Techmeme: Airbnb to Expose 124 Hosts to New York Attorney General (Douglas MacMillan/Wall Street Journal)

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August 22, 2014, 8:30 PM

Top News

Reiji Murai / Reuters:

iPhone 6 display panel redesign delayed production, impact on launch uncertain — Exclusive: Apple iPhone 6 screen snag leaves supply chain scrambling — (Reuters) - Suppliers to Apple Inc (AAPL.O) are scrambling to get enough screens ready for the new iPhone 6 smartphone as the need …

Kevin Poulsen / Wired:

Secret has closed 42 security holes reported through its bug bounty program, which began in February — Your Anonymous Posts to Secret Aren't Anonymous After All — White hat hacker Ben Caudill is halfway through his sandwich when he casually reaches over to his iPhone, swipes the screen a few times, then holds it up to me.

More: Forbes, CNNMoney.com, CNET, TechCrunch, New York Times, BGR, PandoDaily, The Daily Dot, Gigaom, The Verge, Cult of Mac, SlashGear, Business Insider, Business Insider, Engadget, Tech Times and The Next Web

Tweets: @hunterwalk, @trevortimm, @ashk4n and @laurengelman

Thanks:@srikardr

Secret Den:

Secret replaces photo library access with Flickr access, adds polls, moves to block posts with real names — Image search, Questions and Safety — When we first designed Secret, we set a few key principles. Today, we're releasing an update focused on one of them: Words are the centerpiece.

More: 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, AppleInsider, Engadget, VentureBeat, TechnoBuffalo and Business Insider. Tweets: @ajs

Mike Beasley / 9to5Mac:

Apple removes Secret app from Brazilian App Store for not conforming with local laws

More: Gigaom, iMore, Engadget, PC Magazine, VentureBeat, MacRumors, ReadWrite, CNET, MacDailyNews, TUAW, Ubergizmo, App Advice, iPhone Hacks, MacNN, The Next Web and AppleInsider. Thanks:@chancehmiller

Wall Street Journal:

Amazon preparing ad program similar to AdWords, will replace Google ads on site — Amazon Prepares Online Advertising Program — Retailer Developing Ad Sales Program in a Challenge to Google and Microsoft — Amazon.com Inc. is gearing up to more directly challenge Google Inc. 's dominance …

Tweets: @scottthurm

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Amazon Now Piloting CPM Ads With Select Amazon Associates Publishers

More: Zatz Not Funny!, Making Different and Ehowportal

Dan Primack / Fortune:

Exclusive: Todd Park stepping down as America's chief technology officer — Todd Park is planning to step down as U.S. Chief Technology Officer by year-end, Fortune has learned from sources familiar with the situation. — He is expected to take on a new White House role …

More: Wired, Re/code, VentureBeat, The Hill, Gigaom and Government Technology News

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple finds some iPhone 5 units have battery problems, opens replacement program — This Friday afternoon, Apple has opened up an iPhone 5 battery replacement program after discovering that a “very small percentage” of units “may suddenly experience shorter battery life or need to be charged more frequently.”

More: Apple, MacRumors, AppleInsider, Ars Technica, Gizmodo, The Next Web, The Verge, iMore, Softpedia News, Re/code and Cult of Mac

Douglas MacMillan / Wall Street Journal:

Airbnb to Expose 124 Hosts to New York Attorney General — Airbnb plans to hand over the names and addresses of 124 hosts on its service to the New York attorney general, the company said in a blog post Friday. — The apartment-rental site agreed in May to provide Attorney General Eric Schneiderman …

More: The Airbnb Public Policy Blog, Gigaom, Fortune, TechCrunch and The Next Web

New York Times:

U.S. Finds ‘Backoff’ Hacker Tool Is Widespread — More than 1,000 American businesses have been affected by the cyberattack that hit the in-store cash register systems at Target, Supervalu and most recently UPS Stores, the Department of Homeland Security said in an advisory released on Friday.

More: TechCrunch, Associated Press, The Verge, Mashable, Gizmodo, Business Insider and BetaBoston. Tweets: @nicoleperlroth

Jason Del Rey / Re/code:

Twitter Is Working With Payments Startup Stripe on Its Commerce Initiative — Twitter's long-awaited plan to let its users make purchases right from a tweet is nearing, and payments startup Stripe will have a role in the business, multiple industry sources tell Re/code.

More: CNET, Engadget, Marketing Land, SlashGear, The Next Web and WebProNews. Tweets: @kabster728. Thanks:@delrey

Dan Frommer / Quartz:

Most smartphone users download zero apps per month — Mobile apps have skyrocketed in popularity and utility since Apple introduced the iPhone App Store in the summer of 2008. Apps now represent 52% of time spent with digital media in the US, according to comScore, up from 40% in early 2013.

More: comScore, Business Insider, Gigaom, TechSpot, RAIN News and TIME

Tweets: @fromedome, @ross, @treehcapital, @chrisgilmer, @scobleizer, @krestivo, @chrismessina, @piercedavid and @sfiegerman

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Majority Of Digital Media Consumption Now Takes Place In Mobile Apps

Brian Womack / Bloomberg:

Google Buys Product-Design Company Gecko for X Projects — Google Inc. (GOOGL) is acquiring Gecko Design Inc. to add product-design capabilities to its research lab. — Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. Gecko, which is based in Los Gatos, California, will join Google's X lab, the startup said on its website.

More: CNET, The Next Web, ZDNet, VentureBeat, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, Computerworld, Engadget, Gigaom, 9to5Google, Wall Street Journal, Pocket-lint, bizjournals, MobileSyrup.com and WebProNews

Nick Statt / CNET:

Coin delays launch until spring 2015, will offer beta to the first 10,000 pre-order customers who opt in — Coin delays product launch until spring 2015 as questions remain — The startup behind a smart electronic device that stores credit and debit cards will offer a beta program for 10,000 customers.

More: The Next Web, The Verge, Engadget, Wired, Gigaom, AppleInsider, SlashGear, Crowdfund Insider, VentureBeat, Gizmodo, The Mac Observer, Business Insider, Valleywag, Electronista, Finextra Research news and App Advice

Tweets: @markgurman and @percival

Thanks:@richardjnieva

Vlad Savov / The Verge:

Samsung couldn't resist turning the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge into an ad — It had to be done. Some unscrupulous marketer was always going to try and capitalize on the global popularity of the Ice Bucket Challenge — whose goal is to raise money to fight amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) — as a cheap ploy to sell you more stuff.

More: 9to5Mac, Android Central, BGR, Daring Fireball, CNET, AdAge, AppleInsider, BetaNews, TUAW, Business Insider, TechCrunch, App Advice, WebProNews and PandoDaily. Tweets: @inafried

Kurt Wagner / Re/code:

Twitter only inserts favorited tweets into your timeline after engagement from multiple users you follow — How Twitter Decides What to Place in Your Stream — Earlier this week, Twitter began adding content to users' timelines, and it says it's going to keep doing that.

More: SlashGear, hypebot and WebProNews

Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

Ryan Seacrest's Typo sold thousands of BlackBerry-style keyboards in defiance of court order, faces contempt charge — Typo, which makes add-on keyboards for iPhones, got off to a rocky start this year when a federal judge slapped it with a sales ban for violating BlackBerry patents.

More: Law360, PandoDaily, Electronista, iPhone in Canada Blog and CrackBerry.com

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