Techmeme: Smartphone Upgrades Slow as ‘Wow’ Factor Fades (Spencer E. Ante/Wall Street Journal)

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July 17, 2013, 4:15 PM

Top News

Declan McCullagh / CNET:

Google tests encryption to protect users' Drive files against government demands — Encryption is being tested to armor user files stored on Google Drive, sources say, a move that could curb surveillance attempts by the U.S. and other governments. — Google has begun to experiment …

More: 9to5Google, VentureBeat, RT, ReadWrite, Boing Boing, GamePolitics blogs, NYT Bits and Inquirer

Harrison Weber / The Next Web:

After a lackluster quarter, Yahoo acquires AdMovate to boost its mobile ad team — Yahoo has announced yet another acquisition. This time, the company in question is AdMovate, a startup that says it helps advertisers “deliver personalized, hyper-local targeted offers through the mobile channel.”

More: Yahoo!, TechCrunch, Adweek, Search Engine Watch, CNET, VentureBeat, AllThingsD, SocialTimes and Mashable. Tweets: @evelynrusli

Amir Efrati / Digits:

How Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Plans to Tackle Video

More: eWeek

Romain Dillet / TechCrunch:

Revenue Falls, But Yahoo Shares Jump 7% To Reach A Five-Year High

More: Inquirer

Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:

Google Glass Had a Vulnerability for Being Taken Over Via QR Code, But It Has Been Fixed — A Google Glass security vulnerability that allowed an outsider to take control of the wearable computing device via QR code has been fixed. — Basically, since Glass allows users to connect to Wi-Fi …

More: The Official Lookout Blog, CNET, PC World, The Next Web, Digits, Betabeat, SlashGear, The Register, Co.Labs, Forbes, Gizmodo, The Verge, Softpedia News, ZDNet, Telegraph, VentureBeat and CNET

John Koetsier / VentureBeat:

6,000 mobile developers: Android most popular, iOS most profitable, Windows Phone most ‘next’ — The biggest mobile developer study in history with 6,000 respondents from 115 countries says that while iOS developers make an average of $5,200 per month in app revenue and Android developers pull in $4,700 …

More: PC World, ZDNet, Developer Economics, WMPoweruser, Tim Anderson's ITWriting, AndroidHeadlines.com, Mobile Marketing Watch and everythingiCafe

Chris Davies / SlashGear:

Tumblr iPhone app fixed after plaintext password goof spotted — Tumblr has been forced to rush out a patched version of its iPhone and iPad apps, and has advised all users to change their password, after researchers discovered the apps had been transmitting login credentials in plain text.

More: Tumblr Staff, Graham Cluley, The Register, The Verge, Gizmodo, ReadWrite, BuzzFeed, The Atlantic Wire, Betabeat, The Mac Security Blog, GSMArena Blog, The Register, MobileSyrup.com, TechnoBuffalo, The Next Web, TechHive, Mashable, 9to5Mac, ZDNet and CNET

Tweets: @isaach, @mattbuchanan, @tcarmody, @panzer and @mattbuchanan

Sam Biddle / Valleywag:

Tumblr Is Pushing Porn Into an Internet Sex Ghetto — Since Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer began circling around Tumblr's billion dollar GIF vortex, we wondered what it'd do with the nasty stuff: the dog sex, the rape porn. Or even the more mild takes on f**king. Now we're starting to see: porn gets put where no one can find it.

More: Colbert Nation, TechCrunch, AllThingsD, Mashable and Business Insider

Bill Gurley / Above the Crowd:

Transitioning To a Mobile Centric World — “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.” — Freewill, Rush — If you happen to be a sports fan (I am), one of the coolest features to emerge in our lifetime is the ability to program your DVR remotely.

More: Business Insider. Tweets: @carnage4life and @stevesi

Chris Velazco / TechCrunch:

Intel Misses In Q2 2013, Reports EPS Of $0.39 And Revenue Of $12.8 Billion — Intel reported its fiscal Q2 2013 earnings just a few moments ago, and they just fell short of analyst predictions. The legendary chipmaker reported earnings of $0.39 per share and $12.8 billion in revenue this time around …

More: Business Insider, ZDNet, Engadget, VentureBeat, Tech Trader Daily, Intel and Digital Trends

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Revamped Google Maps for iOS launches: supports iPad, indoor maps, enhanced navigation — In line with last week's expectations of an updated Google Maps app, Google has begun rolling out version 2.0 of Google Maps for iOS today. Most notably, the new application includes support …

Jordan Kahn / 9to5Google:

Google opens redesigned Google Maps to all, no invite required

More: BetaNews, Digital Trends, Ubergizmo, Search Engine Roundtable and Electronista

Richard Pérez-Peña / New York Times:

Universities Face a Rising Barrage of Cyberattacks — America's research universities, among the most open and robust centers of information exchange in the world, are increasingly coming under cyberattack, most of it thought to be from China, with millions of hacking attempts weekly.

More: GigaOM and Techonomy

Philip Bump / The Atlantic Wire:

The NSA Admits It Analyzes More People's Data Than Previously Revealed — As an aside during testimony on Capitol Hill today, a National Security Agency representative rather casually indicated that the government looks at data from a universe of far, far more people than previously indicated.

More: Guardian, Politico, USA Today, The Verge and Washington Post

Tweets: @tonyromm and @normative

Michelle Meyers / CNET:

In another Aereo win, court refuses to rehear New York case — Appeals court clears the way for the TV-over-the-Web service to continue around New York City. But broadcasters aren't giving up their legal battle against the Barry Diller-backed service and its ambitious expansion plans.

More: Los Angeles Times, AllThingsD, Techdirt, Plagiarism Today and Forbes

Spencer E. Ante / Wall Street Journal:

Smartphone Upgrades Slow as ‘Wow’ Factor Fades — Fewer Customers Trade in Devices—A Potential Problem for AT&T, Apple and Others — Fewer people are upgrading their smartphones—a trend that could make it harder for companies from AT&T Inc. to Apple Inc. to keep up the pace of revenue growth.

More: asymco, SiliconANGLE, AllThingsD, DSLreports, GigaOM, blog.chron.com, The Atlantic Wire, App Advice, iDownloadBlog.com, ZDNet, BGR and PhoneArena

Simon Bisson / CITEworld:

Xamarin raises $16 million to build “delightful” tools for mobile devs — Mobile application development tools company Xamarin today announced a series of significant milestones. With over 358,000 registered developers (and approaching 20,000 paid seats), the company has today closed a $16 million Series B funding round.

More: TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Xamarin Blog and IVCPOST. Thanks:@sbisson

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Acer preparing 8-inch Windows 8 tablet successor to address complaints — Acer is preparing to release a refreshed version of its Iconia W3 tablet. After only being announced in early June, and recently released to retailers, Acer's 8-inch Windows 8 tablet has been criticised over its poor display and bulky size.

More: Engadget, PC World, TechSpot, PC Pro, CNET, Electronista, Gizmodo and SlashGear

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Lumia 625 leaks with LTE and Nokia's biggest screen ever — Nokia is preparing to launch a Lumia 625 in the coming weeks with a 4.7-inch display and LTE support. Sources familiar with Nokia's plans have confirmed to The Verge that the handset will debut as one of the cheapest and biggest Lumias yet.

More: Engadget, LiveSide.net, BGR, Gotta Be Mobile, Pocketnow, TechnoBuffalo, CNET, Electronista, Unwired View, SlashGear and The Next Web

TechCrunch:

Withings Raises $30 Million From Bpifrance And Others To Fuel International Growth — Health gadget company Withings will announce in a few minutes a new funding round from Bpifrance, Idinvest Partners, 360 Capital Partners and existing investor Ventech. Out of the $30 million …

More: AllThingsD and Business Insider. Thanks:@romaindillet

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

Hunter Walk And Satya Patel's Homebrew Is A $35M Seed-Stage Fund To Invest In The “Bottom Up Economy” — Former Googler/YouTuber Hunter Walk has been making angel investments for some time now, and recently began observing that although he was one of the smallest parts of the cap table …

More: Hunter Walk, GigaOM, Homebrew Blog, The Next Web and Venture Generated Content

Tweets: @homebrew and @caseynewton

David Meyer / GigaOM:

UK spies aren't breaking law by using PRISM data, security oversight committee claims — The British Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee has rebuffed claims that UK intelligence services broke local law by taking PRISM data from the Americans. However, the committee also said it needed to study the law more closely.

More: BBC, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, ZDNet, The Verge, Telegraph, politics.co.uk, The Next Web, Engadget, Inquirer, Softpedia News and Guardian

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Almunia Says The EU Antitrust Ball Is In Google's Court, While FairSearch Releases More Data Against Google's Proposed Remedies — We are still waiting for the antitrust commissioner in Europe to make his next formal statement on negotiations with Google, after the search giant in April …

Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:

Russia says ‘nyet’ to Apple's iPhone — Why the big three Russian mobile phone carriers cut their ties with Apple. — FORTUNE — There's good money to be made selling cell phones in Russia, a country with more than 180 million mobile subscribers. Three Russian carriers account for eight …

More: Rethink Wireless, BGR, iMore, Electronista, SiliconANGLE, Forbes, CNET, iPhone Hacks, The Next Web, TechnoBuffalo and Business Insider

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