Techmeme: Report: M&A transactions in ad tech and services increased 32% in 2014, to reach total of 100 representing $7.5B in value, more than triple the value in 2013 (Jack Marshall/Wall Street Journal)

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January 10, 2015, 6:20 PM

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Brad Stone / Businessweek:

Marc Lore's new Costco-inspired e-commerce site Jet to begin limited sign-ups Feb. 20, with $49.99 annual membership fee — Amazon Bought This Man's Company. Now He's Coming for Them — The historic downtown commercial district of Montclair, N.J., is known for its restaurants, antique shops, and art-house movie theater.

More: Business Insider. Tweets: @tcarmody, @kevinroose, @mdudas, @laurahazardowen, @rachelreese, @mikeisaac and @btaylor

Jason Del Rey / Re/code:

Jet CEO: we'll price products 5-6% cheaper than competition, give free delivery on $35+ orders — Five Ways the Guy Behind Diapers.com Plans to Challenge Amazon — Again — As far as hype goes, Jet.com is near the top in the e-commerce industry right now.

More: PC Magazine, TechCrunch and Forbes

Tweets: @jet_insider and @delrey

Thanks:@mikeschroeder

Justin Duino / Android Central:

Hands-on with the Remix Ultra Tablet, a Microsoft Surface-like Android tablet created by three ex-Google engineers — First look at the Remix Ultra Tablet — An Android tablet to get work done on — Jide, a company founded by three ex-Googlers, showed off its first device at CES 2015 — the Remix Ultra Tablet.

More: Ars Technica, Gizmodo, The Verge, Liliputing, Neowin, PhoneDog.com, stuff.tv, Pocketnow, AndroidHeadlines.com, Phandroid, PC World and WMPoweruser

Mike Shields / Wall Street Journal:

Twitter plans to sell ads in streams of tweets on other publishers' apps and websites, share revenue — Twitter Planning to Sell Ads on Apps and Sites of Other Companies — Twitter is laying out plans to make money from the millions of people who see tweets all over the Web but don't actually use Twitter.

More: VatorNews, Tech Times, TechCrunch, The Next Web, The Verge, Marketing Land, Business Insider and Seeking Alpha. See also Mediagazer

Tim Peterson / AdAge:

Twitter mulling 6-second autoplay preview for promoted videos when appearing in users' feeds, charging advertiser only when people click to watch full video

More: Tubefilter. Tweets: @mathewi. See also Mediagazer

Pew Internet:

Pew Report: Facebook growth slows, but user engagement increases; while Twitter and others grow userbase, not engagement — Social Media Update 2014 — In a new survey conducted in September 2014, the Pew Research Center finds that Facebook remains by far the most popular social media site.

Arielle Duhaime-Ross / The Verge:

An unbeatable computer program has finally solved two-player limit Texas hold'em poker — The program also demonstrates that playing second is advantageous — Two-player limit Texas hold'em poker has finally been solved, according to a study published in Science today.

More: Scientific American Content, Motherboard, IEEE Spectrum, Wall Street Journal, Vocativ, Science, Bloomberg, ZME Science, Economist, Washington Post, NPR, Geek.com, Guardian and Tech Times

Jack Marshall / Wall Street Journal:

Report: M&A transactions in ad tech and services increased 32% in 2014, to reach total of 100 representing $7.5B in value, more than triple the value in 2013 — Burst of M&A in Online Advertising as Shakeout Begins — A shakeout is under way in the online advertising industry …

More: Seeking Alpha

Alex Davies / Wired:

NASA and Nissan Join Forces to Build Self-Driving Vehicles for Earth and Space — Nissan and NASA are teaming up to develop autonomous vehicles that will take us across town—or across Mars. — The automaker and the space agency signed a five-year partnership today that will see their …

More: Tech Times, Fast Company, tech.co, Gizmodo, Engadget, TIME, Pocket-lint and The Verge

Bonnie Cha / Re/code:

ZTE announces Spro 2, an Android-powered projector/hotspot that improves upon predecessor in battery life and brightness, to be sold exclusively on AT&T — CES Snapshot: ZTE's Smart Projector Gets Brighter, Better Battery Life — ZTE grabbed a lot of attention at CES last year when it debuted the Spro …

More: AT&T, Gotta Be Mobile, Tom's Guide, PhoneNews.com, TechnoBuffalo, The Verge, Liliputing, PhoneDog.com, Android Community, Ubergizmo, Digital Trends, PC Magazine and Droid Life

Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:

Samsung, Sony, Netflix, and others form UHD Alliance to standardize 4K content and delivery — Samsung, Disney, Netflix, and more team up to define Ultra HD and how you'll watch it — The UHD Alliance will set standards for 4K content — 4K TVs were one of the big stories of CES last year …

More: CNET, Broadcasting & Cable, Hollywood Reporter, Popular Science, The Verge, Guardian, SamMobile, TechnoBuffalo, FierceCable and Wired.co.uk

Claire Brownell / Financial Post:

Report: Shopify planning IPO in US and Canada this year to raise about $100M at $1B+ valuation — Shopify Inc planning IPO in Canada and U.S. in 2015, hopes to raise US$100M: report — Ottawa-based e-commerce firm Shopify Inc. hopes to raise about US$100 million in a planned initial public offering …

More: Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, BetaKit and Seeking Alpha

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Screenshots emerge of Windows 10's new dark theme, taskbar, and Spartan browser UI — This is Windows 10's new browser and dark theme — Microsoft is preparing to unveil a new browser in Windows 10, codenamed Spartan, and leaked images are providing an early glimpse at the Internet Explorer successor.

More: The Seattle Times, TechnoBuffalo, BGR, SlashGear, Yahoo Tech, The Digital Reader, Windows Phone Central, eWeek, CNET, InfoWorld, FierceCIO News and Seeking Alpha

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