Techmeme: Lenovo has just released an automatic Superfish removal tool (Lizzie Plaugic/The Verge)

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February 21, 2015, 1:25 PM

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Ina Fried / Re/code:

Lenovo CTO admits company “flat-out missed” major security flaws resulting from Superfish — Lenovo CTO Admits It ‘Messed Up’ Allowing Major Security Hole Onto PCs — Lenovo's chief technology officer said Friday that the computer maker erred significantly by preinstalling onto consumer PCs …

More: Errata Security, support.lenovo.com, Mashable, Facebook, TechnoBuffalo, Techdirt, ZDNet, Windows Central, BGR, The Next Web, CIO.com, InfoQ and Tech Times. Tweets: @normative

Lizzie Plaugic / The Verge:

Lenovo has just released an automatic Superfish removal tool — The company updated its statement on the bug today — Lenovo has released a tool to help users remove Superfish, according to a statement released today by the company. — Superfish is an adware program that was pre-installed …

More: Computerworld, Lenovo, BBC, Gizmodo, Windows Central, Malwarebytes Unpacked, PC World, WinBeta, SuperSite for Windows, TechCrunch, BetaNews, The Next Web, Security Watch and Digital Trends

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:

Superfish doubles down, says HTTPS-busting adware poses no security risk — Denial comes despite near-unanimous agreement that it left Lenovo users wide open. — Following security professionals' near-unanimous condemnation of adware that hijacked encrypted Web connections on Lenovo computers …

More: ZDNet, The Next Web, Filippo.io, GitHub Gists, The LastPass Blog, Slashdot, US-CERT, Techdirt, The Mac Observer, Engadget, US-CERT, The Register, Naked Security and Schneier on Security

Jim Finkle / Reuters:

US Department of Homeland Security urges Lenovo customers to remove Superfish software, citing the risk of SSL spoofing

More: US-CERT Alerts

Russell Brandom / The Verge:

Microsoft updates Windows Defender, its onboard anti-virus software, to remove the Superfish software that was pre-installed on many Lenovo computers

Rachel Metz / MIT Technology Review:

Hands-on with Magic Leap's AR technology, which augments your vision by projecting light into your eyes — What It's Like to Try Magic Leap's Take on Virtual Reality — A startup is betting more than half a billion dollars that it will dazzle you with its approach to creating 3-D imagery.

More: VentureBeat and Gamasutra

Evelyn M. Rusli / Wall Street Journal:

Bill Gurley: FOMO in the ‘Private IPO’ Market Is Fueling Valuations — After speaking about the risks of “cramming” too much money in startups at the Goldman Sachs technology conference last week, venture capitalist Bill Gurley exited the stage. — More than a dozen investors swarmed …

More: Business Insider, The Verge, Tech Cocktail, Agenda and Climb Higher

Tweets: @crampell, @scottmaustin and @casacks

Lizette Chapman / Wall Street Journal:

Twilio Positions Itself for an IPO After Logging $100M Revenue Run Rate … Twilio Inc.'s strategy to woo developers seems to be paying off, with the communications startup reaching a 2014 annual run rate of $100 million, Venture Capital Dispatch has learned.

More: SiliconANGLE and TechCrunch. Tweets: @erikadmsf and @ssomasegar

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:

Postmates Picks Up $35M In Series C From Spark Capital — Postmates, the on-demand delivery service that operates in nearly 60 markets, has raised $35 million in Series C exclusively from existing investor Spark Capital, according to our sources. — Postmates is a service …

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Google's Mobile Search Now Highlights Recent Posts From News Sources — When you use Google's mobile search to look for your favorite news sources or more information about a hot news topic, you'll probably notice there's something different about the search results.

More: Inside Search, Tech Times, Computerworld, BGR, PC Magazine, ValueWalk, Gigaom, PC World, Engadget, Search Engine Land, Android Central, 9to5Google and Android Police

Marisa Kendall / The Recorder:

US court dismisses antitrust suit against Google involving requirement that Android handsets use Google search as default when Google apps are preinstalled — Google Beats Back Antitrust Claims Over Exclusive Android Deals — Plaintiffs lawyers accusing Google Inc. of illegally monopolizing …

More: Reuters, 9to5Google, Bloomberg Business, PhoneArena and Android Central

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols / ZDNet:

In new partnership with Canonical, Microsoft and Amazon will publish their Internet of Things APIs on Ubuntu Core — Canonical partners with Amazon, Microsoft, and others on Internet of Things — Summary:Ubuntu Linux aims to become the glue that holds the Internet of Things together with its new partnerships.

More: Ubuntu Insights and BetaNews

Kevin Fitchard / Gigaom:

Verizon is laying down 400 tiny cells in SF to boost LTE capacity — Photo from Shutterstock/Gang Liu — Photo from Shutterstock/Gang Liu — In the coming months, workers and visitors along San Francisco's major tech corridors may notice some very big improvement in Verizon's 4G network speeds in some very specific places.

More: Re/code and AndroidHeadlines.com

Robert Pear / New York Times:

800,000 Using HealthCare.gov Were Sent Incorrect Tax Data — WASHINGTON — About 800,000 taxpayers who enrolled in insurance policies through HealthCare.gov received erroneous tax information from the government, and were urged on Friday to hold off on filing tax returns until the error could be corrected.

More: Health Insurance Blog, The Next Web, Engadget, The Verge and Washington Post

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