Techmeme
July 2, 2013, 5:20 AM

Top News

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 …
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
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 …
Evelyn M. Rusli / Digits:
Sources: Zynga's New CEO Will Be Paid 95% in Stock  —  Don Mattrick better hope he can get Zynga's stock up.  —  Mr. Mattrick, who is leaving Microsoft to be the CEO of the struggling game company, will be paid about 95% of his compensation in stock, people with knowledge of the matter said.
More: AllThingsD.  Tweets: @gpjonesii
Spiegel Online:
How the NSA Targets Germany and Europe  —  Top secret documents detail the mass scope of efforts by the United States to spy on Germany and Europe.  Each month, the NSA monitors a half a billion communications and EU buildings are bugged.  The scandal poses a threat to trans-Atlantic relations.
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 …
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
Matt McGee / Marketing Land:
Google Tells Congress: We're Not Changing Our Privacy Policy For Google Glass  —  Google says it has no plans to change its company-wide privacy policy for the eventual public launch of Google Glass.  —  That's one of the discoveries in a four-page letter dated June 7th that Google sent …
Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:
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.
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
Best Buy apparently set to sell Pebble smart watch beginning this weekend  —  At least some Best Buy retail stores in the United States will begin selling the Pebble smart watch this weekend, according to claims from two Best Buy employees.  Both of these people say that they were briefed …
Gretchen Morgenson / New York Times:
An Unstoppable Climb in C.E.O. Pay  —  WHEN we made our annual foray into the executive pay gold mine in April, chief executives' earnings for 2012 showed what appeared to be muted growth on the year.  The $14 million in median overall compensation received by the top 100 C.E.O.'s …
Marcus Wohlsen / Wired:
Email Is Crushing Twitter, Facebook for Selling Stuff Online  —  In 2013, no company can expect to be taken seriously if it's not on Facebook or Twitter.  An endless stream (no pun intended) of advice from marketing consultants warns businesses that they need to “get” social or risk becoming …
Colleen Taylor / TechCrunch:
Steve Case's Revolution Ventures Raising $150M For New Early-Stage VC Fund  —  Revolution Ventures, the early-stage, technology-focused venture capital arm of Revolution LLC, the investment firm headed up by Aol founder Steve Case, is looking to raise $150 million for its second fund …
Thomas Gryta / Digits:
Sprint's Nextel Network Is Finally No More  —  Sprint Nextel Corp. has finally shut down the Nextel network, with the death blow coming in the form of a software code during the wee hours Sunday.  —  Sprint bought Nextel for $35 billion in 2005, in a deal that is widely viewed as disastrous …
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 …
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.
Paul Sawers / The Next Web:
Russian Internet giant Mail.ru drops Google to power all search engine queries itself  —  Russian Internet behemoth Mail.ru has officially announced that it's dropping Google to provide all queries made by users of its own proprietary search engine, Search Mail.Ru.

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Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: