Techmeme: Google and the NSA: Who's holding the ‘s**t-bag’ now? (Julian Assange/The Stringer)

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August 26, 2013, 10:55 PM

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Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple planning to launch iPhone trade-in program in September — Apple is beginning final preparations to launch an iPhone trade-in program in its retail stores as soon as next month, according to sources with knowledge of the initiative. This trade-in program will allow customers …

More: MacRumors, AllThingsD, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, BGR, App Advice, Fortune, iMore, Redmond Pie, The Mac Observer, iClarified, I4U News, GigaOM, TechnoBuffalo, SlashGear, Gotta Be Mobile, iDownloadBlog.com, PhoneArena, Examiner, Pocket-lint, Tech Trader Daily, Forbes, MacNN, iLounge, Geek.com and TechSpot. Tweets: @markgurman. Thanks:@justinkahnmusic

Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:

Apple's iPhone Trade-in Program Is Already Being Piloted, Here's How It Works — Apple is about to introduce an iPhone trade-in program that will allow users to walk into a Retail store and trade up from an old model to a new one. We've heard some interesting details about the way that the program …

More: Macworld, Digits, The Verge, everythingiCafe, iMore, Apple Bitch, Los Angeles Times, T3 News, iPhone Hacks, AppleInsider, Gotta Be Mobile, Patently Apple and MacNN

Tweets: @jerols, @sbyrnes and @panzer

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Nokia Sirius: a 10.1-inch Windows RT tablet that looks like a Lumia — Nokia is preparing to back Windows RT by launching a 10.1-inch tablet soon. Sources familiar with Nokia's plans have revealed to The Verge that the tablet, codenamed Sirius, will be launched shortly.

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:

Windows ARM tablet rumors heat up: Surface 2, Nokia ‘Sirius’ on deck

More: AdDuplex Blog, SuperSite for Windows, Windows Phone Central and Examiner

Kurt Wagner / Mashable:

Facebook Unveils Shared Photo Albums — A picture's worth a thousand words, and now Facebook is letting others add to your conversation. — The world's largest social network announced shared photo albums on Monday, a new feature that allows multiple users to upload images to the same album.

More: VatorNews, The Next Web, AllThingsD, VentureBeat, Digits, SlashGear, TechHive, PC Magazine, iDownloadBlog.com, TechCrunch, WebProNews, The Verge, Macgasm, Ubergizmo, Inside Facebook, bub.blicio.us, TUAW, Engadget, PetaPixel and iClarified

Tweets: @mikeisaac and @tvnewslab

NBC News:

How Snowden did it — When Edward Snowden stole the crown jewels of the National Security Agency, he didn't need to use any sophisticated devices or software or go around any computer firewall. — All he needed, said multiple intelligence community sources, was a few thumb drives …

More: Techdirt, ZDNet and The Daily Caller

Tweets: @dhh, @kaepora, @csoghoian, @runasand and @raghos

Spiegel Online:

How America Spies on Europe and the UN

More: Network World, Techdirt, emptywheel, The Switch and Softpedia News. See also Mediagazer

Julian Assange / The Stringer:

Google and the NSA: Who's holding the ‘s**t-bag’ now? — It has been revealed today, thanks to Edward Snowden, that Google and other US tech companies received millions of dollars from the NSA for their compliance with the PRISM mass surveillance system. — So just how close is Google to the US securitocracy?

Tweets: @howardweaver, @bkiran, @om, @alirobe, @aaronwall, @somersetbean, @daveying99, @matthewstoller and @lisarein

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Google blocks Chromecast app that let you stream your own videos — Google hasn't provided a clear answer on whether Chromecast will eventually let users stream their own local videos and music to the TV screen. But if early updates for the $35 dongle are any indication …

Steven Levy / Wired:

Zuckerberg Explains Facebook's Plan to Get Entire Planet Online — Mark Zuckerberg wants to get everyone on Earth connected to the internet. — Last week, in an effort to reach this lofty goal, the Facebook CEO announced the establishment of Internet.org, a consortium that allied his company …

More: GigaOM, Mashable, The Atlantic Wire, The Verge, Betabeat, AllFacebook, GeekWire and Quartz

Tweets: @om and @stevenlevy

Jason Del Rey / AllThingsD:

Google's Local Business Is “Really Struggling,” in “Constant Chaos,” Yelp CEO Tells Charlie Rose (Video) — Based on their relationship today, it's hard to believe that Google almost owned Yelp. — The acquisition never went through, and today the two companies seem firmly entrenched …

More: Marketing Land and bizjournals. Thanks:@lutherlowe

Justine Sharrock / BuzzFeed:

The Rise And Fall Of A Startup Mansion — Startups, pizza, ego, beer, filth. The collapse of a hacker house and the battle for Silicon Valley's soul. — a1.muscache.com — When William Hsu first moved to San Francisco to work in startups, he got a one-bedroom apartment.

Tweets: @jwherrman. Thanks:@mattlynley

Laura Hazard Owen / GigaOM:

Apple: Feds aim to “give Amazon a significant competitive advantage” in ebooks case — In court filings posted Monday morning, Apple attorney Orin Snyder responded to the Department of Justice's revised proposed punishment for the tech company in the ebooks case.

More: AppleInsider, MacRumors, Cult of Mac and Publishers Lunch. See also Mediagazer

Jennifer Valentino-DeVries / Digits:

Open Secret About Google's Surveillance Case No Longer Secret — The Justice Department recently won a court battle to keep an Internet company from talking about federal demands for user data, arguing that even disclosing the company's name would damage national security.'

More: Techdirt, The Register, Daily Dot, ZDNet and The Verge

Tweets: @ramez, @mattcutts, @antderosa, @jenvalentino and @jlllow

See also Mediagazer

Mike Wehner / TUAW:

U.S. government finds 0.7% of all mobile malware affects iOS, while Android accounts for 79% — A cautionary memo put out by the US Department of Homeland Security and the US Department of Justice shows that, according to the government's findings, only 0.7 percent of all mobile malware is designed to take advantage of iOS.

More: WMPoweruser, The Next Web, Ubergizmo, PhoneArena, Android Community, SlashGear, iDownloadBlog.com, ZDNet, We Live Security and Business Insider

David Talbot / MIT Technology Review:

Hacked Feature Phone Can Block Other People's Calls — Hacked Feature Phone Can Block Other People's Calls — Swapping software can give one GSM phone the power to prevent incoming calls and text messages from reaching other phones nearby. — WHY IT MATTERS — Most of the world's phones use the GSM standard.

More: Gizmodo, USENIX and T3 News

Tweets: @david_a_talbot and @techreview

Arik Hesseldahl / AllThingsD:

At Last, Violin Memory Files for $173 Million IPO — Violin Memory, the flash storage company that has been raising money like crazy, just filed to raise about $173 million in an initial public offering, according to documents submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

More: Digits, GigaOM, Market Wire and VentureBeat

New York Times:

As Amazon Stretches, Seattle's Downtown Is Reshaped — SEATTLE — Often a corporation with a grand dream to reshape a city wants tax breaks in return. Not Amazon. — When Amazon executives showed up last year for the first meetings about their proposal to build a new headquarters here …

More: The Verge. Tweets: @biz

Ina Fried / AllThingsD:

Reporters “Not Invited” as Microsoft Lays Out Its Financial Future on Sept. 19 — With all that is going on at Microsoft these days, you would think that the company's Sep. 19 financial analysts meeting would be packed with reporters. — Actually, there won't be a single one.

Tweets: @maryjofoley

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Pew: 30% Of U.S. Adults Don't Have Broadband; 10% Use Smartphones As Sole Internet Access; 20% Have Zilch — As Facebook teams up with other tech titans to put more effort into ubiquitous internet access worldwide, Pew Research is today is releasing the results of a survey that shows …

More: Pew Internet, Wired, Computerworld, TechHive, Pew Internet, Los Angeles Times, VatorNews and Adotas. Tweets: @stshank

Rachel King / ZDNet:

VMware aims to define software-defined data center with new portfolio — Summary: The buzz around software-defined data centers is still cloudy (so to speak) for some, but it defines VMware's game plan for the near future. — SAN FRANCISCO — If you're still unsure about what exactly …

More: SiliconANGLE, Computerworld, Ars Technica, eWeek, GigaOM, The Register and InfoWorld

Paul Mozur / China Real Time Report:

Denial-of-Service Attack Shut Down Chinese Internet on Sunday Morning … Part of the Chinese Internet went down early Sunday morning in what the government is calling the largest denial-of-service attack it has ever faced. — The attack began at 2 a.m. Sunday morning and was followed …

More: The Atlantic Wire, GigaOM, Tech in Asia, The Register, Daily Dot, TechSpot, ZDNet, Web Host Industry Review, Help Net Security, SiliconANGLE, PC Magazine, SecurityWeek, Lastest ITProPortal news, ITworld.com, on the build, Digits, The Verge, dailywireless.org and I4U News

Agam Shah / PC World:

Intel developing 3D laptop cameras that can follow your glare and read your emotions — From mundane 2D devices, integrated cameras in laptops and tablets in the future will change into powerful 3D tools that can sense movement, track emotion, and even monitor reading habits of children, according to Intel.

More: GigaOM, Engadget, SlashGear and dailywireless.org

Zack Whittaker / ZDNet:

Hackers target, ‘deface’ Google Palestine site — Summary: UPDATED 3: The local Google Palestine homepage was hijacked and ‘defaced’ by hackers, who appear to be protesting the terms used in Google Maps. — Zack Whittaker — Hackers have successfully attacked Google.ps, the Palestinian version of the Google search page.

More: The Next Web, Washington Post, TechCrunch, tbreak and Gizmodo

Sean Ludwig / VentureBeat:

Cloud phone systems biz RingCentral files for $100M IPO — Sept. 9 - 10, 2013 — Cloud-based telephone systems business RingCentral has filed for a $100 million initial public offering, according to an S-1 filed today with the SEC. — RingCentral has been a leader in the cloud phone services business …

More: AllThingsD, NBC Bay Area, bizjournals, NASDAQ.com, TechCrunch, VoIP Watch and silicontap.com

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