Techmeme: Aereo's CEO on the future of Netflix, TV sports and the public airwaves (Jeff John Roberts/Gigaom)

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April 20, 2014, 6:50 PM

Top News

James Temple / Re/code:

Nike Denies FuelBand Shutdown, but Layoffs Could Reveal New Cracks in Wearables Market — Nike confirmed a “small number” of layoffs in its digital sports division, but attempted to tamp down a CNET report late Friday that said the company was shuttering the hardware side of its FuelBand team.

More: Ubergizmo, TND - The Next Digit, Edible Apple, Business Insider, I4U News, TechCrunch, Owened, Neowin, App Advice and Mashable. Tweets: @nickstatt

Nick Statt / CNET:

Exclusive: Nike fires majority of FuelBand team, will stop making wearable hardware

Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

Aereo's CEO on the future of Netflix, TV sports and the public airwaves — In 2012, Chet Kanojia set out to take on TV's goliaths with a slingshot full of tiny antennas, but he never imagined things would go so far so fast. Aereo, the start-up he created, is going before the Supreme Court …

More: SCOTUSblog, Ars Technica, Yahoo! News, blog.chron.com and Quartz. See also Mediagazer

Dorinda Elliott / Fast Company:

Tencent: the Chinese internet giant founded by Ma “Pony” Huateng guns for global expansion — Tencent: The Secretive, Chinese Tech Giant That Can Rival Facebook and Amazon — China's most powerful Internet company is headquartered in a bland, glassy tower in southern Shenzhen.

More: The Next Web. Tweets: @ashleymayer

Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:

Facebook's dedicated unfollow button triples unfollows as users tire of original friend model — Facebook's friend problem — Why can't the social network adapt to how we make (and lose) friends? — When I arrived at the University of Michigan in fall 2007, everybody said “Facebook me.”

More: teendrama and Gizmodo. Tweets: @carlfranzen and @caseynewton

Chris Davies / SlashGear:

Inside Nokia's effort to build a detailed, three-dimensional “HD Map” for self-driving cars — Inside the Nokia HERE HD Maps putting Google on notice — Where exactly am I? That's the question Nokia is facing, not in its position following the Microsoft deal that will see it shed …

Kara Swisher / Re/code:

What Does the Recent Tech Stock Downturn Mean? The Truth Is Nobody Knows. — In his new book on high-frequency trading, “Flash Boys,” Michael Lewis opens with the very simple premise he gleaned from watching the stock market crash in October of 1987: — “If you ever needed proof …

More: Trends and Beyond Search. Tweets: @tonyromm and @trengriffin

Christina Tynan-Wood / ITworld:

Detroit's tech job growth nearly double the national average, fueled by car industry hires — By the numbers: Detroit offers a bright future for technology professionals — Metro Detroit's tech job growth was nearly 2x the national average in recent years

Sharif Sakr / Engadget:

Sony Xperia Z2 review: a big, powerful slab of a phone — It's been nearly three years since I reviewed the Xperia Neo, manufactured by what was then Sony Ericsson. The Neo represented just the second generation of Xperia phones running on Android, from a period when Sony was finding …

More: Forbes, Pocket-lint, Guardian and CNET

Russell Brandom / The Verge:

Galaxy S5's finger scanner marks an early milestone in the FIDO Alliance's efforts to eliminate passwords — The plot to kill the password — The world's most powerful companies want you to log in with fingerprints and eyescans — Last Friday, Samsung's new Galaxy S5 arrived with an unexpected and underhyped feature.

Tweets: @mparekh, @mikalfm, @hamburger and @nytimesbits

Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:

Analyst consensus is that quarterly iPad sales might decline slightly compared to last year — How many iPads did Apple sell last quarter? — The analysts' estimates range from 15 million to nearly 22 million. Average: 19.3 million. — FORTUNE —Although the heyday of the iPad …

More: Monday Note, 9to5Mac, Cult of Mac, TND - The Next Digit, App Advice, MacDailyNews, TechnoBuffalo, MacNN, MacRumors, iPhone in Canada Blog, Business Insider and PadGadget

Tweets: @jyarow and @benbajarin

Megan Geuss / Ars Technica:

Digital Public Library of America to add millions of records to its archive — Aquarium, Battery Park, New York City [Postcard], ca. 1931. This is just one of the many resources you can find online through the DPLA website or through apps using its API. — New York Aquarium Postcards collection …

More: Digital Public Library …, opensource.com, John Palfrey and Wired Campus. Tweets: @jsb. See also Mediagazer

Rod Boshart / Quad City Times:

Microsoft brings $1.13 billion data center to Iowa — DES MOINES — Central Iowa is emerging as an economic magnet for high-tech data centers, state and local leaders declared Friday after plans were unveiled for global computer giant Microsoft to phase in a $1.13 billion regional data center over the next four to five years.

More: Computerworld, Neowin, GeekWire, HotHardware.com News, WinBeta and VentureBeat

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