Techmeme: Sergey Brin's Younger Brother Co-Founds A Startup Of His Own: Butter, A Digital Restaurant Menu In A Crowded Space (Greg Kumparak/TechCrunch)

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July 31, 2013, 12:00 AM

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AnandTech:

Looking at CPU/GPU Benchmark Optimizations in Galaxy S 4 — Somehow both Anand and I ended up with international versions of Samsung's Galaxy S 4, equipped with the first generation Exynos 5 Octa (5410) SoC. Anand bought an international model GT-I9500 while I held out for the much cooler …

More: Gizmodo, Ars Technica, BGR, The Verge, The Register, iPhone Hacks, Sammy Hub, Pocketnow, SlashGear, GSMArena Blog, Electronista and iDownloadBlog.com

Tweets: @pogue, @nytimesbits, @codinghorror and @weiran

John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:

Samsung boosts Galaxy S4 benchmark results

More: 9to5Google, VentureBeat, Engadget, Android Community, Geek.com, TechnoBuffalo and PhoneArena

Tweets: @tomwinzig, @ashwin and @benedictevans

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:

Facebook Said to Plan to Sell TV-Style Ads for $2.5M Each — Facebook Inc. (FB), seeking to break the long-held dominance of television over advertising budgets, plans to sell TV-style commercials on its site for as much as $2.5 million a day, two people familiar with the matter said.

More: TechnoBuffalo, Digital Trends, Quartz, WebProNews, AllThingsD, Yahoo! News, Deadline.com, GigaOM, The Verge, SlashGear, BGR, AllFacebook, Marketing Land, Electronista, Lost Remote and iClarified

Tweets: @t1c1, @viplav76 and @chris_ciaccia

See also Mediagazer

Ryan Singel / Wired:

Now That It's in the Broadband Game, Google Flip-Flops on Network Neutrality — In a dramatic about-face on a key internet issue yesterday, Google told the FCC that the network neutrality rules Google once championed don't give citizens the right to run servers on their home broadband connections …

Tweets: @dangillmor, @funwithbill, @alex_gaynor, @dejaymattyd, @normative, @declanm, @carnage4life, @aaronmoodie, @glynmoody and @caseynewton

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:

Microsoft Surface revenue so far: $853 million — Microsoft just filed its annual Form 10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and deep in the filing is the first public disclosure of the company's revenue from its Surface tablet lineup: $853 million.

More: The Verge, Digits, The Next Web, TechCrunch, AllThingsD, WinBeta, Business Insider, Pocket-lint, Engadget and The Loop. Tweets: @ericjackson. Thanks:@taylor_soper

OpenSignal:

Android Fragmentation Visualized — Fragmentation is both a strength and weakness of the Android ecosystem. When comparisons are made between Android and iOS the issue of different API levels, and the vastly different devices running them, is often emphasised.

More: BGR, theguardian.com, SlashGear, TechnoBuffalo, TechCrunch, TechSpot, PadGadget, iDownloadBlog.com, iPhone in Canada Blog, PhoneArena, GigaOM, Business Insider, VentureBeat and Quartz. Tweets: @neror. Thanks:@brendan_gill

Brian X. Chen / NYT Bits:

OpenTable Begins Testing Mobile Payments — OpenTable, the world's largest online reservation service, lets users book a restaurant reservation with its smartphone app or Web site. Now the company is getting ready to take the next step and let diners pay for the meal with its app, too.

More: Engadget, The Next Web and Gizmodo

Mike Beauchamp / Zealous About Great Gadgets:

Google is Rolling Out Invites for Google Glass — You might remember the early days of Gmail, when you had to be “invited” by one of your friends to get an account. Google has done it with several of their emerging products in the past, and other companies have used the same concept …

More: The Verge, Engadget, Marketing Land, The Next Web, Google+, TechCrunch, Android Police and ZDNet

Walter S. Mossberg / AllThingsD:

Review of Google's New Chromecast — Google is trying to change television watching again, after the tepid response to its Google TV product a few years back. This time, instead of building a complex system to bring apps and Internet video to the TV, the search giant is taking a simpler approach.

More: The Huffington Post, USA Today, ABC News and Rachel Metz. Tweets: @waltmossberg

Lawrence Lessig / Lessig Blog, v2:

On the emptiness in the concept of “neutrality” — One of the most frustrating aspects of this report is the role of “neutrality” — especially in light of the criticism MIT makes of the prosecutors reported in the post below. — “Neutrality” is one of those empty words that somehow …

More: GigaOM, The Switch, MIT, Reuters, Betabeat, The Register, Boing Boing, The Verge and Boston Globe. Tweets: @davewiner

Greg Kumparak / TechCrunch:

Sergey Brin's Younger Brother Co-Founds A Startup Of His Own: Butter, A Digital Restaurant Menu In A Crowded Space — Sam Brin, 26-year old younger brother of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, has spent the last few months in a bit of borrowed office space with college pal Jon Li quietly building a startup of their own.

More: tech spotlight

Tom Simonite / MIT Technology Review:

If Facebook Can Profit from Your Data, Why Can't You? — If Facebook Can Profit from Your Data, Why Can't You? — Reputation.com says it's ready to unveil a place where people can offer personal information to marketers in return for discounts and other perks. — WHY IT MATTERS

More: BGR. Tweets: @schnellerkeller and @anibalcasso

Zach Epstein / BGR:

From kindling to inferno: Full specs for next-gen Amazon Kindle Fire HD tablets — Amazon to combine powerhouse specs and affordable prices in bid to scorch the competition — Amazon's first-generation Kindle Fire was absolutely not an iPad killer, and that's exactly why it was so successful.

More: TechnoBuffalo, Gotta Be Mobile, Unwired View, ZDNet, Yahoo! News, Geek.com, TechSpot, Examiner, PhoneArena, Pocketnow, The Verge, Electronista, GSMArena Blog and Ubergizmo

Jacob Kleinman / TechnoBuffalo:

Instance Blocked by Instagram due to General Security Update — This morning the Internet was abuzz with reports that Instagram was tracking and deleting photos uploaded to its servers from third-party Windows Phone app Instance (curiously, similar third-party apps including Instagraph and Hipstamatic Oggl never stopped working).

More: Windows Phone Central

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Instagram deleting and blocking photos uploaded from third-party Windows Phone app (update)

More: Windows Phone, PC Magazine, PhoneArena, Engadget, Digital Trends, CNET, PetaPixel, Gotta Be Mobile, CITEworld, Windows Phone Central, SlashGear, GigaOM and TechnoBuffalo. Tweets: @tomwarren

Evan Rapoport / Google LatLong:

Introducing “Views” - A new way to contribute your 360° photo spheres to Google Maps — Wherever life's adventures may take us, our photos help us remember and share the places we care about. When photos are added to a map, whether they're from your camera or through Street View …

More: The Next Web, Engadget, 9to5Google, Google Operating System, Android Community, WebProNews, Los Angeles Times, SlashGear, dailywireless.org and Marketing Land

Erwin Visser / The Windows Blog:

Windows 8.1 Enterprise Preview Now Available — Today, I'm excited to announce that Windows 8.1 Enterprise Preview is now available for download for customers to start testing the operating system in their environments. Windows 8.1 Enterprise Preview builds on the Window 8.1 Preview …

More: TechCrunch, ITworld.com, ZDNet, WebProNews, Windows Phone Central, WindowsObserver.com, The Register, BetaNews, ZDNet, PC World, VentureBeat and TechNet Blogs

Chris Burns / SlashGear:

Nexus 7 did not outsell iPad in Japan according to IDC — Earlier this year it was claimed by several news sources, then quoted again just this month by Google, that the Nexus 7 outsold the iPad in Japan in the fourth quarter of 2012. This assertion comes from a report by market research firm BCN …

More: MacNN, Daring Fireball, The Mac Observer, iDownloadBlog.com and TechnoBuffalo

Hamish McKenzie / PandoDaily:

Zynga quietly launches game on Kik - its first on a mobile chat app? — In an update today, Kik, a mobile messenger that claims 60 million users, added the first paid elements to its nascent platform and unveiled a new in-app game from Zynga. — Zynga, which first got big by building games …

More: The Next Web

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

California Regulator Proposes New Ride-Sharing Rules In A Victory For Uber, Lyft And SideCar — The California Public Utilities Commission issued its proposed framework for the regulation of ride-sharing services today, granting a huge victory for companies like Uber, Lyft and SideCar.

More: CBS San Francisco, Digits, Forbes, VentureBeat, AllThingsD, The Technology Chronicles, VentureBeat, Sidecar, Valleywag and Skift. Thanks:@elinblesener

Ina Fried / AllThingsD:

Asus Pulling Back on Windows RT, Chairman Says — Asus's Jonney Shih has made some crazy bets over the years — teeny-tiny laptops, phones that turn into tablets, and even a seven-inch tablet that can be held to the ear to make phone calls. — But, so far, the only bet that Shih …

More: BGR, Gotta Be Mobile, Ars Technica, InfoWorld, Computerworld, Electronista, Computerworld, Engadget and Pocketnow

Adam Turner / Sydney Morning Herald:

Australia should ‘ban’ geo-blocking: IT Pricing Inquiry — Netflix, Amazon and Apple's terms of service will be declared “void” if they block Australian access to US content like blockbuster movies, under changes proposed by Australia's IT Pricing Inquiry. Australia's long and drawn …

More: CNET, Ars Technica, Billboard, GameSpot, TheAustralian, The Register, HeraldSun, HeraldSun, ZDNet and TeleRead

Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:

Amazon dances around Apple restrictions with ‘free sample’ search inside Kindle for iOS app — Amazon has released an update to its Kindle for iOS app, and it features (for the first time ever) the ability to search its catalog of books online. This is a departure from the past versions of the app …

More: 9to5Mac, PandoDaily, The Verge, Gizmodo and Macworld

Kim-Mai Cutler / TechCrunch:

Facebook Announces New Mobile Game Publishing Effort — A few weeks ago, we reported that Facebook was experimenting with becoming a mobile games publisher by offering distribution to studios in exchange for a cut of revenue. — Today, Facebook is formally announcing that effort …

More: Facebook Developer Blog, GigaOM, Marketing Pilgrim, BetaNews, Inside Social Games, AllFacebook, WebProNews, Inside Facebook, Engadget, Electronista, The Next Web and The Verge

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