Techmeme
July 31, 2013, 7:00 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 …
Andy Greenberg / Forbes:
NSA Director Heckled At Conference As He Asks For Security Community's Understanding  —  When NSA Director Keith Alexander appeared at the Las Vegas security conference Black Hat Wednesday morning, he hoped to mend the NSA's reputation in the eyes of thousands of the conference's hackers and security professionals.
Guardian:
XKeyscore presentation from 2008 - read in full  —  Training materials for the NSA's XKeyscore program detail how analysts can use it and other systems to mine enormous agency databases and develop intelligence from the internet
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
Apple has A6-based iPad mini without Retina display in the works  —  Apple is testing a new iPad mini that includes a faster processor but not a Retina display, according to references in the iOS 7 SDK sent to us by a developer.  —  The references were located inside of a hidden file …
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.
Christopher Mims / Quartz:
Google is testing a local news product for Google Now  —  Google has hatched a plan to boost the visibility of its existing local news product, and in the process is testing a whole new way to get people to pay attention to the news that is geographically most relevant to them.
App Annie Blog:
App Annie Index - Market Q2 2013: Google Play Exceeds iOS App Store in App Downloads by 10% in Q2 2013  —  Welcome to the App Annie Market Index, where at the end of each quarter, we review the latest download and revenue insights by stores, countries and categories.
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
Apple's upcoming A7 iPhone chip will have Samsung components, code inside iOS 7 reveals  —  While Apple is using an A6 processor for this new iPad mini, developer Nick Frey has shared with us that Apple is also developing a new A7 processor.  A reference to an s5l8960x (likely A7) processor …
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?
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Yahoo Acquires Lexity, Will Keep E-Commerce App Platform Running But Rebrand It  —  Yahoo has just acquired e-commerce app platform Lexity, a startup founded by former employee Amit Kumar.  Lexity says all services will remain running, but it will eventually be renamed with Yahoo branding.
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 …
Mia Shanley / Reuters:
Music streamer Spotify doubles 2012 revenues after expansion  —  (Reuters) - Music streaming web service Spotify more than doubled revenues in 2012 to 435 million euros ($577 million) as it expanded to new markets and almost doubled its users, documents showed on Wednesday.
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.
Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:
Dropcam Snaps Up $30M for Connected Video Cameras  —  A recent generation of Web-connected hardware startups — Withings, Fitbit (unofficial), and now Dropcam — have in the past few months raised $30 million each to scale their businesses.  Funnily enough, it seems to be a magic number for the cohort …
Kevin Fitchard / GigaOM:
Apigee raises $35M to wrestle with old-school APIs  —  Apigee, a Silicon Valley startup that develops and manages mobile application programming interfaces for the mobile carriers and other industries, has raised a $35 million in late round funding.  The round was led by a fund managed …

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