Techmeme: Disruptions: A Blogger Mocks the Denizens of Silicon Valley (Nick Bilton/NYT Bits)

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August 25, 2013, 8:25 PM

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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: AppleInsider, MacRumors, Ubergizmo, Phones Review, Mashable, iMore, iDownloadBlog.com, App Advice, VentureBeat, everythingiCafe, TechnoBuffalo, iClarified, GigaOM and memeburn

Tweets: @claytonmorris, @claytonmorris and @markgurman

Ben Thompson / stratechery:

If Steve Ballmer Ran Apple — Bear with me, I know my premise is ridiculous. — Imagine Steve Ballmer was right now the CEO of Apple, with the same set of products and opportunities. Suspend disbelief about cultural clashes, or organization structure. Presume Ballmer could set the strategy …

More: ParisLemon, AllThingsD, TechSpot, Computerworld, SlashGear, GigaOM, Data Center Knowledge, Softpedia News, I4U News, Business Insider and eWeek

Tweets: @lorcand and @ncrow

Thanks:@monkbent

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: Hal's (Im)Perfect Vision, New York Times, Paul Krugman, GigaOM, NYT Bits, Bloomberg, New York Times, New York Times, ActiveWin.com, CITEworld and The Verge. Tweets: @bussgang

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. Tweets: @rupertmurdoch

Nick Bilton / NYT Bits:

Disruptions: A Blogger Mocks the Denizens of Silicon Valley — SAN FRANCISCO — Sam Biddle may have one of the easiest jobs in technology journalism. That is, easy if you have the stomach for his line of work. — Every morning, he wakes up in his Brooklyn apartment, checks Twitter on his smartphone …

Tweets: @anildash, @davewiner, @mike_ftw, @romenesko, @paleofuture, @mikeisaac, @glennf, @paleofuture, @dangillmor and @sarahw. See also Mediagazer

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: Reuters, Washington Wire, Gizmodo, Agence France Presse, Associated Press, TechCrunch, The Verge, Guardian, The Switch and Bloomberg

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

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.

Tweets: @fastcompany

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

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

Somini Sengupta / New York Times:

The Pentagon as Silicon Valley's Incubator — SAN FRANCISCO — In the ranks of technology incubator programs, there is AngelPad here in San Francisco and Y Combinator about 40 miles south in Mountain View. And then there is the Pentagon. — In the last year, former Department of Defense …

More: Politico and Valleywag. Tweets: @ggreenwald and @digiphile

Quentin Hardy / NYT Bits:

VMware Killed the Past. Can It Claim the Future? — VMware is a 15-year-old tech company with a market capitalization of $36 billion. Next week, it will host 21,000 customers in San Francisco and will start to find out if that means it is young or old. — “It's a statement of our success …

Tweets: @digiphile

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

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