Techmeme
December 17, 2012, 4:25 AM

Top News

Nick Bilton / NYT Bits:
Disruptions: Instagram Testimony Doesn't Add Up  —  SAN FRANCISCO — On a late August morning, Kevin Systrom, chief executive of Instagram, took an oath before testifying at a hearing of the California Corporations Department, which sought to determine if Facebook's acquisition …
Eliza Kern / GigaOM:
Report: Despite Systrom's denial, Twitter made $525M offer for Instagram  —  The New York times reported Sunday details related to the acquisition of Instagram by Facebook that could spell legal concerns for both Instagram and Facebook.  The Times reports that even though Instagram co-founder …
Apple:
iPhone 5 First Weekend Sales in China Top Two Million  —  Apple® today announced it has sold over two million of its new iPhone® 5 in China, just three days after its launch on December 14. iPhone 5 will be available in more than 100 countries by the end of December, making it the fastest iPhone rollout ever.
Amir Efrati / Wall Street Journal:
Google, FTC Close to Antitrust Deal on Search Business  —  Google Inc. is close to emerging largely unscathed from a two-year federal probe of its Web-search business, people familiar with the matter said, a result likely to disappoint rivals that were hoping the Internet giant would become mired in antitrust litigation.
Mike Isaac / AllThingsD:
Facebook to Launch Its Own Snapchat Competitor App  —  Facebook is currently testing its own built-in-house version of a “Snapchat-like” application, a messaging app which allows users to send impermanent photo messages to one another, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Bloomberg:
Cisco Said to Hire Barclays to Sell Linksys Division  —  Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), the largest maker of equipment for computer networks, has hired Barclays Plc (BARC) to find a buyer for Linksys, which makes routers for home wireless access, said people with knowledge of the situation.
Kristian Vatto / AnandTech:
Samsung Acquires SSD Caching Company NVELO  —  This came out of the blue.  Samsung announced their intent to acquire NVELO, known for their Dataplex SSD caching software.  Price or specific timeframe of the acquisition have not been revealed yet, but the acquisition does include all NVELO technology and personnel.
More: The Next Web and Nvelo
Wall Street Journal:
Facebook's Future Rests on Lessons From Wal-Mart Mobile-Ad Campaign  —  Facebook Inc.'s stock is up more than 50% from its September nadir.  But whether the company can keep wooing back investors will depend on deals like its Black Friday experiment with Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
More: CNET.  Tweets: @sbanjo
Wesley Yin-Poole / Eurogamer.net:
Why Xbox failed in Japan  —  The inside story on Microsoft's greatest ever challenge.  —  Bill Gates was preparing to walk out on stage to deliver his much-anticipated keynote at the Tokyo Game Show on Friday 30th March 2001.  The Makuhari Exhibition Hall was packed with a 4000-strong audience.
More: The Verge, Kotaku and Neowin
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Cross-Browser Extension Development Platform Crossrider Sold For $37M To Markets.com: Report  —  Crossrider, a platform that lets developers make extensions that can work across different web browsers like Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari and Firefox, has been sold for $37 million to Markets.com …
Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:
New exploit could give Android malware apps access to user data on Samsung GS III, other devices  —  The brilliant minds at XDA Developers have done it again; this time, a user by the name of alephzain claims to have discovered a vulnerability in multiple Samsung devices that gives access to all physical memory.

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Earlier Picks

Martin Bryant / The Next Web: