Techmeme: Google may launch an auto insurance comparison shopping site in US as early as Q1 this year (Conor Dougherty/New York Times)

Open Links In New Tab

Mobile Archives Advertise Site News

January 9, 2015, 12:50 PM

Top News

NOVA Next:

Snowden: NSA should re-prioritize cyber warfare goals and focus more on defensive measures given US's dependence on high-tech — Exclusive: Edward Snowden on Cyber Warfare — Cyber warfare used to be the stuff of sci-fi movies and military exercises. But with the advent of the Stuxnet worm …

More: PandoDaily, Ars Technica, Washington Post, SiliconBeat, TechCrunch, Tech Times, BetaBoston, RT, The Hill, The Daily Caller and Gizmodo

Amrutha Gayathri / Reuters:

Box seeks to raise up to $162.5M in IPO at $11 to $13 per share at a valuation of up to $1.55B — Data storage company Box expected to be valued at up to $1.55 billion — (Reuters) - Online data storage provider Box Inc (IPO-BOX.N) expects its initial public offering to be priced at $11-$13 per share …

More: Re/code, CNET, ZDNet, VentureBeat, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Business Insider, Bloomberg and Business Insider

Tweets: @levie, @davejohnson_uk, @dmac1, @rakeshlobster and @alex

Jordan Kahn / 9to5Mac:

Apple planning Apple Pay expansion into Canada as soon as March — Apple is preparing to expand its new Apple Pay payments service internationally with at least the Canadian launch currently scheduled for early 2015, according to sources close to the situation.

More: MacRumors, iMore, FierceMobileIT News, MacDailyNews, SlashGear, O'Grady's PowerPage, MacNN, iDownloadBlog.com, iPhone in Canada Blog and MobileSyrup.com. Thanks:@apollozac

Re/code:

Twitter's native video product launching within weeks, may have 20-second time limit — Twitter's New Video Feature Is Only a Few Weeks Away — Twitter is planning to unveil its new video product in the next few weeks, according to sources familiar with the company's plans.

More: ReadWrite, bizjournals, WebProNews, AllTwitter, ValueWalk, iDownloadBlog.com and Tubefilter. Tweets: @walldo

The Cluetrain Manifesto:

Two “Cluetrain Manifesto” authors present 121 “New Clues” to take on threats to the Internet of 2015 — New Clues — Hear, O Internet. It has been sixteen years since our previous communication. In that time the People of the Internet — you and me and all our friends …

More: BetaBoston, Boing Boing, Doc Searls WeblogDoc … and Scripting News

Tweets: @davemorin, @tcarmody, @kwerb, @dsearls, @ethanz, @jayrosen_nyu, @mstoli, @dangillmor, @dweinberger, @davewiner, @msurman and @tconrad

Loek Essers / InfoWorld:

Glitch in OS X search can expose private details of Apple Mail users — Performing a Spotlight search opens email previews that load external images, even when the Mail client is asked not to do this — A glitch in the search software in Apple's OS X Yosemite can expose private details …

More: Ars Technica, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, Load the Game and SlashGear

Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:

Lizard Squad's DDoS attack service “Lizard Stresser” runs mostly on thousands of hacked home routers — Lizard Stresser Runs on Hacked Home Routers — The online attack service launched late last year by the same criminals who knocked Sony and Microsoft's gaming networks offline …

More: The Next Web, The Verge and Ars Technica

Abhijeet M. / SamMobile:

Samsung Galaxy A3 and A5 coming soon to Europe, firmware now online — The Galaxy A3 (SM-A300) and Galaxy A5 (SM-A500) are mid-range devices that Samsung is hoping will attract consumers with their metallic designs, but both devices have been in limited supply due to production issues …

More: 9to5Google, TechnoBuffalo, Geeky Gadgets, Pocketnow and AndroidGuys

Carmel DeAmicis / Gigaom:

Uber cuts prices for riders and guarantees earnings for drivers in 48 cities starting Friday — Uber just cut prices in 48 markets — This hasn't happened in awhile. Uber just slashed its cost in 48 of its US markets. The last time it started giving such big discounts was half a year ago, at the start of summer.

More: Uber Blog, PandoDaily, Macworld, Business Insider, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Vox, Consumerist, Electronista, Gizmodo, Digital Trends, The Verge and The Next Web. Tweets: @rsarver

AppleInsider:

Minimum iOS App Store price rises to $1.19 in Canada, £0.79 in the UK, and €0.99 in the EU — Minimum iOS App Store price rises to $1.19 in Canada, ? 0.79 in the UK, and ? 0.99 in the EU — Minimum iOS App Store price rises to $1.19 in Canada, £0.79 in the UK, and €0.99 in the EU

More: 9to5Mac, Engadget, MacRumors, Gigaom, iMore, iDownloadBlog.com, iPhone in Canada Blog and The Verge

CoinDesk:

State of Bitcoin 2015: Ecosystem Grows Despite Price Decline — CoinDesk is pleased to announce the latest quarterly State of Bitcoin report, featuring a 2014 Year in Review, an in-depth analysis of data and events from the fourth quarter of 2014 and a look ahead to what 2015 might bring.

More: AVC, Whoops and Upstart Business Journal. Thanks:@jeremybonney

Hannah Jane Parkinson / Guardian:

Google-backed fund donates €250,000 to Charlie Hebdo, Zuckerberg condemns attack, Apple shows solidarity with banner on site — Mark Zuckerberg, Apple and Google respond to Charlie Hebdo attack — Facebook CEO condemns attack while Google donates £195,000 to support satirical magazine …

More: Guardian, Mark Zuckerberg, Inquirer, The Verge, 9to5Google, VentureBeat, Crowdfund Insider, Mashable, tech.co, Engadget, Business Insider, SlashGear and PandoDaily. Tweets: @emilybell

Conor Dougherty / New York Times:

Google may launch an auto insurance comparison shopping site in US as early as Q1 this year — New Clues on Google's Plans for Insurance — The insurance industry takes it for granted that Google will soon introduce its Google Compare auto insurance shopping site, which has been in Britain for two years, in the United States.

More: Forrester Blogs, Wall Street Journal, Politico, The Verge, PC World, Forbes, Gizmodo, Electronista, CNET, TheDomains.com and 9to5Google

Brent Dirks / App Advice:

Evernote releases free mobile scanning app Scannable for iOS 8 devices — Evernote's new Scannable app wants to put paper in its place — Evernote wants to help tame that paper mess that many of us deal with on a daily basis. The new Scannable app is a quick and easy way to digitize pretty much any important document.

More: The Next Web, iMore, Evernote Blog, Geeky Gadgets, iDownloadBlog.com, SlashGear, Engadget, Fast Company, The Tech Portal and MacRumors

Lester Victor Marks / AppleInsider:

Griffin's Lightning cables with reversible USB plug coming in March for $29.99 — Griffin shows off $30 Lightning cable with reversible USB plug, coming in March — At CES this week, Griffin Technology took the wraps off a new USB-to-Lightning cable with a twist — the USB Type A plug …

More: Geeky Gadgets, MacNN and iPhone in Canada Blog

Reuters:

Bitstamp says it will resume trading today after breach which resulted in 19K stolen bitcoins — Bitcoin exchange Bitstamp says to resume trading on Friday — Bitstamp, one of the largest exchanges for the digital bitcoin currency, said it would resume trading later on Friday …

More: The Next Web, NEWSBTC, CryptoCoinsNews and Crowdfund Insider

Arik Hesseldahl / Re/code:

Apple Hires HP Veteran to Head Corporate Sales — Apple has hired a longtime Hewlett-Packard executive to run sales of its products to large corporations, and he may take on a role involving international sales of the forthcoming Apple Watch. — Via LinkedIn John Solomon

More: Geeky Gadgets, AdExchanger, App Advice, Cult of Mac, The Mac Observer, AppleInsider, MacNN, iDownloadBlog.com, 9to5Mac, Business Insider, MacDailyNews and iMore

Sponsor Posts

Google:

Try Gemini 3 Pro — Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life

Shopify:

Shopify: Revolutionizing Commerce with Winter Edition '26 — Over 150+ new features transform how merchants build, design, and grow—with technology that amplifies creative vision.

Zoho:

Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control — Picture this: It's Monday morning. You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.

IDrive:

Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Sponsor Techmeme

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:

OpenAI's 2026 Priority, Disney's AI Play, Datacenter Buildout Trouble

The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.

Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.

Hard Fork:

Australia Kicks Kids Off Social Media + Is the A.I. Water Issue Fake? + Hard Fork Wrapped

The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.

Subscribe to Hard Fork.

Access:

Why the next AI frontier is phone calls, with Beside CEO Maxime Germain

A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.

Subscribe to Access.

Great Chat:

So what happens after AGI?

A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.

Subscribe to Great Chat.

Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:

Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling

Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.

Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.

Channels with Peter Kafka:

Lachlan Cartwright Started in Tabloids. Now He's a Must-Read Media Gossip.

Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.

Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.

Add your podcast here

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 12:50 PM ET, January 9, 2015.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.