Techmeme: Mark Zuckerberg praises carriers at MWC, attempts to allay concerns that Internet.org is a threat to their business (Stephen Shankland/CNET)

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March 3, 2015, 8:30 AM

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Jeff Mason / Reuters:

Obama criticizes China's new rules requiring US tech companies to provide backdoor access, says Beijing must change policy if it wants to do business with USA — Exclusive: Obama sharply criticizes China's plans for new technology rules — (Reuters) - President Barack Obama …

More: Motherboard, 9to5Mac, PC World, Wall Street Journal, NBC News and The Hill

Tweets: @csoghoian, @loosewire, @lorenzofb, @matthew_d_green and @ggreenwald

Ben Popper / The Verge:

Inside Project Loon: Google's internet in the sky is almost open for business — “Good news,” says Katelin Jabbari, Google X's communications chief. “It's about to explode.” — We're several hundred feet in the air, inching our way along a wooden walkway tucked high into the rafters …

More: DSLreports and Business Insider. Tweets: @vassko

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Pebble Reveals Pebble Time Steel And A Smartstrap System Open To Hardware Developers — Pebble announced Pebble Time last week, the next-generation version of its Pebble smartwatch, and today it's revealing another new product: Pebble Time Steel. This is the stainless steel version of the Pebble Time …

More: Gizmodo, iMore, PC World, ReadWrite, Engadget, The Verge, Wired, Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, The Wearable Stuff and Business Insider

Andrew Cunningham / Ars Technica:

Google quietly backs away from encrypting new Lollipop devices by default — Encrypted storage will only be required in “future versions of Android.” — Last year, Google made headlines when it revealed that its next version of Android would require full-disk encryption on all new phones.

More: Slashdot, Computerworld, Gizmodo, Business Insider, The Next Web, Forbes, TechSpot, SlashGear, 9to5Google, MobileSyrup.com, Gizmodo UK, Wired.co.uk, Engadget, iMore, Android Authority, The Register, Droid Life, BGR, AppleInsider, Gigaom, Tech2, Phandroid, OSNews, PhoneDog.com, NextBigWhat, VentureBeat, PC World and siliconrus.com

Tweets: @ageis and @aaronwall

Dan Seifert / The Verge:

BlackBerry plans four phones this year, including $275 all-touch 5-inch Leap phablet — BlackBerry plans to launch a sliding ‘dual-curved display’ phone this year — During a press conference at Mobile World Congress today, BlackBerry revealed that it plans to launch a new touchscreen slider device later this year.

More: BlackBerry Press Room, Re/code, CNET, Reuters, The Register, New York Times, BetaNews, InfoWorld, Inquirer, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Gigaom, Bloomberg Business, Pocketnow, Engadget, Inside BlackBerry and SlashGear

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Cook teases ‘ton’ of Apple Watch announcements, including Panera Bread, Salesforce enterprise & fitness apps — In addition to discussing the international Apple Watch launch and accessibility efforts at a briefing in Germany, Apple CEO Tim Cook teased “a whole ton of announcements coming shortly …

More: Business Insider, MacDailyNews and App Advice. Tweets: @markgurman

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Tim Cook says Apple Watch will be available outside U.S. in April

More: iMore, App Advice, Electronista, ITProPortal, Tech2, NEWS.com.au, Macworld, iPhone in Canada Blog, GSMArena Blog, BGR, Ubergizmo, CNET and Business Insider

Kurt Wagner / Re/code:

Oculus Has Hired Mary Lou Jepsen Away From Google X — Facebook-owned Oculus has hired away big-time Google X executive Mary Lou Jepsen, according to sources familiar with the move. — Jepsen, who spent the last three years running the Display Division at Google X, is joining …

More: Gigaom, Business Insider and VentureBeat

Luke Westaway / CNET:

The Lenovo A7000 is a $169, 5.5-inch 4G LTE smartphone with Dolby sound — BARCELONA — Once the preserve of the high-fallutin', gadget-lovin' elite, smartphones no longer need to cost the Earth. The latest mobile to offer smartphone tech on a modest budget is Lenovo's A7000 …

More: Tech2, India - The Huffington Post, NDTV Gadgets, PC Pro, Android Authority and MobileBurn.com

AnandTech:

Lenovo unveils 5-inch VIBE Shot 2-in-one 16MP smartphone/camera with image stabilization, tri-color flash; available June for $349

More: Lenovo Newsroom, Engadget, Android Authority, Tom's Guide, PhoneArena, Android Authority, TechnoBuffalo, Android Police, GadgeTell, ShinyShiny, PhoneArena, Digital Trends, Android and Me, PhoneDog.com, The Verge and Pocket-lint

Chloe Sorvino / Forbes:

The World's Richest Tech Billionaires: Jack Ma Breaks Through to Top, Google Leaders Slip — Want to join the upper crust of the billionaire ranks? Building a tech company could be your way in: Seven of the world's 15 richest self-made billionaires earned their wealth through a technology business.

More: CNET

Aaron Pressman / Yahoo Tech:

Samsung Pay vs. Apple Pay vs. Android Pay — Samsung's new mobile payment system, coming this summer, will work even at the millions of old-fashioned checkout terminals that don't have a wireless connection. That solves one of the big limitations of Apple's mobile pay system …

More: Samsungmobilepress.com, Droid Life, Tech Times and BGR

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Sundar Pichai confirms Android Pay, says it will exist as an “API layer” for developers

More: The Verge, SiliconANGLE, VentureBeat, The Next Web, SlashGear, Computerworld, Android Central, InvestorPlace, AppleInsider, Android Police, MacRumors, Ubergizmo, iPhone in Canada Blog and Android Authority

Lauren Johnson / Adweek:

Interview with Kim Kardashian on her hit game, aspirations in tech, and plans to create more apps — After Conquering Reality TV, Kim Kardashian Is Taking the Mobile World By Storm — Kim Kardashian West first grabbed our attention in October 2007 with the premiere of E!'s Keeping Up With the Kardashians.

More: Business Insider

Kashmir Hill / Fusion:

Open Whisper System's Signal app for encrypted calls gets encrypted texting in version 2.0 for iOS — You can now call or text anyone with end-to-end encryption, for free — For years, smartphone users have been out of luck if they wanted to call or text everyone in their address books …

More: Open Whisper Systems Blog, Gigaom, Wired, The Register, The Intercept, Ars Technica, RT, Forbes, The Verge and The Next Web. Tweets: @micahflee

Kevin Roose / Fusion:

Tinder's new Tinder Plus option costs nearly 4X as much in Europe if you're over 28 years old — Sorry, olds: Tinder's new premium option in Europe costs more if you're older than 28 — For lonely Europeans who have passed their mid-twenties, looking for love just got a little more expensive.

More: TechCrunch, Re/code, NPR, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, ABC News, Engadget, Mashable, The Verge, Tech2, Inc.com, InvestorPlace, Quartz, Android Central, Refinery29, Tech Times, Business Insider, The Independent, Wall Street Journal, GeekWire and Guardian

Tweets: @evelynrusli, @ellenhuet, @caseynewton, @ellenhuet and @kevinroose

Sebastian Anthony / Ars Technica:

Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 will feature Kryo CPU, Krait's 64-bit successor — At long last, it's (almost) time for Qualcomm's custom-designed 64-bit chip. — BARCELONA, Spain—Qualcomm, after an agonizingly long wait, has finally revealed a few details about its next-gen, top-end CPU core.

More: AnandTech, Engadget, Ars Technica, Forbes, TechnoBuffalo, Wired.co.uk, Android Authority, Wired.co.uk, BBC, Pocket-lint, Neowin and CNET

Joel Hruska / ExtremeTech:

Qualcomm's cognitive compute processors are coming to Snapdragon 820

More: Droid Life, Ubergizmo, Android Central, Forbes and Android Police

Stephen Shankland / CNET:

Mark Zuckerberg praises carriers at MWC, attempts to allay concerns that Internet.org is a threat to their business — Zuckerberg: Carriers will connect the world, not sci-fi — Facebook's CEO downplays Google's drone and balloon ideas for broadening Net access, saying it's the carriers …

Owen Williams / The Next Web:

Stratos Bluetooth connected card aims to unify all credit cards, ships in April — Stratos' Bluetooth connected payment card works everywhere, available this April — Everyone wants a piece of the payments space and if the excitement for Coin proved anything, people want a single card …

More: TechCrunch, SlashGear, Tom's Guide, Gizmodo, eMarketer and Newsroom Posts, CNNMoney, NBC News, Mashable and CNET

Niall Kennedy / The Twitter Blog:

Embed Twitter-hosted video on your website — With the new embedded video widget, you can highlight Twitter-hosted video on your website, enhanced by the same JavaScript used to render Tweet buttons and embedded Tweets. — Video embeds are available for videos captured …

More: The Verge, Mashable, Tubefilter, WebProNews, Marketing Land, SocialTimes, The Next Web and VentureBeat. See also Mediagazer

Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:

Mozilla launches 64-bit Firefox Developer Edition for Windows — Mozilla today released Firefox Developer Edition 38, which for the first time includes a 64-bit flavor for Windows. You can download the new version now directly from Mozilla.org. — So, what does a 64-bit version of Firefox offer for the user?

More: Mozilla Hacks, The Register and The Next Web

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