Techmeme: Unable to fork Android and keep Google services, Samsung faces commoditization similar to PC-makers (Benedict Evans)

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July 13, 2014, 2:00 PM

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David Streitfeld / New York Times:

Inside Amazon's pricing war with Hachette, which is making some publishers and authors anxious — Amazon, a Friendly Giant as Long as It's Fed — Vincent Zandri hails from the future. He is a novelist from the day after tomorrow, when Amazon has remade the worlds of writing, printing …

More: AVC, Business Insider and Fortune

Tweets: @jason_kint, @tonyhorwitz, @cdixon, @chuckwendig, @davidstreitfeld and @om

David Carr / New York Times:

Hulu receives exclusive rights to stream South Park immediately after broadcast and entire back catalog in deal worth $80M+ — Hulu to Stream ‘South Park’ as More Players Jostle for Online Rights — While the media moguls in Sun Valley, Idaho, jockeyed for parking spaces for their jets …

More: Ars Technica, VentureBeat, Variety, South Park, Hulu Blog, PC Magazine, Digital Trends, Re/code, Gizmodo, Ubergizmo, Engadget and The Verge

Tweets: @pkafka, @markmilian and @katherinefink

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Dante D'Orazio / The Verge:

Snapchat tests collaborative ‘Our Story’ feature with all users for the World Cup final — Surprise Snapchat experiment shares stories from the World Cup final — Snapchat may be best known for its “ephemeral” messaging, but the company is experimenting with a new way to share live events.

More: Engadget and Gotta Be Mobile

Benedict Evans:

Unable to fork Android and keep Google services, Samsung faces commoditization similar to PC-makers — Unbundling innovation: Samsung, PCs and China — It seems pretty clear now that the Android OEM world is starting to play out pretty much like the PC world.

More: Stowe Boyd. Tweets: @mblumenthal, @ppkarppi, @fmanjoo, @stevesi, @bmann and @marinperez. Thanks:@srikardr

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple-designed iBeacon hardware hits FCC: for Apple Stores, developers, or consumers? — On July 4th of this year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) made filings public from Apple regarding an Apple-branded piece of iBeacon equipment. The hardware is shown above to be a rounded hub …

More: TUAW, MacRumors, VentureBeat, Cult of Mac, AppleInsider and App Advice. Thanks:@mikebeas

Reuters:

Exclusive: YouTube weighs funding efforts to boost premium content - sources — (Reuters) - YouTube has embarked on a new round of discussions with Hollywood and independent producers to fund premium content, two sources with knowledge of the talks told Reuters, a move that could bolster …

More: Beyond Search. Tweets: @pkafka

TechCrunch:

Curated Food Delivery Startup Caviar In Talks To Be Acquired By Square For $100 Million — Curated food delivery startup Caviar is in talks to be acquired by Square in a deal that could be worth at least $100 million, according to several sources. While we've heard the deal is slated …

Tweets: @alex and @danprimack

Andy Greenberg / Wired:

Inside Dark Wallet: two crypto-anarchists' user-friendly system for anonymous Bitcoin transactions — Waiting for Dark: Inside Two Anarchists' Quest for Untraceable Money — Amir Taaki and — Cody Wilson are cruising north through Texas on Interstate 35 in the 4:30 am predawn darkness.

More: The Verge and Gigaom

Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:

Beats sues Chinese counterfeiters for billions as Apple sale nears completion — Headphone maker Beats has filed suit against a number of Chinese counterfeiters, alleging trademark infringement and seeking damages that could run into the billions of dollars just weeks before the company officially becomes an Apple subsidiary.

More: TMZ.com, Mashable, Hip-Hop Wired, Wall St. Cheat Sheet, Music Times, BET, Ubergizmo, Cult of Mac, TechnoBuffalo, Redmond Pie, iPhone in Canada Blog and Electronista

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple China denies location tracking claims: we're ‘deeply committed to protecting the privacy of all our customers’ — This past week, Chinese State TV called the iPhone a “national security concern” because of its location tracking capabilities. The iPhone's operating system utilizes location …

More: Apple, AppleInsider, Ubergizmo, TechnoBuffalo, CNET, Wall Street Journal, Computerworld, MacRumors, Macworld, Softpedia News, Business Insider, Mashable, iPhone in Canada Blog, iPhone Hacks, iMore and Engadget

Brandon Bailey / Mercury News:

Google expands in San Francisco: leases office space at 1 Market Street, buys 8-story building at 188 Embarcadero — Google expanding its San Francisco offices — Google is expanding its already sizable presence in San Francisco by leasing space in one office tower and buying another on the Embarcadero …

More: VentureBeat and Softpedia News. Thanks:@brandonbailey

Danny Sullivan / Marketing Land:

Just Like Facebook, Twitter's New Impression Stats Suggest Few Followers See What's Tweeted — Twitter has new analytics available that let anyone understand exactly how viewed their tweets are. Those stats also clear something else up. Just like Facebook, what you share on Twitter isn't seen by all your followers.

More: Conversation Agent. Tweets: @dannysullivan, @dannysullivan and @dannysullivan. See also Mediagazer

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