Techmeme: Firefox OS for the world! ZTE to sell $80 Open smartphone through eBay (David Meyer/GigaOM)

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August 12, 2013, 3:10 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 …

Larry Dignan / ZDNet:

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

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

Will Connors / Digits:

What's Next for BlackBerry

Tweets: @bryfitz

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: The Korea Times, TechCrunch, Betabeat, Business Insider, BGR, Android Beat, WebProNews, Engadget, Gizmodo, Geek.com, Electronista and 9to5Google. Tweets: @backlon

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, BetaNews, InfoWorld, WinBeta, PC World, BetaNews, Softpedia News, The Tech Report and Softpedia News

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.

More: AllThingsD, Digits, PC Magazine, The Verge, GigaOM, VentureBeat, IntoMobile, Android Beat, SlashGear, Crave, Android and Me, TechCrunch, 9to5Google, The Next Web, GeekWire, Tech in Asia, Electronista and Business Insider

Tweets: @htc and @paulmozur

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?

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.”

RT:

Mega to run ‘cutting-edge’ encrypted email after Lavabit's ‘privacy seppuku’ — Kim Dotcom's Mega.co.nz is working on a highly-secure email service to run on a non-US-based server. It comes as the US squeezes email providers that offer encryption and Mega's CEO calls Lavabit's shutdown an “honorable act of Privacy Seppuku.”

More: TechHive, Business Insider, VentureBeat, Forbes, InfoWorld, Gizmodo and SiliconANGLE

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

After Years Of Bootstrapping, MyFitnessPal Raises $18M Round From Kleiner Perkins And Accel — MyFitnessPal, a service that allows users to track their calories and share that information with friends, has raised $18 million in its first round of funding. — This seems like one of those stories …

More: VentureBeat, Mashable, silicontap.com, Venture Capital Dispatch, ReadWrite, GigaOM, AllThingsD and HBR.org

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, Digital Trends, Business Insider, Engadget, ExtremeTech, WorldViews, Shanghaiist, The Next Web and Quartz. Tweets: @northkoreatech

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.

More: sonyalpharumors, GigaOM, Gizmodo, Engadget, PetaPixel, Pocket-lint, Photography Bay and Electronista

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:

Rhapsody reset: Revenue slips 8% as music service drops ads and MP3 sales to focus on subscriptions — Rhapsody is focusing more intently on its core music subscription service, dropping third-party ads from its Rhapsody.com website and discontinuing sales of MP3 downloads.

Thanks:@johnhcook

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