Techmeme
February 19, 2013, 1:20 AM

Top News

New York Times:
Chinese Army Unit Is Seen as Tied to Hacking Against U.S.  —  On the outskirts of Shanghai, in a run-down neighborhood dominated by a 12-story white office tower, sits a People's Liberation Army base for China's growing corps of cyberwarriors.  —  The building off Datong Road …
Josh Ong / The Next Web:
Security firm releases screen capture video of alleged Chinese military hackers at work  —  Security firm Mandiant has released a damning report offering unprecedented evidence, including screen capture video, of the actions of an alleged Chinese military-backed hacking group.
Thanks:@epro
Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:
Microsoft quietly raises prices of Mac Office by up to 17%  —  Dumps multi-license packages, all to make Office 365's subscription pricing more attractive  —  Microsoft has quietly raised prices of Office for the Mac as much as 17% and stopped selling multi-license packages of the application suite.
Peter Farago / The Flurry Blog:
China Knocks Off U.S. to Become World's Top Smart Device Market  —  Just days into the Chinese New Year (Year of the “Snake” for anyone keeping track), China has passed the U.S. to become the world's top country for active Android and iOS smartphones and tablets.
Chris Ziegler / The Verge:
Galaxy S IV will ‘definitely’ be announced on March 14th: sources  —  Expect it to take design cues from the Galaxy Note 8.0, which doesn't look like the leaks  —  Earlier today, mobile-review's Eldar Murtazin suggested on Twitter that March 14th would see a “big announcement,” …
Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:
You can download Firefox 19 for Windows, Mac, and Linux right now; official launch tomorrow  —  Firefox 19 for desktop is due to officially launch on Tuesday, with long-anticipated built-in PDF viwer, but the latest version is already available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Tim Carmody / The Verge:
Why Intel could be the company to finally crack internet TV  —  Everyone else has tried, now it's the chipmaker's turn  —  Intel?  Really?  There were rumors and reports for months that Intel was mounting a play for internet TV, but there was always an element of implausibility to them.
More: Forbes
Associated Press:
Burger King Twitter account back up after Monday afternoon hacking; company apologizes  —  Associated Press - This frame grab taken Monday, Feb. 18, 2013, shows what appears to be Burger King's Twitter account after it was apparently hacked.  Starting just after noon Eastern time on Monday …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Bill Gates calls for more innovation at Microsoft after mobile ‘mistake’  —  In an interview with CBS This Morning, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has admitted that the software giant didn't nail the mobile market when it had the opportunity.  “There's a lot of things like cellphones …
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Ubuntu teases tablet-related announcement for February 19th  —  Tomorrow's already looking to be a busy day thanks to HTC's big event, but it seems that the company will be sharing the spotlight to some degree.  A timer has appeared on Ubuntu's website today hinting at tablet-related news to be revealed tomorrow.
Bloomberg:
Ex-Google China Head With 30 Million Followers Barred From Weibo  —  Lee Kai-fu, the former head of Google Inc.'s China division, said he was banned for three days from posting on local micro-blogging sites, where he has more than 30 million followers.  —  The ban applies to Sina Corp.'s Weibo …
Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:
University of Oxford temporarily blocks Google Docs to halt phishing attacks against students and staff  —  The University of Oxford on Monday announced it had temporarily blocked Google Docs on its campus.  The Oxford University Computer Services department revealed that the service …
Josh Ong / The Next Web:
Alibaba's new Aliyun search engine raises the stakes in its feud with Google and Android  —  Chinese ecommerce leader Alibaba has rolled out its own search engine in a move that will likely deepen the animosity between it and Google.  —  Last year, Google took action against Alibaba's Aliyun OS ahead …
Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal:
Problems With Precision and Judgment, but Not Integrity, in Tesla Test  —  As promised, I've spent the past several days looking into the reporter John M. Broder's test drive of the celebrated electric car known as the Tesla Model S. The article, which focused on two new “superchargers” …

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning  —  SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds.  Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Cape:
Most carriers track everything.  Cape doesn't.  —  Unlimited talk, text & data, 24-hr metadata deletion, network ID rotation, SIM-attack defense, and more.  Switch today and get 29% off for life.
Zoho:
Do you need a Zoho Partner?  Here's why working with one can benefit you.  —  Zoho offers over 60 applications, each one built for a unique use case.  From sales and marketing to finance, HR, and customer support …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
Leopold Blows Up, OpenAI Drastically Cuts Prices, Microsoft's Best Day
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
Open Model Wars + Claire Stapleton's Dishy Google Memoir + Substack's Slop Fight
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Great Chat:
Tech's short-term era
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Access:
Meet the most AI-pilled CEO on Earth
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Basis's Matt Harpe: Why AI Won't Replace Accountants — It'll Make Them Richer
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:20 AM ET, February 19, 2013.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Earlier Picks

Carl Franzen / The Verge:
Jean-Louis Gassée / Monday Note: