Techmeme: BlackBerry reveals why the Passport is hip to be square: It's all about the spreadsheets (Liam Tung/ZDNet)

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July 8, 2014, 2:05 PM

Top News

Jordan Kahn / 9to5Mac:

Bye Google Maps: Apple brings its Maps to the web for Find my iPhone — Update: Apple appears to be testing or slowly rolling out the feature as some users report still seeing Google Maps. Apple Maps are live on the iCloud.com beta site and available for some users on the main iCloud.com site as well.

More: AppleInsider, BGR, MacRumors, VentureBeat, SlashGear, Cult of Mac, MacNN and App Advice

Jessica E. Lessin / The Information:

Head of Apple Maps app and Mapkit team Chris Blumenberg leaves for Uber — Apple Maps Engineer Moving to Uber — Uber has poached Chris Blumenberg, a senior engineering manager who worked on Apple Maps, according to three people familiar with the move. Blumenberg was one of the first engineers …

More: AppleInsider, iMore, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, Business Insider, iPhone in Canada Blog, MacNN and App Advice. Tweets: @joshconstine

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple bolsters iOS 8 Health app with on-device steps counting & caffeine tracking — Apple has made significant enhancements to its upcoming Health application for iOS 8 in the latest beta of the new iPhone operating system. Most notably, the Health application can now utilize …

More: AppleInsider, LAPTOP Magazine, TechCrunch, Inquirer, VentureBeat, Gigaom, iLounge, App Advice, MacRumors, MacNN and Softpedia News. Tweets: @tim. Thanks:@mikebeas

Liam Tung / ZDNet:

BlackBerry reveals why the Passport is hip to be square: It's all about the spreadsheets — Summary: BlackBerry's Passport has inspired a lot of head-scratching, but the company reckons it does have a good reason for going out on a square limb. — Liam Tung

Se Young Lee / Reuters:

Samsung estimates a ~24% YOY decline in profits, missing market expectations; reports slowing smartphone, tablet sales — Smartphones weigh on Samsung Electronics as guidance disappoints — (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Tuesday issued unexpectedly weak quarterly earnings guidance …

More: Samsung Investor Relations, New York Times, Engadget, Wall Street Journal, VentureBeat, Re/code, CNET, Fortune, ZDNet, Businessweek, Reuters, DisplayBlog, TIME, MobileBurn.com, App Advice, ABC News, Electronista, Inquirer, Pocketnow, NBC Bay Area, 9to5Google, SamMobile, AndroidGuys, Quartz and Bloomberg

Tweets: @fmanjoo, @fmanjoo, @mattrosoff and @satariano

JP Mangalindan / Fortune:

How John Arrillaga Sr. turned orchards into office parks for Silicon Valley's tech giants — The secretive billionaire who built Silicon Valley — How John Arrillaga Sr. transformed California fruit orchards into high-priced office space for the likes of Google, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, and Cisco.

More: Technologizer and Valleywag. Tweets: @howardlindzon and @stephaniemehta. Thanks:@jpmanga

Stacey Higginbotham / Gigaom:

Spark Labs raises $4.9M to make an OS for the internet of things — Spark Labs, the company that last year built a development board that lets people make connected devices that could connect to a cloud service, has raised $4.9 million to take its business to the next step.

More: VentureBeat, Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, TechCrunch, The Next Web, PE Hub Blog and Re/code

Mario Aguilar / Gizmodo:

Popcorn Time's “Netflix for Torrents” Is Coming to Chromecast — Popcorn Time is a miracle: It lets you stream torrents of movies and TV shows as though they were on Netflix or Hulu. Is it illegal? Probably! But it's also awesome, hard to trace, and soon, it'll work with your Chromecast.

More: BetaNews, Business Insider, Pocket-lint, 9to5Google, Softpedia News, Digital Trends, Ubergizmo, TechSpot, AndroidHeadlines.com and CNNMoney.com

Philip Guo / Communications of the ACM:

Python is now the most popular introductory teaching language at top U.S. universities … At the time of writing (July 2014), Python is currently the most popular language for teaching introductory computer science courses at top-ranked U.S. departments. — Specifically, eight …

More: PC World, ReadWrite and linux.com. Tweets: @holdenweb

Kif Leswing / Gigaom:

Android Wear teardown: These watches are made for tinkering — The two Android Wear smartwatches, the LG G Watch and the Samsung Gear Live, are finally shipping to early adopters, and the iFixit crew has done its customary teardown, pulling off both watch cases and faces to sneak a peek at the electronics underneath.

More: iFixit, iFixit, Engadget, Inquirer, CNET, 9to5Google, Wearables Arena, Android and Me, Droid Life and Liliputing

Russell Brandom / The Verge:

Facebook likely better than the FBI at facial recognition due to its larger photo database — Why Facebook is beating the FBI at facial recognition — If you're worried about Big Brother and computerized facial recognition, this summer has given you plenty of reason to be scared.

More: Marketing Pilgrim

John Biggs / TechCrunch:

Bitcoin Vault Xapo Raises $20 Million From Greylock, Index And Announces BTC Debit Cards Are Shipping This Month — Secure BTC vault Xapo has announced they've raised $20 million from Greylock Partners and Index Ventures, bringing their total investment capital to $40 million.

More: Re/code, Wall Street Journal, NEWSBTC, Bloomberg and PE Hub Blog

Roger Cheng / CNET:

Scoop: Sprint tests out family data plan, other discounted offers — The wireless carrier is testing a cheaper version of plans offered by AT&T and Verizon Wireless, underscoring the notion that it's moving away from being simply the “unlimited data” carrier. — Sprint CEO Dan Hesse at a company event in June.

More: DSLreports. Tweets: @johnlegere. Thanks:@jeskillings

Horace Dediu / asymco.com:

As US smartphone penetration crosses 70%, signs that iPhone will fare well among late adopters — Late late majority — Seven years after the iPhone was launched, 70% of the US population is using smartphones. Smartphones existed before the iPhone so the category is older than seven years …

More: 9to5Mac

Kaylene Hong / The Next Web:

LG's Android Wear-based G Watch is now on sale across the world on Google Play and key retailers — LG took the wraps off the G Watch in March, a smartwatch powered by Android Wear, Google's platform for wearables. Now the G Watch is finally available for purchase worldwide on Google Play …

More: LG Newsroom, CNET, Gizmodo, ZDNet, Droid Life, Android Central, Pocketnow, Ubergizmo and Gotta Be Mobile

Joseph F. Kovar / CRN:

EMC VMAX3 Array Runs Server Apps, Gets Cloud Tiering Via TwinStrata Acquisition — Pages — In a move that could significantly shake up the way data centers are architected, EMC Tuesday updated its flagship VMAX storage solution with new software and a new storage hypervisor …

More: InfoWorld, Gigaom, Computerworld, The Register, bizjournals, CloudWedge, Channel Partners News …, BetaBoston and cloudcomputing-news.net

Juli Clover / MacRumors:

iPhone 6 Front Panel Subjected to Scratch Test, Significant Bending — Earlier today, we shared a video of what appeared to be the front panel of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 subjected to a limited bending stress test, but YouTube user Marques Brownlee has now acquired the same front panel and subjected …

More: YouTube, PC Magazine, LAPTOP Magazine, Inquirer, BGR, Business Insider, Gotta Be Mobile, iPhone Hacks, TIME, DisplayBlog, The Register, VentureBeat, Cult of Mac, Daring Fireball and MacRumors

Tweets: @lukew and @thetechblock

Kim-Mai Cutler / TechCrunch:

Keith Rabois' Homebuying Startup OpenDoor Raises $9.95M From Everyone — Well. — It seems like a lot of Valley investors want to see the process of buying homes become a lot more efficient. — After Khosla Ventures VC and former Square COO Keith Rabois teased that he was working …

More: The Technology Chronicles, Inman News, bizjournals, VentureBeat and Re/code

Tweets: @howardlindzon and @mike_greenfield

Andrea Peterson / Washington Post:

Chinese cyberspies have hacked Middle East experts at major U.S. think tanks — Middle East experts at major U.S. think tanks were hacked by Chinese cyberspies in recent weeks as events in Iraq began to escalate, according to a cybersecurity firm that works with the institutions.

More: CrowdStrike, The Register, CNET, Softpedia News, Computerworld, Inquirer, SC Magazine, Reuters and VentureBeat

Tweets: @dylanwelch and @teamcymru

Kevin Collier / Daily Dot:

How currency exchange Moolah contributed to mistrust and tumbling prices for Dogecoin traders — The death of Dogecoin — On May 4, against all odds, Dogecoin surged to the finish line in Aaron's 499, a nationally televised NASCAR race in Talladega, Ala.

JC Torres / SlashGear:

Sony Xperia C3 totes 5MP soft flash camera for selfies — Even Japanese OEM Sony is now trying to cater to the selfie-loving crowd. With a 5 megapixel front camera complete with soft LED flash, the Xperia C3 is being poised as the best selfie smartphone. While that may arguably be true …

More: Blog Portal, Engadget, CNET, Gigaom, BGR, DailyTech, Ausdroid, Xperia Blog, Wired.co.uk, Electronista, Ubergizmo, Inquirer, Pocketnow, Phones Review, TechnoBuffalo, Softpedia News, The Next Web, TechView.me and Digital Trends

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