Techmeme: Phone Hackers Build Networks to Deliver Legitimate Ads and Malicious Code (Jordan Robertson/Bloomberg)

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August 14, 2013, 9:45 AM

Top News

David E. Sanger / New York Times:

N.S.A. Leaks Make Plan for Cyberdefense Unlikely — WASHINGTON — Even while rapidly expanding its electronic surveillance around the world, the National Security Agency has lobbied inside the government to deploy the equivalent of a “Star Wars” defense for America's computer networks …

Tweets: @kenroth, @willmcavoyacn and @trevortimm

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, SiliconANGLE, Gawker and The Register

Brendan Sasso / Hillicon Valley:

White House denies intel chief will lead NSA surveillance review

More: ZDNet. Tweets: @richardson_mich

Sean Gallagher / Ars Technica:

NSA “touches” more of Internet than Google

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.

More: Business Insider. Tweets: @lukew and @semil

John Gruber / Daring Fireball:

The Case for a New Lower-Cost iPhone — Lost amid much of the rampant speculation that Apple is on the cusp of unveiling a new plastic-bodied lower-priced iPhone “5C” is the simple fact that Apple has offered lower-priced iPhones for several years now — year-old and two-year-old models.

More: AppleTell, App Advice, Gotta Be Mobile, PhoneArena, Forbes and iClarified

Tom Cheredar / VentureBeat:

Apple acquires second screen TV startup Matcha.tv (scoop) — Updated at 6:01 p.m. (PST) with a response from Matcha.tv CEO Guy Piekarz. Update #2 at 7:35 p.m. with clarification on the acquisition price. — Apple's latest acquisition is the recently-shut down second-screen TV/video app Matcha.tv …

More: AllThingsD, BGR, Business Insider, ZDNet, Inquirer, Digital Trends, Digits, iPhone, AppleTell, The Verge, TUAW, Engadget, PE Hub Blog, MacNN, I4U News, TechCrunch, iPhone Hacks, Gizmodo, Apple Fan Site, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, Pocket-lint, iDownloadBlog.com, AppleInsider, App Advice and Softpedia News

Tweets: @sfiegerman and @awallenstein

Thanks:@tched. See also Mediagazer

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, VentureBeat, 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, Computerworld, BetaNews, TechHive, Mashable, Tech in Asia, Android Beat, tbreak and WMPoweruser. Thanks:@ingridlunden

Adi Robertson / The Verge:

Message unread: Silicon Valley's secret, failed bid to save BlackBerry — Could switching to Android and focusing on business have turned the company around? — In the summer of 2012, just a few months into the job, RIM (now BlackBerry) CEO Thorsten Heins was trying to guide the company through an ongoing crisis.

More: Guardian, slideshare.net, TechnoBuffalo, pocketnow.com, IntoMobile, BGR and CITEworld

Tweets: @robinchan and @reckless

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

QNX Locks Down Key Contract With Panasonic, Reminding Us That BlackBerry Still Has Some Shine For Buyers

More: QNX, dailywireless.org, Engadget, SlashGear, Businessweek, Ottawa Citizen and BerryReview. Tweets: @lessien

Bloomberg:

BlackBerry Said to Have Sought Buyers Since 2012 Without Success

More: GeekWire

Matt Levine / Dealbreaker:

77-Year-Old Man Good At Twitter — Once upon a time before there were activist hedge funds there were corporate raiders, whose business model was — This model had many delights of which perhaps the greatest was that you couldn't really, like, do damage to your reputation.

More: MoneyBeat, Forbes, DealBook and Wall Street Journal

Tweets: @johnstieger and @ktbenner

Thanks:@mattlynley

Arik Hesseldahl / AllThingsD:

Carl Icahn Makes a Large Investment in Apple

Tiernan Ray / Tech Trader Daily:

AAPL Ends Up 5%: Icahn Tweets ‘Large Position,’ Nice Chat with CEO Cook

More: SiliconANGLE, Wired, TUAW and Gotta Be Mobile

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 …

More: The Windows Blog, Engadget, ZDNet, TechCrunch, CNET, ZDNet, The Next Web, GeekWire, WindowsObserver.com, I4U News, TechNet Blogs and www.idigitaltimes.co.uk. Tweets: @theromit

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: Zynga Company Blog, BuzzFeed, TechHive, VatorNews, GamesIndustry International, Bloomberg, Polygon, Kotaku, VG247, bizjournals, ZDNet, VentureBeat, Wired.co.uk and Electronista

Tweets: @obrien and @akrejcik

Tomio Geron / Forbes:

Zynga Restructures With Three Top Execs Out

More: Inside Social Games, AllThingsD, Computer And Video Games All and Reuters. Tweets: @forbestech

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.

Jordan Robertson / Bloomberg:

Phone Hackers Build Networks to Deliver Legitimate Ads and Malicious Code — To keep hackers off your smartphone, the standard advice has been to avoid downloading dodgy applications. Digital criminals love to hide their attack code in free porn apps and counterfeit versions of popular programs such as Angry Birds.

More: Softpedia News and Network World. Tweets: @weldpond

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft's YouTube Windows Phone app returns following Google complaints — Microsoft's YouTube app for Windows Phone is returning to the Store today. After Google forced Microsoft to remove the app, the pair have been working together to create the updated application.

More: Windows Phone, Windows Phone Central, Engadget, GSMArena Blog, ZDNet, SlashGear, Ubergizmo, The Next Web, GeekWire, TechCrunch, Electronista, MobileSyrup.com and WMPoweruser. Tweets: @tomwarren

Jason Verge / Data Center Knowledge:

Big Data Analytics Startup CloudPhysics Raises $10 Million — Virtualized environments are becoming larger, denser and more complex than ever before. More integrations with other systems in the IT stack now exist, involving subtle interdependencies. Managing these environments has also become very complex.

More: GigaOM, TechCrunch, Silicon Valley Business …, Market Wire, Pulse 2.0 and VentureBeat

Sam Biddle / Valleywag:

AOL CEO Apologizes for Public Shame-Firing — It turns out, even Tim Armstrong finds Tim Armstrong obnoxious—the trouble chief of AOL just sent an apology email to his company for firing a subordinate on a conference call. — The email is carefully pasted here in its entirety:

More: AllThingsD, TechCrunch, Business Insider, Poynter and Mashable. See also Mediagazer

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook Starts Sharing Mobile User Counts For Each Country: 78% Of US Users Are Mobile — A new level of transparency from Facebook will help the world see whether its mobile growth is entirely propped up by international users that don't earn the company as much money.

More: Marketing Land, The Verge and AllFacebook. Tweets: @corybe. Thanks:@joshconstine

David Meyer / GigaOM:

O2 UK lays its 4G cards on the table, but Vodafone's offering still looks like the best deal — O2, Telefonica's UK mobile operator, has revealed more details of its upcoming 4G packages - and, like competitors EE and Vodafone, it's going to be bundling sports and entertainment content in an effort to woo LTE first-timers.

More: The Next Web, ZDNet, The Blue, TechRadar.com, PC Advisor, Android Central, Crave, Know Your Mobile and Pocket-lint

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