Techmeme: Netflix VP of content delivery Ken Florance says the company had to pay Comcast because it was losing customers (Peter Kafka/Re/code)

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August 29, 2014, 12:00 AM

Top News

Alexis C. Madrigal / The Atlantic Online:

Google X unveils Project Wing, its drone delivery program; tested in secret for two years — Inside Google's Secret Drone-Delivery Program — A zipping comes across the sky. — A man named Neil Parfitt is standing in a field on a cattle ranch outside Warwick, Australia.

Juli Clover / MacRumors:

Apple builds a hidden structure at Flint Center, site of Mac unveiling, ahead of Sept. 9 event — Apple Building Massive Structure at Flint Center for iPhone 6 Event — Apple today issued invitations for its upcoming iPhone 6 event on September 9, which is also said to include its much-anticipated wearable device.

Jim Dalrymple / The Loop:

Apple announces special event for September 9 with tagline “Wish we could say more” — Apple announces special event for Sept. 9 — Apple on Thursday sent out invitations to a special event being held on Sept. 9, 2014 at 10:00 am. — Typically Apple's events are held either …

More: Bloomberg, 9to5Mac, Re/code, AppleInsider, Gizmodo, Ars Technica, GeekWire, Wall Street Journal, CNET, Business Insider, Mashable, CNET, Engadget, SlashGear, App Advice, Washington Post, iMore, iPhone in Canada Blog, josh.iojosh.io, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, Ubergizmo, iLounge, NEWS.com.au, Financial Times, CNBC, Gigaom, The Next Web, Guardian, Forbes, Touch Arcade, TechCrunch and MacRumors

Tweets: @inafried, @mattbuchanan, @jyarow, @monkbent and @tim

Bloomberg:

Google X VP Megan Smith is top candidate for US CTO role — Google's Smith Is Top Candidate for U.S. Chief Technology Officer — America is close to getting a new chief technology officer: Megan Smith, a longtime executive at Google Inc. and most recently a vice president at its secret lab, Google X.

More: CNET, Fortune, ZDNet, Reuters, bizjournals, bizjournals, Federal Computer Week, Nextgov, Business Insider and The Hill. Tweets: @danprimack

Steven Levy / Wired:

Behind Todd Park's new Silicon Valley-based mission to attract talent to reboot Federal IT, as he departs US CTO role — America's Tech Guru Steps Down—But He's Not Done Rebooting the Government — Todd Park (third from left) with members of his digital team (from left): Haley Van Dyck …

More: White House.gov Blog, Re/code and Engadget

Tweets: @lukefretwell, @granick, @stevenlevy, @aneeshchopra, @johnolilly, @digiphile and @csoghoian

Thanks:@emilydreyfuss

Christina Bonnington / Wired:

Our Sources Say the Next iPhone Will Include NFC Mobile Payments — Platforms like Google Wallet, Isis, and Square have been around for years, while Apple has remained curiously silent on the mobile payments front. Well not anymore. — The company's next iPhone will feature its own payment platform …

Kevin Rawlinson / Guardian:

Apple tell developers they may not sell personal health data to advertisers — The company has tightened its privacy rules in run up to announcements of new technology expected in September — Apple has tightened its privacy rules relating to health apps ahead of next month's product launch …

More: Financial Times, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, The Next Web, Softpedia News, Mashable, MacNN, VentureBeat, TechnoBuffalo and Cult of Mac

Mike Isaac / New York Times:

IFTTT raises $30M from Norwest Venture Partners and Andreessen Horowitz to integrate with internet-connected hardware — With $30 Million More in Hand, IFTTT Looks to the Internet of Things — One ambitious start-up wants to reroute the plumbing of the consumer Internet.

More: Gigaom, TechCrunch, SlashGear, VentureBeat, The Daily Dot and bizjournals. Tweets: @mikeisaac

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Netflix VP of content delivery Ken Florance says the company had to pay Comcast because it was losing customers — The Netflix Case Against Comcast, in One Chart — We've already heard Netflix executives explain why they signed an Internet deal with Comcast, even though they say they didn't want to …

More: Quartz, Tubefilter, DisplayBlog and Softpedia News

Eric Enge / Search Engine Land:

Google drops authorship support, including authors in results, citing poor adoption by webmasters and low value to searchers — It's Over: The Rise & Fall Of Google Authorship For Search Results — After three years the great Google Authorship experiment has come to an end ... at least for now.

More: John Mueller, CNET, VentureBeat, 9to5Google, Marketing Land, The Next Web and TechCrunch

Tweets: @moorehn, @ourmaninchicago and @jeremys

Juli Clover / MacRumors:

Google Launches First Beta Build of 64-Bit Chrome for Mac — Google today announced the launch of the first beta build of 64-bit Chrome for Mac, following the public release of 64-bit Chrome for Windows. — Earlier this month, Google added 64-bit support to Chrome Canary for OS X …

More: The Next Web, Chromium Blog, TechCrunch, Softpedia News, TechCrunch, Ubergizmo and Android Central

Felix Gillette / Businessweek:

An entire Hollywood-like industry has grown around YouTube creators — Hollywood's Big-Money YouTube Hit Factory — When Brian Robbins first told people he was going full time into the YouTube (GOOG) business, his colleagues in Hollywood were incredulous. “My agent, my lawyer, my dad—people thought I was crazy,” he says.

More: SiliconBeat and SocialTimes. Tweets: @bw. See also Mediagazer

Ken Yeung / The Digital Letter:

Broadcom's WICED Sense Is A $19.99 Developer Kit To Aid In Rapid Prototyping of Internet of Things Apps — The Internet of Things (IoT) space is heating up with numerous players entering the market more and more frequently. It's estimated that this will be a $300 billion market by 2020 …

More: VentureBeat, Tom's Hardware Guide, ITworld.com, Inquirer, App Developer Magazine, SiliconANGLE, eWeek, CNET and The Next Web

Sarah Frier / Bloomberg:

Facebook testing feature in mobile app to enable keyword search of old posts from friends — Facebook Test Lets Users Search Old Posts by Keyword — Facebook Inc. (FB) is testing a feature for its mobile application that lets people search through old posts from friends by keyword …

More: VentureBeat, Engadget, WebProNews and Search Engine Land

Bloomberg:

Deutsche Telekom Said Open to T-Mobile Talks at $35/Share — Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE) is willing to negotiate a sale of its T-Mobile US Inc. (TMUS) unit, the fourth-largest wireless carrier in the U.S., if an offer values the business at $35 a share or more, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

More: The Register, CNET, Tech Times, Seeking Alpha, TechnoBuffalo, Ubergizmo, Tech Trader Daily and TmoNews

Tweets: @miriamgottfried and @emilychangtv

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