Techmeme: Samsung Gear S 3G smartwatch launches Nov. 7 in US, $0 down on T-Mobile and Sprint on 2 year contract (Alex Wagner/PhoneDog)

Open Links In New Tab

Mobile Archives Advertise Site News

October 30, 2014, 11:45 AM

Top News

Tim Cook / Businessweek:

Tim Cook publicly acknowledges he's gay, describes a deeper understanding of minorities, says the “rhinoceros” skin he's grown is “handy” as Apple CEO — Tim Cook: “I'm Proud to be Gay” — Throughout my professional life, I've tried to maintain a basic level of privacy.

More: Washington Post, New York Times, Digital Trends, Mercury News, PC World, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Ars Technica, CNNMoney.com, BGR, BBC, Associated Press, CNET, VentureBeat, PC Magazine, MacRumors, Inquirer, Gigaom, NPR, AppleInsider, Business Insider, MarketWatch, 9to5Mac, The Daily Dot, New York Magazine, Re/code, Fortune, Business Insider, SiliconBeat, The Hill, Network World, bizjournals, memeburn, iMore, iPhone in Canada Blog, Engadget, Forbes, iPhone, iDownloadBlog.com, SlashGear, TIME, The Register, Electronista, Reuters, Cult of Mac, Valleywag, Neowin, Laughing Squid, MacDailyNews, iLounge, Mashable, App Advice and TUAW

Tweets: @cue, @tim, @caseynewton, @theferocity, @timoreilly, @mikeisaac, @shaunking, @mikeisaac, @msuster, @joshconstine, @verge, @lisafleisher, @jim_edwards, @mikeisaac and @superhighfives

Todd Holmdahl / The Official Microsoft Blog:

Microsoft Health, a platform including a cloud service announced, works with Jawbone UP, RunKeeper, more; app available for Android, iOS — Introducing Microsoft Health — Today we're announcing a new platform called Microsoft Health. Within health and fitness, there is rapid innovation …

David Pierce / The Verge:

Microsoft Band announced, a wearable that tracks health, shows emails, tweets; available for $199 in US tomorrow — Microsoft's health revolution is here, starting with a $199 fitness tracker — Microsoft Health, the Microsoft Band, and a plan to unite the world — Microsoft's fitness tracking ambitions are not small.

More: News Center, Re/code, Windows Phone Central, Businessweek, PandoDaily, iMore, BGR, Gizmodo UK, 9to5Mac, The Daily Dot, TechnoBuffalo, WinBeta, Neowin, Xbox Live's Major Nelson, Liliputing, Gizmodo and GeekWire

Tweets: @piercedavid, @bdsams, @inafried, @bdsams, @benbajarin, @inafried, @benbajarin, @monkbent, @benbajarin, @benbajarin, @dannysullivan, @tomwarren and @markgurman

Jason Schreier / Kotaku:

YouTube Finally Supports 60FPS, And It Looks Awesome — Earlier this year, YouTube announced plans to support videos running at 60 frames-per-second—plans that would make a huge difference for footage of video games. Today, the video network has finally started rolling out the new service …

More: PC World, Geek.com, Gotta Be Mobile, Electronista, Tech2, Ubergizmo and SlashGear

Ina Fried / Re/code:

Lenovo Completes $2.9 Billion Motorola Purchase From Google — When Motorola Mobility President Rick Osterloh said Tuesday that the Lenovo deal was nearly done, he wasn't kidding. — Lenovo officially completed its $2.9 billion deal with Google early Thursday.

More: The Official Motorola Blog, The Verge, Android Police, Business Wire, ZDNet, Engadget, The Next Web, Reuters, AndroidGuys, Ubergizmo and Electronista

Joe Rossignol / 9to5Google:

Xiaomi overtakes LG to become world's third-largest smartphone maker — The latest numbers from Strategy Analytics reveal that Chinese handset maker Xiaomi has surpassed Huawei and LG to become the third-largest smartphone maker in the world. Xiaomi has been making impressive strides since …

More: IDC, Wireless Smartphone Strategies, BetaNews, Re/code, Engadget, Android Police, Android Central, MobileBurn.com, Mobile Magazine, CNET and Tech Trader Daily. Tweets: @asymco. Thanks:@rsgnl

Shara Tibken / CNET:

Samsung's Q3 profit drops 60% YoY to $3.9 billion, mobile division profit down 74% YoY — Samsung's Q3 financials show ongoing struggles in mobile — The Korean electronics giant posts a 74 percent drop in its mobile business operating profits during the September period.

More: PC World, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, BGR, Associated Press, Inquirer, AppleInsider, Bloomberg, SamMobile, Ubergizmo, ABC News and Engadget

Tweets: @charlesarthur, @monkbent, @asymco, @asymco and @monkbent

Alex Wagner / PhoneDog:

Samsung Gear S 3G smartwatch launches Nov. 7 in US, $0 down on T-Mobile and Sprint on 2 year contract — Samsung Gear S launching in the US on November 7, carriers begin to reveal pricing — Following its international debut at the end of August, the Samsung Gear S will soon be making its way stateside.

More: Samsung Mobile US Press, T-Mobile Newsroom, 9to5Google, Gigaom, Digital Trends, Engadget, Wearable Tech Insider and Android and Me

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

Windows Phone Shrinks In Android-Dominated Europe, As New iPhones Boost iOS' Share — Spare a thought for Microsoft, a relative newcomer to the mobile making business, after Redmond completed its $7.2BN+ acquisition of former European mobile making powerhouse Nokia earlier this year.

More: CNET and NEWS.com.au

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Homejoy Officially Moves Beyond Cleaning With Launch Of Handyman Services In The Bay Area — In its first big move beyond home cleaning, Homejoy is adding carpet cleaning and general handyman services to its offerings in the Bay Area. — Co-founder and CEO Adora Cheung …

More: BuzzFeed and The Next Web. Tweets: @rsarver

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Flipboard's New App Gets Personal By Making Topics The Center Of Attention — Flipboard has been working hard over the last few years to build an app that makes reading stories on mobile and tablet devices as engaging as flipping through a magazine. With the latest version of its app …

More: Inside Flipboard, The Verge, ReadWrite, Tech Times, New York Times, The Next Web, iMore, VentureBeat and Gigaom. See also Mediagazer

Peter Bright / Ars Technica:

Lenovo announces 13" Yoga Tablet 2 with Windows, available November, prices start at $699.99 — Lenovo adds a 13-inch Windows tablet to the Yoga mix — Not content with launching five Yoga-branded tablets earlier this month, Lenovo has added a sixth device to its range.

More: Engadget, Laptop Mag, ZDNet, PC World, CNET, GSMArena Blog, TechRadar.com, Liliputing, BetaNews, Ubergizmo, Gotta Be Mobile and SlashGear

Samuel Gibbs / Guardian:

Vodafone and EE begin LTE-A rollout in the UK — UK joins world's fastest mobile internet club with next generation 4G+ rollout — EE joins Vodafone with mobile data speeds five times faster than average UK broadband in London, with Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool added in 2015

More: iMore, The Next Web, Inquirer, Neowin, ZDNet, Total Telecom, Telecoms.com, Gizmodo UK, Compare Mobile Phones …, Mobile News Online, Telecompaper and Pocket-lint

Jordan Kahn / 9to5Google:

Google Play Movies & TV app gets redesign, second-screen experience w/ actor & soundtrack info — Google today announced that it's rolling out an updated Google Play Movies & TV app for Android that introduces a second-screen experience when streaming TV shows and movies to a Chromecast or Nexus Player-connected TV.

More: The Next Web and TechnoBuffalo. See also Mediagazer

Takashi Mochizuki / Wall Street Journal:

Sony Replaces Mobile Division Head — Hiroki Totoki Has Been Widely Viewed as Instrumental in Sony's Structural Reforms — TOKYO— Sony Corp. on Thursday named Senior Vice President Hiroki Totoki as the new head of its mobile division, the electronics giant's latest move to prop up its struggling smartphone business.

More: TechnoBuffalo, Android Central, Reuters, ZDNet, Telecompaper, AndroidHeadlines.com and ITProPortal. Tweets: @mochi_wsj

Sophie Knight / Reuters:

Nintendo and ResMed are developing non-wearable bedside sleep and fatigue tracker, plan to release it before end of March 2016 — Nintendo to develop device to track sleep, fatigue: CEO — Nintendo signage is displayed at the company's booth at the 2014 Electronic Entertainment Expo …

More: CNET, TechCrunch, GameSpot, Electronista, TechHive, TechRadar.com, Eurogamer.net, Polygon, Gizmodo, Geek.com, The Verge, SlashGear and Kotaku

Steve Dent / Engadget:

LG slims smartphone bezels to a virtually non-existent 0.7mm — You might talk about how much you hate large bezels, but LG is actually doing something about it. It just unveiled a 5.3-inch, 1080p LCD display with 0.7mm bezels, less than the width of a credit card.

More: LG Display Newsroom, Digital Trends, Gizmodo, The Verge, Electronista and Android Central

Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:

Skype for iPhone now lets you save and delete photos; gets avatar, people, and chat improvements — Skype today updated its iPhone app with a slew of new features and improvements based on user suggestions. You can download the new version now directly from Apple's App Store.

More: Skype Blogs, MacRumors, The Next Web, 9to5Mac and iMore

David Kravets / Ars Technica:

MPAA, movie theaters announce “zero tolerance” policy against wearables — A movie theater industry group and the Motion Picture Association of America updated their anti-piracy policies and said that “wearable devices” must be powered off at show time. — “Individuals who fail or refuse …

Signe Brewster / Gigaom:

Autodesk puts up $100M fund for 3D printing companies — Autodesk is seeking both hardware and software companies to receive a chunk of the fund, with an eye on fostering the 3D printing company as a whole. — Autodesk is gearing up to release its open-source 3D printer and accompanying software …

More: ZDNet

Chris Ziegler / The Verge:

Taiwanese smart energy startup Gogoro, led by former HTC exec, is close to raising $150M, promises product unveil at CES — Mysterious smart energy company raises $150 million, led by ex-HTC executive — Horace Luke, Gogoro's CEO. — Taiwanese firm Gogoro came out of stealth mode this morning …

More: Re/code and SlashGear

Cade Metz / Wired:

Facebook open-sources OSquery, a security tool to monitor OS processes, network connections — Facebook, Google, and the Rise of Open Source Security Software — Facebook chief security officer Joe Sullivan says that people like Mike Arpala are hard to find.

More: Facebook Code and Help Net Security

Jon Russell / TechCrunch:

Chat App Line's Revenue Doubles Year-On-Year To Reach $192 Million in Q3 2014 — Days after Facebook revealed that WhatsApp, its $18 billion messaging app acquisition, posted an overall loss for the first half of this year, Line — a rival app with 500 million registered users …

More: MediaNama, Reuters, GlobalPost and Financial Times. Tweets: @jonrussell

Chris Velazco / Engadget:

Google takes another step into your living room with its Nexus Player (hands-on) — Google's wanted a piece of your living room for ages, and now — after two attempts that never really went anywhere =- the search giant seems poised to get it what it wants.

More: ZDNet, Android Police, Inquirer, CNET, 9to5Google and BetaNews

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: Revolutionizing Commerce with Winter Edition '26 — Over 150+ new features transform how merchants build, design, and grow—with technology that amplifies creative vision.

Zoho:

The best time to become a Zoho Partner — The business world is not only changing but it is being rebuilt. Customers want connected ecosystems that will help them automate, unify their data, and do more with less.

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

Big Technology Podcast:

OpenAI's 2026 Priority, Disney's AI Play, Datacenter Buildout Trouble

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.

Hard Fork:

Australia Kicks Kids Off Social Media + Is the A.I. Water Issue Fake? + Hard Fork Wrapped

The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.

Subscribe to Hard Fork.

Access:

Why the next AI frontier is phone calls, with Beside CEO Maxime Germain

A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.

Subscribe to Access.

Great Chat:

So what happens after AGI?

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.

Channels with Peter Kafka:

Lachlan Cartwright Started in Tabloids. Now He's a Must-Read Media Gossip.

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.

Add your podcast here

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:45 AM ET, October 30, 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.