Techmeme: NSA hacked into encrypted UN communications, leaked documents show (David Meyer/GigaOM)

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August 25, 2013, 1:20 PM

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David Meyer / GigaOM:

NSA hacked into encrypted UN communications, leaked documents show — The NSA successfully cracked the encryption guarding the United Nations' internal videoconferencing system, according to documents seen by Germany's Der Spiegel. — The publication reported on Sunday …

More: Washington Wire, The Verge, Gizmodo, Associated Press, Reuters, Guardian, The Switch and Bloomberg

Tweets: @kaepora, @bernardkeane, @wpboon, @csoghoian, @csoghoian, @dhh, @csoghoian, @teamcymru, @hale_razor and @mrthomashart

Nicholas Carlson / Business Insider:

The Truth About Marissa Mayer: An Unauthorized Biography — On the morning of Thursday, July 12, 2012, Yahoo's interim CEO, Ross Levinsohn, still believed he was going to be named permanent CEO of the company. — He had just one meeting to go. — That meeting was a board meeting …

Om Malik / GigaOM:

No Henry, you need to get real about Yahoo. Here are the facts — For past year or so, there has been a bit of a lovefest around Yahoo, the rapidly aging former web star that has lost the attention and preeminence it enjoyed in the 1990s and early 2000s. The showers of praise …

More: Quartz. Tweets: @chrismessina, @daveg, @mattbuchanan, @gigaom, @ianbetteridge, @hblodget, @shaig, @jank0, @bonanos and @emilychangtv

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple said to have tested 64-bit 'A7′ chips for iPhone 5S, 31% speed increases reported — As Apple's iPhone 5S event approaches, some new details about the new device's internals are emerging. Clayton Morris has claimed on Twitter that the iPhone 5S's A7 processor is …

More: VentureBeat, iClarified, GigaOM and memeburn

Tweets: @claytonmorris and @claytonmorris

Lauren Goode / AllThingsD:

The Ballmer Product Pipeline Shows a Very Mixed Record for Microsoft — Larger-than-life CEO Steve Ballmer will be remembered for a lot of things during his 13-year tenure at Microsoft, but what about the actual products he oversaw? — Overall, it is a very mixed bag …

More: MIT Technology Review, Digits, kickingbear and CNN

David Pogue / Pogue's Posts:

How Ballmer Missed the Tidal Shifts in Tech — By now, you've probably heard: Steven A. Ballmer will soon be stepping down as chief executive of Microsoft. — It's supposedly a voluntary retirement, but that holds about as much credibility as a public official's leaving a job “to spend more time with family.”

More: GigaOM, New York Times, Paul Krugman, NYT Bits, Bloomberg, New York Times, New York Times, ActiveWin.com, CITEworld and The Verge. Tweets: @bussgang

Austin Carr / Fast Company:

Why Yahoo and Apple Want Foursquare's Data — This week, BuzzFeed reported that Yahoo was in talks with Foursquare about a possible data-sharing deal. The news comes just months after Apple senior VP Eddy Cue was said to be in discussions with Foursquare to integrate its location data into the Apple's mapping service.

Rip Empson / TechCrunch:

As Wix Heads Toward IPO, Weebly Looks To Expand With Big New SF Headquarters, Plans To Add 500+ Employees — Weebly, the service that lets you, your grandma and anyone else build a website for free, is growing fast. The startup launched out of Y Combinator in 2007 and today hosts over 15 million sites …

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Windows 8.1 is ready for its October 17th release — Microsoft has finalized its Windows 8.1 update. Sources familiar with the company's Windows plans have revealed to The Verge that the software maker completed the development of Windows 8.1 earlier this week — stamped as build 9600 for Release to manufacturing (RTM).

More: PC Magazine, ZDNet, Electronista and WinBeta

Alexis C. Madrigal / The Atlantic:

What Is Medium? — The site from Twitter's co-founders is one year old, and still mysterious — Just about a year ago, a new website from two of the founders of Twitter launched. It was called Medium. The new site was invite-only, but outsiders could read from various collections.

More: Anil Dash, GigaOM, Businessweek and The Atlantic Wire

Tweets: @mathewi, @mathewi and @osulop

Richard Lawler / Engadget:

Alleged Motorola Droid 5 pics suggest the QWERTY slider still lives — Fans of hardware keyboards have at least one reason to keep rooting for Motorola's Droid line, and these leaked pics suggest it will continue on. Posted on Weibo, these supposed Droid 5 pics show a QWERTY slider …

More: LAPTOP Magazine, The Verge, New Cell Phones, IntoMobile, Electronista, AndroidGuys, VentureBeat, SlashGear, Ars Technica, Softpedia News, TechnoBuffalo, Gotta Be Mobile, Phones Review, Droid Life, TechCrunch and I4U News

Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:

Facebook isn't making you depressed, but the internet is — Status update: the link between Facebook and depression isn't so simple — Another day, another “Facebook makes you miserable” headline. For the last few years, the social network, which now claims nearly 700 million daily users worldwide …

Tweets: @adrjeffries

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