Techmeme
July 28, 2014, 6:50 PM

Top News

Liz Gannes / Re/code:
Apple to Buy Radio App Swell for $30 Million  —  Apple is close to buying the Pandora-for-talk-radio app Swell, according to multiple sources.  —  The deal is worth about $30 million, these sources say.  —  Swell had raised $7.2 million from investors including DFJ, Google Ventures and InterWest Partners.
Mitchell Baker / The Mozilla Blog:
Interim Mozilla CEO Chris Beard appointed as permanent CEO  —  Chris Beard Named CEO of Mozilla  —  I am pleased to announce that Chris Beard has been appointed CEO of Mozilla Corp. The Mozilla board has reviewed many internal and external candidates - and no one we met was a better fit.
Michael J. de la Merced / New York Times:
Zillow to Acquire Trulia for $3.5 Billion  —  For much of the last nine years, Zillow and Trulia have competed in the online real estate listings market they helped create.  —  But after a speedy six-week courtship, the two are set to combine forces.  —  Zillow agreed on Monday to buy Trulia …
South China Morning Post:
Microsoft China placed under official investigation as offices in four cities raided  —  Government investigators have been sent to the company's offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu  —  The mainland's business authorities are investigating the offices of Microsoft Corp, the US technology giant has confirmed.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft pits Siri against Cortana in new Windows Phone 8.1 ad  —  Microsoft is focusing on Apple's Siri digital assistant in one of the first Windows Phone 8.1 commercials.  It's another return to the Mac vs. PC war, as Microsoft choses to mock Siri in an effort to showcase Cortana for the first time.
Craig Karmin / Wall Street Journal:
Most Hilton locations worldwide will let customers unlock rooms with their smartphones by 2017  —  Hilton Books Upgraded Technology  —  Hotel Guests Will Be Able to Use Smartphones as Keys or to Choose Rooms at Properties World-Wide  —  Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. is placing …
Peter Kafka / Re/code:
AT&T, Verizon offer HBO with basic cable and internet for $40-50; still no cable-free option  —  Why HBO and Pay TV Still Aren't Getting Divorced  —  Reminder: You still can't get HBO without paying for other TV channels, too.  —  But you can still get a cheapish package that includes HBO …
Dan Palmer / CoinDesk:
Blockchain Returns to Apple iOS with New Bitcoin Wallet  —  Following Apple's controversial removal of iOS bitcoin apps in January, the first of the big-name wallets relaunches on the App Store today.  —  Blockchain, which already provides hugely popular wallets for both desktop computers …
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
OkCupid admits that it experiments on users, just like Facebook  —  Defending Facebook's experiments, OkCupid admits to some of its own  —  Facebook received a lot of backlash when news came out that it had manipulated users' news feeds in order to experiment on them, and today OkCupid …
Arik Hesseldahl / Re/code:
Amazon Fire Phone Costs $205 To Build, Teardown Shows  —  The components used to assemble the Amazon Fire phone cost a combined $205, a teardown analysis by the research firm IHS shows.  —  In a report due to be released Tuesday and seen by Re/code, the research firm details the phone's internal components and their cost.
Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:
It's Business Time: Airbnb Targets Work Travelers With Concur Partnership  —  Global hospitality startup Airbnb has spent the last six years trying to get consumers comfortable with the idea of staying in someone else's home when traveling.  Now the company is trying to make headway in the enterprise …

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