Techmeme
December 4, 2012, 5:30 PM

Top News

Matthew Izatt / Gmail Blog:
The Gmail app for iPhone and iPad: version 2.0  —  Six months ago, our team set out to completely rebuild the Gmail app for iPhone and iPad to give you you a faster, sleeker, and easier experience on iOS.  The result?  Version 2.0.  With version 2.0 of the app, you'll get a totally new look and feel …
Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:
Netflix scores US subscription service exclusive to Disney's first-run films in multi-year deal  —  Today, Walt Disney studios and Netflix entered into a multi-year agreement that makes the online video distributor the only US subscription service with licensing to show first-run live-action and animated films from the studio.
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft opens its Socl social-search site to any and all testers  —  Summary: Microsoft is opening up its Socl social-networking research project.  There are still no public plans as to when, how and if Microsoft will take Socl commercial.  —  On December 4, Microsoft's FuSE team took …
Jay Yarow / Business Insider:
Mary Meeker's Latest Must-Read Presentation On The State Of The Web  —  Kleiner Perkins partner Mary Meeker is doing a year-end presentation on the state of the web at Stanford tonight.  —  We have the slides of her presentation here.  —  As usual, it's a must read for anyone in the industry, or anyone with interest in technology.
Jack Purcher / Patently Apple:
US Patent & Trademark Office Grants Apple Registered Trademarks for “Retina” & “Game Center” Icon  —  On December 4, 2012, the US Patent & Trademark Office granted Apple two Registered Trademarks.  The first trademark covers the word “Retina” representing Apple's brilliant Retina display …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Evernote Expands Its Premium Offerings: Evernote Business Now Live In 7 Countries With Sharing, More Data And A New Searching Algorithm  —  Evernote, the popular personal information and productivity app that last week announced another $85 million in financing and more than 45 million users …
Bloomberg:
Microsoft-Intel Push to Rival Apple in Tablets Sputtering  —  A push by Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Intel Corp. (INTC) to combat Apple Inc. (AAPL)'s iPad in the $63.2 billion tablet market is getting off to a slow start.  —  Of more than a dozen tablets Microsoft and Intel touted for the new version …
Douglas Macmillan / Bloomberg:
No VC: Why Techmeme's Gabe Rivera Resists Investors  —  This is the fifth in a five-part series called “No VC,” which highlights startups that have succeeded without venture capital, the lifeblood of Silicon Valley.  —  Gabe Rivera often hears from Silicon Valley's elite …
Jeff John Roberts / GigaOM:
Google Ventures leads $10M investment in firm that measures mobile ads  —  As more consumers use smartphones to help them shop, advertisers are growing worried about how they will reach those customers.  Unlike web sites, which allow brands to target specific users, mobile phones …
Darren Murph / Engadget:
Google I/O 2013 dates announced: starts May 15th, registration to open early next year  —  Hope your calendar's clear for next May.  Google has just announced the dates for I/O 2013, with the event kicking off on May 15th and concluding on May 17th.  After setting up shop in San Francisco this June …
Reuters:
U.S. fails to win early limit on Net controls at global gathering  —  (Reuters) - A U.S. and Canadian proposal to protect the Internet from new international regulation has failed to win prompt backing from other countries, setting up potentially tough negotiations to rewrite a telecom treaty.
Bloomberg:
Nokia Is Said to Reach Deal With China Mobile on Lumia 920  —  Nokia Oyj (NOK), the Finnish mobile-phone maker trying to win back customers of Apple Inc. (AAPL)'s iPhone and devices using Google Inc. (GOOG)'s Android, is set to unveil a version of its flagship smartphone for China's largest wireless carrier …
Jemima Kiss / Guardian:
Soundcloud revamps site as users hit 180 million  —  The ‘YouTube of audio’ claims to now reach 8% of the world's internet population as mobile audio takes off  —  If the future of the internet is mobile, things are looking very good for Soundcloud, the Berlin-based sound-sharing site.
Jonathan Rudenberg:
SMS Vulnerability in Twitter, Facebook and Venmo  —  Update: Twitter has fixed the issue for users of short codes.  Users that use a “long code” should enable the PIN code in their account.  —  Twitter users with SMS enabled are vulnerable to an attack that allows anyone to post to their account.
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google's Knowledge Graph Expands To More Languages, Including Italian, French, Japanese And Russian  —  Google Fellow Ben Gomes just took the stage at LeWeb Paris and announced that Google's Knowledge Graph project is now available in a number of new languages, including Italian, French …
Nicholas Carlson / Business Insider:
Yahoo Acquires Startup OnTheAir  —  Yahoo has acquired a startup called OnTheAir.  —  OnTheAir launched in March of this year.  —  It's been described in the past as a “Skype Meets Google+ Hangouts.”  —  A Mashable review of the product says this is how it works:
Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:
Google Play comes to Google Apps, letting enterprise customers distribute apps internally  —  Google on Tuesday announced it is extending the Google Play Store to its Google Apps customers.  The goal is simple: the company wants to allow its enterprise customers to internally distribute apps to their employees.
Brittany Darwell / Inside Facebook:
Facebook to add design team to NYC office  —  Facebook today announced its plans to establish a design team in its New York City office, which currently has about 150 employees mostly focused on sales, advertising and engineering.  —  Designers, of which Facebook currently has about 90 …
Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM:
Okta gets $25M more to take on cloud identity management  —  Okta, an almost-four-year-old startup pushing a new type of identity management aimed at cloud-based enterprise applications, has raised $25 million in third-round funding.  This round brings the San Francisco-based company to $52 million in total funding.
Barb Darrow / GigaOM:
And whomp, here it is: The Pivotal Initiative brought to you by VMware and EMC  —  At long last here it is: The long-simmering VMware-EMC spin-off that is.  The Pivotal Initiative will focus on bringing resources from the two parent companies to bear on big data and cloud application platforms …

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