Techmeme
April 14, 2014, 8:40 PM

Top News

Peter Bright / Ars Technica:
Windows Phone 8.1 review: a magnificent smartphone platform  —  It's a 0.1 update that feels like a 2.0 update.  —  For the growing number of Windows Phone users, Windows Phone 8 was a frustrating release.  The major difference between Windows Phone 7.5 and Windows Phone 8 was invisible to end users …
Rene Ritchie / iMore:
Windows Phone 8.1 natively supports Apple Passbook data, an unannounced feature Apple may want to stop  —  Apple's Passbook passes are being used by Windows Phone 8.1 and Microsoft Wallet  —  When Apple introduced Passbook in iOS 6 they billed it as a way to store all your tickets, coupons …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Windows Phone 8.1 Developer Preview now available to download  —  Windows Phone 8.1 now available to download  —  After 18 months since the last major Windows Phone update, Microsoft is finally releasing Windows Phone 8.1 to developers today.  The software maker detailed the update …
Wall Street Journal:
Google buys Titan Aerospace, the maker of high-altitude drones Facebook was considering  —  Google Buys Drone Maker Courted by Facebook  —  Internet Giant to Acquire Titan Aerospace  —  Google Inc. said Monday it agreed to buy Titan Aerospace, a startup maker of high-altitude drones …
Mitchell Baker / The Mozilla Blog:
Greylock's Chris Beard joins Mozilla's Board of Directors, becomes interim CEO  —  Mozilla Moving Forward  —  Mozilla finds itself in the midst of an unexpected leadership transition.  Along with my fellow board members Reid Hoffman and Katharina Borchert, I am pleased to announce …
Rolfe Winkler / Wall Street Journal:
Google considering giving a boost in its search-engine results to websites that use encryption  —  Google May Push Sites to Use Encryption  —  A powerful voice at Google wants websites to be more secure.  —  In a move that experts say could make it harder to spy on Web users …
Kaylene Hong / The Next Web:
Facebook is reportedly prepping an e-money service, and is close to getting approval in Ireland  —  Facebook wants to be more than a social network — it is planning to facilitate financial services in the form of electronic money and remittances, the Financial Times reports (as spotted first by Benedict Evans).
Kim Masters / Hollywood Reporter:
David Fincher pulls out of talks to direct Sony Pictures' Steve Jobs film  —  David Fincher Out of Steve Jobs Movie in $10 Million Fee Fight (Exclusive)  —  The director was negotiating with Sony to reteam with “The Social Network” writer Aaron Sorkin and producer Scott Rudin.
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Did Microsoft just kill its anti-Google ‘Scroogled’ campaign?  —  Summary: A Microsoft Corporate Vice President claims Microsoft is ‘done’ with its ‘Scroogled’ campaign.  But is the company really Scroogled out?  —  Has Microsoft quietly done away with its anti-Google “Scroogled” campaign?
Kwame Opam / The Verge:
Heartbleed bug responsible for theft of 900 Canadian tax ID numbers  —  Canada's taxpayers may be the first victims of the Heartbleed bug that put the web on high alert last week.  According to the Canada Revenue Agency, 900 social insurance numbers (SINs) were stolen by hackers exploiting the security vulnerability.
Jason Del Rey / Re/code:
Square Hires Amazon AWS Exec Alyssa Henry as Engineering Lead  —  Square is one step closer to fully filling out its executive team, hiring long-time Amazon veteran Alyssa Henry as its new engineering lead.  —  At Square, Henry will “head up engineering operations for Square's infrastructure …
More: Square, TechCrunch and ZDNetTweets: @ekpThanks:@delrey
Pew Research Center:
18% of online Americans have had important personal information stolen, up from 11% last year  —  More online Americans say they've experienced a personal data breach  —  As news of large-scale data breaches and vulnerabilities grows, new findings from the Pew Research Center suggest …
Richard Lawler / Engadget:
Google Glass Kit Kat update arrives ahead of tomorrow's big sale, but removes video calling  —  Still need a push to drop $1,500 on Google's Glass headset when they go on sale to all US residents tomorrow?  After skipping a couple of months, the team behind it is pushing a big software update …
Colleen Taylor / TechCrunch:
Y Combinator Adds Four New Partners, Including Stripe CEO Patrick Collison  —  Y Combinator is announcing today the addition of four new partners to its roster, as part of its larger push for more growth under new president Sam Altman.  —  Altman announced in a blog post this afternoon …
Ina Fried / Re/code:
Early internal document reveals Android was initially designed without touchscreen support  —  Here's What Android Looked Like Before the iPhone  —  One of the more interesting documents that came to light during the Apple-Samsung document last week was an early internal Google document …
Peter Kafka / Re/code:
Thanks but No Thanks, Maker Studios Tells Relativity  —  Last night film studio Relativity Studios announced that it, too, wanted to buy Maker Studios, the YouTube network that Disney is about to acquire.  —  Here's Maker's answer: No, thank you — we've already sold.

Sponsor Posts

Tribe AI:
Is AI just hype?  —  Find out how top enterprises use Tribe to get real business results.
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more  —  We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics.  Download reports immediately for just $100.
Zoho:
All new Zoho Workerly 2024  —  Staffing businesses around the world face a unique set of challenges when it comes to managing their temporary workforce.  With a constantly shifting job market and changing staffing needs …
Comprehensive.io:
Browse salary data from 3,000 startups for free  —  Click for FREE, immediate access to real-time compensation benchmarking data.  Paid version helps HR automate comp reviews and communicate total compensation to employees.
The Kevin Rose Show:
Henry Shukman, Lessons from an Authentic Zen Master
Gain unconventional wisdom and insights through conversations with top expert in AI, investing, wellness, technology, and culture.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Wed. 03/27 - Hulu Comes To Disney+; WWDC Gets A Date
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 8:40 PM ET, April 14, 2014.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Earlier Picks

Richard Padilla / MacRumors: