Techmeme
June 18, 2013, 5:50 AM

Top News

BuzzFeed:
President Obama Defends NSA Spying  —  It's “transparent,” the president tells Charlie Rose in an interview.  Here's a portion of that transcript, from PBS.  —  Image by Matt Dunham / AP  —  Barack Obama: Well, in the end, and what I've said, and I continue to believe …
T.C. Sottek / The Verge:
Kaylene Hong / The Next Web:
Ben Gilbert / Engadget:
Digg's Google Reader replacement beta opens on June 26th, friends and family get access on the 19th  —  Digg — yes, that Digg — has a replacement in the works for Google Reader, and it looks like it'll arrive just ahead of the final days of Google's RSS aggregation service.
Digg Blog:
David Shapiro / The Official Google Blog:
Chromebooks: coming to more stores near you  —  In Northern California where I live, summer is here, which means family vacations, kids' camps, BBQs and hopefully some relaxation.  But it also means back-to-school shopping is just around the corner.  So in case you're on the hunt for a laptop …
Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:
Yahoo Offer to Buy Contact Startup Xobni Is at a Price of $30M to $40M  —  According to numerous sources close to the company, Yahoo is offering to pay $30 million to $40 million for the maker of address book apps and plugins.  —  That's below the more than $40 million raised …
More: TechCrunch
Anton Troianovski / Wall Street Journal:
How Clearwire Became the Darling of Telecom  —  Clearwire Corp. has long been the U.S. wireless industry's most embattled carrier.  In recent months, the money-losing company has also emerged as its crown jewel.  —  The company, which covers less than half the U.S. population …
Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:
Next: Yahoo Also Eyeing Automated Video App Maker Qwiki in $50 Million Deal  —  According to sources close to the company, Yahoo is considering paying up to $50 million for Qwiki, the New York startup that makes an Apple iPhone app that allow users to turn photos, music and videos into short movies automatically.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Source: Instagram Will Get Video On June 20  —  We've been working on getting more details on a press event that Facebook is having this week.  Earlier, we wrote it could launch a news-reading app, but we have since heard more details that point to something else entirely.
Roger Cheng / CNET:
Ex-HTC execs can't quit phone game, create startup Kazam  —  Kazam is a smartphone manufacturer focused on design, customer service, and the European market.  But the company faces an extreme uphill climb.  —  Two former HTC executives are hoping for a fresh start with their own company.
Alistair Barr / Reuters:
FEATURE-From the ashes of Webvan, Amazon builds a grocery business  —  (Reuters) - The online grocery start-up Webvan may have been the single most expensive flame-out of the dot-com era, blowing through more than $800 million in venture capital and IPO proceeds in just over three years before shutting its doors in 2001.
More: TechCrunch
Hannah Karp / Speakeasy:
Samsung to Give Away 1 Million Copies of Jay-Z's New Album … As the Miami Heat faced off against the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA finals Sunday night, a curious TV ad aired near the end of the second quarter featuring rap star Jay-Z in a studio, riffing with a cast …
PandoDaily:
Virtual gaming headset Oculus Rift raises $16 million from Spark Capital, Matrix Partners  —  Fresh off the heels of a buzzy turn at gaming conference E3, Oculus Rift has raised its first round of funding, according to several people familiar with the situation.
Colleen Taylor / TechCrunch:
Accel Closes $100M For Big Data Fund 2 To Invest In The ‘Second Wave’ Of Big Data Startups  —  The tech industry has been buzzing about “big data” for years now.  And according to venture capital firm Accel Partners, the excitement around the big data space is not set to die down any time soon …
Alex Williams / TechCrunch:
GitHub Rolling Out Major Redesign, Emphasis On Speed, Content And Interactivity  —  GitHub is rolling out a major redesign over the next few days with the intent of putting more emphasis on content, speed and interactivity.  —  A year in the making, the new redesign is meant to be optimized …
More: GitHub and VentureBeat

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