Techmeme: After Google News shutdown, external traffic to Spanish media sites plummets, according to Chartbeat (Mathew Ingram/Gigaom)

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December 16, 2014, 6:40 PM

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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 …

More: The Verge, CNET, ABC News, Wall Street Journal, MacRumors, Gigaom, Businessweek, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, The Next Web, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Business Insider, iPhone in Canada Blog, iMore, MacNN, Reuters, MacDailyNews, Cult of Mac, SlashGear, Boing Boing and iDownloadBlog.com. Tweets: @martinvars

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 …

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 …

More: New York Times, Bloomberg, CNBC, Ars Technica, Re/code, CNET, GeekWire, The Register, Fortune, The Daily Dot, MacRumors, The Mac Observer, BGR, iDownloadBlog.com, Neowin, TechnoBuffalo, iLounge, 9to5Mac, Engadget, TUAW and Consumerist. Tweets: @reckless. See also Mediagazer

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 …

More: Engadget, The Verge, Gizmodo, Ubergizmo, Pocket-lint, WinBeta, Business Insider, Windows Phone Central, Gotta Be Mobile, Polygon and GamePolitics blogs

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 …

More: Wired, Wall Street Journal, Search Engine Land, WebProNews and Guardian. See also Mediagazer

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.

More: MacRumors, iDownloadBlog.com, Pocket-lint, iPhone in Canada Blog, Cult of Mac, Patently Apple and The Tech Portal

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 …

More: T-Mobile Newsroom, ZDNet, Engadget, MacRumors, GeekWire, TechSpot, Android Police, Gizmodo, 9to5Google, VentureBeat, The Verge, BGR, The Next Web, ABC News, SlashGear, TechCrunch and AnandTech

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 Blog. Tweets: @mims

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 …

More: AllFacebook, The Verge, Engadget and The Next Web. Tweets: @christauziet

Claire Cain Miller / New York Times:

Automation is not only replacing manufacturing jobs, it is displacing knowledge and service workers too — As Robots Grow Smarter, American Workers Struggle to Keep Up — A machine that administers sedatives recently began treating patients at a Seattle hospital.

More: ZDNet. Tweets: @ict4djester, @mathewi and @petercoffee

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 …

More: TIME, The Verge, Business Insider, AllTwitter, Marketing Pilgrim, BetaNews, WebProNews, Wall Street Journal and PandoDaily

Tweets: @dubois and @chrisboutet

Jessica Plautz / Mashable:

Delta security flaw let passengers access others' boarding passes — Airlines are moving toward mobile boarding passes, and looking to a paperless future of air travel. But there are still some kinks to work out. — A passenger found a serious flaw in Delta's mobile boarding system …

More: Medium, TIME, Engadget, 9to5Mac, Digital Trends, CNBC, Gizmodo, BuzzFeed and SC Magazine

Adi Robertson / The Verge:

Sci-Fi author Neal Stephenson joins augmented reality startup Magic Leap as “Chief Futurist” — Neal Stephenson joins mysterious augmented reality company Magic Leap — Science fiction author Neal Stephenson has become the “Chief Futurist” of Magic Leap …

More: GeekWire, Gigaom, Wired, Fast Company, Forbes, Re/code and io9

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 …

More: Instagram Blog, Engadget, PC Magazine, ABC News, Inside Facebook, NEWS.com.au, PC World, Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, TechCrunch, CNET, Gigaom, Daily Mail, VentureBeat, Re/code and IntoMobile

Daniel Terdiman / VentureBeat:

Facebook engineering VP Cory Ondrejka departs after overseeing Oculus acquisition — Facebook vice president of mobile engineering Cory Ondrejka, who has been overseeing the company's acquisition of Oculus Rift and its integration, announced today he is leaving the company.

More: Cory Ondrejka, Re/code and GamesIndustry.biz

Alistair Barr / Wall Street Journal:

Google Ventures invested 36% in healthcare & life sciences startups this year, up from 9% last year; consumer internet down from 66% last year to 8% in 2014 — Google Ventures Shifts Focus to Healthcare — Google 's venture-capital arm is moving strongly into healthcare and life-sciences startups …

More: The Verge. Tweets: @andybiotech

Jason Abbruzzese / Mashable:

NBC is launching streaming of network shows for people with pay-TV logins — NBC will begin live streaming — but not so fast, cord cutters — Saturday Night Live isn't live streaming just yet. — NBC has announced plans to begin live streaming its network shows, but cord cutters won't have access to the new service.

More: Wall Street Journal, Engadget, The Verge, CNET, TheStreet.com, bizjournals, Light Reading, Gizmodo, VatorNews, Ubergizmo and Tubefilter. See also Mediagazer

Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:

Gmail gets Content Security Policy support to stop extensions from loading unsafe code — Google today added support for Content Security Policy (CSP) to Gmail. The security feature protects users by stopping extensions from loading unsafe code. — CSP is a computer security concept …

More: Gmail Blog, BetaNews, 9to5Google, TechCrunch, The Next Web and AndroidHeadlines.com

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.

More: MongoDB, The New Stack, ZDNet, InformationWeek and Christian News …

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Clever, which develops a login layer for educational apps, raises a $30M round led by Lightspeed; has signed up 30K schools in the US — Clever Gets $30 Million From Lightspeed To Become The Login Layer For Education Apps — It's not often you hear about companies actually disrupting the education market.

More: Red Herring, PE Hub Blog, bizjournals, VatorNews and EdSurge

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, The Register and Reuters

Tweets: @xor and @kevinroose

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