Techmeme
August 23, 2014, 9:25 AM

Top News

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.
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.”
Ian Paul / PC World:
Microsoft Miracast dongle spotted at FCC ahead of Lumia event  —  Google's Chromecast is a hit, and now it appears Microsoft wants to replicate something similar for Windows Phone and probably Windows PCs.  —  Windows Phone Daily and Nokiapoweruser did some sleuthing at the Federal Communication …
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 …
Leo Kelion / BBC:
Tor director suspects NSA and GCHQ agents are anonymously tipping off the company about vulnerabilities  —  NSA and GCHQ agents ‘leak Tor bugs’ alleges developer  —  Andrew Lewman: “The fact that we take a completely anonymous bug report allows them to report to us safely”
Nicole Perlroth / New York Times:
Secret Service advisory estimates over 1,000 businesses affected by “Backoff” PoS malware used in Target attack  —  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 …
Jonathan J. Cooper / Associated Press:
Oregon sues Oracle over failed health care website … SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The state of Oregon filed a lawsuit Friday against Oracle Corp. and several of its executives over the technology company's role in creating the troubled website for the state's online health insurance exchange.
Alice Truong / Fast Company:
The company with the best culture?  Twitter, according to Glassdoor  —  To outsiders, Silicon Valley work culture seems almost like a joke: college kids pretending to be adults in unkempt hair who show up to business meetings wearing wrinkled T-shirts with jeans.  But for the people entrenched in it, what could be better?
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.

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Vlad Savov / The Verge:
Nick Statt / CNET: