Techmeme
July 16, 2014, 2:30 PM

Top News

Laura Hazard Owen / Gigaom:
Amazon is testing “Kindle Unlimited,” an ebook subscription service for $9.99/month  —  Amazon is testing an ebook and audiobook subscription service called “Kindle Unlimited” that offers “unlimited access to over 600,000 titles and thousands of audiobooks on any device for just $9.99 a month.”
Larry Dignan / ZDNet:
In IBM and Apple's wake, what will team Android do?  —  Summary: The biggest challenge for team Android is that Google and Samsung, two partners with enterprise ambitions, will have to herd cats to reach corporations to counter Apple and IBM.  —  Google, Samsung and team Android may have to form …
Apple:
Arik Hesseldahl / Re/code:
Reuters:
Apple agrees conditionally to a $450M settlement in e-book price-fixing case; $400M will go to consumers  —  Apple agrees to conditional $450 million e-books antitrust accord  —  (Reuters) - Apple Inc has agreed to pay $450 million to resolve U.S. state and consumer claims …
New York Times:
Time Warner rejected $80B takeover bid by Murdoch's 21st Century Fox last month, no longer in discussions  —  Rupert Murdoch Said to Have Made Offer for Time Warner  —  Twenty-First Century Fox, the media empire run by Rupert Murdoch, made an $80 billion takeover bid in recent weeks …
Harrison Weber / VentureBeat:
Airbnb unveils its new identity, launches redesigned mobile app and website  —  Airbnb unveiled a complete brand and product redesign today at an exclusive event for top hosts and guests.  —  Airbnb calls its new logo a “multi-state moving identity,” and a “3D modular symbol” that's …
Mark Harris / Guardian:
FBI warns driverless cars could be used as ‘lethal weapons’  —  Internal report sees benefits for road safety, but warns that autonomy will create greater potential for criminal ‘multitasking’  —  The FBI believes that the driverless car is a “game changing” vehicle could revolutionise high …
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Samsung In Talks To Scoop Up SmartThings For Around $200 Million  —  Google has Nest, Apple has HomeKit and Samsung has...SmartThings, we're hearing.  The deal was completed for around $200 million dollars, though it might have been less according to one source.  —  (Update: The deal is not done yet, says another.)
Benjamin Wallace / New York Magazine:
Kara Swisher Is Silicon Valley's Most Feared and Well-Liked Journalist.  How Does That Work?  —  The combination of access and toughness has made her a preeminent arbiter of status.  —  The technology journalist Kara Swisher likes to call herself Sherlock Homo, but on a spring evening in Austin …
Ben Woods / The Next Web:
BlackBerry Assistant officially introduced as part of BlackBerry 10.3, Siri et al likely not worried  —  Canadian handset maker BlackBerry has officially introduced its virtual assistant for the BlackBerry 10.3 OS, and it's called simply ‘BlackBerry Assistant’.
Google:
Google+ removes all name restrictions, apologizes for “unnecessarily difficult experiences”  —  When we launched Google+ over three years ago, we had a lot of restrictions on what name you could use on your profile.  This helped create a community made up of real people …
Aimee Riordan / The Official Microsoft Blog:
Microsoft announces 175-megawatt wind farm deal, broadens renewable energy commitment  —  Microsoft will purchase 175 megawatts of wind energy from the Pilot Hill Wind Project in Illinois, about 60 miles south of Chicago, as part of a 20-year agreement announced Tuesday.
Liam Tung / ZDNet:
One in five ex-Nokia workers in Finland could be axed as Microsoft prepares layoffs  —  Summary: Speculation mounts in Finland about heavy cuts for Microsoft's Nokia employees.  —  The job cuts Microsoft is expected to announce this week could fall hard on Nokia's home country …
Kim-Mai Cutler / TechCrunch:
Sean Parker Provides Bulk of Funding To Pro-Parking, Pro-Car Ballot Initiative in SF  —  The tech industry's political orientation around transit is decidedly incoherent.  —  On the one hand, you have this investment relationship between Uber and self-driving car maker Google …
Se Young Lee / Reuters:
iPhone 5s was bestselling smartphone in May at 7M units, beating 5M for 2-month-old Galaxy S5  —  Samsung battles on two fronts as Apple readies iPhone 6  —  (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) is losing smartphone ground not only to cheaper Chinese rivals but also at the high end …

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