Techmeme
July 31, 2013, 12:50 PM

Top News

Glenn Greenwald / Guardian:
XKeyscore: NSA tool collects ‘nearly everything a user does on the internet’  —  A top secret National Security Agency program allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft forced to rename SkyDrive following trademark case with broadcaster  —  A UK court recently ruled that Microsoft's SkyDrive name infringed on a trademark owned by British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB), and the software maker has agreed to change the name of its cloud-based service worldwide as a result.
Quip Blog:
Introducing Quip  —  Today, we are extremely excited to launch Quip.  Quip is a modern word processor that enables you to create beautiful documents on any device — phones, tablets and the desktop.  If you haven't already, download Quip to try it out.  —  Why Quip?
AnandTech:
Update on GPU Optimizations in Galaxy S 4  —  Yesterday we posted our analysis of the Exynos 5 Octa's behavior in international versions of the Galaxy S 4 in certain benchmarks first discovered by Beyond3D user @Andreif7.  Samsung addressed issue on their blog earlier today:
Jordan Kahn / 9to5Google:
Google gives AT&T the boot, will supply 7000 US Starbucks locations with WiFi starting next month  —  After a brief announcement back in June that it had partnered with Starbucks to offer free, unlimited music through its new Google Play All Access streaming service, Google today announced …
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.
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.
Barb Darrow / GigaOM:
Here are the 7 companies Microsoft doesn't want its ex-Windows chief to join  —  Since Steven Sinofsky and Microsoft shocked the PC world by divorcing last year, some details of Sinofsky's severance have already surfaced.  But now we know, thanks to Microsoft's 10-K filing …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft Office for Android now available, but not for tablets  —  Microsoft is extending its Office mobile software to Android this week, bringing basic editing to smartphones running Android 4.0 or higher.  Following the release of Office for iPhone, the Android variant is almost identical in what it provides and its requirements.
Mark Collins / GSM Insider:
Moto X To Use Nano-SIM Card, SIM Tray Leaks In Hong Kong  —  Moto X leaks again and again.  This time is about the Nano-SIM tray of the Moto X. It was leaked earlier in an Asian country, Hong Kong.  It looks like Moto X is available in different parts of the world.
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Nvidia Shield review  —  Is Android ready for a portable game console?  —  Last summer, I bought an iPad 3.  I convinced myself I'd use it for everything: showing off wedding photos, reading all those neglected articles I save to Pocket, and as a second monitor for my laptop.
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.
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 …
More: DSLreports, GigaOM, BGR and The VergeTweets: @rsingel
Jeff Blagdon / The Verge:
FileMaker dropping Bento database app for Mac and iOS  —  FileMaker is dropping Bento, the consumer-friendly database app for OS X and iOS, in order to focus on its core products.  The Mac app was first released in 2008 to generally positive reviews, followed by an iPhone version the following year and an iPad version in 2010.
Amir Efrati / Wall Street Journal:
Google's Privacy Balancing Act  —  Internal Debates Arise Over Using Collected Information and Protecting Privacy  —  In 2011, Google Inc. Chief Executive and co-founder Larry Page asked executives to develop a new, simplified privacy tool that would act as a kind of sliding scale …
Jeff Blagdon / The Verge:
Zynga sues ‘Bang With Friends’ maker for trademark infringement  —  Zynga is going after hookup app Bang With Friends, suing its maker with trademark infringement over its use of the phrase “with friends” — common to a series of Zynga games including Words With Friends and Chess With Friends.
Reuters:
Apple CEO met China Mobile head, discussed cooperation  —  (Reuters) - Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday met with the head of China Mobile Ltd, the world's largest mobile carrier by subscribers and the only Chinese carrier that doesn't offer iPhones and iPads.
Michael Carney / PandoDaily:
Flush with $20M from Peter Thiel, ZestFinance is measuring credit risk through non-traditional big data  —  Peter Thiel knows a thing or two about disruptive financial innovations.  As one of the co-founders of PayPal, the Silicon Valley titan ushered in an era of online payments …
Iain Thomson / The Register:
Intel's homage to Raspberry Pi: The much pricier Minnowboard  —  Open source, or open your wallet?  —  The huge popularity of the British-designed Raspberry Pi has caught Chipzilla's attention, and so you can now buy a similar bare-bones x86 PC named Minnowboard with a similar caseless design running an Angstrom Linux build.
More: Geek.com

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Edmund Lee / Bloomberg: