Techmeme: LG details its Stylus 2 smartphone: 5.7 inch display, 1.2 GHz quad-core processor, 1.5GB RAM, 13 MP rear camera, 8 MP front camera, will be unveiled at MWC 2016 (LG Newsroom)

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February 16, 2016, 12:45 PM

Top News

Reuters:

Apple Pay to go live in China on Feb 18 — Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) Apple Pay mobile payment system will be available in China from Feb. 18 for Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) (601398.SS)(1398.HK) customers, bank representatives said in social media posts on Tuesday.

Matt Kinne / Phone Probe:

Galaxy S7 water resistance confirmed from Samsung video, website — The Galaxy S7 has been well-documented ahead of the official debut on February 21st. We know what the specs are thanks to Evan Blass (evleaks) and that there will be two devices, the S7 and S7 edge.

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Apple Uses Dr. Dre Video, Other TV Production as Apple Music Marketing — Wait a minute: After years of anticipation, Apple finally made its entry into the TV business, and the rest of the world ... shrugged? — Well, yes. But also, no. — Because it's interesting — but not that interesting.

More: iLounge, iPhone in Canada Blog, Bloomberg Business, iDownloadBlog.com, App Advice, Ubergizmo, FACT Magazine, MacRumors, The Verge and NBC Bay Area. See also Mediagazer

Daniel Rubino / Windows Central:

LINE kills MixRadio, the music streaming service it bought from Microsoft in 2014 — The end of MixRadio as LINE quietly kills off music streaming service — After a whirlwind ride through many owners the latest one - LINE - has just posted a late-night press release noting that the company …

More: LINE Corporation, GeekWire, Digital Trends, Music Ally, VentureBeat, Android Police, RAIN News, TechCrunch, Technology Personalized, The Verge, Neowin, Thurrott.com, VatorNews, Engadget, WinBeta, Ubergizmo and The Next Web. Tweets: @deano_42. See also Mediagazer

Pavel Alpeyev / Bloomberg Business:

Vaio owner says it aims to strike three-way merger deal with the PC units of Toshiba and Fujitsu by March's end, focusing on Japan market at first — Vaio Near Deal With Toshiba, Fujitsu to Form Japan PC Giant — Sony's PC spinoff aims to strike a merger deal by March's end

More: Reuters, eWeek, PCWorld, Ubergizmo, TechSpot, The Verge, Neowin, Engadget, The Register, Gizmodo, Windows Central, WinBeta and Japan Times. Thanks:@ravichandrans25

Jordan Crook / TechCrunch:

Giphy closes $55M Series C at a $300M post-money valuation led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, though the service is not yet monetizing — Giphy Closes $55 Million Series C At A $300 Million Post-Money Valuation — Giphy, the Google of GIFs, has closed a $55 million Series C funding round at a valuation of $300 million post-money.

More: GIPHY. Tweets: @pkafka, @romaindillet, @mathewi, @caseynewton, @jasonlk, @sfiegerman and @rrhoover

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Silk Labs, founded by Mozilla's former CTO Andreas Gal, launches a Kickstarter to debut Sense, its smart home hub and facial recognition camera — Ex-Mozilla Team Unveils “Sense,” An Intelligent, Secure Hub For The Smart Home — With the emerging ecosystem of connected devices …

More: Kickstarter, TechHive, CNET, Engadget, Schneier on Security, Forbes, PSFK, Fast Company and SlashGear

LG Newsroom:

LG details its Stylus 2 smartphone: 5.7 inch display, 1.2 GHz quad-core processor, 1.5GB RAM, 13 MP rear camera, 8 MP front camera, will be unveiled at MWC 2016 — ALL NEW LG STYLUS 2 TO MAKE FIRST PUBLIC APPEARANCE AT MWC 2016 — Enhanced Stylus Pen Offers Easy Note Taking and Drawing Experience

John Kell / Fortune:

Mattel's ThingMaker, a 3D-printer and app enabling kids to make toys, is available for pre-order on Amazon for $299, will ship this fall — Mattel Is Using 3D Printing to Resurrect An Old Hit — Mattel kicked off New York Toy Fair with a big announcement: the world's largest toy maker …

Steve Ragan / CSO:

Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center's network down for more than a week after ransomware attack; hackers demand $3.6M — Ransomware takes Hollywood hospital offline, $3.6M demanded by attackers — Network has been offline fore more than a week, $3.6 million demanded as ransom

John Markoff / New York Times:

How software designers are grappling with creating a computer voice that people like, which is as much an art as it is a science — Creating a Computer Voice That People Like — When computers speak, how human should they sound? — This was a question that a team of six IBM linguists …

More: Boing Boing and Digital Trends. Thanks:@ravichandrans25

Ken Yeung / VentureBeat:

Palantir acquires Kimono Labs, will shutter data collection service on February 29 — Kimono Labs has been acquired by Palantir in a move that will see the team behind the data collection service absorbed into the secretive data analytics platform. As a result of the deal …

More: Kimono Labs, TechCrunch, The Register, Silicon Valley Business … and FinSMEs. Tweets: @hmason

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