Techmeme
April 18, 2012, 2:40 PM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
In Facebook Deal for Instagram, Board Was All But Out of Picture  —  On the morning of Sunday, April 8, Facebook Inc.'s youthful chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, alerted his board of directors that he intended to buy Instagram, the hot photo-sharing service.
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Sources: current Windows Phone devices will not get ‘Apollo’ upgrade  —  Earlier today, a developer evangelist for Microsoft was quoted as saying that all Windows Phone devices would get an upgrade to the “next major version” of the operating system.  Now, a trusted source close to Microsoft tells us …
Sergey Brin / Google+:
I believe the internet has been one of the greatest forces for good in the world over the past quarter century.  So when the Guardian requested that I speak to them over the past few months about internet freedom, I decided it was important to participate.  —  I think the article is a pretty …
Tricia Duryee / AllThingsD:
Square's Next Round Could Swipe a $4 Billion Valuation  —  Square is seeking to raise a fresh round of capital at a massive valuation of up to $4 billion, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation.  —  If the company is successful, it will have quadrupled …
Walt Mossberg / AllThingsD:
Permission to Procrastinate: Wait to Get a New Laptop  —  If you're thinking of buying a new laptop this spring, my advice is to think again.  Unless your laptop is on its last legs and you have to move quickly, there are compelling reasons to wait until at least the summer, and probably the fall …
Brent Schlender / Fast Company:
The Lost Steve Jobs Tapes  —  A treasure trove of unearthed interviews, conducted by the writer who knew him best, reveals how Jobs's ultimate success at Apple can be traced directly to his so-called wilderness years.  —  If Steve Jobs's life were staged as an opera, it would be a tragedy in three acts.
Mark Sullivan / PC World:
3G and 4G Wireless Speed Showdown: Which Networks Are Fastest?  —  We tested 3G and 4G wireless data transfer speeds—indoors and out—for AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon, at multiple locations in 13 major cities.  Here's what we found.  —  It's been a year since we looked closely …
Biz Stone / Obvious:
Why Obvious Invested in Neighborland  —  We need only glance at the headlines—from Arab Spring to Occupy—to understand that people are passionate about connecting over issues.  We all have issues, big and small.  Toppling oppressive regimes and protesting corruption are appropriately top of mind.
Ina Fried / AllThingsD:
Verizon Aims New Data Package at Global Travelers  —  Aiming to make international cellphone use slightly less excruciatingly expensive, Verizon Wireless announced a new $25 plan that gives users 100 megabytes of data when traveling; it will be available in 120 countries.
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Uber Experiments With Lower-Priced Taxis In Chicago Through Newly Launched Labs Group, ‘Garage’  —  Back when Uber launched in San Francisco, it was heralded as a service that would disrupt the taxi industry by providing black cars on-demand via mobile phones.
Robert McMillan / Wired:
Amazon's Secretive Cloud Carries 1 Percent of the Internet  —  An Amazon data center in Sterling, Virginia.  Photo: Eric Hunsaker/Flickr  —  Amazon's cloud computing infrastructure is growing so fast that it's silently becoming a core piece of the internet.
Erin Bury / BetaKit:
Coursera Launches Online Education Platform with $16 Million in Funding  —  Online educational marketplaces are on the rise, with tools like Udemy and Khan Academy allowing people of all ages to become an expert in any topic.  New company Coursera is targeting higher education …
Alexis Madrigal / The Atlantic Online:
The Jig Is Up: Time to Get Past Facebook and Invent a New Future  —  After five years pursuing the social-local-mobile dream, we need a fresh paradigm for technology startups.  —  We're there.  The future that visionaries imagined in the late 1990s of phones in our pockets and high-speed Internet in the air: Well, we're living in it.
Dan Primack / Fortune:
K9 Ventures digs for $40 million bone  —  “Super angel” Manu Kumar is raising a new fund.  —  K9 Ventures is seeking to raise around $40 million for its second investment fund, Fortune has learned.  —  The Palo Alto, Calif.-based firm was founded several years ago by serial entrepreneur Manu Kumar …
Elad Blog:
VC Signaling Coming Home To Roost  —  VC SIGNALING IS SCREWING UP THE ABILITY OF SOME COMPANIES TO RAISE A SERIES A … Dear Entrepreneur - remember that TechCrunch story you placed about your funding round that mentioned the VCs who invested in your seed round?
Colleen Taylor / TechCrunch:
Backed With $1.5M, CircleUp Aims To Be The AngelList For Consumer And Retail Startups  —  The funding environment for technology-focused startups these days is getting to be a bit ridiculous, so some tech industry folks may need to use their imaginations for a second to understand this concept.
Zach Epstein / BGR:
AT&T to launch HTC One X on May 6th for $199.99, pre-orders begin April 22nd [video]  —  AT&T announced on Wednesday that the HTC One X smartphone will launch on May 6th for $199.99 on contract.  Pre-orders will begin on April 22nd, in line with an earlier report from BGR.
Michael Gorman / Engadget:
Verizon selling 700MHz spectrum, but only if government approves its AWS purchase  —  Seems odd that Verizon would decide to sell off some of it's wireless spectrum considering it told the FCC that it doesn't have enough space for its future LTE needs.  Yet Big Red's doing just that …
More: CNET, PC World and BetaNews

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify: Revolutionizing Commerce with Winter Edition '26  —  Over 150+ new features transform how merchants build, design, and grow—with technology that amplifies creative vision.
Zoho:
Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control  —  Picture this: It's Monday morning.  You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI's 2026 Priority, Disney's AI Play, Datacenter Buildout Trouble
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
Australia Kicks Kids Off Social Media + Is the A.I. Water Issue Fake? + Hard Fork Wrapped
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Access:
Why the next AI frontier is phone calls, with Beside CEO Maxime Germain
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Great Chat:
So what happens after AGI?
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Lachlan Cartwright Started in Tabloids. Now He's a Must-Read Media Gossip.
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 2:40 PM ET, April 18, 2012.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Earlier Picks