Techmeme: Flickr Co-Founder Stewart Butterfield Turns to Workplace Communication Tools With Slack (Liz Gannes/AllThingsD)

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August 14, 2013, 4:55 PM

Top News

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Windows 8.1 will launch on October 18th, available a day earlier on Windows Store — Microsoft continues to finalize its Windows 8.1 update, but the company revealed today that it plans to make it available on October 18th. The free update will be listed in the Windows Store …

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:

They don't make Windows like they used to — Summary: Microsoft is making the Windows sausage differently these days. And that impacts everything from how products are tested, to how they're launched and updated. — Microsoft announced on August 14 that it will be launching Windows 8.1 on October 18, 2013.

More: LiveSide.net, Ars Technica, The Register, WindowsObserver.com and PC Pro

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Google Search Gets More Personal, Now Lets You Find Your Flight Info, Reservations, Photos And More — Google today announced a number of search features that make it easier for you to find your own personal information through Google Search. The search engine can now find information …

More: The Official Google Blog, Search Engine Land, ReadWrite, Digits, Gizmodo, 9to5Google, VentureBeat, Engadget, The Technology Chronicles, The Next Web, AllThingsD, The Verge, Yahoo! News, SlashGear, Lifehacker and Droid Life. Thanks:@alex

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Twitter Is Testing Out A New ‘TV Trending’ Box At The Top Of Your Timeline — Twitter is betting big on TV, both as a source of traffic and as a potential source of lucrative advertising revenue. And that's leading the company to test out new ways of bringing even more TV content — and traffic — to its platform.

More: TechHive, The Next Web, Ubergizmo, Engadget, The Verge, VentureBeat, Mashable, Softpedia News and bizjournals. Tweets: @jeffweiner. See also Mediagazer

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook's Star Manager Peter Deng Becomes Instagram Director Of Product To “Do Fewer Things Better” — Peter Deng built Facebook Chat, Groups and Messenger as its product management director for the last six years. Now he's going to execute the vision of Instagram's founders as its new Director Of Product.

More: AllThingsD, The Verge, Inside Facebook and AllFacebook. Tweets: @mikeisaac

OpenSignal:

How phone batteries measure the weather — This is the story of the most surprising thing we have yet discovered at OpenSignal. Eighteen months ago we began gathering data on battery performance from our Android app - the metrics available on Android include charge level, voltage and battery temperature.

More: GigaOM and TechHive. Tweets: @zseward, @ak and @cdespinosa. Thanks:@opensignal

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:

Microsoft Outlook, SkyDrive outages hit users worldwide — Summary: Some Microsoft users are reporting problems accessing their Outlook, Skydrive and Contacts on August 14. — Microsoft is experiencing difficulties with its Outlook.com, Skydrive and Contacts services …

More: AllThingsD, The Register, BetaNews, Computerworld, LiveSide.net, TechCrunch, Engadget, Web Host Industry Review, Softpedia News, Mashable, Windows Phone Central and Electronista. Tweets: @maryjofoley

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

Smartphones Finally Overtook Dumbphone Sales Globally In Q2, Android Now At 79%, Says Gartner — Analyst Gartner has put out its latest smartphone market report, and the Q2 2013 numbers show the inevitable finally occurred: smartphone sales exceeded feature phone sales for the first time.

More: Gartner, BGR, The Register, eWeek, GeekWire, Digital Trends, Mashable, GigaOM, EE Times, Engadget, Ars Technica, Android Beat, SlashGear, 9to5Mac, Computerworld, BetaNews, 9to5Google, WMPoweruser, Tech in Asia, tbreak and TechHive. Thanks:@ingridlunden

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Student Hub Chegg Files for IPO, Aiming to Raise $150 Million; Expands Board — Chegg, the startup that began as an analog online book rental service and has itself transformed into a multifaceted digital hub for students, has filed publicly for an initial public offering to raise about $150 million.

More: ZDNet, TechCrunch, GigaOM and VentureBeat. Tweets: @danprimack

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Glam Media Raises Another $25M As It Prepares To Go Public — Digital media company Glam Media has raised $25 million in new funding, according to an industry source. (The company declined to comment.) — My source said this is a “top up round” for Glam — in another words …

More: Digital Media Wire, Fortune and bizjournals

Andy Greenberg / Forbes:

Meet The Dread Pirate Roberts, The Man Behind Booming Black Market Drug Website Silk Road — An entrepreneur as professionally careful as the Dread Pirate Roberts doesn't trust instant messaging services. Forget phones or Skype. At one point during our eight-month preinterview courtship …

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Xbox One launch delayed to 2014 in eight European countries — Microsoft originally revealed Xbox One would launch in 21 markets in November, but the company says it's delaying the availability in some European countries. Eight countries have been hit with a delay to 2014: Belgium, Denmark …

More: Xbox Wire, GeekWire, CNET, BGR, TechHive, Digits, Engadget, The Next Web, IntoMobile, Ubergizmo, WebProNews, VideoGamer.com, Giant Bomb, MCV: Home Stream and VG247

Scott Buscemi / 9to5Mac:

iCloud.com beta updated with iOS 7 design — The beta.icloud.com website has been redesigned to match the design of iOS 7. Removing the linen and other Forstall-era design elements, this is the first display of Apple bringing iOS 7 design elements to the web.

More: Gizmodo, The Verge, CNET, MacRumors, App Advice, everythingiCafe, iPhone in Canada Blog, iLounge, ParisLemon, iPhone Hacks, Pocket-lint, AppleTell, TechnoBuffalo, MacNN, Apple Fan Site and iClarified. Tweets: @llsethj

BBC:

Hacker ‘shouts abuse’ via Foscam baby monitoring camera — The BBC has found evidence of hackers sharing information on how to access insecure Foscam cameras via several widely-used forums. — Using specialist search engines, people can narrow their results by location.

More: Forbes, SiliconBeat, GigaOM, ZDNet, Naked Security, Business Insider, Softpedia News, Boing Boing and Help Net Security. Thanks:@davelee

Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:

Flickr Co-Founder Stewart Butterfield Turns to Workplace Communication Tools With Slack — Stewart Butterfield's projects don't have a ton in common. The best-known one is Flickr, the landmark photo-sharing site bought by Yahoo. The most recent was Glitch, a whimsical online game …

More: ReadWrite, CNET, qz.com, GigaOM, TechCrunch, TechSpot, Business Insider, Engadget, Fast Company and Forbes

James Trew / Engadget:

Google+ for Android update brings Drive access, improved location sharing and more, drops messenger — If you spend much time on Google+ for Android, then we hope you follow the app's Tech Lead, Virgil Dobjanschi. He's just shared that version 4.1 will be available on the Play Store today …

More: The Verge, Google Operating System, BGR, 9to5Google, TechHive, CNET, TechCrunch, The Next Web, Android Community, MobileBurn.com, I4U News, GigaOM, Macgasm, TechnoBuffalo, AndroidGuys and Android Police

Nilay Patel / The Verge:

Yes, Gmail users have an expectation of privacy — Sending email to Gmail users means you expect Google's servers will process it — Consumer groups are up in arms today over a motion Google made in June to dismiss a class-action lawsuit alleging that Gmail violates federal …

More: Consumer Watchdog, CNET, ZDNet, GigaOM, The Register, TIME, The Next Web, TechCrunch, Digital Trends, DSLreports, Salon and The Huffington Post

Tweets: @claytonmorris, @cwarzel and @caseynewton

Thanks:@mattlynley

Andy Greenberg / Forbes:

How A ‘Deviant’ Philosopher Built Palantir, A CIA-Funded Data-Mining Juggernaut — Since rumors began to spread that a startup called Palantir helped to kill Osama bin Laden, Alex Karp hasn't had much time to himself. — On one sun-baked July morning in Silicon Valley Palantir's lean 45 …

More: The Verge and Valleywag. Thanks:@thealexknapp

Shane Harris / Foreign Policy:

Irony Alert: Pentagon Now Sees Big Data as ‘National Security Threat’ — The data divers at the Defense Department know better than most how to track down someone just by looking at his phone records. Now they want to know if America's enemies could cause a fiscal meltdown or a massive cyber attack …

More: Zyn Systems and SiliconANGLE

Sean Gallagher / Ars Technica:

NSA “touches” more of Internet than Google

More: Techdirt

Mike Isaac / AllThingsD:

Here's Zynga's New Executive Org Chart — As AllThingsD previously reported, Zynga announced a complete overhaul of its executive ranks on Tuesday, effectively flattening out its top management levels and reorganizing the chain of command for its existing leadership.

More: TechCrunch, BuzzFeed, Inside Social Games, TechHive, GamesIndustry International, Computer And Video Games All, The Register, VatorNews, Bloomberg, Wired.co.uk, Guardian, Polygon, Kotaku and GamePolitics blogs

Tomio Geron / Forbes:

Zynga Restructures With Three Top Execs Out

More: Mashable, MCV: Home Stream and SiliconBeat

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