Techmeme: In Major Hire, Zynga Confirms Xbox Head Don Mattrick as New CEO, Taking Over From Mark Pincus (Kara Swisher/AllThingsD)

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July 1, 2013, 8:01 PM

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Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

In Major Hire, Zynga Confirms Xbox Head Don Mattrick as New CEO, Taking Over From Mark Pincus — As AllThingsD reported earlier today, Zynga confirmed that it has hired Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment President Don Mattrick as its new CEO. — In a press release …

Mark Pincus / Zynga Company Blog:

Big Day — Our Founder Mark Pincus today sent a note to employees outlining some important leadership changes. Please find his note, posted in its entirety, below. — To our Zynga employees, players and shareholders, — Today is a big day. I'm excited to announce that Don Mattrick …

More: Zynga Company Blog, PandoDaily, GigaOM, Computerworld, Forbes, Send Press Releases …, CNET, AllThingsD, Mercury News, The Next Web, CNNMoney.com, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, NYT Bits, SocialTimes, BGR, PC Magazine, winbeta.org/feedburner/rss.xml and Joystiq

Tweets: @majornelson, @om, @markpinc and @caseynewton

Thanks:@danidudeck

Microsoft:

Steve Ballmer email to employees on Don Mattrick transition — Text of an internal e-mail from Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer to employees regarding changes in leadership within the Interactive Entertainment Business group. — From: Steve Ballmer — To: Microsoft - All Employees

More: The Register, Business Insider, Digital Trends, GeekWire, Kotaku, IntoMobile, Inside Social Games, Electronista, Siliconera, VG247, AllThingsD, Gamasutra, SlashGear, DualShockers, The Next Web and GigaOM

Evelyn M. Rusli / Digits:

Sources: Zynga's New CEO Will Be Paid 95% in Stock

More: AllThingsD

Wall Street Journal:

Zynga Founder Mark Pincus Hands CEO Job to Don Mattrick

More: Digits, New York Magazine and MoneyBeat

Ashkan Soltani / MIT Technology Review:

Technology, Not Law, Limits Mass Surveillance — Improved technology enabled the NSA's mass surveillance programs. Future improvements will make collecting data on citizens easier and easier. — Recent revelations about the extent of surveillance by the U.S. National Security Agency come …

Tweets: @mattblaze

Greg Miller / Washington Post:

Misinformation on classified NSA programs includes statements by senior U.S. officials — Amid the cascading disclosures about National Security Agency surveillance programs, the top lawyer in the U.S. intelligence community opened his remarks at a rare public appearance last week with a lament …

Luke Johnson / The Huffington Post:

George W. Bush Defends PRISM: ‘I Put That Program In Place To Protect The Country’

More: CNN, CNET and The Raw Story

The Mozilla Blog:

Mozilla and Partners Prepare to Launch First Firefox OS Smartphones! — First Open Web Devices Powered by Firefox OS Make Smartphones More Accessible; Regional announcements coming soon — Mountain View, Calif. - July 1, 2013 - Mozilla, the mission-based organization dedicated to keeping …

More: CNET, Computerworld, The Next Web, TechCrunch, Unwired View, TechCrunch, Digital Trends, TechnoBuffalo, Geek.com, TechSpot, www.idigitaltimes.co.uk and ZDNet

Stefan Constantinescu / Engadget:

ZTE Open, the first Firefox OS phone for consumers, launches tomorrow for $90

More: Telefónica, ReadWrite, AllThingsD, The Verge, TechHive, The Register, VentureBeat, CITEworld, The Technology Chronicles, Quartz, Gearburn and Pocketnow

Bloomberg:

Apple Seeks to Trademark ‘IWatch’ in Japan for Devices — Apple Inc. (AAPL), the world's most valuable technology company, is seeking a trademark for “iWatch” in Japan as rival Samsung Electronics Co. readies its own wearable smartphone device. — The maker of iPhones is seeking protection …

More: Wall Street Journal, Digital Media Wire, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Mercury News, CNET, Engadget, SiliconANGLE, Forbes, Washington Post, TechnoBuffalo, Examiner, T3 News, PC Magazine, TechSpot, VentureBeat, GigaOM, Mobile Marketing Watch and TUAW

Edward Joseph Snowden / WikiLeaks:

Statement from Edward Snowden in Moscow — One week ago I left Hong Kong after it became clear that my freedom and safety were under threat for revealing the truth. My continued liberty has been owed to the efforts of friends new and old, family, and others who I have never met and probably never will.

More: Reuters, Techdirt, The Next Web, Guardian, Los Angeles Times, WorldViews and Mashable

Tweets: @daweiner, @qhardy, @tomwarren, @fmanjoo, @adamweinstein, @b_fung and @jwherrman

See also Mediagazer

Ed Bott / ZDNet:

Microsoft to shut down TechNet subscription service — Summary: One of the best software deals around is about to be retired. Microsoft announced today that after 15 years it is shutting down its TechNet subscriptions service. Microsoft has other, similar programs, but none are as generous as TechNet.

More: The Register, PC Magazine, PC World, PC World, Ars Technica and VentureBeat. Thanks:@edbott

Matt Brian / The Verge:

Twitter's new ‘embedded on these websites’ feature helps users discover the story behind a tweet — Twitter has begun trialling new features that give users a way to learn more about the tweets that they read. As noted by security expert Mikko Hypponen, Twitter has enabled a new …

More: CNET, PC Magazine, Engadget, TechCrunch, SlashGear and Marketing Land. Tweets: @mikko. See also Mediagazer

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Twitter quietly rolls out Bing language translation on the web

More: AllThingsD, Pocket-lint, GigaOM and WebProNews

Alex Wilhelm / The Next Web:

As expected, Microsoft brings the 256GB Surface Pro to the United States — Microsoft first made the 256GB Surface Pro model available in Japan. TNW expected it to come to the United States, and as of today it has. Through new reseller partner CDW, the 256GB SKU (stock keeping unit) …

More: Windows Phone Central, Digital Trends, The Verge, Windows Phone Central, Examiner, PC World, AllThingsD, Ubergizmo, Redmond Pie, BetaNews, IntoMobile and SlashGear

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:

Microsoft starts selling its Surfaces through resellers

More: Surface Blog, Microsoft, TechNet Blogs, eWeek, Business Insider, Engadget, Examiner, The Next Web, CITEworld and BetaNews

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Bebo's Founder Michael Birch Says He's Bought Back The Social Network For $1M, Plans To ‘Reinvent’ It — Another turn in the twisted life of social network Bebo, which has unfortunately gone in the direction of a downward spiral for much of the last couple of years: the site appears …

More: GigaOM, VentureBeat, CNET, AllThingsD, Business Insider, The Next Web and Valleywag

Tweets: @mickbirch, @mikeisaac and @spencerchen

Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:

Google Glass update brings more voice commands, messages to any Gmail contacts and web browsing — An update rolling out to Google Glass customers today will bring some much needed expansion of the unit's capabilities. This includes the ability to send messages or make calls to any Gmail contacts …

More: Marketing Land, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, GeekWire, Engadget, BGR, 9to5Google, PhoneArena, Gotta Be Mobile and Android Central

Rebecca Grant / VentureBeat:

Yahoo bets big on fantasy sports, acquires one-man startup Bignoggins — Yahoo has acquired mobile fantasy sports startup Bignoggins. — Bignoggins is the production company behind Fantasy Monster and Draft Monster. Fantasy Monster manages multiple fantasy sports teams from one app.

More: Bignoggins, The Next Web, VatorNews, Associated Press, TechCrunch, WebProNews and AllThingsD

Kevin Roose / New York Magazine:

The Winklevoss Twins Are Starting a Bitcoin Fund — In case you've been hankering to invest your hard-earned money in an exchange-traded fund run by two handsome, square-jawed brothers whose claim to fame is having been played by Armie Hammer in a movie about having a world-changing company stolen …

More: MoneyBeat. Tweets: @adamweinstein, @tracyalloway and @izakaminska

John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:

HP Still Plotting a Return to Smartphone Market — Hewlett-Packard's ignominious first run at the smartphone market won't deter it from taking a second. Nor will some formidable incumbents who seem to have sucked all the air out the space. According to Yam Su Yin, senior director …

More: The Indian Express, The Register, Network World, GigaOM, Business Insider, Ars Technica, The Verge, Softpedia News, SlashGear and 9to5Google

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft launches web-based Xbox Music, available for subscribers now — We expected Microsoft to launch its Xbox Music web version this week, and it appears the site is online and ready to use. Xbox Music Pass subscribers can access the web player from music.xbox.com, with a responsive design that adapts to your browser size.

More: Xbox Wire, CNET, App Advice, Co.Labs, Gizmodo, PhoneArena, Gotta Be Mobile and TechHive

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Android, Led By Samsung, Continues To Storm The Smartphone Market, Pushing A Global 70% Market Share — Google is grappling with an ongoing antitrust case in Europe over its online search business, and if its rivals have anything to do with it, that might extend into Google's power in the mobile sphere, too.

More: Kantar, WMPoweruser, CNET, SiliconANGLE, ZDNet, 9to5Google and MobileBurn.com

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Windows 8 now up to 5.10% market share as it finally passes Windows Vista — With the first half of 2013 now over, Windows 8 continues to grow its share steadily but slowly, while Windows XP and Vista decline. In fact, Windows 8 has now passed the 5 percent mark, as well as surpassed …

More: CNET, PC Magazine, BGR, WebProNews and AppleInsider. Thanks:@alex

Zack Whittaker / ZDNet:

Intuit sells financial services unit for $1.03B to refocus on tax software — Summary: The tax software maker is heading back to its roots — tax preparation software — by selling its financial services division to a private equity firm. — Zack Whittaker

More: Business Wire and DealBook

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