approval to introduce new common charger for rules for mobile phones …

More: EU Press Room, LAPTOP Magazine, The Next Web, TechnoBuffalo and ITworld.com

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Banjo Raises $16M To Grow Its Experiential Real-Time News And Events Platform — Startup Banjo has raised a new $16 million Series B round of funding, bringing its total raised to date to $21 million. The round was led by Balderton Capital, and included participation from BlueRun Ventures and Vegas Tech Fund, among others.

More: Wall Street Journal, PE Hub Blog and Re/code

Evelyn M. Rusli / Wall Street Journal:

Xapo, maker of secret, underground Bitcoin vaults, raises $20M in Benchmark-led round — Building the Fort Knox for Bitcoin — Bitcoin was supposed to be a frictionless digital currency that required no banks or intermediaries. — Yet a raft of bitcoin thefts at exchanges like Mt. Gox …

More: Re/code, Bloomberg and Fortune

Ina Fried / Re/code:

Lookout Hands CEO Reins to Jim Dolce; Founder John Hering Shifts to Executive Chairman — Having just turned 30, John Hering is hardly ripe for retirement. — But the founder of mobile security firm Lookout does think the time is right for his company to bring in a more experienced hand to lead the business.

More: New York Times, VentureBeat, Bloomberg and Reuters

Kevin C. Tofel / Gigaom:

T-Mobile plans to upgrade its 2G EDGE footprint to 4G LTE by mid-2015 — You should be able to bid a final goodbye to that dreaded “E” icon on your T-Mobile handset within the next 15 months. — Celebrating the one-year anniversary of it's LTE network launch on Thursday …

More: CNET, The Verge, TechCrunch, CNET, BGR, Engadget, dailywireless.org, WebProNews, iMore and IntoMobile

Amir Efrati / The Information:

Amazon Eyed Overseas Markets in Smartphone Talks — As Amazon prepares to launch its long-awaited smartphone, opportunities in non-U.S. markets loom large. — Amazon executives last spring held talks with possible hardware partners that included detailed discussions on strategies for China …

More: BGR, The Droid Guy, SlashGear, TechnoBuffalo and Softpedia News. Tweets: @theinformation

Jason Del Rey / Re/code:

Layoffs Hit eBay's Magento Division; Product Chief Exits — EBay has laid off dozens of people in its Magento e-commerce software division, two people familiar with the moves told Re/code. The total number of affected jobs is near 50, one of these people said.

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