Techmeme
December 16, 2014, 5:00 PM

Top News

Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Apple Pay now supports credit cards representing about 90% of purchase volume in US  —  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 …
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 …
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.
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 …
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft's ‘Arcadia’ team is building a streaming app and game service  —  Summary:Microsoft's Operating Systems Group is staffing up a new team that is building an app and game streaming service for the company's ‘core platforms.’  —  As Microsoft officials themselves have said …
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 …
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
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 …
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 …
Silke Koltrowitz / Reuters:
TAG Heuer enlists partners in smartwatch plan and may make acquisitions  —  (Reuters) - TAG Heuer is pushing ahead with plans for a smartwatch to more directly compete with the likes of the Apple Watch and may make acquisitions to help drive the strategy, its head said on Tuesday.
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.
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook Starts Auto-Enhancing Photos Because Algorithms Are Better At Filters Than You  —  We're not ace photographers, but we all take photos.  Most could use a little help with light and shadow.  So rather than making you manually filter them, Facebook tells me it will now auto-enhance …
Jessica Plautz / Mashable:
Delta security flaw lets passengers access others' boarding passes  —  Airlines are moving toward mobile boarding passes, and looking to a paperless future of air travel.  —  But there are clearly still some kinks to work out, one of which is the security behind mobile boarding passes.
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
Stephen Hall / 9to5Google:
Upcoming 2.3 Pebble update brings actionable Android Wear notifications and more  —  Pebble users have been left in the dust this year as Android Wear has taken hold over the smartwatch market-and offered some functionality that Pebble and other companies haven't yet implemented.
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.
Barb Darrow / Gigaom:
MongoDB snaps up WiredTiger as new storage engine option  —  Credit: Flickr / Cesar Rodas  —  Credit: Flickr / Cesar Rodas  —  NoSQL fan favorite MongoDB has purchased WiredTiger and its storage engine technology, and as part of the deal snags itself some database stars in Keith Bostic and Dr. Michael Cahill.
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 …

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