Techmeme: Snapchat Is Said to Have More Than 100 Million Monthly Active Users (Douglas MacMillan/Wall Street Journal)

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August 27, 2014, 9:55 AM

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Bloomberg:

Apple Said to Prepare New 12.9-Inch IPad for Early 2015 — Apple Inc.'s suppliers are preparing to manufacture the company's largest-ever iPad, with production scheduled to commence by the first quarter of next year, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Walt Mossberg / Re/code:

Tim Cook says the recent slump in iPad sales is just a “speed bump” — In Defense of Tablets — The tablet is doomed. It was a fad. Who needs one, anyway? — At least that's the conventional wisdom forming around the iPad and other tablets in the wake of some recent negative sales news.

More: 9to5Mac, The Register, iPhone, MacNN, AppleInsider, iPhone in Canada Blog, iMore, iDownloadBlog.com and Cult of Mac

Casey Newton / The Verge:

Documents and interviews reveal Uber's sophisticated, nationwide scheme to poach Lyft drivers — This is Uber's playbook for sabotaging Lyft — ‘Brand ambassadors’ with burner phones and credit cards attempt to #shavethestache — Uber is arming teams of independent contractors …

More: Wall Street Journal, Guardian, Haywire, The Next Web, TechSpot, Tech Times, Skift, Forbes, CNET, Washington Post, Engadget, ZDNet, Business Insider, Silicon Valley Watcher, Gigaom, NBC News, ReadWrite, Mashable, SlashGear, Beyond Devices, The Daily Dot, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, Valleywag, GeekWire and Business Insider

Tweets: @travisk, @travisk, @aaronklein, @fmanjoo, @rstephens, @neil_irwin, @joemccann, @caseynewton, @reckless, @playavc, @travisk, @profjeffjarvis, @travisk, @travisk, @johnolilly, @fmanjoo, @travisk and @counternotions

Thanks:@mattlynley

Lizette Chapman / Wall Street Journal:

Jessica Alba's The Honest Co. Raises $70M, Preps for IPO … In preparation for an IPO, Jessica Alba's The Honest Co., a maker of eco-friendly baby products, has raised $70 million at a valuation just shy of $1 billion and is beginning partnership talks to expand to China, Dow Jones VentureWire has learned.

More: Business Insider, PE Hub Blog, The Register, Valleywag, BetaBoston and VatorNews

Claire Cain Miller / New York Times:

Pew study shows social media users are more reluctant than others to share their dissenting views, online or off — How Social Media Silences Debate — The Internet might be a useful tool for activists and organizers, in episodes as momentous as the Arab Spring or as trivial as the Ice Bucket Challenge.

Ari Levy / CNBC:

Square raising $200M, partly from Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, at $6B valuation — In raising cash, Square heads for $6B valuation: Sources — Square, the payments provider that turns any smartphone into a credit card terminal, is in the process of raising capital …

More: Wall Street Journal, Business Insider and Re/code

Wall Street Journal:

Kleiner Perkins investing up to $20M in Snapchat's next round at nearly $10B valuation; DST Global invested earlier this year at $7B valuation — Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Agrees to Invest in Snapchat — Ephemeral Messaging Service Gets a Venture-Capital Shot in the Arm

More: BBC, TechCrunch, Re/code, Wall Street Journal, CNBC, VentureBeat, VatorNews, Gigaom, PE Hub Blog, memeburn, Business Insider, CNET, Fortune and Mashable

Tweets: @startupljackson, @dickc and @nichcarlson

Douglas MacMillan / Wall Street Journal:

Snapchat Is Said to Have More Than 100 Million Monthly Active Users

More: DailyTech, The Verge, SlashGear, PandoDaily and Forbes. Tweets: @juroosawa

Zac Bowden / WinBeta:

Windows Threshold will include interactive live tiles and a notification center at launch — Windows 9 (Threshold): Welcome to Modern UI 2.0 — The Start Screen is a feature available in Windows 8.x and is loved by many. Admittedly, it had a rough start when it first entered the market thanks …

More: The Verge, Softpedia News, Gizmodo and Ubergizmo. Thanks:@refsrc

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:

Windows Threshold moving to regular incremental updates; ARM-based preview due next year

More: InfoWorld, Softpedia News, Ubergizmo and DailyTech

Peter Bright / Ars Technica:

Chrome 64-bit browser finally available as a stable version — Google today released a 64-bit stable version of its Chrome browser for Windows systems. The 64-bit support has been in testing since June, and as of Chrome version 37 it has made it to the mainstream version.

More: Chromium Blog, Engadget, Technology Personalized, Google Operating System, Help Net Security, HotHardware.com News, The Next Web, WinBeta and Android Central

Charles Arthur / Guardian:

Chitika and comScore data suggests Amazon unlikely to have sold more than 35,000 Fire phones — Amazon has sold no more than 35,000 Fire phones, data suggests — Amazon doesn't give sales data for its devices, but figures from comScore and Chitika suggest only modest sales so far

More: Marketing Land, Gigaom, Electronista, TechSpot and BGR

Winston Ross / MIT Technology Review:

Luth gathers metadata from smartphones, tablets and PC's, pays participants $100/month — How Much Is Your Privacy Worth? — Despite the outcry over government and corporate snooping, some people allow themselves be monitored for money or rewards. — Anyone paying attention knows …

Kevin C. Tofel / Gigaom:

Video and HD Voice over LTE on the way to Verizon in the “coming weeks” — Verizon is the last major U.S. carrier to get the VoLTE ball rolling but the wait is nearly over. Soon, the company will introduce Advanced Calling 1.0 with video calls and HD Voice across its LTE network.

More: Verizon Wireless Promotions, The Verge, CNET, Electronista, Android Central, TUAW, Android Police, PC World, DailyTech, Re/code, App Advice, Light Reading, Pocketnow, Business Insider, Droid Life, MacRumors, SlashGear, Geeky Gadgets and VoIP Watch

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

Netflix says 99 percent of its links with ISPs are unpaid — Netflix hates writing checks to Internet service providers—and luckily enough, it usually doesn't have to.Though the streaming video company has complained bitterly about having to pay Comcast, AT&T, Verizon …

More: DailyTech and BGR. Tweets: @jbrodkin

Sue Marek / FierceWireless:

Lurie named CEO of AT&T Mobility, de la Vega to oversee mobile and enterprise — AT&T (NYSE: T) promoted Glenn Lurie to president and CEO of AT&T Mobility. Lurie was previously the president of AT&T Mobility's Emerging Enterprises and Partnerships business.

More: Re/code, The Verge, Engadget, CNET, Bloomberg and Windows Phone Central. Thanks:@fiercewireless

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Dropbox Beefs Up Its Pro Feature Set, Now Offering 1TB Of Storage For $10/Month — In today's cloud storage wars, most companies are defined by the amount of space their users get for the least amount of money. With new pricing and updates to its Pro offering, Dropbox is hoping to show …

More: The Next Web, Wall Street Journal, ZDNet, BGR, 9to5Mac, CNET, Macworld, VentureBeat, The Verge, Wired, Technology Personalized, SlashGear and pdnonline.com

Matthew Prince / CloudFlare Blog:

CloudFlare's global connectivity costs suggest telco consolidation increases bandwidth prices for companies — The Relative Cost of Bandwidth Around the World — Over the last few months, there's been increased attention on networks and how they interconnect.

More: Washington Post, ZDNet, iTnews.com.au, The Register and The Register

Tweets: @liampomfret, @nathanwaters, @sefk, @eastdakota and @mappingbabel

Agam Shah / PC World:

HP recalls 6 million laptop power cords over fire, burn risk — Hewlett-Packard has recalled more than 6 million laptop power cords that could pose fire and burn hazards. — HP is recalling LS-15 AC power cords used with HP and Compaq branded laptops. The company is recalling …

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