Techmeme
March 20, 2014, 11:30 AM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
Airbnb In Advanced Talks to Raise Funding at a $10 Billion Valuation  —  Private-Equity Firm TPG Likely to Lead Funding Round for the Online Home-Rental Marketplace  —  Airbnb Inc. is in advanced talks to raise funds that would value the online home-rental marketplace at more than $10 billion …
Mike Isaac / Re/code:
As Messaging Wars Escalate, Social App Tango Raises $280 Million  —  Social startup Tango announced Thursday that it had raised a massive $280 million Series D round of venture funding, the latest significant move among a handful of high-profile apps all vying to own the mobile messaging space.
Parmy Olson / Forbes:
Exclusive: Alibaba Sinks $215 Million Into Messaging App Tango, Valuing It At More Than $1 Billion  —  China's Alibaba is the latest Internet giant to make a bet on the messaging space, and it's a big one.  The company is spending $250 million for a minority stake in the messaging and free-calling app Tango, the startup revealed today.
David Pierce / The Verge:
The story of Motorola's smartwatch from the man who designed it  —  The Moto 360 is a breathtaking design — here's how it came to be  —  Eventually they just made a watch.  —  Motorola design chief Jim Wicks and his team had spent a year and a half designing the device that would ultimately become …
Nathan Kirsch / Legit Reviews:
Intel Desktop Roadmap Update - Devil's Canyon, Broadwell, Haswell-E  —  Lisa Graff, Vice President and General Manager Desktop Client Platforms Group, gave a small group of journalists at the Game Developer Conference in San Francisco an update on the future of Intel's desktop and enthusiast platforms.
eMarketer:
Driven by Facebook and Google, Mobile Ad Market Soars 105% in 2013  —  Mobile ad spending on pace to reach $31.45 billion this year  —  Last year, global mobile ad spending increased 105.0% to total $17.96 billion, according to new figures from eMarketer.  In 2014, mobile is on pace …
Lorraine Luk / Wall Street Journal:
China Mobile adds about 1 million new iPhone users in February  —  China Mobile added about one million new iPhone users last month after it started offering the popular smartphone in mid-January.
Levi Pulkkinen / Seattle PI:
Ex-Microsoft employee charged with passing journalist trade secrets  —  Prosecutors: Angry worker sent blogger Windows 8 code, internal documents  —  Workers removing the products from the stage after the Microsoft Windows 8 and Surface event in New York, Oct. 25, 2012.
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Google-Backed Lending Club Brings Peer-To-Peer Lending To Business Loans  —  Peer-to-peer lending marketplace Lending Club is announcing a major expansion today into business loans.  —  Lending Club brings together lenders and borrowers who want to cut out banks in the process of investing among peers …
Jeremy Kirk / PC World:
Linux worm diversifies to mine cryptocurrencies  —  A Linux worm that targets routers and set-top boxes is now looking for full-fledged computers to use its new feature, a cryptocurrency mining function, according to Symantec.  —  Symantec spotted the worm, which it calls Darlloz, in November.
Stephanie M. Lee / The Technology Chronicles:
Augmedix raises $3.2 million to bring Google Glass into doctor's office  —  Augmedix, one of several start-ups developing ways to use Google Glass in health care, said Wednesday it has raised $3.2 million in venture capital funding.  —  The announcement comes on an especially busy …
Kelly Conniff / TIME:
Twitter Launches Easy Tool That Finds Your First Tweet  —  Twitter has launched #FirstTweet, a tool that helps users find the very first message they sent out using the site-which, of course, means that you might end up seeing a tweet you'd rather not remember.
More: The Twitter Blog and The VergeThanks:@srikardr
Peter Kafka / Re/code:
Tribune's Newsbeat App Lets Robots Read You the News While You Drive  —  There are many, many news apps out there.  If you're going to come out with a new one, what do you do to make it ... new?  —  Here's Tribune Co.'s answer: Mash up a news reader with news radio, and add some nifty personalization features.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Yahoo's Tumblr First TV Ad Deal Is with Viacom  —  Tumblr, the blogging site Yahoo bought last year for $1.1 billion, has secured an advertising deal with Viacom, which plans to pitch cobranded campaigns on the site to marketers tied to TV programming for networks including MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central.
James Niccolai / PC World:
HP plans 3D printer announcement for June  —  Hewlett-Packard claims to have solved the two biggest problems with today's 3D printers and will make its first big technology announcement in that area in June, CEO Meg Whitman said Wednesday.  —  There's a lot of “buzz and hype” around 3D printing …
Andrew Allemann / Domain Name Wire:
US won't give up NTIA's oversight of ICANN to any government-led alternative  —  NTIA: U.S. won't abandon its role in the internet until it's satisfied with the alternative  —  Strickling makes it clear that IANA contract won't be transitioned until it is happy with the alternative.
Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:
Official: Court's sign-off for queries on Americans' data would be impractical  —  A senior government lawyer said Wednesday that the high volume of searches that the National Security Agency makes of a database that holds Americans' and foreigners' communications would make court approval for queries involving Americans impractical.
Deborah Gage / Wall Street Journal:
Coupa Raises $40M For Cloud Procurement Software, Takes On SAP  —  Coupa Inc., which helps companies track spending on items like travel and office supplies that can quickly eat into corporate budgets, raised another $40 million, bringing total funding to $87 million.
More: Fortune

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