Techmeme
August 13, 2013, 5:25 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:
BlackBerry Said to Have Sought Buyers Since 2012 Without Success  —  BlackBerry Ltd.'s announcement yesterday that it's considering takeover bids followed almost a year of advisers unsuccessfully canvassing potential buyers in search of a deal, two people with knowledge of the matter said.
Vauhini Vara / New Yorker:
How BlackBerry Fell  —  Shares in the Canadian maker of BlackBerry smartphones peaked in August of 2007, at two hundred and thirty-six dollars.  In retrospect, the company was facing an inflection point and was completely unaware.  Seven months earlier, in January, Apple had introduced the iPhone at San Francisco's Moscone Center.
Devindra Hardawar / VentureBeat:
Steve Cheney:
On The Future of iOS and Android  —  We've entered the age of iOS and Android penetrating beyond mobile, and there's a lot happening with respect to how the entire ecosystem is developing.  Mobile advancements / investments are now driving the progression of all converged hardware / software.
Benedict Evans:
Defending iOS with cheap iPhones  —  Over the last 12 months, Google Android devices have outsold iOS by about 3 to 1.  There are now perhaps 775m-800m ‘official’ Android devices in use, versus perhaps 415m iOS devices.  This is without counting sales of the Amazon Kindle Fire or the (very) …
Arik Hesseldahl / AllThingsD:
Carl Icahn Makes a Large Investment in Apple  —  Shares of Apple are rising by more than four percent on word that Carl Icahn, the billionaire activist investor trying to take over Dell, has made a large investment in the company behind the iPhone and the Mac.
Mike Isaac / AllThingsD:
Facebook Testing VIP App With Some Celebs  —  The VIP app, which sources say Facebook is currently testing with a small group of famous people, essentially lets celebs (or their handlers) easily monitor Facebook fan chatter about themselves from a mobile device.
Mike Isaac / AllThingsD:
Zynga to Restructure Top Ranks, Three C-Suite Execs to Depart  —  In one of the first major acts under newly named CEO Don Mattrick, sources said Zynga plans to announce on Tuesday a shake-up of its top ranks as part of a larger management restructuring, resulting in the departure of three C-level executives.
More: ZDNet and BuzzFeed
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
To Square Up To Foursquare, Yelp Now Lets Users Post Reviews Directly From Its Mobile App  —  It's been a long time coming, but user-generated local reviews site Yelp is finally getting with the program: today it is rolling out the ability for users to write reviews directly in its mobile app …
Zoe Kleinman / BBC:
Norway blocks Apple map flights  —  Oslo (left) is visible in 2D on Apple's map but Danish capital Copenhagen (right) is in 3D  —  Norway's government is refusing to let Apple take aerial photography of the capital city Oslo to create 3D images for its Maps app, reports local media.
Jon Fingas / Engadget:
Microsoft unveils wrist-friendly Sculpt Ergonomic and Sculpt Comfort Desktops  —  Microsoft has pursued ever more exotic shapes in the name of comfort.  Its new Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop might just take the cake, however.  The all-wireless bundle's centerpiece, the Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Twitter Buys Open Source Training Company Marakana To Power New “Twitter University” For Engineers  —  Twitter today announced its latest acquisition, along with a move into offering richer resources to attract better engineering talent to the company.  It has bought Marakana …
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Millennial Media To Acquire Mobile Ad Company Jumptap For $200M+ In Millennial Stock  —  Millennial Media just announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Jumptap, a deal that brings together two well-known mobile ad companies.  —  The acquisition press release describes the deal as …
Chris Kanaracus / InfoWorld:
Larry Ellison: Some government surveillance is ‘essential’ to fight terror  —  Ellison also weighed in on his friendship with Steve Jobs and Oracle's litigation against Google in a televised interview  —  Some level of government surveillance is “essential” if the nation is to minimize …

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Jason Schreier / Kotaku:
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
Tom Warren / The Verge: