Techmeme: Microsoft plans to spin-off Nokia MixRadio as a standalone music streaming service, iOS and Android versions now a possibility (Stuart Dredge/Guardian)

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July 18, 2014, 10:00 AM

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Stuart Dredge / Guardian:

Microsoft plans to spin-off Nokia MixRadio as a standalone music streaming service, iOS and Android versions now a possibility — Nokia MixRadio spins out of Microsoft as standalone streaming music service — Personal radio app will still be preloaded on Windows Phones, but now has scope to launch on iOS and Android too

More: CNET, The Next Web, Geeky Gadgets, RAIN News and hypebot. See also Mediagazer

Dawn Chmielewski / Re/code:

Microsoft to Shutter Xbox Entertainment Studios — Microsoft will shut down the Xbox Entertainment Studios, ending an ambitious foray into original video programming. — The Santa Monica studio will be shuttered as Microsoft focuses on strengthening its core videogame business.

Om Malik:

Elop is the latest in a string of high-profile executives moving up the ranks despite being a dud — It is time to stop rewarding failure — Silicon Valley (the notion) has become very much like rest of corporate America — it has embraced the philosophy of failing upwards.

More: Microsoft Corporation, The Register, MediaNama, Global Nerdy, Guardian, Phandroid, Tech Times, ReadWrite, bit-tech.net, Gigaom, The Verge, The Tech Report, ZDNet, Phones Review and Business Insider

Tweets: @pmarca and @joshconstine

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:

Microsoft cuts to affect nearly all groups; OS Group restructuring to become more startup-like

More: The Verge, Softpedia News, Business Insider and New York Times

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:

Microsoft cuts will also hit ‘shadow workforce,’ going beyond announced layoffs

More: Associated Press. Tweets: @hkanji. Thanks:@johnhcook

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft is killing off Nokia's feature phones in favor of Windows Phone

More: BetaNews, CNET, Softpedia News, WinBeta, Re/code, MediaNama, bgr.in, NextBigWhat, TIME, AnandTech, PhoneNews.com, Ubergizmo, IntoMobile, CITEworld and ZDNet

Google:

Google Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2014 Results and Management Change — Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) today announced financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2014. — “Google had a great quarter with revenue up 22% year on year, at $16.0 billion”, said Patrick Pichette, CFO of Google.

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Nikesh Arora, Google's chief business officer, leaves company to join SoftBank

More: Bloomberg, Tech in Asia and Reuters

Tweets: @nikesharora, @sundarpichai, @pkafka and @pkafka

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:

Google's Q2 Revenue Of $15.96B Beats, But Its Non-GAAP EPS Of $6.08 Disappoints

Adam Lashinsky / Fortune:

Bill Campbell reflects on his relationship with Steve Jobs, coaching tech's leaders, and Apple under Tim Cook — After 17 years, Bill Campbell steps down from Apple's board — Bill Campbell recalls Steve Jobs' invitation to join Apple's board of directors as the kind of request that takes your breath away.

More: Computerworld, TechCrunch, MacRumors, MacNN, iPhone in Canada Blog, iMore, Cult of Mac, AppleInsider, Bloomberg, 9to5Mac, Business Insider and ABC News

Tweets: @johndoerr and @daiwaka

Apple:

Longtime Apple board member Bill Campbell retires after 17 years; BlackRock director Sue Wagner to replace him — Sue Wagner Joins Apple's Board of Directors — Apple® today announced that Susan L. Wagner, founding partner and director of BlackRock, has been elected to Apple's board of directors.

More: 9to5Mac, Wall Street Journal, MacStories, iLounge, App Advice, Forbes, AppleInsider, The Verge, ZDNet, TUAW and Softpedia News. Tweets: @clairecm

Matt Brian / Engadget:

Amazon's Kindle Unlimited offers all-you-can-eat e-books for $10 a month — After teasing us with a possible launch, Amazon has confirmed Kindle Unlimited, its all-you-can-read e-book subscription service. For $9.99 per month, the new service offers 600,000 books and “thousands” of audiobooks across a range of devices.

More: MacRumors, Amazon.com, TechCrunch, BetaNews, AppleInsider, ZDNet, iMore, CNET, The Verge, Gigaom, GeekWire, TechCrunch, The Next Web and SlashGear. See also Mediagazer

Jemima Kiss / Guardian:

Snowden: Dropbox is hostile to privacy, unlike ‘zero knowledge’ Spideroak — Whistleblower urges consumers to adopt more secure file storage systems which are less susceptible to government surveillance — Edward Snowden has warned against the cloud storage service Dropbox which he says is …

More: Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Gigaom, Business Insider, The Register, Boing Boing, Ubergizmo, ZDNet and Forbes. Tweets: @dmac1. See also Mediagazer

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Chrome 37 beta supports Microsoft's DirectWrite API, which improves the appearance of fonts — Fonts In Chrome For Windows Will Look Better Soon — Google released the latest beta version of its Chrome browser today, and if you're a Windows user on a machine that runs at least Vista, fonts will now look better on your screen.

More: Chromium Blog, PC World, Engadget, The Verge, The Tech Report, Softpedia News, Techdows, 9to5Google, CNET and The Next Web

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook starts testing Buy button on News Feed ads and Page posts, will not charge participating US businesses for now — Facebook Tests Buy Button To Let You Purchase Stuff Without Leaving Facebook — Facebook is trying out letting you pay for ecommerce purchases from other businesses without leaving its site or app.

Nellie Bowles / Re/code:

Airbnb Founder on Vagina Logo: “Go Ahead, Laugh All You Want” — Airbnb launched a new corporate logo yesterday, and everyone — including their dinner guests last night — had an opinion about it. — At the Verdi Club in San Francisco's Potrero Hill neighborhood, many of the guests …

Tweets: @caseynewton, @startupljackson and @nero

Michael Arrington / Uncrunched:

They Might Be Tearing Down The Creamery To Build Condos — If you're involved in the startup world in San Francisco you've likely been to the Creamery on Townsend and 4th street. It's iconic, even if only recently so. — In 2012 I wrote about the Creamery in a post talking about the shift …

Tweets: @startupljackson and @caseynewton

Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:

Amazon's first Fire Phone ad is all about Amazon Prime — After announcing it a month ago, Amazon is finally about to release its first smartphone, the Fire Phone. It's now beginning to air its first commercial for the phone too, and it's one of strange choices, to say the least.

More: Mashable, Business Insider, 9to5Google, GeekWire, Business Insider, Geeky Gadgets, CNET, AdAge, IntoMobile and SlashGear

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Twitter Acquires CardSpring To Power In-Tweet Commerce And Offers — Twitter just announced it's acquired CardSpring to enable “in-the-moment commerce experiences.” CardSpring is an application platform that lets developers build card-linked offers electronic coupons, loyalty cards …

More: The Twitter Blog, Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, PC Advisor, TechOne3, ReadWrite, Marketing Land, The Next Web, ZDNet, Gigaom and internetretailer.com

Kevin Fitchard / Gigaom:

No signal? GoTenna has a messaging gadget that will work in the middle of nowhere — For all of our dependency on mobile phones, there are still quite a few places in this world you can't get a wireless signal, from mountaintops to national parks to rural highways and even the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

More: Softpedia News, gHacks Technology News, Android Authority, San Francisco Chronicle, SlashGear, Crowdfund Insider, Engadget, Also, Pocketnow and VentureBeat

Pete Rizzo / CoinDesk:

With BitLicenses, NY becomes the first state to propose rules for virtual currency business — New York Reveals BitLicense Framework for Bitcoin Businesses — The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has released its long-anticipated list of proposed rules and regulations …

More: Department of Financial …, Wired, Washington Post, Business Insider, The Verge, Consumerist and Fortune. Tweets: @coindesk. Thanks:@gcaffyn

Cromwell Schubarth / Silicon Valley Business Journal:

TubeMogul lowers IPO shares to $7, raises $43.8M ahead of first trade Friday, will list on Nasdaq as TUBE — TubeMogul IPO raises $43.8M after hitting bottom of lowered target range — It's been a rough second half start Silicon Valley area companies going public, with TubeMogul the latest …

More: NASDAQ.com, AdExchanger, Seeking Alpha, PR Newswire and bizjournals

Ian Sherr / CNET:

Oculus preparing motion controllers to complement its forthcoming goggles — Oculus to get hands on with new virtual reality gear — Facebook's virtual reality company is readying motion control prototypes for its headsets to offer a more immersive experience for consumers. — Sarah Tew

More: TechSpot, Electronista, TechnoBuffalo, Ubergizmo, Gizmodo and The Verge. Thanks:@nickstatt

Bloomberg:

Line Said to Pursue U.S. IPO With Confidential Filing to SEC — Line Corp., operator of Japan's most popular mobile messaging service, filed confidentially for an initial offering in the U.S., people with knowledge of the matter said, taking a step closer to a dual-listing in New York and Tokyo.

More: Reuters. Tweets: @serkantoto

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Relcy Is Building A PageRank-Style Mobile App Search Engine With $9M From Khosla And Sequoia — As our connected world becomes more focused around mobile devices, we are increasingly app-centric, eschewing the wider mobile Internet in favor of individual, native programs that fulfill specific purposes.

Tweets: @dannysullivan and @rabois. Thanks:@ingridlunden

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