Techmeme
November 18, 2014, 12:45 PM

Top News

Ben Smith / BuzzFeed:
Uber exec, at NYC dinner with CEO present, suggested digging up dirt on critical journalists  —  Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt On Journalists  —  Senior vice president Emil Michael floated making critics' personal lives fair game.  Michael apologized Monday for the remarks.
Jordan Kahn / 9to5Mac:
Apple will soon let third-party products use its Lightning port, opening up new possibilities for accessories  —  Last week at Apple's yearly briefing for accessory makers in its Made-for-iPhone/iPad (MFi) licensing program, the company unveiled new Lightning connectors and specs …
David Meyer / Gigaom:
Nokia N1 will be made and sold by Foxconn, will include Google Play in markets where Play is available  —  Non-Microsoft Nokia launches Android N1 tablet with Foxconn  —  Here's a shocker — Nokia, not to be confused with its former handset business that is now owned by Microsoft, has unveiled an Android tablet.
Ryan Smith / AnandTech:
James Niccolai / PC World:
Intel to combine PC and mobile divisions as market shifts  —  Intel will combine its PC and mobile processor divisions under one roof, reflecting a changing market in which the line between tablets and laptops has blurred.  —  The chip maker will form a new division at the start of next year called …
John Markoff / New York Times:
Google and Stanford researchers create image recognition software that goes beyond recognizing individual objects, teaches itself to identify entire scenes  —  Researchers Announce Advance in Image-Recognition Software  —  MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Two groups of scientists, working independently …
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
WhatsApp rolls out end-to-end encryption using TextSecure code  —  The most recent update to WhatsApp's Android app includes a surprising feature: strong end-to-end encryption, enabled by default.  It's the strongest security any major texting app has offered, even compared with similar tools …
Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:
OS X Yosemite update fails to solve Mac Wi-Fi mess  —  Apple today released the first update to OS X Yosemite that included fixes for unspecified Wi-Fi problems and improved reliability for connecting to Microsoft Exchange corporate email servers.  —  But Mac owners who had said that Yosemite crippled …
Lizzie Widdicombe / New Yorker:
Inside 10x, a talent agency representing superstar programmers  —  The Programmer's Price  —  Want to hire a coding superstar?  Call the agent. … “Technically, we have an open marriage, but so far there's just Michael and me.”  —  BUY OR LICENSE »
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
BitTorrent Opens Its Paygate Premium Content Bundles To All Artists, Giving Creators A 90% Cut  —  BitTorrent, the peer-to-peer file distribution network that has been repositioning itself as a legit friend and home to the creative industries, is today embarking on the latest phase of its strategy …
Lucy Teitler / Motherboard:
Hackers are building and open-sourcing spy tools based on leaked NSA documents  —  Let's Play NSA!  The Hackers Open-Sourcing Top Secret Spy Tools  —  Last August, at Defcon, the hacker conference in Las Vegas, a boyish 40-year-old engineer and security researcher named Michael Ossmann stood …
Tweets: @lucyteitler
Shawn De Cesari / Android Police:
Android TV Apps Will Be Screened And Approved By Google Before Being Available In The Play Store  —  In a somewhat surprising, but completely understandable, move, Google has added a pretty large caveat to Play Store app submissions for Android TV.  According to the Android developer documentation page …
Paul Sawers / The Next Web:
Google Keep now lets you share notes and collaborate in real-time  —  Google Keep has proven to be a popular app in the productivity realm, letting users put down impromptu thoughts or create to-do lists on the fly.  —  Now, however, not only can you share them with others to view …
More: VentureBeat and Gizmodo
Larry Dignan / ZDNet:
Amazon has enough free cash flow to compete in the cloud arms race even if it lacks the cash of Microsoft and Google  —  Amazon's ability to invest in AWS: By the numbers  —  Summary: AWS chief Andy Jassy was asked whether Amazon had the funds to compete with the cash piles of Microsoft and Google in the cloud wars.
Tricia Duryee / GeekWire:
Square launches old-school physical gift cards, replacing digital ones sent via email … Two years after Square announced it was offering a virtual gift card service, it's nixing the program in favor of physical ones.  —  That may sound counter intuitive in today's digital-first culture …
Cho Mu-hyun / ZDNet:
Samsung to launch flexible display, cut number of smartphone models by 25-30% in 2015  —  Samsung to launch flexible display, cut smartphone models in 2015  —  Summary: Samsung Electronics will launch a flexible display for handsets and release 25 to 30 percent less handset models next year …
Parmy Olson / Forbes:
Fitbit Data Now Being Used In The Courtroom  —  Personal injury cases are prime targets for manipulation and conjecture.  How do you show that someone who's been in a car accident can't do their job properly, and deserves thousands of dollars in compensation?
Ben Popper / The Verge:
Tiiny 2.0. update makes images, video permanent by default; adds profiles  —  Kevin Rose updates his micro-photo sharing app with Tiiny 2.0  —  Images are no longer ephemeral, still very tiny  —  Sharing photos of your day has become a ritual for billions of smartphone users around the planet.

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Earlier Picks

Kurt Wagner / Re/code: