Techmeme: Google Extends Free Gmail Voice Calls In The U.S. And Canada Through 2013 (Frederic Lardinois/TechCrunch)

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December 26, 2012, 9:10 PM

Top News

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.

More: TechCrunch, The Verge, digitaltrends.com, CNET, VentureBeat, The Next Web and Electronista

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.

More: Gmail Blog, CNET, Examiner, Engadget, PC Magazine, digitaltrends.com, VatorNews, Geek.com, BGR, 9to5Google, The Verge, VentureBeat, Neowin, Android Community, SlashGear and Electronista

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Google's music matching reportedly replacing explicit songs with clean versions — Some users of Google Music's new scan-and-match functionality, recently rolled out in the US, are complaining of problems when it comes to explicit content in their library. Explicit songs are reportedly …

More: Droid Life, Los Angeles Times, BGR, Wired, Engadget, LAPTOP Magazine, InvestorPlace, Pocketnow, Examiner, SlashGear, Lifehacker and Mashable!

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Gracenote's Ad Replacement System That Personalizes TV Commercials Will Start Trials In 2013 — Most TV commercials are poorly targeted and show things you'd never buy. But not for long. Gracenote's new ad replacement system combines viewing habits with personal info to show you more relevant commercials.

More: VentureBeat and The Verge

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.

More: PC Magazine and Marketing Pilgrim

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 …

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Yahoo's Mayer Hoping What Happens With Big Advertisers at CES Doesn't Stay in Vegas — So far in the six-month reign of Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, there has been a pile of attention paid to the flashy cultural changes (free food!), much-needed rehauls of key mainstays (Flickr, Yahoo! Mail …

Robert O'Harrow Jr / Washington Post:

Health-care sector vulnerable to hackers, researchers say — Video: Government and business leaders in the United States and around the world are rushing to build better defenses - and prepare for the coming battles in the digital universe. To succeed, they must understand one of the most complex …

More: AllThingsD

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 decision stands, the award would rank among the largest to date in a patent case.

More: GigaOM, Ars Technica, VentureBeat, Tech Trader Daily, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Reuters, Bloomberg and Reuters

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.

More: TechSpot, VentureBeat, Gawker, BuzzFeed and Wired

Richard Lai / Engadget:

Nubia Z5 unveiled in China with quad-core chip, 5-inch 1080p display and 7.6mm thickness — Much like many Chinese smartphone brands these days, ZTE sub-brand Nubia had prematurely given away the main selling points of its Z5 ahead of its Beijing launch today, but there were still some surprises.

More: BGR, Unwired View, CNET, Android Community, IntoMobile, Electronista, The Droid Guy, Ubergizmo, GadgeTell, LAPTOP Magazine and PhoneArena

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