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August 12, 2013, 9:55 PM

Top News

Digits:

Next iPad Takes After Thin, Light Mini — The same touch-panel technology that made the iPad mini thin and light will likely feature in the next iPad, which is currently being produced by Apple Inc.'s Asian suppliers, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

More: iDownloadBlog.com, GeekWire, Ars Technica, Phones Review, Gotta Be Mobile, PadGadget, iPhone Hacks, Apple Bitch, TechnoBuffalo, Geek.com, InvestorPlace, Business Insider, VentureBeat and TechSpot

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Bloomberg: Thinner iPad 5, Retina iPad mini this year & Sept. 10 iPhone event — Bloomberg has corroborated multiple reports regarding Apple's next iPad and iPhone models. — Thinner full-sized iPad planned. We first reported that the next full-sized iPad would be thinner, lighter and similar in design to the iPad mini.

More: Bloomberg, AppleInsider, Gizmodo and Electronista. Thanks:@ajorama

Tom Warren / The Verge:

New Windows 8.1 build addresses first-time user complaints — Microsoft is expected to finalize its Windows 8.1 update in the coming days, but a near-final build has leaked online offering a closer look at some of the improvements. The 9741 build, a test version of the Release to Manufacturing …

More: CNET, Ars Technica, Digital Trends, ExtremeTech, PC Magazine, WinBeta, ITworld.com, The Tech Report, InfoWorld, VR-Zone, BetaNews and Softpedia News

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Windows 8.1 to be made available in October — Microsoft is currently testing near-final versions of Windows 8.1, but the company won't release the final update publicly until October. According to sources familiar with Microsoft's plans, the software maker will finalize, or Release to Manufacturing …

More: ZDNet, Engadget, Windows Phone Central, Pocket-lint and WinBeta

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

BlackBerry Says It's Looking For A Buyer (Or A Willing Partner), Forms Special Committee To ‘Explore Strategic Alternatives’ — BlackBerry, the embattled Canada-based handset maker, today finally called a spade a spade. The company halted trading in its shares to announce what some might argue …

Will Connors / Digits:

What's Next for BlackBerry

Tweets: @bryfitz

Larry Dignan / ZDNet:

BlackBerry: The perils of ‘strategic alternatives’ and limbo land

More: New Yorker, Mashable, BGR, CITEworld, pocketnow.com, The Next Web and GeekWire. Tweets: @fjeronimo

Kevin Poulsen / Wired:

First 100 Pages of Aaron Swartz's Secret Service File Released — After half-a-year of delays and roadblocks, the U.S Secret Service today released the first 104 pages of agency documents about the late coder and activist Aaron Swartz, including a brief report on Swartz's suicide less than three months before his scheduled trial.

More: The Verge

Paul Stamatiou:

Android is better — It was just meant to be a quick experiment. I started using a Nexus 4. I was going to go right back to my iPhone after a week. I was designing more and more Android interfaces at Twitter and realized I needed to more intimately grok Android UI paradigms.

More: GigaOM and The Next Web. Tweets: @monkbent, @theromit, @al3x, @lessien, @nateboateng, @rezendi, @carlosdomingo, @ericries and @semil

Martyn Williams / North Korea Tech:

Kim Jong Un visits ‘cell phone factory’ — Kim Jong Un visited on Saturday the Pyongyang factory where North Korean cell phones are supposedly made, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency. — Photos of the visit, released by KCNA, show Kim touring the May 11 Factory and talking to officials.

More: Betabeat, Gizmodo, dailynk.com, NEWS.com.au, Android Community, Ars Technica, Digital Trends, Shanghaiist, BuzzFeed, TechnoBuffalo, WorldViews, ExtremeTech, TechNewsWorld, Business Insider, Motherboard and Engadget. Tweets: @northkoreatech

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook Acquires “Mobile Technologies”, Developer Of Speech Translation App Jibbigo — Facebook's latest acquisition could help it connect users across language barriers. It has just announced that it's acquired the team and technology of Pittsburgh's Mobile Technologies …

More: Tom Stocky, VentureBeat, VatorNews, SiliconBeat, TechHive, Engadget, AllFacebook, Inside Facebook, AllThingsD, ZDNet, iDownloadBlog.com, SlashGear, Pocket-lint and Mashable

Jason Schreier / Kotaku:

Kinect No Longer Mandatory For Xbox One (But Will Still Come With It) [UPDATE] — Another backflip? Back in May, Microsoft said that you'll need have the motion-sensing Kinect plugged in at all times in order for your Xbox One to function, but now they're reversing course once again.

More: Gizmodo, The Verge, VentureBeat, PC Magazine, The Register, Business Insider, Digits, Engadget, Gamasutra, TechRadar.com, IGN, IntoMobile, AusGamers, Attack of the Fanboy, The Inquisitr, Forbes, Pocket-lint, VG247 and SlashGear

Tweets: @rymacleod and @siracusa

Paul Graham:

Investor Herd Dynamics — The biggest component in most investors' opinion of you is the opinion of other investors. Which is of course a recipe for exponential growth. When one investor wants to invest in you, that makes other investors want to, which makes others want to, and so on.

Tweets: @paulg, @rjonesy, @gaberivera, @om, @rafer and @jess

Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:

The iPhone's ‘tri-tone’ text message alert was made for a 90s MP3 player — Ah, Apple origin stories. We've heard about the Swiss railway company behind Apple's Clock app, the inspiration for the iOS Calculator, the voice of Siri, and now, we know about the unlikely inventor of the omnipresent …

More: Jacklin Studios, GigaOM, BGR, TUAW, iDownloadBlog.com, iClarified, MacStories, MacDailyNews, Redmond Pie and Los Angeles Times

Chris Welch / The Verge:

20 injured at ill-conceived LG G2 promotional event — Looking to capitalize on buzz surrounding its brand new G2, LG held a public event in Seoul Friday where it teased that up to 100 people would walk away with the new flagship smartphone. What it didn't expect was that 20 people …

More: TechCrunch, Android Beat, Geek.com, WebProNews, BGR, pocketnow.com, Electronista, Betabeat, Gizmodo, Business Insider and 9to5Google

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

Confessed Liar To Congress, James Clapper, Gets To Set Up The ‘Independent’ Review Over NSA Surveillance — Well, this is rather incredible. Remember on Friday how one of President Obama's efforts to get people to trust the government more concerning the NSA's surveillance efforts was to create an …

More: emptywheel, The White House and The Switch

Tweets: @atabarrok, @dangillmor, @michaelarria, @trevortimm, @dangillmor, @trevortimm, @kashhill and @csoghoian

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Google Glass update brings more Now cards, voice commands for third-party services, and video player controls — Google today announced the latest monthly update (XE8) to its Glass project, adding a slew of new features to those lucky few with the devices sitting on their noses.

More: support.google.com, Google Glass, Engadget, Marketing Land, eWeek, Computerworld, 9to5Google, VentureBeat, Mashable, Geek.com, ZDNet, SlashGear, TechCrunch, The Verge, Android Community and WebProNews

Christina Farr / VentureBeat:

Plumfare acquired by Groupon (confirmed) — Plumfare, a mobile discovery app, has been acquired by Groupon. — The San Francisco-based company did not disclose its buyer on the announcement post on its website, which is a bit odd. However, a Groupon spokesperson just confirmed the acquisition …

More: AllThingsD. Thanks:@chrissyfarr

Zachary M. Seward / Quartz:

City of London halts recycling bins tracking phones of passers-by — The City of London is halting a scheme that used recycling bins to track people as they walked by with their smartphones. The head of Renew London, which was behind the operation, wrote in an email, “I can confirm that we are not currently running any trials.”

More: BBC, City of London, Engadget, Motherboard, CNET, Laughing Squid, NPR, DSLreports, SlashGear, Fast Company, SiliconANGLE, Inquirer, The Verge, The Register and InfoWorld

David Carr / New York Times:

Magazine Writing on the Web, for Film — To many writers, to almost anyone for that matter, Joshuah Bearman and Joshua Davis are living the dream. As accomplished practitioners of big, nonfiction magazine writing, they regularly publish articles in Wired, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone and many other A-list titles.

More: PandoDaily and Mashable. Tweets: @evanatmedium, @epic, @johngerzema and @carr2n. See also Mediagazer

Robin Sidel / Wall Street Journal:

Regulator Examines Bitcoin Practices — New York Issues Subpoenas to Firms Tied to Bitcoin — New York's top banking regulator has issued subpoenas to roughly two dozen companies associated with bitcoin as part of a wide-ranging inquiry into the business practices of the fledgling virtual …

More: Forbes, The Register, Daily Dot, Ars Technica, BBC, Softpedia News, Betabeat and Guardian. Tweets: @g_finan

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple to support third-party USB power plug trade-ins beyond U.S. & China — Last week, we reported that Apple, will soon kickoff a trade-in-program for third-party or counterfeit USB power adapters in its retail stores and select authorized resellers. The program will allow anyone …

More: MacRumors and iDownloadBlog.com. Thanks:@jordankahn

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Path Opens Its API To 13 New Partners, Including PicStitch, Strava, WordPress, And Viddy — Path will now allow its users to share photos, videos, and more on its private social network, from a wide range of new API partners. Building on the success of its Nike+ partnership for sharing fitness data …

More: Engadget, CNET, Path, PC Magazine, TechHive, 9to5Mac, TUAW, The Next Web and VentureBeat

Spiegel Online:

US Intelligence Watches Germany Closely — German intelligence services cooperate closely with the NSA, but the country is also a target of US surveillance, as a document seen by SPIEGEL makes clear. The spy software XKeyscore is operated from a facility in Hesse, with some of the results landing on President Obama's desk.

More: Quartz and Gawker. Tweets: @zooko, @evacide, @csoghoian, @glynmoody, @csoghoian, @csoghoian, @anonpressoffice and @_cypherpunks_

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