Techmeme
November 20, 2014, 3:20 PM

Top News

Mathew Ingram / Gigaom:
Google launches Contributor, a crowdfunding tool for publishers  —  Google is launching a new service for websites called Contributor, which allows users to sign up and pay anywhere from $1 to $3 a month to sites that they visit frequently.  In return for contributing, they won't see any Google ads on those sites
Al Franken:
Sen. Al Franken asks Uber CEO Travis Kalanick for answers on privacy, God view tool, discipline for Emil Michael, and tracking journalists  —  Dear Mr Kalanick:  —  I am writing in regard to reports of recent comments and actions by top Uber executives concerning journalists.
Napier Lopez / The Next Web:
Uber hires former IBM Chief Privacy Officer to carry out internal review  —  From controversial statements from executives to concerns over its users' data privacy, it's been a rough week for Uber.  —  It's now trying to do some damage control.  The company announced today that it has hired …
More: Fortune, The Verge and ZDNet
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Corning's Gorilla Glass 4 aims to protect your phone from deadly drops  —  It's unlikely we'll see a truly impervious smartphone screen anytime soon, but Corning says it's getting us closer.  Today the company is announcing Gorilla Glass 4, the latest revision of its signature cover glass.
Ben Sisario / New York Times:
Billboard Top 200 album chart will incorporate streaming data starting Dec. 3 from services including Spotify, Beats Music, Google Play, Xbox Music  —  Billboard, Changing the Charts, Will Count Streaming Services  —  Streaming music services like Spotify have brought big changes to the music industry.
Andrew Cunningham / Ars Technica:
iOS 8.1.1, iPhone 4S, and iPad 2: A little faster, kind of, sometimes  —  It took a lot of work to find the promised performance and stability improvements in iOS 8.1.1 for Apple A5 devices like the iPhone 4S, the iPad 2, the iPad Mini, and the iPod Touch.  —  Andrew Cunningham
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Dropbox's Carousel photo software comes to iPads and the web  —  In April, Dropbox launched Carousel, a standalone app for storing and managing photos and videos on your phone.  Designed as a single place to view your life's memories, until now Carousel has only been available for the smallest screen in your life.
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
Netflix takes up 9.5% of upstream traffic on the North American Internet  —  ACK packets make Netflix an upload monster during peak viewing hours.  —  We've written a lot about how Netflix takes up a gigantic share of Internet traffic.  During peak viewing hours, Netflix accounts …
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Amnesty International, EFF, Privacy International release an open source spyware detection tool for Windows  —  Amnesty, EFF, Privacy International Put Out Free Anti-Surveillance Tool  —  Resistance is digital.  Human rights charity Amnesty International is one of several organizations behind …
Danny Sullivan / Marketing Land:
Default search engine for Firefox in Europe remains Google, Yandex in Russia, Baidu in China  —  Mozilla CEO: It Wasn't Money — Yahoo Was The Better Strategic Partner For Firefox  —  Mozilla CEO Chris Beard says when presented with deals of “equivalent economics” to power search in Firefox, Yahoo was the better partner.
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
Tim Culpan / Bloomberg:
Foxconn will spend $2.6B to build dedicated Apple display plant in Taiwan  —  Foxconn to Build Dedicated Apple Display Plant in Taiwan  —  Foxconn Technology Group will spend NT$80 billion ($2.6 billion) over the next two years on a new factory in Taiwan to supply displays exclusively for a client.
Kia Kokalitcheva / VentureBeat:
Amid Uber controversy, taxi-hailing app Flywheel raises $12M, adds new management  —  At the end of Uber's first full day of PR wreckage on Tuesday, one of my bosses announced she was downloading taxi-hailing app Flywheel and deleting Uber's app — like many have tweeted they have done.
Steven Mufson / Washington Post:
Washington Post launches twice-daily tablet editions on Amazon Fire app  —  The Washington Post tablet app for Kindle Fire is a highly visual news experience aimed at a national and international readership.  It offers two editions a day, as well as updates for breaking news.  (The Washington Post)
Husain Sumra / MacRumors:
Sony Drops Aaron Sorkin's Steve Jobs Movie, Universal May Take Over  —  Despite Aaron Sorkin's Steve Jobs movie being in the casting process and moving towards full fledged production, Sony Pictures has dropped the movie and put it “in turnaround”, which allows another large studio to purchase the movie and take over, reports Deadline.

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