Techmeme: AOL Makes the Biggest Buy of the Tim Armstrong Era: $405 Million for Adap.TV (Peter Kafka/AllThingsD)

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August 7, 2013, 1:20 PM

Top News

David Pierce / The Verge:

LG's new G2: high-end smartphone in the front, button party in the back — It left very little up to the imagination, but LG has finally, officially, shown off the G2 smartphone it's been talking so much about. The G2 is the company's new flagship, the first without the Optimus branding.

Brian Klug / AnandTech:

Hands On with the LG G2 - LG's latest flagship — Today LG is announcing the LG G2, there's no Optimus this time, it's just the LG G2. The G2 is the successor to the Optimus G, the phone that also became the Nexus 4, and makes a number of improvements above and beyond the Optimus G. The G2 …

More: Engadget

IDC:

Apple Cedes Market Share in Smartphone Operating System Market as Android Surges and Windows Phone Gains, According to IDC — Despite beating Wall Street expectations in terms of shipment volumes, Apple's share in the worldwide smartphone operating system market posted a year-over-year decline during the second quarter of 2013 (2Q13).

More: Digits, GigaOM, Computerworld, CNET, TechCrunch, Business Insider, 9to5Mac, Computerworld, ZDNet, Forbes, App Advice and iClarified

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

AOL Makes the Biggest Buy of the Tim Armstrong Era: $405 Million for Adap.TV — Tim Armstrong hasn't bought anything for a couple years. Now he has made his biggest purchase since taking over AOL in 2009: AOL is buying Web video company Adap.TV for $405 million in cash and stock.

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

AOL Q2 Comes In (Slightly) Above Estimates With $541M Revenue, $0.35 Earnings Per Share

More: Reuters and Electronista. Tweets: @pkafka and @jeffjohnroberts. See also Mediagazer

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Facebook Takes on Twitter by Courting Celebrities, Building Twittery Tools — When Channing Tatum wanted to publish the first picture of his new baby in June, he didn't go to People or Us Magazine. Instead, he posted on his Facebook page. — And when Andy Murray won a surprise victory …

More: TechCrunch, Gizmodo, The Verge, Valleywag and Mashable

CNET:

Samsung co-CEO: We want Tizen to be on everything — In an interview with CNET Korea, Samsung's J.K. Shin talks about the opportunity for the upstart operating system to run on everything from smartphones to cars. — Samsung Electronics has broad ambitions for Tizen …

More: AllThingsD, memeburn, BGR, SlashGear, AppleInsider, MacDailyNews, Gotta Be Mobile, Ubergizmo and PhoneArena

CBC News:

3 senior BlackBerry executives leaving company — Departures come almost 2 weeks after 250 layoffs in Waterloo — Almost two weeks after 250 employees were let go from BlackBerry's testing facility in Waterloo, Ont., CBC News has confirmed three senior members of the company will also be leaving.

More: ZDNet, n4bb.com and MobileSyrup.com

Dave Tach / Polygon:

John Carmack becomes Oculus CTO, will remain at id as well — John Carmack, the co-founder of id Software and creator of the Doom, Quake and Rage series of games, joined Oculus VR as its Chief Technical Officer, according to a post on the virtual reality headset's Kickstarter blog.

More: Oculus VR, AllThingsD, Eurogamer.net, The Verge, Engadget, VentureBeat, Forbes, Ars Technica, MacRumors, Gamasutra, GigaOM, Kotaku, WebProNews, The Tech Report, Giant Bomb, I4U News, GamePolitics blogs and VG247

Tweets: @id_aa_carmack, @id_aa_carmack, @bradshoemaker and @jasonkincaid

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Amazon Appstore Now Open To Web Apps, With One-Click In-App Purchases In Tow — Amazon today is announcing a significant expansion to its mobile application marketplace, the Amazon Appstore, which will now be open to developers of HTML5 web applications and mobile websites.

More: GeekWire, Amazon.com, VentureBeat, The Verge, The Next Web, ZDNet, Engadget, ReadWrite, Softpedia News and WebProNews. Thanks:@romaindillet

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

500px Scores $8.8M Series A From Andreessen Horowitz & Harrison Metal To Build A Photo Marketplace, Expand Consumer Reach — 500px, the Toronto-based photo sharing service aimed at enthusiasts and pro photographers, has closed on $8.8 million in Series A funding dually led by Andreessen Horowitz …

More: GigaOM, VentureBeat and Business Insider

Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:

The Quiet Mobile Giant: With 300M Active Users, WhatsApp Adds Voice Messaging — WhatsApp, a tiny startup with a very basic idea, boring design and lots of competition, has somehow managed to connect up most of the world. And that's actually pretty exciting.

Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:

Apple succeeds on appeal: dismissed ITC patent case against Google's Motorola Mobility alive again — The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit just handed down its opinion on Apple's appeal of the ITC's March 2012 dismissal of its three-patent complaint against now-Google-owned Motorola Mobility.

More: AppleInsider. Thanks:@fosspatents

Elliot / Elliott Kember:

Chrome's insane password security strategy — Chrome does something interesting when you first run it. — I have a set of bookmarklets that I use to enhance my internet experience. Actually, that's not entirely true. I have one bookmarklet: Embiggen.js, which I use to expand images on Reddit.

More: Business Insider, The Verge, BGR, Engadget, PC World, TechKnow Bytes, Web Browser, RT, Gizmodo, 9to5Google, Graham Cluley, Softpedia News, Electronista, ZDNet, TechWeekEurope UK, The Raw Story, TechSpot, SiliconANGLE and The Drum

Tweets: @justinschuh, @justinschuh, @dannysullivan, @chrisdrackett, @danieleran and @nick_viviani

Ina Fried / AllThingsD:

Apple Faces Hurdles Attracting First-Time Smartphone Buyers — While Apple does extremely well in the global and domestic smartphone markets, they aren't doing as well among first-time smartphone buyers as one might think. — A new study paints an interesting picture of the first-time phone buyer and the devices they are choosing.

Jon Russell / The Next Web:

Yahoo is getting a new logo on September 5, but it's keeping its infamous exclamation mark — There's plenty of change happening at Yahoo under Marissa Mayer, but one thing is sure to remain the same...that darn exclamation mark. — Yahoo today unveiled the first in a series of new logos …

More: Yahoo!, Los Angeles Times, Digits, AllThingsD, VatorNews, USA Today, TechCrunch, memeburn, BetaNews, I4U News, The Technology Chronicles, VentureBeat, CNET, Gizmodo, The Verge and Engadget

Tweets: @counternotions and @theromit

Brooke Crothers / CNET:

Samsung gains as Apple display supplier, says researcher — Despite expectations to the contrary, the South Korean electronics giant is growing as a display supplier to Apple, says NPD DisplaySearch. — iPad 4: Samsung is increasing display shipments to Apple.

More: MacRumors, BGR, The Register, Phones Review, App Advice, AppleInsider and iClarified

First Round Capital:

How Medium is building a new kind of company with no managers — After Ev Williams first started working on Twitter, he reached out to Jason Stirman in Texas. “You have to come out here,” Williams said. “Twitter is happening and we want you to join us.” But Stirman wasn't easily convinced.

More: Wall Street Journal

Electronista:

Study: Apple tops in content streaming, beating Netflix, HBO GO — Ranking proves again that value of experience can trump content — A study done by customer experience research firm ForeSee has surveyed customers of mobile media and entertainment sites and found that generally …

More: MacRumors, VentureBeat, 9to5Mac, NBC News Technology, BGR, The Wrap, USA Today, Marketing Pilgrim and ZDNet. See also Mediagazer

Los Angeles Times:

Amber Alert: Californians confused, angry and startled — Residents across California were startled overnight by cellphones that came to life in screeches and buzzes, awaking some and unsettling others with the state's first Amber Alert via text message. — Californians are no strangers …

More: Los Angeles Times, Mercury News, PandoDaily, WebProNews, Forbes, Network World, Motherboard and MacStories

Matt Brian / The Verge:

Amazon now offering game and software downloads for PC and Mac in the UK — Amazon has expanded its digital marketplace to allow UK customers to download games and software via its website. Already an option on its US store, Amazon has made available a selection of popular paid titles for PC and Mac …

More: The Next Web, CNET, Inquirer, Electronista, Macgasm, TechCrunch, Apple Bitch, Softpedia News and Engadget

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