Techmeme: Tech executives Zuckerberg, Nadella, Costolo, Schiller, and others take “ice bucket challenge” to raise ALS awareness (Brian R. Fitzgerald/Wall Street Journal)

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August 14, 2014, 8:55 PM

Top News

Kara Swisher / Re/code:

Samsung acquires smart-home controller startup SmartThings for $200M — Internet of Bling: Samsung Buys SmartThings for $200 Million — Samsung has bought SmartThings, the startup that makes smart-home controllers. While the companies did not disclose the price, sources …

More: SmartThings, TechCrunch, Gigaom, ReadWrite, New York Times, AppleInsider, Business Insider, Forbes, The Verge, Engadget, VentureBeat, Gizmodo, The Next Web, Network World, bizjournals, opptrends, Connectedly and SlashGear

Tweets: @piercedavid, @joshconstine and @chrishollod

Daisuke Wakabayashi / Wall Street Journal:

Apple considering sapphire glass screens for more expensive models of new iPhones this fall, producing sapphire displays for smartwatch — Apple Considers Using Harder Material in Pricier Models — Apple Inc. created the blueprint for a smartphone when it covered the touch screen of its first iPhone in glass, instead of plastic.

More: TechCrunch, iMore, Digital Trends, AppleInsider, Softpedia News, RazorianFly, MacRumors and The Verge. Tweets: @johnpaczkowski

Elise Hu / NPR:

Comments sent to FCC were overwhelmingly pro net neutrality, most opposing came from templates — A Fascinating Look Inside Those 1.1 Million Open-Internet Comments — When the Federal Communications Commission asked for public comments about the issue of keeping the Internet free and open, the response was huge.

More: New York Times, SiliconBeat, Boing Boing, The Hill and TechPresident

Tweets: @digiphile, @rmack and @dangillmor

Matthew Green / A Few Thoughts …:

PGP, which hasn't fundamentally evolved since the 1990s, needs to die — What's the matter with PGP? — Last Thursday, Yahoo announced their plans to support end-to-end encryption using a fork of Google's end-to-end email extension. This is a Big Deal.

More: The Register. Tweets: @evacide, @anonyops, @glynmoody, @jrmchale and @alex

Mike Isaac / New York Times:

Ask.com Buys Ask.fm, an Anonymous Q.&A. Start-Up — Ask, and ye shall receive. — Ask.com, the Oakland, Calif.-based company owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp, announced on Thursday it had acquired Ask.fm, a highly popular question-and-answer website. — The move signals Ask.com's first significant push into social networking.

More: VentureBeat, PandoDaily, Softpedia News, ABC News and Electronista. Tweets: @blathnaidhealy

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

IAC Agrees To Work With Regulators On Cyberbullying Protections Following Ask.fm Deal

More: New York State Attorney …, BBC, PC Magazine, Engadget and Eric T. Schneiderman

Brian R. Fitzgerald / Wall Street Journal:

Tech executives Zuckerberg, Nadella, Costolo, Schiller, and others take “ice bucket challenge” to raise ALS awareness — Ice Bucket Challenge: Zuckerberg, Nadella and More — The “ice bucket challenge,” a campaign to raise awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) …

More: Facebook, ALS Association, The Verge, The Verge, Valleywag, USA TODAY, TechCrunch, BGR, TmoNews, GeekWire, Entrepreneur, TUAW, AppleInsider, Softpedia News, PadGadget, Mashable, CNET, TIME, CNN, iMore, memeburn, AllFacebook and Tech Times

Tweets: @pschiller, @dickc and @satyanadella

Hayley Tsukayama / Washington Post:

Twitter vows to “improve our policies” after Robin Williams' daughter is bullied off the network — Twitter has promised to improve and expand its policies after Robin Williams' daughter is bullied off of the social network. Internet trolls bullied Robin Williams' daughter off of Twitter …

Jordan Crook / TechCrunch:

Spring, David Tisch's Latest Venture, Is Instagram For Shopping — For the past year, investor and serial entrepreneur David Tisch has been working with his brother Alan to build an enjoyable way to shop on mobile. Today, that fruits of that labor springs onto the scene.

More: The Verge, Re/code, PC Magazine, Business Insider, CNET, New York Times, davidtisch.com, Wall Street Journal, David Tisch, Fortune, New York Magazine, Laughing Squid and VentureBeat

Jillian D'Onfro / Business Insider:

Square Just Released A Blog Post Listing The Top 10 Negative Myths About It — Square just published a defensive blog post about the Top 10 negative myths about its service. — The post comes only a few days after Amazon launched a new product that puts it in direct competition with Square …

More: Square, TechCrunch and Valleywag

Tweets: @evelynrusli, @tim, @caseynewton, @mikeisaac, @johnpaczkowski and @danprimack

IDC:

Smartphone shipments surpass 300M in Q2, Android and iOS dominate with 96% global marketshare — Worldwide Smartphone Shipments Edge Past 300 Million Units in the Second Quarter; Android and iOS Devices Account for 96% of the Global Market, According to IDC

BBC:

Berlin bans Uber app citing passenger safety — The mobile taxi app Uber has been banned in Berlin by the city's State Department of Civil and Regulatory Affairs. — In a statement, the authority said it had banned the app on passenger safety grounds and threatened the firm with a 25,000 euro …

More: VentureBeat, New York Times, Guardian, Engadget, Fortune, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Tech Times, Silicon Allee News, Gigaom, The Verge, Mashable, The Register, The Next Web, SlashGear and SiliconBeat

Kurt Wagner / Re/code:

Facebook VP Sam Lessin Is Leaving the Company — Sam Lessin, Facebook's VP of product management, is leaving the company. — Lessin announced his departure on his Facebook page Thursday afternoon. He originally joined Facebook when his startup, a storage company called Drop.io …

More: Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Business Insider, and Valleywag

Zach Honig / Engadget:

YouTube refreshes television app for set-top boxes, game consoles and smart TVs — If you use YouTube's app on your TV, get ready for a new UI (finally!). The app has a much cleaner look now, in line with Google's Material Design, and includes features that you're used to seeing on your computer …

More: YouTube Blog, VentureBeat, The Next Web, TechHive, Electronista, The Verge, Gigaom, TechCrunch, Windows Phone Central and SlashGear

Roger Cheng / CNET:

Motorola plans Sept 4 event to debut Moto 360, Moto X, G sequels — The company is hosting an event in Chicago for the eagerly anticipated smartwatch, with an array of other products in tow. — Motorola Mobility's Moto 360 smartwatch will finally get its official launch.

More: The Verge, BGR, The Next Web, Re/code, Wearable World News, Liliputing, TechCrunch, Ausdroid, Electronista, Gigaom and VentureBeat

Juro Osawa / Wall Street Journal:

Q&A: Lenovo CEO on How It Plans to Grow With Smartphones — Last year, Lenovo Group became the world's largest personal-computer maker, overtaking Hewlett-Packard. Now, the Chinese company is trying to repeat the success with smartphones, competing head-on with Samsung Electronics in emerging markets.

More: Lenovo Newsroom, BGR, The Next Web, GadgeTell, FierceWireless, Business Insider, 9to5Google, Globe and Mail and Re/code

Tweets: @jyarow and @wsjd

Florin T. / PhoneArena:

Meet the 6-inch Samsung Galaxy Mega 2 — Samsung is getting ready to launch a successor to the Galaxy Mega 5.8 and Galaxy Mega 6.3 from last year: a new device that should be called Galaxy Mega 2. While we heard about it several times before, it's only now that we get to see what the handset looks like …

More: TechnoBuffalo, Tech Times, DailyTech and BGR

Dave Zatz / Zatz Not Funny!:

Best Buy's smart home hub “Peq”: $9.99 a month for service, hardware bundles start at $120 — Meet Peq, The Next Smart Home Hub — As if we didn't have enough smart home hub entrants, Peq appears poised to launched. Pronounced “peek”, we believe this newcomer is Best Buy's answer …

More: Gigaom, Connectedly, SlashGear and TechHive

Kyle Russell / TechCrunch:

Y Combinator branches out into energy tech by investing in nuclear fusion startup Helion, with Mithril Capital — Y Combinator And Mithril Invest In Helion, A Nuclear Fusion Startup — Building a nuclear fusion reactor that can generate more energy than is put in to make it work …

More: Gigaom, Wall Street Journal and Y Combinator Posthaven. Tweets: @paulg. Thanks:@alexia

Sarah Buhr / TechCrunch:

Humin, The App That Organizes Phone Contacts By How You Know Them, Is Now In The App Store — Humin, the app that aims to replace your iPhone contacts app is now in the App Store. Will.i.am, Richard Branson and Angry Birds creator Peter Vesterbacka were all part of the private beta launch a few months back.

More: New York Times, The Verge, Business Insider, BetaBoston, Engadget, VentureBeat and The Next Web

Lauren Goode / Re/code:

50 Cent partners with Intel on heart-rate monitoring earphones, will be available Q4 2014 — Gimme a Beat: Intel, 50 Cent Pair Up on Heart-Rate Headphones — Chipmaker Intel and SMS Audio, the consumer electronics company founded by 50 Cent, are partnering to launch a pair of heart-rate-measuring headphones.

More: TechCrunch, Gizmodo, VentureBeat, Gizmodo, Wall Street Journal, Intel Newsroom, Tom's Guide and HipHopDX

Missy Cummings / Wired:

FAA needs to speed up U.S. drone policy development and R&D strategy to compete globally — We Need to Reform Our Drone Policies (But This Isn't About Privacy) — Last week the United States launched airstrikes on the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria using F-18 fighter jets and predator drones.

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