Techmeme: With New Hardware, Square Begins Taxi Rollout (Nick Bilton/Bits)

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March 6, 2012, 7:50 PM

Top News

Jamie Rosenberg / The Official Google Blog:

Introducing Google Play: All your entertainment, anywhere you go — Entertainment is supposed to be fun. But in reality, getting everything to work can be the exact opposite—moving files between your computers, endless syncing across your devices, and wires...lots of wires.

Danny Sullivan / Marketing Land:

Android Market Becomes “Google Play,” Reflects Google's Multiplatform Content Aims — Android Market is dead. Long live Google Play! Today, Google announced that it is changing the name of its Android Market to Google Play, a move it hopes better reflects that the marketplace now offers more than apps …

More: Ars Technica, LAPTOP Magazine, Engadget, Bits, Android and Me, Los Angeles Times, Neowin.net, Mashable, Gizmodo, BetaNews, PhoneArena, VentureBeat, ITworld.com, Reuters, IntoMobile and Appolicious Advisor. See also Mediagazer

Seth Weintraub / 9to5Mac:

Apple's next iPad will be available on March 16th, additional launch event planned — . — We've been told by an Apple Store source who has been reliable in the past that preparations are being made for a big Apple Store event which will culminate on Friday, March 16th.

Joshua Topolsky / The Verge:

Sources: Apple TV update, iPad 3 for Verizon and AT&T LTE launching tomorrow, no quad-core SoC — When Tim Cook takes the stage tomorrow in San Francisco, a new iPad apparently won't be the only product announced. As we reported last week, a new Apple TV model is expected to arrive alongside the higher-resolution iPad update.

More: BetaNews, CNET, Digital Trends, 9to5Mac, parislemon, iPad in Canada Blog, MacRumors, Electronista, everythingiCafe, PadGadget, Gotta Be Mobile, Good E-Reader, iDownloadBlog.com and Guardian

Eric Slivka / MacRumors:

98% of U.S. Apple Retail Stores Out of Stock of Apple TV [Updated] — Last week, we noted that shortages of the Apple TV at third-party retailers had begun spreading to Apple itself, with a number of the company's own retail stores reporting that the set-top box was unavailable for immediate in-store pickup.

More: Electronista, Geek.com, AppleInsider, Gotta Be Mobile, PC World, The Next Web, VentureBeat and Apple Bitch

Jana Winter / Fox News:

EXCLUSIVE: Infamous international hacking group LulzSec brought down by own leader — EXCLUSIVE: Law enforcement agents on two continents swooped in on top members of the infamous computer hacking group LulzSec early this morning, and acting largely on evidence gathered by the organization's brazen leader …

FBI:

Six Hackers in the United States and Abroad Charged for Crimes Affecting Over One Million Victims … Five computer hackers in the United States and abroad were charged today, and a sixth pled guilty, for computer hacking and other crimes. The six hackers identified themselves as aligned …

More: The Tech Herald Technology …, TrendLabs, Digital Trends, Washington Post, PC Magazine, SiliconANGLE, Police-Led Intelligence, Computerworld and Mashable!

Chronic Wire:

iOS 5.1 Gold Master passes QA — The Gold Master build of iOS 5.1 has been in a vigorous quality assurance phase for the past three weeks, with extensive testing being done internally by Apple as well as by various carriers/partners. — It is rumored to have added Japanese language support in Siri …

More: 9to5Mac, Gotta Be Mobile, WebProNews, MacRumors, Apple Bitch, Macgasm, Redmond Pie, The Next Web and iDownloadBlog.com

Andrew Harris / Bloomberg:

Google, Motorola Mobility Ordered to Give Apple Android Development Data — Google Inc. and a Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. (MMI) unit were ordered by the U.S. judge presiding over an Apple Inc. (AAPL) patent lawsuit to turn over information about the development of Google's Android operating system.

More: iPhone, FOSS Patents, Ars Technica, Know Your Cell, PC Magazine, BGR, Electronista, Wall Street Journal, 9to5Mac, CNET, MobileSyrup.com, The Register, iDownloadBlog.com, WebProNews, Mashable!, Phones Review, Techland and IntoMobile

Eric Slivka / MacRumors:

Apple Proposing Settlements in Android Device Patent Disputes, Would Reap $5-15 Per Android Device

More: Business Insider, Ars Technica, Dow Jones Newswires, parislemon, 9to5Google, GigaOM, CNET, PadGadget, MacDailyNews, The TechBlock, Electronista and Android Phone Fans

Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:

Twitter co-founders' Obvious Corp. announces Branch, a ‘curated discussion platform’ — Obvious Corporation, the new endeavor of Twitter founders Biz Stone, Evan Williams and Jason Goldman, has today announced its second project. It's called Branch and it's a partnership with developers Josh Miller …

More: Obvious, VentureBeat and Branch Bulletin. Tweets: @r

Nitasha Tiku / Betabeat:

Branch Joins Obvious Corp, Picks Up $2 M. from Lerer Ventures and SV Angel, and Heads East to Betaworks

More: Business Insider and beta.branch.com

Jack Purcher / Patently Apple:

Apple Wins Patent for iWallet: The one that will rule the World — In May of 2010 we were surprised to see Apple's first iWallet patent officially surface. In that year we witnessed a steady stream of Near Field Communication based patents that kick started the iWallet trend.

More: CNET, Geek.com, iDownloadBlog.com, 9to5Mac and NFC World

Nick Bilton / Bits:

Countering the Google Plus Image Problem — Google has a bit of an image problem. — For people peering in, Google Plus, Google's latest attempt at social media, has been a ghost town. Some say it is a desolate wasteland that is used only by, well, Google employees and a few Google faithful.

More: 9to5Google, Business Insider, SiliconFilter, parislemon and Mashable. Tweets: @laurengoode

Reuters:

Exclusive: Netflix in talks for cable partnership — (Reuters) - Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings has quietly met with some of the largest U.S. cable companies in recent weeks to discuss adding the online movie streaming service to their cable offerings, according to sources familiar with matter.

More: Gizmodo, The Verge and The Next Web. See also Mediagazer

Nick Bilton / Bits:

With New Hardware, Square Begins Taxi Rollout — If you've ever been in a rush and in a taxi cab in New York, then you know how it feels to swipe your credit card at the end of the ride and wait for the receipt to pop out so you can sign it and hand it back to the driver.

More: Engadget, MacRumors, VentureBeat, SlashGear, Electronista and The Next Web

Ben Popper / VentureBeat:

Rep. Darrell Issa opens up secretive intellectual property “treaty”, ACTA, to the public — While Americans were busy fighting the SOPA and PIPA bills at home, nations around the globe, including the United States, were signing on to ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement …

More: Techdirt, Computerworld and The Register

Dan Polivy / Bing:

Announcing: Bing Maps for Metro Style Apps — On Wednesday, February 29, our friends over in the Windows division proudly unveiled the Windows 8 Consumer Preview release to the world. Today, we are excited to announce a beta of the new Bing Maps SDK for Metro style apps …

More: The Windows Blog, The Next Web and LiveSide.net

Chris Velazco / TechCrunch:

New Skype For Mac Update Finally Includes Full Screen Mode, Automatic Updates — I lean on Skype (and Macs) pretty heavily, so when a fairly substantial update for the VOIP/messaging service goes live, my ears tend to perk up. The new Skype 5.6 update has me especially tickled …

More: 9to5Mac, Skype Garage, Ubergizmo and MacStories

Associated Press:

Verizon launches faster-than-wired wireless broadband for homes; starts at $60/mo — NEW YORK — Verizon Wireless on Tuesday announced a version of its wireless broadband service that's designed for use in rural and remote homes that can't get DSL or cable.

More: GigaOM, Welcome To Verizon Wireless, PhoneNews.com, CNET, The Verge, DailyTech, ExtremeTech, DSLreports, dailywireless.org and GamePolitics blogs

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

Pandora Misses; Revenue Up 71 Percent To $81.3M But Swings To A Loss — Internet radio giant Pandora Media just reported fourth quarter results. The company posted revenue of $81.3 million, which was up 71% year-over-year. Non-GAAP net loss per share was $0.03.

More: Pandora, AllThingsD, Tech Trader Daily, The Tech Trade and Media Money …

Noel Randewich / Reuters:

Intel launches high-end server chip for the cloud — (Reuters) - Intel Corp formally launched its newest high-end “Xeon” server chip on Tuesday, seeking to capitalize on an explosion of Internet traffic sparked by Web-based cloud computing, social networking and expanding use of smartphones and tablets.

More: Bits, GigaOM, Computerworld, Digits, CNET, eWeek and Inquirer

David Kravets / Wired:

Uncle Sam: If It Ends in .Com, It's .Seizable — When U.S. authorities shuttered sports-wagering site Bodog.com last week, it raised eyebrows across the net because the domain name was registered with a Canadian company, ostensibly putting it beyond the reach of the U.S. government.

More: Michael Geist Blog and The Loop

Drew Olanoff / The Next Web:

YouTube adds thumbnail previews to its player, lets you scan ahead — YouTube isn't just trying to emulate television on the computer, it just set a new standard for viewing video by blowing away the boring old TV with a series of features it announced today.

More: YouTube Blog

Zack Whittaker / Between the Lines Blog:

Amazon drops cloud prices worldwide (again) — Summary: Amazon has cut the prices of four of its core cloud Amazon Web Services for the nineteenth time in six years, putting pressure on its Microsoft cloud service competitor. — Amazon has announced a “significant” price decrease across …

More: ReadWriteWeb, GigaOM, Computerworld, GigaOM, Wired, PC World, the Econsultancy blog, PC World and The Register

Adrianne Jeffries / Betabeat:

Dwolla Being Sued by Bitcoiners for $2 M. — The Iowa payments startup—yeah, the one that just raised $5 million led by Union Square Ventures—has been hit with its first lawsuit.The proprietors of a major Bitcoin exchange have filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of California alleging …

Drew Olanoff / The Next Web:

After eight years at Pandora, Executive VP Jessica Steel will be stepping down in May — The internet radio company that went public last year, Pandora, had an earnings call today, but we found out some more interesting facts about the company after the call.

More: Business Insider

Steve Green / VEGAS INC:

Judge strips Righthaven of rights to 278 copyrights and its trademark — Like a gunfighter with no bullets, Las Vegas copyright company Righthaven LLC no longer has any copyrights to sue over. — A federal judge in Las Vegas on Monday stripped Righthaven of whatever interests …

More: The Register and Plagiarism Today

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