Techmeme: Ancestry.com Agrees to $1.6 Billion Takeover (Ryan Dezember/Wall Street Journal)

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October 22, 2012, 12:50 PM

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Steve Clayton / TechNet Blogs:

Exclusive video: Bill Gates on Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 and Surface — I often tell people I've got one of the best jobs at Microsoft; I get the opportunity to meet and talk with the people here who brew the special sauce that is Microsoft. Last week I got to meet and talk with the guy who first created the sauce.

More: TechCrunch, CNET, Business Insider, Engadget, VentureBeat, Seattle Times, SlashGear, Mashable!, Softpedia News, PSFK, The Verge, The Next Web, WMPoweruser and Neowin. Thanks:@stevecla

Jay Greene / CNET:

Steven Sinofsky: Microsoft's controversial Mr. Windows 8 — The software giant asked the exec to deliver a new, quality operating system and do it on time. This week, we'll find out if his sharp elbows and turf fighting were worth it. — Two years ago, Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie …

More: ZDNet, Business Insider, Seattle Times, Reuters, The Verge, Business Insider, Neowin, Softpedia News, Wall Street Journal, New York Times and BuzzFeed. Tweets: @akula

The Korea Times:

Samsung Display to terminate Apple deal — Samsung Display said Monday that it will terminate its contract with Apple and no longer supply liquid crystal display (LCD) panels to its long time partner. — The news comes as speculation is mounting over a rift between the two firms …

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:

Android apps used by millions vulnerable to password, e-mail theft — By exploiting inadequate SSL protections in an anti-virus app, researchers were able to force it to download a malicious virus signature. — Fahl et al. — Android applications downloaded by as many as 185 million users …

More: CNET, VentureBeat, Computerworld, Softpedia News, AndroidOS.in, The Register, Android Community, BBC, Gizmodo and PhoneArena

Ryan Dezember / Wall Street Journal:

Ancestry.com Agrees to $1.6 Billion Takeover — Genealogy website Ancestry.com Inc. has agreed to be acquired by an investor group led by European private-equity firm Permira for about $1.6 billion, or $32 a share, according to people familiar with the deal.

More: SiliconANGLE, CNET, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, The Next Web and Mashable!. Tweets: @rafat

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Skype for Windows 8 launches on October 26th (hands-on preview) — Backend changes prepare Microsoft's communications service for the future — After months of teasing a Windows 8 style version of Skype, Microsoft is finally delivering it on October 26th.

More: The Big Blog, BetaNews, GeekWire, Inquirer, Ars Technica, CNET, LAPTOP Magazine, Seattle Times, ZDNet, BGR, The Next Web, Engadget, TechCrunch, AllThingsD, TechSpot, PhoneArena, Neowin, Pocket-lint, SlashGear, Geeky-Gadgets and Mashable!

Adam Satariano / Bloomberg:

Apple Sees Schools Buoying Tablet Lead With IPad in Class — Julie Garcia handed Apple Inc. (AAPL) iPads to students in her seventh-grade pre-algebra class on a recent morning before showing the pupils how to use the tablet to graph data, hunt for correlations and record how-to videos.

More: 9to5Mac, Business Insider, MacRumors, CNET, iDownloadBlog.com, TUAW, everythingiCafe, TechCrunch, PhoneArena, SlashGear and WebProNews

Mark King / Guardian:

Amazon wipes customer's Kindle and deletes account with no explanation — Kindle user had her account deleted because it had ties to ‘previous abuses of company policy’, but the online retailer blanked all follow-up enquiries — An Amazon Kindle user has had her account wiped and all her paid …

More: Techdirt, digitaltrends.com, Boing Boing, Martin Bekkelund, Joe Wikert's Publishing …, Forbes and Geekosystem

Cotton Delo / AdAge:

Twitter Hires Agency Relations Chief From Google — Matt Derella Formerly Oversaw the Relationship Between Publicis and Google — Twitter is signaling to agencies that it's all grown up and ready to service them the way the likes of Google and AOL do. — The company has hired a new director …

More: TechCrunch, The Next Web and AllThingsD

Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:

The Secret Behind Pinterest's Growth Was Marketing, Not Engineering, Says CEO Ben Silbermann — Pinterest, which CEO Ben Silbermann describes as a tool that helps people find inspiration, is now the third-largest source of referral traffic on the Internet. — But growth wasn't easy for the company …

More: Business Insider and christine's brain. Tweets: @joelrgoldman, @triketora and @stkonrath

Ryo Takano / AJW by The Asahi Shimbun:

Tokyo court rejects Samsung's request for iPhone injunction — Asahi Asia Antenna - — Samsung Electronics Co. has suffered a setback in its worldwide legal battle with Apple Inc. over alleged patent violations after a Tokyo court rejected its request for injunction to stop iPhone sales in Japan.

More: CNET, The Japan Daily Press, The Next Web, AppleInsider, TUAW, The Register, Mashable!, Patently Apple, FOSS Patents, Engadget, Android Authority, Macgasm, PhoneArena and Sammy Hub

Mat Smith / Engadget:

LG announces Windows 8 12-inch slider laptop hybrid and all-in-one PC (updated) — Windows 8 imminent launch continues to draw out even more devices in almost every permutation imaginable. LG's up next, with its collection ranging from a familiar-looking V325 all-in-one PC, through to a slider PC with tablet skills.

More: Pocket-lint, Neowin, Inquirer, Mashable!, Electronista, The Verge, SlashGear and Digits

Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:

Tweets Spawn Ad Campaigns — Chatter on Social-Media Sites Gives Marketers Direction for Commercials — The newest member of Samsung Mobile's Mad Men team: Twitter. — Samsung's latest television ad, which mocks Apple Inc.'s new iPhone, is striking a chord with consumers …

More: Betabeat and BuzzFeed. Tweets: @sebprovencher and @timoreilly

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