Techmeme
May 1, 2014, 5:45 PM

Top News

Zach Epstein / BGR:
Unmasked: The world's first clear look at Amazon's smartphone  —  Following a series of exclusive reports, BGR has now obtained the first unobscured image of Amazon's debut smartphone  —  Amazon is still more than a month away from unveiling its first own-brand smartphone, but there isn't much mystery that remains.
The Verge:
Foursquare splitting into two apps: Foursquare for discovery and Swarm for checkins  —  Meet Swarm: Foursquare's ambitious plan to split its app in two  —  To take on Yelp, Foursquare is moving beyond the check-in  —  Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley has spent the last year trying to convince …
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
OS X 10.10 emphasis planned for WWDC, iOS 8 features pushed to iOS 8.1, new Apple TV still in the works  —  Apple may be planning to give the next version of the Mac OS X operating system, 10.10, a larger presence than iOS 8 at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference, according to sources with knowledge of the plans.
Ben Gilbert / Engadget:
John Carmack's former employer claims he stole tech for Oculus VR when he left  —  The man who co-created Doom, who co-founded id Tech, and who later left id Tech for Oculus VR, is being accused by his former employer of taking intellectual property with him to Oculus VR.
Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:
Snapchat adds ephemeral text messaging and live video chats  —  Real talk: the new Snapchat brilliantly mixes video and texting  —  More than just photos, Snapchat's new text and video chat feels immediate and intimate  —  By any measure, Snapchat has had a busy year.
Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:
Microsoft patches IE zero-day flaw, issues special security update for Windows XP despite end of support  —  Microsoft today announced it is releasing an emergency patch for Internet Explorer to fix a zero-day flaw spotted in the wild.  The security hole was found in IE6 through IE11 …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
LinkedIn Beats The Street In Q1 On Sales Of $473M, EPS Of $0.38, Raises Outlook  —  Amid a market correction that has seen many tech stocks lose value, LinkedIn, the social network for the working world, today reported Q1 earnings that beat analyst estimates.  Sales came in at $473 million, with EPS of $0.38.
Harrison Weber / VentureBeat:
Uber gears up to launch ‘Uber Family’ service & eyes a new batch of cities (scoop)  —  A source tells us that Uber will soon launch “Uber Family,” a new service that caters to passengers with children.  Only the highest rated Uber drivers will be selected for the new program in New York.
Jordan Crook / TechCrunch:
Vine improves desktop website, adds navigation and discovery features  —  Vine Launches A Six-Second YouTube  —  When Vine first launched on the web, all you could do was view your stream and check out profiles for individual users.  The desktop version came with TV Mode, too …
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Twitter is experimenting with a mute feature in its mobile apps  —  One of the most-requested features for Twitter's mobile apps may be on the cusp of arriving.  Users of the company's iOS and Android clients are now seeing an option to mute accounts that they follow, preventing another user's tweets …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Microsoft Acquires High-Performance Cloud-Computing Company GreenButton  —  Microsoft today announced that it has acquired GreenButton, a U.S.- and New Zealand-based high-performance cloud-computing company that has long had a close relationship with Microsoft's Azure group.
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
Yahoo is the latest company ignoring Web users' requests for privacy  —  “Do Not Track” has largely been a failure.  —  Yahoo yesterday announced that it will stop complying with Do Not Track signals that Web browsers send on behalf of users who wish to not be monitored for advertising purposes.
Businessweek:
How Apple, Google, Intel, and Adobe conspired in Silicon Valley's antitrust hiring case  —  Tech Hubris: The Silicon Valley Antitrust Hiring Case  —  Steve Jobs wouldn't appear to have been an emoticon guy, but history will show that on at least one occasion, when words failed to convey his delight, he resorted to one.
Tweets: @bw
Jordan Kahn / 9to5Mac:
Kamcord mobile gameplay recording platform launches iOS app, hits 3B videos, & picks up $7.1M Series A  —  Kamcord, the Y Combinator-backed startup with an SDK that lets developers offer gameplay recording functionality in mobile apps, today announced it has secured another big round of funding …
Wall Street Journal:
AT&T considering acquisition of DirectTV, in deal likely worth at least $40B  —  AT&T Has Approached DirecTV About Possible Acquisition  —  AT&T has approached DirecTV about a possible acquisition of the satellite TV firm, say people familiar with the situation, the latest sign of a possible shakeup in the television industry.

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