Techmeme: Hackers target CIA, Mexican, Alabama websites (CNN)

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February 11, 2012, 6:10 PM

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Andy Baio / Wired:

The Perpetual, Invisible Window Into Your Gmail Inbox — The other day, I tried out Unroll.me, a clever new service that reads your inbox to let you unsubscribe from mailing lists and other unwanted e-mail flotsam with a single click. — As I was about to connect my Gmail account, my finger hovered over the “Grant access” button.

More: VentureBeat and Boing Boing. Tweets: @dragonflyeye, @waxpancake, @tcarmody and @digiphile

Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:

Apple requests U.S. preliminary injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Nexus based on four high-power patents — Apple has brought a motion in the United States for a preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Nexus, the official Android 4.0 ("Ice Cream Sandwich") lead device developed by Samsung in close cooperation with Google.

More: The Verge, MobileSyrup.com, CNET, Neowin.net, Between the Lines Blog, AppleInsider, The Next Web, MobileBurn.com, Electronista, PhoneArena, Android Phone Fans, 9to5Google, pocketnow.com, WebProNews and Patently Apple

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:

Instagram Just Gave You One Less Reason To Use Camera+ — Photosharing app Instagram went through a subtle redesign this afternoon. In addition to the brand new “Sierra” filter, Notifications improvements and a UI/UX refresh where the feed, popular, share and news buttons have all been divorced …

More: A VC, Instagram, Instagram, Mashable!, GadgeTell, parislemon, MacStories and GeekSugar

Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:

Instagram updates with a much simplified UI, ‘Lux’ fill-light adjustment and new filter

More: Gizmodo, iPhone Savior, iThinkDifferent, 9to5Mac, UnleashthePhonesUnle …, VentureBeat and iDownloadBlog.com

Tweets: @tim_oneil, @mrgan and @mikeyk

CNN:

Hackers target CIA, Mexican, Alabama websites — (CNN) — Websites affiliated with the CIA, Mexico's mining ministry and the state of Alabama were down Friday, allegedly done in by hackers, government officials and a well-known hacking group reported. — A message Friday on a Twitter page …

More: CNET, VentureBeat, Computerworld, rt.com, Gizmodo, BBC, msnbc.com, Mashable!, CBS News, PC Magazine, Bits, USA Today and TPM Idea Lab. Tweets: @anonyops

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Whale Hunting: Facebook Hooks 1st-Time Buyers With $5 Of Game Credits For $1 — Only about 5% Facebook gamers pay to play freemium games. If Facebook could up this percentage, it and its third-party app developers could make a lot more money. That's the idea behind a new promotion Facebook announced today …

More: Facebook Developer Blog, Tip Desk and The Next Web

Olga Kharif / Bloomberg:

Kleiner Perkins Considering New Fund for Cloud-Computing Services Startups — Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the venture firm that backed Zynga Inc. (ZNGA) and Groupon Inc., is considering starting a new fund focused on startups selling cloud services to corporations.

More: GigaOM, Business Insider and ITworld.com

Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:

VEVO CEO Tries To Explain Their Hypocritical Act Of Piracy At Sundance — Yesterday I reported on a bizarre incident I witnessed at Sundance last month: VEVO, the music portal owned by some of the biggest record labels in the US, had a pirated NFL playoff game playing on screens throughout its ‘PowerStation’ venue.

More: Neowin.net, ReelSEO Online Video …, Gizmodo, parislemon and PC Magazine. See also Mediagazer

Jon Russell / The Next Web:

Google insists Google Wallet is safer than plastic, despite recent issues — Google has issued a response to the recent security issues that were raised with its Google Wallet mobile payments system last week, claiming that the service is safe and even more secure than physical cards.

More: 9to5Google, Mobile, Android Phone Fans, NFC World and Google Commerce

Henry Blodget / Business Insider:

DEAR TWITTER: Don't Mean To Be Rude, But Maybe It's Time To Hire A Full-Time Product Guy? — It's hard to find anyone anywhere who has anything less-than-glowing to say about Jack Dorsey, the entrepreneur who invented Twitter and another red-hot company called Square and is now Twitter's product guru.

Brendan McGarry / Bloomberg:

U.S. Air Force May Buy 18,000 Apple IPad 2s for Flight Crews — Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Air Force may buy as many as 18,000 iPad 2s in what would be one of the military's biggest orders of computer tablets, accelerating Apple Inc.'s inroads into the federal government.

More: Los Angeles Times, Reuters, TheStreet.com and TechCrunch. Tweets: @tcarmody

Jeff Roberts / paidContent:

Netflix Pays $9 Million To Settle Video Privacy Lawsuit (Update) — Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) disclosed this afternoon that it will pay to settle nationwide claims that it illegally retained customers' rental histories. (Updated with Netflix statement) — The settlement, disclosed in a securities filing …

More: Neowin.net, The Verge, Associated Press and Electronista. See also Mediagazer

Ryan Lawler / GigaOM:

Amazon hiring creative execs for original programming — Add Amazon to the list of online video providers that could soon release some new original programming. The company is looking to hire creative executives to develop and produce original comedies and kids shows for online and traditional distribution.

More: AllThingsD, SlashGear, WebProNews and Electronista

Thomas Erdbrink / Washington Post:

Iran increasingly controls its Internet — TEHRAN — Whenever Maysam, a prominent Iranian blogger, connects to the Internet from his office in the bazaar, he switches on a special connection that for years would bypass the Islamic republic's increasingly effective firewall.

More: ZDNet, TechNewsWorld, Computerworld, Mashable!, The Verge, TPM Idea Lab, PC Magazine, The Register, NothingButSoftware Blog, VentureBeat, Ars Technica, dailywireless.org, Boing Boing, WebProNews and The Next Web

Andy Greenberg / The Firewall:

As Iran Cracks Down Online, Tor Tests Undetectable Encrypted Connections

More: blog.torproject.org, Techie Buzz, CNET, lists.torproject.org …, Neowin.net, Pulse2, TechSpot, DSLreports and Slashdot

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