Techmeme
August 12, 2013, 6:15 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.
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 …
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.
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: @jess, @om and @paulg
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 …
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.”
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.
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 …
Jordan Kahn / 9to5Google:
Leaked press shots show Sony's upcoming 20.2MP, Carl Zeiss camera lens attachment for iPhone & Android  —  Last month a report from often reliable sources claimed that Sony was readying a new Carl Zeiss camera lens with a 20.2 MP sensor that would attach onto a smartphone and connect over WiFi or NFC.
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.
Richard Lai / Engadget:
Hold This Cat: HTC and Robert Downey Jr. kick off $1 billion ‘Change’ campaign (video)  —  “Big things ahead?”  Well, it looks like HTC's earlier tweet wasn't a cheeky hint at the upcoming 5.9-inch One Max; but rather, it was a tribute to the sheer scale of the new “Here's To Change” global ad campaign.
David Meyer / GigaOM:
Firefox OS for the world!  ZTE to sell $80 Open smartphone through eBay  —  Have you been jonesing for a chance to play with Mozilla's Firefox OS smartphone operating system, but you don't live in one of the countries where it's been launched over the last month or so?
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 …

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