Techmeme: Uber study of US drivers: average earnings are $19/hour, more than for taxi drivers; 40K joined in December; 70% drivers active after six months (Ryan Lawler/TechCrunch)

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January 22, 2015, 7:35 PM

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Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple targets Watch battery life of 2.5 hours heavy use and 3.5 hours standard use; pure standby battery life likely to be 2-3 days; CPU said to be A5-caliber — Apple targets for Apple Watch battery life revealed, A5-caliber CPU inside — Although Apple has said that the Apple Watch …

Horace Dediu / Asymco:

Apple paid iOS app developers $10B in 2014, more than Hollywood's US box office revenues — Bigger than Hollywood — Apple paid $10 billion to developers in calendar 2014. Additional statistics for the App store are: — $500 million spent on iOS apps in first week of January 2015

More: Telegraph, App Advice, TechSpot, Cult of Mac, iPhone in Canada Blog, textually.org, Business Insider, Fortune and SiliconBeat

Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:

Google Suggesting Firefox Users Change Their Search Engine & Home Page — Now that Yahoo has gained search share from Google thanks to its Firefox deal, the search giant seems to be finally hitting back with moves to get users to switch to Google. — I've been checking each week since …

More: Computerworld, 9to5Google, CNET, Ubergizmo, Search Engine Roundtable, VentureBeat, WebProNews, The Next Web and Geeky Gadgets

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

J.Crew CEO Millard Drexler is retiring from Apple's Board of Directors; no replacement named — Apple Director Millard Drexler to retire, replacement yet to be named — In a filing for shareholders today, Apple announced that Millard Drexler, a member of the eight-person Board of Directors, is retiring from the Board.

More: MacRumors, TechCrunch, Fortune, Mercury News, AppleInsider, VentureBeat, iMore, TechCrunch and The Verge

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Uber study of US drivers: average earnings are $19/hour, more than for taxi drivers; 40K joined in December; 70% drivers active after six months — Uber Study Shows Its Drivers Make More Per Hour And Work Fewer Hours Than Taxi Drivers — The people who drive for Uber generally …

More: Uber Blog, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, VentureBeat and NBC Bay Area. Tweets: @ryanlawler

Deborah Gage / Wall Street Journal:

Persado Raises $21 Million to Replace Human Copywriters With Computers — Persado Inc. has raised another $21 million for software that aims to replace copywriters with computers, in another demonstration of the power of machines to solve problems that used to be the sole domain of humans.

More: VentureBeat, Business Wire, PE Hub Blog, bizjournals, Xconomy, Consumerist, Wired and TechCrunch. Tweets: @mbillings

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:

Kim Dotcom Launches Skype Competitor MegaChat — Kim Dotcom, the infamous entrepreneur behind Megaupload, has released his latest product. Currently in beta, MegaChat is a browser-based encrypted video calling and file-sharing platform that is being positioned as a Skype competitor.

More: The Next Web, Guardian, The Verge, Gigaom, BetaNews, Engadget, CNET, theWHIR.com, ITworld.com, TechnoBuffalo, Lifehacker, gHacks Technology News, Cult of Mac, Inquirer, Gizmodo, Electronista, TechSpot, Ubergizmo, Windows Central, Geeky Gadgets, SlashGear and GSMArena Blog

Tweets: @kimdotcom and @megaprivacy

Jessi Hempel / Wired:

Inside Nadella's plan to reinvent Microsoft, starting with HoloLens, a flatter org chart, and a willingness to forge new partnerships — Satya Nadella's Got a Plan to Make You Care About Microsoft. The First Step? Holograms … REDMOND MISSED MOBILE — The old Microsoft never gained turf in smartphone operating systems.

More: The Verge, Washington Post, SiliconBeat, Gizmodo, CNET and Fusion. Tweets: @stevebmicrosoft

Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:

In addition to Project Spartan, Windows 10 will include Internet Explorer for enterprise sites — After unveiling its new Project Spartan browser for Windows 10 yesterday, Microsoft today offered more details. The company confirmed that Windows 10 will also include Internet Explorer for enterprise sites …

More: MSDN Blogs, Mercury News, ZDNet, Gigaom, Windows Central, TechCrunch and The Verge

Shara Tibken / CNET:

Surface devices running Windows RT will not be updated with a full version of Windows 10 — Microsoft's Windows RT isn't dead...yet — The software giant says it's working on an update for the versions of its Surface tablet that used an ARM-based chip. But it will only have some of the functionality of Windows 10.

More: The Verge, Digital Trends, Pocketnow, Neowin, Gigaom, PC World, Liliputing and Windows Central

Russell Brandom / The Verge:

Journalist and Anonymous advocate Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison on charges stemming from Stratfor hack — Barrett Brown has been sentenced to 63 months in prison — After years of legal battles, Barrett Brown's legal saga has finally come to a close.

More: Boing Boing, Wired, Techdirt, The Hill, International Business Times, International Business Times, Boing Boing, Engadget, Common Dreams, The Desk, Free Barrett Brown and SC Magazine. See also Mediagazer

Nick Bilton / New York Times:

In-flight Wi-Fi is getting slower, less reliable, and more expensive as demand increases — The Sorry State of In-Flight Wi-Fi — 35,000 FEET, SOMEWHERE OVER THE MIDWEST — I've finally found something on commercial flights that's worse than airplane food: the Wi-Fi.

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:

BlackBerry CEO Wants Legislators To Make Developing BlackBerry Apps Mandatory — At this point, BlackBerry and Windows Phone fans are probably used to having a much smaller selection of apps than their counterparts on iOS and Android smartphones. After all, diehard devotees of BlackBerry and Windows Phone …

Avik Das / Reuters:

Underwriter: Box IPO priced at $14 per share, valuing company at $1.67B — Box IPO priced at $14 per share: underwriter — (Reuters) - Box Inc's (BOX.N) initial public offering has been priced at $14 per share, an underwriter said, valuing the online data storage provider at about $1.67 billion.

More: VentureBeat, Gigaom, Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg

Sean O'Kane / The Verge:

Spotify updates iOS app with Touch Preview, a quick way to sample and discover music using gestures — Spotify unveils Touch Preview, a beautiful new music discovery tool — An audible solution for a visual problem — Last year was a busy one for Spotify. It hit 10 million paid subscribers.

More: MacRumors, The Next Web, TechCrunch, TechHive, TechRadar.com, PC Magazine, SlashGear, Inquirer, 9to5Mac, iMore, CNET, PhoneDog.com, Gizmodo, Geeky Gadgets, Ubergizmo, VentureBeat, Engadget and Pocket-lint

Jason Del Rey / Re/code:

Button Raises $12 Million to Make the App World as Interconnected as the Web — Could 2015 be the year of “deep linking?” — One startup trying to ride that wave is Button, a New York City-based company which is today announcing a $12 million Series A investment less than a year after its launch.

More: VentureBeat, TechCrunch and New York Times. Tweets: @rsarver

Jason Parker / CNET:

Apple's Logic Pro X 10.1 adds new sounds and popular musical genres — Apple updated Logic Pro X to 10.1 today, adding new features, new drummer profiles and more tools for easier music creation. The launch of Logic Pro X last year brought with it a redesigned interface and tons of new tools …

More: MacNN and VentureBeat

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