Techmeme
December 26, 2012, 4:25 PM

Top News

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google Extends Free Gmail Voice Calls In The U.S. And Canada Through 2013  —  This is becoming somewhat of a holiday tradition for Google: the company just announced that it is extending it free domestic calls from Gmail in the U.S. and Canada for yet another year.
Carl Franzen / TPM IdeaLab:
Netflix ‘Social Features’ Coming In 2013, Once President Signs Bill  —  Netflix will introduce “social features” for U.S. users in 2013, the company told TPM Wednesday, following a bill passed by Congress just before the holiday break that removes previous restrictions that prevented companies from sharing customer video rental history.
Kashmir Hill / Forbes:
Oops.  Mark Zuckerberg's Sister Has A Private Facebook Photo Go Public.  —  Being a member of the Facebook founder's family won't protect you from having your privacy breached on the social network.  On Tuesday night, Randi Zuckerberg — older sister to Facebook's CEO …
Wall Street Journal:
Apple vs. Google vs. Facebook vs. Amazon  —  The Lines Between Software and Hardware Continue to Blur  —  Four big technology fiefs—Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. —have been creeping into each other's turf for years.  In 2013, their war is set to escalate around two fronts: hardware and search.
Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:
Taking Stock of Internet Stocks in 2012: And the Winner Is ... AOL?  —  Back at the beginning of 2012, very few people would have picked AOL as the hottest Internet stock of the year.  —  And yet with only four trading days left, the New York-based portal is up 99.8 percent for the year …
Noel Brinkerhoff / AllGov:
Congress, at Last Minute, Drops Requirement to Obtain Warrant to Monitor Email  —  The federal government will continue to access Americans' emails without a warrant, after the U.S. Senate dropped a key amendment to legislation now headed to the White House for approval.
Don Clark / Wall Street Journal:
Jury Finds Marvell Must Pay $1.17 Billion in Patent Case  —  A jury in Pittsburgh on Wednesday found that chip maker Marvell Technology Group Ltd. should pay nearly $1.17 billion for infringing patents held by Carnegie Mellon University.  —  If the jury's decision stands …
John Koetsier / VentureBeat:
Investor-startup dating service AngelList channels $12.3M in investments in the last 30 days — some entirely online  —  AngelList is hot, which I guess is appropriate for a heavenly investment vehicle.  —  The dating service for startups and investors announced today that it has helped startups raise …
Wall Street Journal:
Startups Adjust to Web's Down Cycle  —  Prominent venture capitalist John Doerr coined the phrase “SoLoMo” in 2010 to describe how three technology trends—social, local and mobile—were fueling a new Internet boom.  —  But now that Facebook Inc., Zynga Inc. and Groupon Inc. have fizzled …
Zach Honig / Engadget:
Samsung teases ‘whole new Smart Hub’ on Flickr feed, CES launch confirmed  —  Samsung's HDTV-based Smart Hub is set to land a major refresh at CES, according to a trio of images and a product description that appeared on Flickr this evening.  Like previous iterations, the software interface …

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