Techmeme: Microsoft courts Silicon Valley with Azure's $500K credit for Y Combinator startups to compete with Amazon's $100K AWS offering (Alex Wilhelm/TechCrunch)

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February 12, 2015, 7:10 AM

Top News

Mike Isaac / New York Times:

Pinterest pairs with Apple to launch App Pins, helps discover apps without going to App Store; Apple to launch own curated App Store board — Aiming to Ease App Discovery, Apple Pairs With Pinterest — There are more than 1.4 million mobile applications in Apple's App Store.

More: Oh, How Pinteresting!, SiliconANGLE, Gizmodo, The Verge, Gizmodo, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, The Next Web, Cult of Mac, The Verge, TechCrunch, MacRumors and iMore

Tweets: @appstore and @mikeisaac

Thanks:@jamiefavazza

Canalys Newsroom:

Over 720K Android Wear devices shipped in 2014, with Moto 360 being the clear leader — Over 720,000 Android Wear devices shipped in 2014 — Palo Alto, Shanghai, Singapore and Reading (UK) - Wednesday, 11 February 2015 — Over 720,000 Android Wear devices shipped in 2014 out of a total of 4.6 million smart wearable bands.

Rajesh Jha / The Official Microsoft Blog:

Microsoft acquires Sunrise, creator of an innovative calendar app for mobile devices — I'm pleased to announce that Microsoft has acquired Sunrise, provider of a next-generation calendar app for iOS and Android. We are making this acquisition because we believe a reinvention …

More: Sunrise, The Verge, VentureBeat, The Next Web, SiliconANGLE, Windows Central, Engadget, ReadWrite, SlashGear, Re/code, BetaNews, VatorNews, TechCrunch, eWeek, TIME, Wired, MobileSyrup.com, ZDNet, Android Authority, New York Times, GeekWire, MacStories, PhoneDog.com, Business Insider and Gigaom

Tweets: @satyanadella and @pierrevalade

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Twitter to pay about $30M for Niche, and possibly up to $60M with earnouts and employment contracts included — Twitter Buys Niche, a Social Media Talent Agency, for at Least $30 Million — Twitter has acquired Niche, a small startup that connects advertisers with social media stars …

More: SiliconANGLE, Pocket-lint and Mashable. See also Mediagazer

Baljeet Singh / The Twitter Blog:

Twitter acquires Niche, a service that helps connect social media stars with brands

Facebook:

Facebook to show live relevance scores for ads based on expected feedback from target audience, to let advertisers tweak ads for higher relevance, lower cost — Showing Relevance Scores for Ads on Facebook — On Facebook, we try to show people the ads that are most pertinent to them.

More: AdAge, The Next Web, VatorNews, Search Engine Journal, WebProNews, VentureBeat and SocialTimes

Douglas MacMillan / Wall Street Journal:

Yet-to-launch marketplace Jet raises $140M, at a valuation of nearly $600M; round led by Bain; new investors include Google Ventures, Goldman Sachs — Jet.com's Valuation Nears $600 Million Before Launch — Jet.com doesn't plan to open its online store until this spring, but investors are already sold.

More: Wall Street Journal, BuzzFeed, New York Times, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Forbes, Re/code, Reuters and Business Insider

Tweets: @caseynewton, @bgurley and @dmac1

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:

Microsoft courts Silicon Valley with Azure's $500K credit for Y Combinator startups to compete with Amazon's $100K AWS offering — Microsoft Wants To Buy Love In Silicon Valley — Y Combinator and Microsoft announced a program this week that will pour free access to the Azure cloud computing platform onto …

More: Y Combinator Posthaven, VentureBeat, MSDN Blogs, cloudcomputing-news.net, Computer Business Review, GeekWire and GeekTime

Tim Higgins / Bloomberg Business:

Apple Bans ‘Bonded Servitude’ at Supplier Factories Worldwide — Don't Miss Out — (Bloomberg) — Apple Inc., which has faced criticism for worker conditions at its suppliers in Asia, is requiring factories to pay recruitment fees for employees instead of saddling the costs on new hires.

More: Computerworld, 9to5Mac, Wall Street Journal, Gizmodo, KitGuru, MacRumors, PC World, MacNN, SlashGear, iMore, Cult of Mac, AppleInsider and iDownloadBlog.com

Lauren Goode / Re/code:

Fitbit responds to complaints that its latest fitness trackers cause skin irritation, advises affected users to “take a break from the device” — Fitbit Advises Rash Sufferers to Take a Break from Wearing the Wearable — Fitbit has already been through a recall.

More: Engadget, abc7news.com, TechCrunch and The Verge. Tweets: @johnolilly

Tzahi Hoffman / Globes Online:

Sources: Microsoft acquires Israeli digital pen company N-trig, creators of the Surface Pro 3 stylus, for $200M — Microsoft buys digital pen co N-trig for $200m — The Kfar Saba based company has been in financial difficulties. — Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT) is buying Israeli digital pen company N-trig.

More: Reuters and VentureBeat

Geoffrey A. Fowler / Wall Street Journal:

Facebook lets users set a legacy contact, who will be able to manage their accounts in a limited way when they pass away — Facebook Heir? Time to Choose Who Manages Your Account When You Die — The social network now lets you designate a ‘legacy contact’ for your digital afterlife

More: Engadget

Kara Swisher / Re/code:

Dropbox replaces CFO Sujay Jaswa with former Motorola Mobility CFO Vanessa Wittman — Dropbox Replaces Insider CFO With Former Motorola Exec — Dropbox, in a move that will surely have investors wondering about the storage startup's IPO plans, is replacing its insider CFO Sujay Jaswa …

More: Wall Street Journal, USA Today and TechCrunch. Tweets: @laurengoode

Juli Clover / MacRumors:

Apple Confirms Aperture to Be Removed From Mac App Store After Launch of Photos for OS X — Shortly after last week's deployment of OS X 10.10.3 to developers, Apple updated its official Aperture page on its website, adding a notice stating that Aperture will be removed from the Mac App Store when the Photos for OS X app launches.

More: Ubergizmo, Talking New Media, O'Grady's PowerPage, Engadget, InvestorPlace, Pocket-lint, MacNN, TechCrunch, iClarified, iDownloadBlog.com, TechnoBuffalo, iMore, iPhone in Canada Blog, The Next Web and The Verge

Dan Seifert / The Verge:

Report: in response to Apple Pay, Square is working on an Android tablet; Google testing Plaso, a mobile payment system that allows you use your initals to pay — Square working to rely less on Apple's iPad, claims report — Square, the mobile payments service found in countless coffee shops across …

More: The Information, Android Authority, 9to5Mac, Engadget, MacRumors, The Overspill, Electronista, Pocketnow, iMore, GeekWire, Ubergizmo, VentureBeat, SlashGear, PhoneDog.com, Engadget, TechnoBuffalo, Business Insider, NFC World+ and 9to5Google

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