Techmeme: Uber Strikes Deal With Portland to Suspend Service for Three Months (Douglas MacMillan/Wall Street Journal)

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December 18, 2014, 11:00 PM

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Reuters:

Google will build Android Auto software directly into cars with Android M, no smartphone needed — Exclusive: Google aiming to go straight into car with next Android - sources — (Reuters) - Google Inc (GOOGL.O) is laying the groundwork for a version of Android that would be built directly into cars …

More: 9to5Google, Engadget, Android Authority, Gigaom, Android Beat, Phandroid, TechnoBuffalo, The Verge, The Next Web, SlashGear, PhoneDog.com, Pocket-lint, Droid Life, iDownloadBlog.com, Android and Me and Android Central. Tweets: @engadget

Kent Walker / Google Public Policy Blog:

Google concerned by reports that MPAA is secretly working with studios to resurrect SOPA — The MPAA's Attempt to Revive SOPA Through A State Attorney General — We are deeply concerned about recent reports that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) led a secret …

More: CNET, The Technology Chronicles, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, The Hill, The Verge, 9to5Google, The Huffington Post, Deadline, Techdirt, MacDailyNews and New York Times

Tweets: @nicholaspopp, @violetblue, @bluechoochoo and @dannysullivan

See also Mediagazer

Douglas MacMillan / Wall Street Journal:

Uber Strikes Deal With Portland to Suspend Service for Three Months — Uber reached an agreement with Portland to suspend operations in the city for three months while regulators work to revise rules around taxis that currently prohibit ridesharing apps. — The city agreed to let Uber …

More: Uber Blog, New York Times, The Verge, GeekWire, SiliconANGLE, Gigaom and The Next Web

Richard Bilton / BBC:

BBC investigation finds Apple repeatedly not meeting its supply chain standards on workers' hours, ID cards, dormitories, work meetings and juvenile workers — Apple ‘failing to protect Chinese factory workers’ — The undercover reporter filmed workers falling asleep on 12-hour shifts

More: Forbes, 9to5Mac, The Daily Dot, The Mac Observer, AppleInsider, Bedfordshire News, iLounge, MK News, MacDailyNews, iDownloadBlog.com, iPhone in Canada Blog, MacRumors, Cult of Mac, Electronista, ZDNet, iMore, The Verge and App Advice. Tweets: @ziyatong

Bloomberg:

China is Planning to Purge Foreign Technology and Replace With Homegrown Suppliers — China is aiming to purge most foreign technology from banks, the military, state-owned enterprises and key government agencies by 2020, stepping up efforts to shift to Chinese suppliers, according to people familiar with the effort.

More: chinaeconomicreview.com, Taipei Times and MacDailyNews

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:

Longtime Internet Explorer leader Dean Hachamovitch is leaving Microsoft — Dean Hachamovitch is leaving Microsoft. And yes, of course, there is an IE shirt associated with this milestone, too. The longtime Internet Explorer leader, who led the efforts to modernize and revitalize Microsoft's web browser …

More: Learning, The Verge and Re/code. Tweets: @maryjofoley. Thanks:@mnickelsburg

Ginny Marvin / Search Engine Land:

Google Launches “Store Visits” Metric In AdWords, To Help Prove Online-To-Offline Impact — It's been well known that Google has been working on a solution to tie clicks on search ads back to in-store traffic and sales as part of Estimated Total Conversions in AdWords.

More: Inside AdWords, ScreenwerkScreenwerk, Search Engine Watch, Marketing Land and WebProNews

Tweets: @dannysullivan, @wilreynolds and @larrykim

Craig Timberg / Washington Post:

Critical vulnerabilities in SS7 telephony protocol found; tested techniques can decrypt cell phone calls and texts — German researchers discover a flaw that could let anyone listen to your cell calls. — German researchers have discovered security flaws that could let hackers …

More: iMore and Gizmodo. Tweets: @acarvin and @csoghoian

Junio C Hamano / Gmane:

Vulnerability in Git, Mercurial allows for arbitrary code execution on OSX, Windows; affects Visual Studio, Github client app, among others — Subject: [ANNOUNCE] Git v2.2.1 (and updates to older maintenance tracks) — Newsgroups: gmane.linux.kernel, gmane.comp.version-control.git

More: GitHub, Ars Technica, MSDN Blogs, VentureBeat, The New Stack and WordPress Tavern

Tweets: @markmc_ and @wilkieii

Michael Mimoso / Threatpost:

Vulnerability in embedded web server software from 2002 leaves about 12M home routers exposed — 12 Million Home Routers Vulnerable to Takeover — More than 12 million devices running an embedded webserver called RomPager are vulnerable to a simple attack that could give a hacker man …

More: Re/code, Ars Technica, CIO.com, SC Magazine, The Register, Techworld.com and Marketwire

Richard Lawler / Engadget:

Samsung to shut down its ChatOn messaging service Feb. 1, 2015 in all markets except U.S. — Samsung's ChatOn service will shut down next year — but not in the US — After denying reports that its ChatOn service was close to being disbanded on a region-by-region basis, Samsung has announced in Korea that it's going away.

More: english.yonhapnews.co.kr and Android Central

Lizette Chapman / Wall Street Journal:

Mobile analytics firm Mixpanel raises $65M Series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz at an $865M valuation — Mixpanel Raises $65 Million to Build Predictive Data Tech — Suhail Doshi has big dreams for his mobile and Web analytics company Mixpanel Inc. and has just raised $65 million …

More: Mixpanel, TechCrunch and VentureBeat

Tweets: @fmanjoo, @mims and @howardlindzon

Matthew Wee / Yahoo:

The Yahoo App Adds Local News, Commenting, and More on Android and iOS in the U.S. — Want to know more about what's going on around you? Today we're bringing local news to your fingertips with the Yahoo App. As you move around the country, you'll be able to see what's going on in your area.

More: VentureBeat, WebProNews, 9to5Google, App Advice and 9to5Mac

Katie Benner / Bloomberg View:

Jawbone delays UP3 fitness band release until after holidays, offers discounts to preorderers — Jawbone's Missing Christmas — If you wonder how long the market can support richly valued startups, and what sorts of corporate stress might test investor enthusiasm, look no further than Jawbone …

More: Wareable, TechnoBuffalo, Macworld, TechCrunch, Electronista, Ubergizmo, SlashGear, Wearable World News, Wearable Tech Insider, App Advice, Gigaom and ITProPortal

Tweets: @ldignan and @ktbenner

Casey Newton / The Verge:

Secret is relaunching as a faster anonymous social network with chat — Talk to any of Secret's 15 million users in just two taps — When Secret launched in February, it quickly became the most talked-about new social network in Silicon Valley. Like other '"anonymish" social networks …

More: Medium, Re/code, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Daily Dot, Wired, Business Insider, SlashGear, The Next Web, VentureBeat, 9to5Google, TechnoBuffalo and Gigaom

Tweets: @chrismessina, @ario, @caseynewton, @mikeisaac, @piercedavid, @joshconstine, @rsarver, @elitereporter and @kessler

Vindu Goel / New York Times:

Instagram purges spambots; popular accounts lose millions of followers, with the company losing the most at 18.9M — Millions of Fake Instagram Users Disappear in Purge — Social media services like Facebook and Twitter are always battling against spam or fake accounts that hijack hashtags …

More: The Verge, Business Insider, Business Insider and Om Malik

John Cook / GeekWire:

Redfin raises $70.9M to continue national real estate expansion … Redfin today announced $70.9 million in fresh funding, money that the Seattle real estate brokerage will use to continue its national expansion. Total funding in the 10-year-old company now stands at $166 million.

More: Redfin, Wall Street Journal, Business Wire, Inman News, PE Hub Blog, TechCrunch, bizjournals and Bloomberg

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