Techmeme
July 25, 2013, 8:20 PM

Top News

Salvador Rodriguez / Los Angeles Times:
Google ends Chromecast-Netflix promotion ‘due to overwhelming demand’  —  Citing overwhelming demand, Google on Thursday said it has ended a Netflix promotion tied to its new Chromecast TV dongle.  —  The promotion gave users, new and existing, three free months of Netflix's video streaming service …
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Chromecast vs. AirPlay: how do they compare?  —  Can Google finally take on one of Apple's best features?  —  Google's new Chromecast HDMI stick is a lot of things: it's a simple new way to bring internet video to your living room after the company stumbled with Google TV …
More: Evolver.fm and TUAW
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Keeping it simple: Chromecast, Google TV, and the zen of a $35 dongle  —  Google's latest foray into the living room may actually have a chance  —  Google's combined Chrome and Android event yesterday should have had a relatively small impact: the Nexus 7 was already widely leaked and Android 4.3 was a very minor update.
Declan McCullagh / CNET:
Feds tell Web firms to turn over user account passwords  —  Secret demands mark escalation in Internet surveillance by the federal government through gaining access to user passwords, which are typically stored in encrypted form.  —  The U.S. government has demanded that major Internet …
Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:
No Dice: Zynga Decides to Abandon Real-Money Gaming Efforts in the U.S.  —  In its lackluster second-quarter report today, at the very bottom of its press release, Zynga made a very important strategic announcement, saying that it would not pursue real-money gaming in the U.S.
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Amazon's Q2 Disappoints, Sales Up 22 Percent To $15.7B, Net Loss Of $7M  —  Amazon just reported second-quarter earnings, with sales increasing 22 percent to $15.7 billion in the second quarter, compared with $12.83 billion in second quarter 2012.  Net loss was $7 million in the second quarter …
Jeff John Roberts / GigaOM:
Verizon calls on President to veto coming iPhone ban  —  As an import ban on Apple products gets set to take effect two weeks from now, a Verizon executive is asking the White House to take the unusual step of intervening with the U.S. trade agency that imposed the ban.
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
BlackBerry Lays Off 250 Employees From Its New Product Testing And R&D Department  —  Layoffs at Waterloo-based smartphone industry pioneer BlackBerry cut deep last year, with around 5,000 employees being let go.  Those cuts continue into 2013 as BlackBerry undergoes what CEO Thorsten Heins called a …
Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:
Fast Car: Uber Funding Auction Could Reach a $3.5B Valuation  —  Uber, the ride-logistics startup, could be valued at up to $3.5 billion in a new funding round led by TPG Capital, said multiple sources close to the discussions, which are ongoing but advanced.  We had first reported that Uber was seeking the round in June.
Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:
Despite Gains, Facebook Is Currently Worth $24 Billion Less Than When It First Went Public  —  The market awarded Facebook a 25 percent share price spike today, following a strong earnings report that showed off the company's ability to retain mind share among youths, build its total global usership …
Roger Cheng / CNET:
MetroPCS doubles reach, outs its own Lumia 521, Optimus F3  —  T-Mobile and MetroPCS want to move quickly to capitalize on any uncertainty in the prepaid market caused by AT&T's looming acquisition of rival prepaid business Leap Wireless.  —  The Lumia 521 will show up to MetroPCS tomorrow.

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More News

Stefan Constantinescu / Engadget:

Earlier Picks

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet: