Techmeme
May 8, 2014, 6:45 PM

Top News

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
Apple in final talks to acquire Beats for $3.2b, deal could be announced next week  —  According to the Financial Times, Apple is in late-stage talks with Beats to acquire the music streaming and headphone maker for a deal worth $3.2 billion.  The deal could be announced as soon as next week, according to the report.
Miyoung Kim / Reuters:
Samsung's head of mobile design resigns amid lukewarm Galaxy S5 reception  —  Samsung Electronics replaces mobile design head  —  (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the world's biggest handset maker, has replaced the head of its mobile design team amid criticism of the latest Galaxy S smartphone.
Ben Popper / The Verge:
50 leading tech investors tells the FCC a pay-to-play internet would kill startups  —  Venture capitalist are anxiously awaiting the agency's new plan for an open internet  —  Would it be possible to build the next YouTube or the next Netflix if big ISPs like Comcast and Verizon were allowed …
Jenna Wortham / New York Times:
Snapchat settles with FTC over misleading marketing, address book collection, security breach; no monetary penalty imposed  —  Snapchat Reaches Settlement With Federal Trade Commission  —  The disappearing act of messages on Snapchat, the mobile messaging service, has not been as foolproof as the company promised.
Tammy Parker / FierceWireless:
Sprint slams on the brakes for top 5% of data users in congested areas  —  Sprint's (NYSE: S) pledge of unlimited data is looking increasingly less sustainable, as the carrier maneuvers to rein in network traffic generated by its heaviest data users and ensure quality of service for the majority of its customers.
David Peisner / Rolling Stone:
Markus Persson, a.k.a. Notch, is gaming's biggest rock star.  But he may never make a second album  —  Markus Persson, a.k.a. Notch, is gaming's biggest rock star.  But he may never make a second album  —  It's a wet monday morning in Stockholm, and the door to Markus Persson's office is closed.
Tweets: @sai
William Alden / New York Times:
Science Inc. buys Delicious from YouTube co-founders' Avos Systems for an undisclosed sum  —  YouTube Founders to Sell Delicious, a Social Bookmarking Site  —  The social bookmarking service Delicious has changed hands twice over the last decade, while failing to attract a mainstream audience.
Adam Lashinsky / Fortune:
Reporter offered pre-IPO shares by Arista Networks, considers it another sign of a tech bubble  —  Yes, we're in a tech bubble.  Here's how I know it  —  When tech startups are willing to offer almost anyone — even a journalist — shares ahead of an I.P.O., a burst isn't terribly far behind.
Sam Biddle / Valleywag:
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Online Learning Marketplace Udemy Raises $32M To Scale Up Internationally  —  Long time player in the online learning space, Udemy, which has built a skills-based marketplace where individual tutors can sell their skills and learners can get access to courses (both paid and free) …
Aaron Levie / The Box Blog:
Box strikes deal with GE to become the default file-sharing service of its 300,000+ employees  —  General Electric and User-Centric IT  —  I'm incredibly excited to share that General Electric has chosen Box as its corporate standard for content sharing and collaboration.
Politico:
House Intelligence Committee unexpectedly passes USA Freedom Act text approved by House Judiciary  —  House intel surprises on NSA surveillance  —  The House Intelligence Committee passed a version of the USA Freedom Act on Thursday, unexpectedly approving that measure while not holding …
Richard Nieva / CNET News:
California Senate approves smartphone ‘kill-switch’ bill  —  After failing in the state Senate two weeks ago, a bill requiring that device makers include antitheft software on phones sold in the state passes muster.  —  State Sen. Mark Leno and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon introducing the …
Jonathan Shieber / TechCrunch:
Stock Investment And Wealth Management Service Motif Investing Raises $35 Million  —  Retail investors in the U.S. looking for ways to play the stock market have several startups offering them services, and now Motif Investing has raised $35 million in late-stage funding from new backers to take its services worldwide.
John Koetsier / VentureBeat:
OMsignal unveils ‘biometric smartwear’ T-shirts for fitness geeks, quantified selfers, and you  —  What's next in mobile?  Find out at MobileBeat, VentureBeat's 7th annual event on the future of mobile, on July 8-9 in San Francisco.  Register now and save $400!  —  Smart wearables are here, and they're huge.
BBC:
London black taxis plan congestion chaos to block Uber  —  Uber launched its car-hire service in London in June 2012  —  London black-cab drivers are planning to cause gridlock in the city to protest against car service Uber.  —  The Licensed Taxi Drivers Association complains that Uber's drivers …
Kim-Mai Cutler / TechCrunch:
BitPay Is Raising $30M At A $160M Valuation From Index, Richard Branson  —  We're hearing that BitPay, a platform that processes payments in bitcoin for merchants, is raising the field's biggest round yet.  The company is raising $30 million on a roughly $160 million valuation in a round led …
Thanks:@anthonyha
Ina Fried / Re/code:
ZTE Starts Selling $99 Firefox OS Phone in the U.S., Via eBay  —  While Firefox OS remains targeted at first-time smartphone buyers overseas, China's ZTE said Thursday it will start selling a model in the U.S. via eBay.  —  The ZTE Open C is listed for the “Buy It Now” price of $99.99.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Intuit Buys Lettuce Apps For $30M To Add Inventory And Order Management To Quickbooks  —  Some consolidation afoot in world of cloud-based enterprise services.  Intuit has made another acquisition to help position itself as the go-to place for small and medium businesses to run their offices in the cloud …

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