Techmeme
December 16, 2014, 3:05 PM

Top News

Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Apple Pay now supports 90% of US credit cards in terms of purchase volume  —  Dozens More Companies Sign Up for Apple Pay  —  The list of companies working with Apple Pay continues to grow.  —  On Tuesday, Apple announced that in recent weeks the company had signed up dozens more banks …
Jason Del Rey / Re/code:
Samsung in talks with mobile payments startup LoopPay to launch Apple Pay rival in 2015  —  Samsung in Talks to Launch Apple Pay Competitor  —  Samsung has discussed a deal with a payments startup that would help the smartphone maker unveil a wireless mobile payments system in 2015 to rival Apple, according to multiple sources.
Tim Higgins / Bloomberg:
Apple Stops Online Sales in Russia Over Ruble Fluctuations  —  Apple Inc. (AAPL) has halted online sales in Russia due to “extreme” ruble fluctuations, the company said.  —  “Our online store in Russia is currently unavailable while we review pricing,” Alan Hely, a spokesman for the Cupertino …
Josh Lowensohn / The Verge:
Jury finds Apple not guilty of harming consumers in iTunes DRM case  —  Apple cleared in potential $1 billion court case  —  An eight-person jury has decided that Apple is not on the hook for what could have been more than $1 billion in a trial centering on extra security measures …
Roberto Baldwin / The Next Web:
Instagram's latest major update adds 5 new filters, revamped design and real-time commenting  —  Just when you thought you had enough filters, Instagram goes and adds more along with an updated design and a whole slew of other new and improved features.  —  Today the make-your-photos-look-better …
Jordan Crook / TechCrunch:
Dots Spins Out Of Betaworks With $10M Series A From Tencent, GreyCroft  —  Dots, the mobile gaming studio responsible for two dead-simple but beautiful games, is today announcing the close of a $10 million round, as well as the official spinout of Dots as its own company, separate from betaworks.
More: The Verge and PE Hub BlogTweets: @mims
Daniel Howley / Yahoo Tech:
Starting January 1st, T-Mobile Data Stash will let you roll over unused data for up to a year, starting with one-off 10GB allowance  —  T-Mobile ‘Data Stash’ Lets You Roll Over Your Unused Data  —  Yahoo Tech's David Pogue interviewed T-Mobile CEO John Legere on Tuesday as T-Mobile announced upgrades …
Tom Cheredar / VentureBeat:
Netflix updates its Android app with social sharing features, Android Wear integration  —  Streaming video service Netflix is showing some love for subscribers using the company's Android app with a new social-focused updated released today.  —  The Netflix Android app update adds a set …
Amit Singhal / The Official Google Blog:
Robin Williams, World Cup, Ebola, MH370, ALS, and Flappy Bird top Google's list of trending searches for 2014  —  A Year in Search: the moments that defined 2014  —  Every year, we reflect on the moments that made us laugh, smile from ear to ear, or stay gripped to our screens in our annual Year in Search.
Los Angeles Times:
Sony hit with lawsuit by former employees over email leaks  —  The first legal salvo has been leveled against Sony Pictures Entertainment since the massive computer breach that exposed the personal information of thousands of current and former employees.  —  Lawyers representing …
More: The Verge and ReutersTweets: @xor and @kevinrooseSee also Mediagazer
Peter Kafka / Re/code:
Comcast Will Finally Let Roku Owners Stream HBO, Showtime  —  Many people who own Roku Web video boxes can use the devices to watch shows from HBO and Showtime.  But not Comcast subscribers: A dispute between Roku and America's biggest pay-TV provider has kept the networks' streaming services off of Roku gadgets.
Garett Sloane / Adweek:
Twitter Debates Whether to Hit Autoplay on Videos to Compete With Facebook  —  Brands would love it, but would users protest?  —  Twitter is weighing a difficult decision, one that not only could disrupt the traditional order of things at the social network but also may well be the key …
Erin Griffith / Fortune:
Evan Williams: Medium's key advertising sales metric is not page views, but time spent on page  —  Evan Williams: On billionaire-backed journalism, Shanley Kane, and the problem with vanity ad metrics  —  Many people use the newish blogging site Medium each day, but almost as many of them are confused …
Mathew Ingram / Gigaom:
After Google News shutdown, external traffic to Spanish media sites plummets, according to Chartbeat  —  External traffic to Spanish news sites plummets after Google move  —  Credit: Flickr / Pavel P  —  Credit: Flickr / Pavel P  —  As expected, Google removed all Spanish publishers …
CNET:
Huawei launches Honor 6 Plus with dual 8MP cameras, 5.5" full-HD display, 3GB of RAM, proprietary Kirin 925 octa-core CPU, 3600 mAh battery  —  Design  —  Huawei isn't just chucking in a couple of cameras and calling it a day.  The 7.5mm thick Honor 6 Plus shares the black glass design of the Honor 6 …
Jonathan Vanian / Gigaom:
Microsoft to open source Project Orleans, the cloud framework behind Halo, by early 2015  —  Microsoft open sources cloud framework that powers Halo  —  Microsoft is continuing its open-source push, this time announcing that it will open source its Project Orleans cloud computing web framework.
Mark Suster / Both Sides of the Table:
LA's Upfront Ventures raises $280M for its fifth fund  —  Upfront Ventures Raised New $280 Million Fund  —  Whew!  —  We've been dying to tell you all for a while that we had raised a new venture capital fund and of course given SEC filing requirements the story was somewhat already scooped …
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
‘Opera Coast’ Browser for iOS Gains Discover Feature, Turbo Data Compression  —  The Opera Coast webkit-based browser for iOS was today updated to version 4.0, adding Opera Software's Turbo data compression technology to make browsing websites on the iPhone and iPad much faster on congested networks.

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