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March 13, 2014, 7:55 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.

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:

NSA calls reports that it spread malware and impersonated Facebook “inaccurate” — The NSA Responds To Allegations It Impersonated Facebook And Infected PCs With Malware — The NSA has responded to allegations that surfaced yesterday indicating that the agency pretended to be Facebook to infect computers with malware.

More: Ars Technica, Wired, The Next Web, New York Times and TheHill

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: Slate, NPR, FireEye Blog, SC Magazine, Daring Fireball, Business Insider, Financial Post, Reuters, Gotta Be Mobile, Gizmodo, CNET, Mashable, The Verge, Electronista, Consumerist and Nextgov

Tweets: @bradstone and @emilychangtv

Ashley Feinberg / Gizmodo:

Target turned off function to automatically delete malware, reacted only after DOJ notificaton

More: Engadget, TIME, BGR, TechSpot, The Daily Caller, DailyTech and TechCrunch

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

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: VentureBeat, Digital Media Wire, Wall Street Journal, VatorNews, The Technology Chronicles and TechCrunch. Tweets: @danprimack

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

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: The Register, Network World, LAPTOP Magazine, The Droid Guy, MobileSyrup.com, PC World, Gizmodo, DailyTech, Phandroid, WinBeta, Softpedia News, SlashGear 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: New York Times, VentureBeat, Search Engine Land and Tech News Plus

Tweets: @edithyeung and @anamarketers

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, PC Magazine, Search Engine Land, BetaNews, TechSpot, Gizmodo, internetretailer.com, Ars Technica, 9to5Google, PC World, Search Engine Land and Search Engine Roundtable

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: Google Drive Blog, Re/code, Los Angeles Times, BGR, PC Magazine, Computerworld, Geek Beat, 9to5Mac, Engadget, Gizmodo, VentureBeat, The Next Web and Electronista

Tweets: @labnol and @benedictevans

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, Variety, Mashable, TechCrunch, Ars Technica, Business Insider, Gigaom, AllFacebook and Mashable. See also Mediagazer

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: AppleInsider, Gigaom, Re/code, Tech Trader Daily, Engadget, ZDNet, Phandroid, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal and Gizmodo

Jason Del Rey / Re/code:

Clinkle's Still a Hot Mess as Its Big Shot COO Departs — Barry McCarthy was supposed to bring stability to the tumultuous environment at Clinkle, the stealth payments startup he joined in the fall as its first chief operating officer. Instead, the former longtime Netflix CFO is heading …

More: TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Gigaom, Valleywag and Business Insider

Tweets: @jorilallo, @mdudas, @delrey, @mikeisaac and @kevinroose

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, Reuters and New York Times

Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:

Plex opens up Chromecast to everyone, adds automatic camera upload — Media center app maker Plex followed through on a promise Thursday to remove restrictions around its Chromecast implementations, opening up the feature to all of its users including non-subscribers.

More: blog.plex.tv, TechCrunch, 9to5Google, 9to5Mac, iPhone Hacks, Android Community, AndroidHeadlines.com, Android Police, Droid Life and SlashGear

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 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, ITworld.com, Computerworld, TechnoBuffalo and The Next Web

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 …

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, Shiny Shiny, Consumerist, Gotta Be Mobile and GeekWire

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 and VentureBeat

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, Gotta Be Mobile, Pocketnow, TechnoBuffalo, The Droid Guy, SlashGear and Softpedia News. Tweets: @theinformation

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):

Rik Henderson / Pocket-lint:

Virgin Media gives customers 5GB of free cloud storage, launches packages for additional space — Virgin Media has launched Virgin Media Cloud, its own cloud storage solution for its broadband customers. The company has teamed with F-Secure, a third-party firm that specialises in digital security …

More: Computerworld, PC Pro and Cable UK Blogs

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