Techmeme: Facebook adds VoIP to Android messaging app for Canadians (Donna Tam/CNET)

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March 4, 2013, 8:10 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:

Apple's Planned ‘IWatch’ Could Be More Profitable Than TV — While Tim Cook has dropped hints that Apple Inc. (AAPL) is hard at work on a television to drive the next era of growth, the company's wristwatch-style device, still in development, may prove more profitable.

More: Business Insider, CNET, digitaltrends.com, MacRumors, SiliconANGLE, Forbes, Redmond Pie, TechCrunch, AppleInsider, Light Reading, Edible Apple, ValueWalk, PC Magazine, TechSpot, everythingiCafe, iPhone Alley Spectrum, LAPTOP Magazine and The Full Signal

Nilay Patel / The Verge:

Apple's watch will run iOS and arrive later this year, say sources — Jony Ive wants a spot on your wrist — More details are emerging about Apple's forthcoming watch, which is targeted for release this year, according to aBloomberg report this morning and corroborated by our sources.

More: Examiner, Macworld, The Register, ReadWrite, PC Magazine, GeekWire, CNET, Forbes, everythingiCafe, Apple Fan Site and InvestorPlace. Tweets: @joemfbrown

Brian X. Chen / NYT Bits:

Samsung's New Smartphone Will Track Eyes to Scroll Pages — Samsung's next big smartphone, to be introduced next month, will have a strong focus on software. A person who has tried the phone, called the Galaxy S IV, described one feature as particularly new and exciting: Eye scrolling.

Aaron Souppouris / The Verge:

Samsung posts first teaser video for Galaxy S 4 — Samsung has just posted a teaser video for the upcoming launch of its new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S 4. The clip shows a young boy, apparently “the secret messenger” of Samsung Unpacked 2013, taking delivery of a secret package.

More: CNET, App Advice, Digits, Examiner, TechCrunch, IntoMobile, BGR, WebProNews, Ars Technica, Pocketnow, Wired, Inquirer, Los Angeles Times and TechSpot

Ina Fried / AllThingsD:

White House: It's Time to Legalize Cellphone Unlocking — The White House on Monday came out in support of a consumer's right to unlock their cell phone once they have fulfilled the terms of the contract. — Responding to a petition on whitehouse.gov, the executive branch stated …

Ina Fried / AllThingsD:

Backer of Cellphone Unlocking Petition Sets Sights on Modifying Copyright Act

More: Mashable!, digitaltrends.com, digiphile and TechPresident

Laird Harrison / KQED News Fix:

Microsoft Winds Down ‘Scroogled’ Campaign Against Google — Can nothing stop Google? — On Thanksgiving, Microsoft launched attack ads against the Internet giant that were so ferocious they made headlines in advertising and technology publications alike.

More: TechCrunch, Search Engine Watch, Fortune, VentureBeat, bizjournals, The Verge, Search Engine Land, Neowin, WinBeta and GeekWire

Carl Franzen / The Verge:

The Pirate Bay's move to North Korea is probably more satire than fact — The Pirate Bay published a blog post today claiming that it has relocated to a “new provider” in North Korea after being invited by the totalitarian country's leadership “to fight our battles from their network.”

More: Will's Blog, digitaltrends.com and Falkvinge on Infopolicy

Ernesto / TorrentFreak:

The Pirate Bay Moves to North Korea, Gets ‘Virtual Asylum’

More: The Pirate Bay, Foreign Policy, Business Insider, The Next Web, The Register, Falkvinge on Infopolicy, PC Magazine, ReadWrite, Los Angeles Times, ITworld.com, Gizmodo, VentureBeat, Will's Blog and TechSpot

John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:

Netflix Has No Current Plans for a BlackBerry 10 App — If BlackBerry is “in talks” with Netflix about a BlackBerry 10 version of the company's popular video-streaming app, they aren't going very well. — Sources say Netflix isn't developing a version of its app for BlackBerry 10 — native or port.

More: PC Magazine, TechCrunch, BGR, The Verge, WMPoweruser, Mashable!, Gotta Be Mobile, Electronista, ValueWalk and MobileSyrup.com

Sam Byford / The Verge:

Twitter discontinuing iPhone, Android, and Air versions of TweetDeck — Twitter has announced that it will be discontinuing several TweetDeck apps in favor of the web client. The Android, iPhone, and Air-based desktop clients will all be affected; the apps will be removed from their stores in early May …

More: TweetDeck, The Next Web, AllThingsD, BuzzFeed, Marketing Land, 9to5Mac, Engadget, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, GigaOM, MacRumors and Pocket-lint

Tweets: @dannysullivan and @davewiner

Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:

Warren Buffett: If he were Tim Cook, he'd be buying Apple — “If you could buy dollar bills for 80 cents, it's a very good thing to do.” — FORTUNE — In a three-hour appearance on CNBC's Squawk Box Monday morning, Berkshire Hathaway's (BRKA) Warren Buffett addressed two burning issues …

More: Tech Trader Daily, CNBC, Guardian, TUAW, iDownloadBlog.com, Edible Apple, bizjournals, Deal Journal, VentureBeat and MacRumors

Jeremy C. Owens / Mercury News:

Apple loses title of most valuable company to Exxon

More: 9to5Mac, AllThingsD, SlashGear, Business Insider and MacNN. Thanks:@mercbizbreak

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Google, Microsoft Dominate Forbes' List Of Tech Billionaires; Zuckerberg, Moskovitz Are The Youngest — Forbes has today published its annual list of the world's richest people — and once again tech and its related tentacles continue to lead the top of the list.

More: Forbes, Forbes, CNET, VentureBeat, GeekWire, Computerworld, Forbes, AllFacebook, BBC, Business Insider, bizjournals, AllTwitter, Biz Beat Blog, Softpedia News, nbcnews.com, Neowin and Business Insider

Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:

Amazon introduces Mobile Ads API, offering in-app advertising to U.S. viewers of any Android app — Amazon has today announced its Amazon Mobile Ads API for developers, allowing them to offer display ads inside their apps. The new program serves in the U.S. only, though …

Greg Bensinger / Wall Street Journal:

The Evolving Economics of the App

More: GigaOM

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Former Top Yahoo Ad Exec Sues Yahoo, Accusing It of Trying to “Cheat” Him Over Acquisition Compensation — Michael Katz, a former high-profile advertising exec at Yahoo who sold Interclick to the Silicon Valley Internet giant, has filed a lawsuit claiming the company tried to …

More: Reuters and bizjournals

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook And Google Bury The Hatchet (Temporarily) To Kill A Core Problem In Gingerbread Dalvik — When Facebook hit a limitation in Android's virtual machine, Dalvik, that would halt its app development, Google and Facebook worked together to create a patch for Gingerbread.

More: Engadget, Computerworld, AllFacebook, AllThingsD, VentureBeat and SlashGear

Arik Hesseldahl / AllThingsD:

IBM Makes a Big Bet on OpenStack in the Cloud — The open source software for running cloud computing installations just got a big new name in its camp: IBM. — Big Blue announced today that all of its cloud services and software will be based on an open cloud architecture.

More: The Register, VentureBeat and ZDNet

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

YouTube Programmers Complain About Video Advertising Dollars — The big picture for YouTube looks good. The world's biggest video site keeps getting bigger, generating more video views and more ad dollars. — Things are fuzzier for some of YouTube's biggest programming partners.

More: The Verge. See also Mediagazer

Graham Cluley / Naked Security:

Jailed cybercriminal hacked into his own prison's computer system after being put in IT class — Here's a piece of advice for those running classes training prisoners about information technology. — It's probably not a good idea to let notorious hackers join the course - or, if you do …

More: CNET, The Register, Computerworld, Macgasm and Inquirer

Donna Tam / CNET:

Facebook adds VoIP to Android messaging app for Canadians — Android users — at least those in Canada — can now try out actual voice calls through Facebook thanks to an update to the Messenger app. — Facebook's Messenger app for Android will now include free VoIP calls for its Canadian users.

More: TechCrunch, PandoDaily, Engadget, AllFacebook, The Verge and MobileSyrup.com

Joel Johnson / Gizmodo:

Hold On Tight, Gizmodo Is a TV Show Now — If we made a Top Gear for gadgets, would you watch it? In two weeks, you'll have your chance. — Nearly ten years ago, when I first ran Gizmodo, gadgets were as niche of a topic for news and debate as could be.

Tweets: @kylenw, @joshpetri, @alexweprin, @nicknotned and @joeljohnson. Thanks:@nstango. See also Mediagazer

Katherine Rushton / Telegraph:

Tesco gears up for online fight with Amazon — Tesco has hired one of Facebook's most senior European executives and is launching a slew of online entertainment stores as it gears up for battle with Amazon. — Blinkbox's sales model allows it to offer recent box office hits, such as Skyfall, much earlier than its rivals

More: blinkbox News site, paidContent and Engadget. See also Mediagazer

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Facebook to Nick Bilton (And Everyone Else): Seriously, There's No Pay to Play Scheme Here — See? People still read the New York Times! — Stung by an article columnist Nick Bilton published yesterday, which suggested Facebook was gaming its news feed so that users would have a reason …

More: Facebook, AllFacebook, Marketing Land, GigaOM, Inside Facebook, TechCrunch, Forbes and Forbes. Tweets: @hunterwalk

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