Techmeme: Apps Like Rockmelt Ditch Social-Only Signup, Add Email So Privacy Buffs Can “Try Before You Pry” (Josh Constine/TechCrunch)

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December 2, 2012, 6:10 PM

Top News

Paul Graham / Y Combinator:

YC W13 Will Be Smaller — We just finished interviews for the winter 2013 YC cycle. We funded a lot fewer startups this time than last. We funded 84 in summer 2012. We don't know yet exactly how many we'll have in winter 2013 because we usually add a handful after interviews and sometimes …

More: The Next Web, GigaOM and TechCrunch

Tweets: @hncomments, @santiagojara, @hunterwalk and @shaig

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:

R.I.P. Frothy Times, A Return To Normalcy — Whatever it is, it is palpable. A sort of buzz in the Valley that all is not well, and a slight nervousness among entrepreneurs, investors and startup employees as they flit about their day-to-day. We may not be in the middle …

Alexandra Chang / Wired:

Don't Blame Us for Windows 8′s Slow Sales, PC Makers Say — Microsoft is publicly touting its Windows 8 sales figures — 40 million licenses sold! Windows 8 outpacing Windows 7 upgrades! Windows Store apps double since launch! — but it isn't all sunshine and smiles in Redmond.

More: PC Magazine, The Next Web, Neowin and Geekosystem. Tweets: @carnage4life

Sam Byford / The Verge:

King of Samsung: a chairman's reign of cunning and corruption — Lee Kun-hee made Samsung a global power over 25 years, but at what cost? — If Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee takes a moment this weekend to reflect on the past 25 years, he could be forgiven for having mixed emotions.

Tweets: @zpower and @lluk. Thanks:@max8378

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Apps Like Rockmelt Ditch Social-Only Signup, Add Email So Privacy Buffs Can “Try Before You Pry” — Rockmelt's recently released iPad app only offered signup through Facebook and Twitter, leading 50 percent of users not to sign in at all. So today it followed Pinterest and Spotify …

More: Rockmelt Blog

David Segal / New York Times:

John McAfee Plays Hide-and-Seek in Belize — DANIEL GUERRERO promised during his campaign for mayor here to clean up San Pedro, the only town on this island, a 20-minute puddle jump from the mainland. But if he ever runs for re-election, don't expect him to mention that vow.

More: Network World, Boing Boing and Business Insider

CNN:

CNN Exclusive: McAfee comes out of hiding to talk about life on the run

More: whoismcafee.com, CNET, SiliconBeat, Gizmodo, Mashable!, Neowin, Examiner, SecurityWeek and TVNewser

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook Makes A Huge Data Grab By Aggressively Promoting Photo Sync — Facebook was already taking in 300 million photos a day, and that rate is about to dramatically increase. It's now ushering users onto its background uploads feature Photo Sync with a big banner at the top of its mobile apps' news feed.

More: iMore.com, Forbes, digitaltrends.com and VentureBeat. Thanks:@eldon

Adi Robertson / The Verge:

New World Order: is the UN about to take control of the internet? — Is there a war on for the web? — The future of the web will be decided in a dark room by UN politicians and authoritarian governments — at least according to Google and some other opponents of the International …

More: David Talbot, TechSpot, The Huffington Post, Ars Technica, PC World, TechnoLlama, ValueWalk and InfoWorld

Jon Fingas / Engadget:

ASUS Qube with Google TV pops up at the FCC — Despite its crucial role in the Android ecosystem, ASUS hasn't taken the plunge on Google TV so far. An FCC approval for a new adapter, the Qube, suggests that reticence is coming to a quick halt — and in an uncommon way.

More: TG Daily, Android Authority, Crave, The Verge, PhoneArena, SlashGear and Android Phone Fans

Amy Chozick / New York Times:

Syria Rebels Find Skype Useful, but Dangers Lurk — In a demonstration of their growing sophistication and organization, Syrian rebels responded to a nationwide shutdown of the Internet by turning to satellite technology to coordinate within the country and to communicate with outside activists.

More: The Verge and Renesys Blog. Tweets: @crispinburke and @dberlind. See also Mediagazer

CNN:

Internet, phone services back online for much of Syria

More: Renesys Blog, BBC, CloudFlare blog, The Verge, PandoDaily, The Next Web, CNET, AllThingsD, Daily Mail, Associated Press and Gizmodo

Tom Bergin / Reuters:

EBay's double tax base prompts calls for investigation — (Reuters) - Britain and Germany may have missed out on a combined $1 billion in sales tax since online marketplace eBay picked a tiny Luxembourg office as its base for EU sales, a shift that lawmakers say should now be investigated.

More: Wall St. Cheat Sheet and Guardian

Joe Mullin / Ars Technica:

In a blow to Android, judge says Moto patents can't get injunctions — Motorola can't use standard-based patents to enjoin Microsoft's Xbox. — flickr / Tsahi Levent-Levi — The Seattle federal judge who recently oversaw a two-week trial between Microsoft and Motorola …

More: The Seattle Times, The Verge and Engadget

Ernesto / TorrentFreak:

IMAGiNE BitTorrent Piracy Group “Sysop” Jailed 40 months — September last year IMAGiNE stopped distributing new films via their private BitTorrent tracker UnleashTheNet. As IMAGiNE was one of the Internet's leading BitTorrent release groups, their absence quickly led to rumors that the group had been busted by the feds.

More: The Verge and Wired

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