Techmeme: Critics say that startups' use of vague, unconventional, and non-GAAP financial terms inflate their valuations (Wall Street Journal)

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June 11, 2015, 6:40 AM

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Xiaoyun Zhang / The Twitter Blog:

Twitter simplifies blocking multiple accounts by letting users share and import block lists — Sharing block lists to help make Twitter safer — Today we're making it possible to share block lists on twitter.com. This new, advanced feature makes blocking multiple accounts easy, fast and community driven.

More: Business Insider, Guardian, Block Together, Fone Arena, Engadget, BuzzFeed, The Register, Forbes, MediaNama, Neowin, Ars Technica, AndroidGuys, The Next Web, Macworld, ClickZ, Lifehacker, PC Magazine, PCWorld, Mashable, International Business Times, BGR, SlashGear, Gizmodo, Fortune, CNET, TechCrunch, Windows Central, WebProNews and The Daily Dot

Tweets: @anildash, @hunterwalk and @alexjamesfitz

Kellex / Droid Life:

Sources: New Nest Cam is a slimmed down version of Dropcam; new app has updated UI, slide-down menu, button-heavy interface — This is the Nest Cam and the New Nest App for Android — You know that story from earlier today that suggested Nest may unveil a new wireless camera at next week's event?

More: Business Insider, SlashGear, The Verge, Engadget and VentureBeat

Steve Lohr / New York Times:

Google creates and funds Sidewalk Labs, a startup developing and incubating tech to improve urban life, headed by former deputy mayor of NYC Daniel L. Doctoroff — Sidewalk Labs, a Start-Up Created by Google, Has Bold Aims to Improve City Living — Google's ambitions and investments …

More: Larry Page, Ars Technica, VentureBeat, The Verge, The Next Web, CIO.com, Business Insider, USA Today, Engadget, Bloomberg Business, 9to5Google, SiliconBeat and Forbes. Tweets: @amir

Nate Swanner / The Next Web:

Apple Music will stream at 256kbps, below the ‘industry standard’ 320kbps — Arriving June 30, Apple Music is going to try and curate tracks with a human touch. It won't stream them at the highest possible bitrate, though. — Apple has confirmed Apple Music's streaming bitrate is 256kbps.

More: SlashGear, The Tech Portal, AppleInsider, AfterDawn.com, RAIN News, 9to5Mac, Cult of Mac, hypebot and TechSpot. Tweets: @alexjamesfitz. See also Mediagazer

Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:

iOS 9 code hints 1080p, 240fps, flash coming to iPhone FaceTime cameras — Code found in the first iOS 9 developer betas reveals that Apple is planning to support some significant camera features and upgrades with the new software version. Presumably planned for the next iPhone hardware version …

More: MacRumors, The Verge, Fone Arena, SiliconANGLE, Pocket-lint, MacNN, Forbes, TechnoBuffalo, TodaysiPhone.com, AppleInsider, Neowin, App Advice, PhoneDog.com and BGR. Thanks:@chancehmiller

Adi Robertson / The Verge:

Reddit bans ‘Fat People Hate’ and other subreddits under new harassment rules — In the wake of a new anti-harassment policy, Reddit is banning a handful of its worst communities. “Our goal is to enable as many people as possible to have authentic conversations and share ideas and content …

More: BuzzFeed, SiliconANGLE, TechCrunch, Ars Technica, The Next Web, Engadget, International Business Times, BREITBART.COM and Gawker. Tweets: @waxpancake

EU Press Room:

Antitrust: Commission opens formal investigation into Amazon's e-book distribution arrangements — The European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation into certain business practices by Amazon in the distribution of electronic books ("e-books").

More: VentureBeat, Tech.eu, The Verge and Engadget

Jeff Elder / Wall Street Journal:

Jawbone sues Fitbit over patent infringement, its second suit against Fitbit in two weeks — Jawbone Hits Fitbit With Second Lawsuit in Two Weeks — Fitness trackers from Jawbone and Fitbit are made to count heartbeats. They may soon be put to use counting lawsuits between the two rivals.

More: VatorNews, BuzzFeed, Ubergizmo, ABC News, Engadget, VentureBeat, SlashGear and The Verge

Mark Brown / Pocket Gamer:

Apple's Xcode 7 allows anyone to build and test apps on iOS devices, no $99/year developer license required — Apple's new Xcode lets anyone sideload apps and emulators onto their iOS device — Freedom! — Review — Videos — Tips — The new version of Xcode …

More: bouk.co, 9to5Mac, Pocketnow, SiliconANGLE, AfterDawn.com, Touch Arcade and Cult of Mac

Wall Street Journal:

Critics say that startups' use of vague, unconventional, and non-GAAP financial terms inflate their valuations — Tech Startups Woo Investors With Unconventional Financial Terms — but Do Numbers Add Up? — Critics say the practice is inflating some companies' valuations

More: Bloomberg View, The Verge, Fortune and Fortune

Tweets: @jkrim, @saraheneedleman, @kevinroose, @mims, @mims and @mdudas

Ian Sherr / CNET:

Video game console maker Ouya in talks to be acquired by Razer — Video game console maker Ouya is in negotiations to sell itself, possibly to Razer — The company, whose app store was pitched as the go-to place for small and independent developers, is negotiating for all employees to remain with the company after the sale.

More: TechCrunch, VG247, Fone Arena, VentureBeat, SlashGear, TechSpot, MacNN, Polygon, Pocket-lint, Ubergizmo, Ausdroid, Android Police, Engadget, Android Central and AndroidGuys. Thanks:@nickstatt

Jessica Conditt / Engadget:

Twitch rolls out a private-message system called Whisper — Psst. We heard something about Twitch that you might enjoy. Lean in. A little closer. A little closer. Perfect: You can now send private messages to friends on Twitch, even if your buddies are watching different streams than you at the time.

More: The Official Twitch Blog, The Next Web, Ubergizmo and SlashGear

Tom Maxwell / 9to5Google:

Gmail for Android now has Oauth support for Yahoo and Microsoft accounts — Google killed its stock email app in favor of Gmail with the release of Android 5.0 Lollipop, but they also made it possible to connect email accounts from other providers including Microsoft and Yahoo.

More: Gmail - Google+, MobileSyrup.com, PhoneDog.com and Android Central

Chris Welch / The Verge:

iOS 9 extends Continuity to cellular connections; T-Mobile first to offer feature — iOS 9 brings more flexibility to Apple's great Continuity feature — Continuity is one of the best things about going all in on Apple hardware. With it, you can easily send and receive calls or text messages …

More: TmoNews, 9to5Mac, ZDNet, SiliconANGLE, iDownloadBlog.com, The Next Web, MacRumors, AppleInsider, iMore and PhoneDog.com

James Vincent / The Verge:

Marriott to offer guests access to their Netflix accounts at all properties by the end of 2016 — Marriott is letting guests watch Netflix on their hotel TV — Netflix subscribers staying at Marriott hotels in the US will soon be able to log in to their Netflix accounts just like at home.

More: Marriott Newsroom, Fast Company, TechnoBuffalo, CIO.com, Neowin, VentureBeat, WebProNews, Business Insider, Forbes, Engadget, The Next Web, SlashGear, Gizmodo and Wall Street Journal

Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:

Google on iOS and Android can now use geolocation to answer “When does this restaurant open?” or “How long is this river?” — [WATCH] Google's Amazing Location-Aware Search Finds Answers About Nearby Places — How tall is that tower in front of you?

More: Android Police, Digital Trends, VentureBeat, TechnoBuffalo, Pocketnow, Liliputing, 9to5Google, xda-developers, BGR and Android and Me

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook Challenges Pinterest With News Feed Buy Button For Shopify Merchants — Facebook wants its ads to sell you stuff directly so you never have to click away to another app or site. Until now, Facebook was testing a Buy Button that does that with just a few selected test merchants …

More: Shopify's Ecommerce Blog, Social Media Today, SlashGear, The Verge, International Business Times, VatorNews, Marketing Land, PCWorld, WebProNews, Re/code and internetretailer.com

Tweets: @joshconstine and @mdudas

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Microsoft Acquires Application Management Service BlueStripe — Microsoft today announced that it has acquired BlueStripe, an application management service that helps enterprises monitor and troubleshoot applications that have been deployed across different operating systems, data centers and cloud environments.

More: The Official Microsoft Blog, Microsoft Azure Blog and SiliconANGLE

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook's Messenger platform gets its first game with Doodle Draw, a Draw Something clone — Facebook's Messenger Platform Gets Its First Game — Facebook Messenger's quest to own all the ways you connect with friends is now expanding to games. Today I spotted “Doodle Draw Game” …

More: CNET, AndroidGuys, Digital Trends, Tech Times, International Business Times, Mashable, Seeking Alpha, Wall Street Journal, SocialTimes, SiliconBeat, 9to5Google, Redmond Pie, Android Community, Ubergizmo, InvestorPlace, WebProNews and PC Magazine

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