Techmeme: Google to Make Security Guards Employees, Rather Than Contractors (Jeff Elder/Wall Street Journal)

Open Links In New Tab

Mobile Archives Advertise Site News

October 5, 2014, 9:25 PM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:

HP plans to split into two businesses, one for PCs and printers and the other for corporate hardware and services — Hewlett-Packard Plans to Break in Two — H-P will separate its PC and printer operation from its corporate hardware and other units, sources say.

Arik Hesseldahl / Re/code:

HP revives its three-year-old breakup plan after failing to sell off several business units — HP Returns to Breakup Plan It Shelved Three Years Ago — Computing giant Hewlett-Packard is close to breaking itself into two companies after CEO Meg Whitman ran out of options to turn around …

More: ABC News, Ubergizmo, Business Insider, ParisLemon and Engadget

Tweets: @ahess247 and @gassee

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Hacked Screenshots Show Friend-To-Friend Payments Feature Hidden In Facebook Messenger — Facebook Messenger is all set up to allow friends to send each other money. All Facebook has to do is turn on the feature, according to screenshots and video taken using iOS app exploration developer tool Cycript …

More: PC Magazine, VentureBeat, Engadget, Ubergizmo, VentureBreak, The Verge, Mashable, CryptoCoinsNews, iPhone Hacks, Business Insider, Gizmodo and iMore

Tweets: @mikeisaac, @dangillmor, @joshconstine and @andyplace2

Thanks:@joshconstine

Matthew Wisnioski / Washington Post:

Walter Isaacon's “The Innovators” is the most accessible, comprehensive history of the digital age — Book review: ‘The Innovators,’ on the digital revolution, by Walter Isaacson — In the Industrial Revolution's wake, aspiring entrepreneurs combed through a landmark biography of inventors for the secrets to success.

More: New York Times, Harvard University Gazette, San Francisco Chronicle, Businessweek, Wall Street Journal and New York Times. Tweets: @walterisaacson

Jeff Elder / Wall Street Journal:

Google to Make Security Guards Employees, Rather Than Contractors — In a move that could reverberate around Silicon Valley, Google plans to hire more than 200 security guards as its own employees, rather than through an outside contractor. — The guards will be eligible for the same benefits …

More: USA Today, TechCrunch, SiliconBeat, bizjournals, The Huffington Post, The Technology Chronicles and NBC Bay Area

Tweets: @qthrul and @mdudas

Jenna Wortham / New York Times:

Founding “queen” of pirate streaming site NinjaVideo is unrepentant after 16 months in prison — The Unrepentant Bootlegger — The Deposed Queen of NinjaVideo The Deposed Queen of NinjaVideo — Hana Beshara, a founder of NinjaVideo, once a popular illegal video downloading site, was known as Queen Phara to its users.

Tweets: @margotkaminski, @thejoebrown, @wyattnyt, @choitotheworld, @percival and @anildash

Matthew Lynley / BuzzFeed:

Behind the Dropbox team working to deeply integrate the company's services in phones like the Galaxy Note 4 and Xperia Z3 — Meet The Team Putting Dropbox On Your Phone — Dropbox's strategic partnerships team, filled with a batch of former Googlers and other policy experts, is tasked with embedding Dropbox into new mobile devices.

Tweets: @mattlynley and @tomgara. Thanks:@mattlynley

Jake Swearingen / The Atlantic Online:

A Year After Death of Silk Road, Darknet Markets Are Booming — It's been one year since the FBI shut down Silk Road, the granddaddy of darknet marketplaces, and arrested main Silk Road admin Ross William Ulbricht (or, as he was known online, Dread Pirate Roberts).

More: ZDNet and Gigaom. Tweets: @jeffreyatucker

Dawn Chmielewski / Re/code:

Beats headphones banned from appearing on camera as part of Bose sponsorship deal with the NFL — NFL Bans Beats Headphones On Camera (Updated) — Remember the television commercial that opens with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick arriving at an opposing team's stadium …

Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:

Redbox Instant streaming video service operated by Redbox and Verizon is shutting down on October 7 — Redbox Instant is shutting down October 7 — A year and a half after its official launch, Redbox Instant is calling it quits. The shut-down shows how hard it is to compete with Netflix for streaming video subscriptions.

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Netflix's Exclusive Content Push Continues With A Foray Into Film — Over the last few days, Netflix has announced a couple of deals that will bring a series of films to its streaming video platform over the coming years. The partnerships represent a new form of “exclusive” content for Netflix …

More: The Wrap, USA Today, Hollywood Reporter and Forbes

Sponsor Posts

Google:

Try Gemini 3 Pro — Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life

Shopify:

Shopify's new AI commerce stack — Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.

Zoho:

Zoho Webinar: A look back at 2025 — As 2025 comes to a close, it's the perfect time to look back at how Zoho Webinar has transformed the way businesses connect, engage, and grow.

IDrive:

Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Sponsor Techmeme

Featured Podcasts

The Talk Show With John Gruber:

'A Naughty Citizen', With Quinn Nelson

The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.

Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.

Big Technology Podcast:

2025 In Review, 2026 Predictions — With Reed Albergotti

The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.

Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.

Channels with Peter Kafka:

Podcast Pioneer PJ Vogt's Second Act: Less Budget, More Control

Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.

Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.

BG2 Pod:

AI Enterprise - Databricks & Glean

Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner.

Subscribe to BG2 Pod.

Great Chat:

The stories we told ourselves in 2025

A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.

Subscribe to Great Chat.

Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:

Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling

Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.

Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.

Add your podcast here

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:25 PM ET, October 5, 2014.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.