Techmeme: SquareTrade breakability tests show iPhone 6/6 Plus are the most durable iPhones yet (Nathan Olivarez-Giles/Wall Street Journal)

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September 23, 2014, 6:35 PM

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Kelly Hodgkins / MacRumors:

Some iPhone 6 Plus Owners Accidentally Bending Their iPhones in Pockets — As highlighted in a few reports shared in the MacRumors forums, a small but growing number of iPhone 6 Plus owners have reportedly bent their phones after carrying the devices in their pockets just days after launch.

More: Gizmodo, 9to5Mac, Geek.com, ReadWrite, NEWS.com.au, Digital Trends, BuzzFeed, BGR, Mashable, iMore, everythingiCafe, TechnoBuffalo, Yahoo Tech, 9to5Mac, Daring Fireball, DISPLAYBLOG, iLounge, MacDailyNews, Business Insider, Cult of Mac, TechCrunch and TUAW

Tweets: @drankpee, @cliftonmthomas, @nickwingfield, @yahootech, @panzer, @mattbuchanan, @apollozac, @panzer, @samfbiddle, @davechensky and @cdharrison

Nathan Olivarez-Giles / Wall Street Journal:

SquareTrade breakability tests show iPhone 6/6 Plus are the most durable iPhones yet

More: squaretrade.com, Macworld, ZDNet, NBC Bay Area, ExtremeTech, Business Insider, Bloomberg, Inquirer and Gizmodo

Chris Martin / PC Advisor:

Samsung exits laptop market in Europe “for now” after decline in PC market — Exclusive: Samsung exits laptop market including Chromebooks — Following in the path of Sony and its Vaio PCs, Samsung has decided to exit the laptop market stopping sales of Ativ Windows …

More: Engadget, The Verge, 9to5Google, DailyTech, CNET, PC World, Gigaom, DISPLAYBLOG, Ubergizmo, Electronista, Pocket-lint, The Next Web, Windows Phone Central, Neowin, Web Browser and Android and Me

Ryan Smith / AnandTech:

Apple's A8 SoC: GX6450 4-core GPU, enhanced Cyclone CPU cores, 4MB L3 Cache — Chipworks Disassembles Apple's A8 SoC: GX6450, 4MB L3 Cache & More — One of the more enjoyable rituals with Apple's annual iPhone launch is the decapping, deconstruction, and photographing of the processor die at the heart of Apple's newest SoC.

Arik Hesseldahl / Re/code:

iPhone 6 costs an estimated $200 to $247 in parts and labor to build, 6 Plus $216 to $263; profit margins 69-70%; Samsung supplies 40% of A8 chips — Teardown Shows Apple's iPhone 6 Cost at Least $200 to Build — Apple spends $200 to $247 in parts and labor to build an iPhone 6 …

More: Associated Press, Ars Technica, iPhone in Canada Blog, iDownloadBlog.com, Mashable, DISPLAYBLOG, VentureBreak, Business Insider, MacRumors, TechnoBuffalo, SlashGear, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, PhoneArena and App Advice

Tweets: @benedictevans, @johnpaczkowski and @ryan

Steven Levy / Medium:

Lotus Notes inventor and ex-Microsoft chief software architect Ray Ozzie wants to make phone calls more like collaborative documents with Talko — Brave New Phone Call — Ray Ozzie's new app Talko hopes to give people their voices back — I. … It's not an abstract subject for the 58-year entrepreneur.

More: CITEworld, New York Times, Fast Company, Laughing Squid, CNET and Boing Boing

Tweets: @monkbent, @tcarmody and @jonrussell

Thanks:@sarablask

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:

Say hello to Talko: Ray Ozzie's startup wants to reinvent the phone call, starting with an iPhone app

More: The Verge, Medium, Re/code, Wired, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, Disruptive Telephony, Gizmodo, USA Today, Gigaom, The Register, Medium and Engadget

Tweets: @erickschonfeld, @fmanjoo, @ev and @rozzie

Thanks:@johnhcook

Jessica E. Lessin / The Information:

Former Apple retail chief and ex-J.C. Penney CEO Ron Johnson to launch on-demand delivery service for gadgets — Former Apple Exec, J.C. Penney CEO to Launch Delivery Startup — The godfather of Apple's retail stores is trying to reinvent shopping again, this time by getting rid of stores.

More: AppleInsider, iMore, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, The Next Web, iDownloadBlog.com, Cult of Mac, Business Insider and MacNN

Philip Kollar / Polygon:

Blizzard cancels its next-gen MMO Titan after seven years — Blizzard has officially canceled development on its mysterious next-generation massively multiplayer game Titan. The company confirmed the news to Polygon in a recent interview. — This revelation comes after at least seven years …

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

PRSS Digital Magazine Platform Acquired By Apple — Apple has acquired Dutch digital magazine startup Prss, a platform that makes it easy to create iPad-compatible magazines using tools that don't require any knowledge of code. The company is essentially a magazine-focused version of iBooks Author …

More: 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, MacRumors, iPhone in Canada Blog, Cult of Mac, Talking New Media, MacDailyNews and iDownloadBlog.com

See also Mediagazer

Cyrus Farivar / Ars Technica:

FTC sues Bitcoin miner maker Butterfly Labs, alleging fraudulent and deceptive practices — Feds say Bitcoin miner maker Butterfly Labs ran “systematic deception” [Updated] — Sonny Vleisides (right), is Butterfly Labs' co-founder and largest shareholder.

More: Federal Trade Commission, Gigaom, Data Center Knowledge, Valleywag, The Verge, TechSpot, Electronista, CoinDesk and NEWSBTC

Tweets: @nzkoz and @bobmcmillan

Electronista:

UPS Store expands 3D printing services to nearly 100 locations — In-store 3D printing facilities offered in more markets — Delivery company UPS is making its 3D printing service more widely available at its stores across the United States. After an initial test with six markets …

More: UPS, CNNMoney.com, 3DPrint.com, ZDNet, PC Advisor, SlashGear, Engadget, Mashable, Ubergizmo and Gizmodo

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Google X Founder Sebastian Thrun Has Left His Role As Google VP And Fellow — Sebastian Thrun has left the building — the Google X building, that is. The founder of search giant Google's factory to develop and build “moonshot” technologies, who launched the company's driverless car project …

More: T4 Magazine

Deborah Gage / Wall Street Journal:

Radius Raises $54.7 Million to Improve Sales Leads Using Big Data … Marketing automation software, which delivers sales prospects to customers, has generated some big companies-last year, Marketo Inc. went public and has a market cap of $1.26 billion, and HubSpot Inc. filed in August to raise up to $100 million in an IPO.

More: Re/code, TechCrunch, PE Hub Blog, VentureBeat, and Business Wire

Roberto Baldwin / The Next Web:

Microsoft announces $59.95 Wireless Display Adapter for streaming Miracast devices to your TV — Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter connects your Miracast devices to HDTVs — The first 10 to 15 minutes of any presentation usually involves trying to figure out which cable connects to the TV.

More: Microsoft Store, The Verge, Engadget, Android Police, PC World, GeekWire, BetaNews, ZDNet, The Tech Report and WinBeta

Sean Gallagher / Ars Technica:

Home Depot's former security architect was convicted of sabotaging his ex-employer's network — Home Depot's former security architect had history of techno-sabotage — “We sell hammers” was the justification Home Depot managers gave for cheaping out on security to IT employees. — WestportWiki

More: PandoDaily. Tweets: @casio_juarez

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

PayPal integrates Bitcoin processors BitPay, Coinbase and GoCoin for merchants in the US and Canada — PayPal today announced partnerships with three leading Bitcoin payment processors: BitPay, Coinbase and GoCoin. The eBay-owned company wants to help digital goods merchants accept Bitcoin payments …

Carl Franzen / The Verge:

California's autonomous vehicle regulations go into effect; Google wins 25 car permits, Audi and Mercedes-Benz get two each — Google's self-driving cars are now allowed on all roads in California — Google won 25 DMV permits for testing autonomous vehicles; Audi and Mercedes each received two

More: Reuters, dmv.ca.gov, Washington Examiner, T4 Magazine, Daily Titan and TechnoBuffalo

Ben Popper / The Verge:

Wink announces Relay, a $300 wall-embedded touchscreen for controlling smart home devices — How one tiny startup is winning the race to power your smart home — For decades the smart home has been a tantalizing dream just out of reach. There are hundreds of connected devices on the market …

More: Gizmodo, ReadWrite, Co.Design, Connectedly, LinuxGizmos, TWICE, Gigaom and Digital Trends. Thanks:@benpopper

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Google Currents For iOS Now Called Google Play Newsstand Following Big Redesign — Google Currents, Google's magazine-like news reading iOS app and a competitor to Flipboard, is rolling out a redesign and a handful of new features, including a way to subscribe to topics you're interested in …

More: 9to5Google, Engadget, The Verge, iMore and The Next Web

Ellen Huet / Forbes:

Eduardo Saverin Leads $14 Million Funding Round For Silvercar, An Audi Airport Rental Startup — Billionaire Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin has found a new place to focus his entrepreneurial energies: airport car rentals. Audis, specifically. — Saverin led a $14 million Series B round …

More: TechCrunch, Business Insider, Wall Street Journal, Valleywag and Mashable. Tweets: @bupbin

Chad Bray / New York Times:

Philips plans to split into 2 companies: one focused on health care and tech, one on lighting — Philips to Split Into Two Companies as Part of Overhaul — LONDON — Philips, the Dutch electronics giant, said on Tuesday that it planned to split itself into two companies …

More: Philips, Gigaom, Bloomberg, BBC, CNBC, Forbes, Business Insider, Fortune and Wall Street Journal

Cromwell Schubarth / bizjournals:

Aussie startup Invoice2Go raises $35M led by Accel, moves to Palo Alto — Aussie startup moves to Palo Alto, hires ex-eHarmony CEO and raises $35M — Australian mobile B2B startup Invoice2Go's first venture round is a big one, in more ways than one. — The 10-year-old Sydney company founded …

More: Re/code, TechCrunch, Forbes and VentureBeat. Thanks:@svbizcrom

Bloomberg:

Samwer Brothers' Rocket Internet sets price range for its IPO in Germany, will raise up to $1.8B at a valuation of about $8B, begins trading October 9 — Samwer Brothers' Rocket Internet Kicks Off German IPO — Rocket Internet AG, the technology investor known for replicating businesses …

More: Re/code, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times and Reuters

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