Techmeme
August 29, 2013, 8:45 AM

Top News

AllThingsD:
Android's Hugo Barra Departs Google for China's Xiaomi  —  One of Google's top Android executives is leaving the company.  —  Hugo Barra, whose official title is vice president of product management for Android, has been one of the more public faces of the mobile operating system …
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Google Exec Departs Amidst Rumors Of Tangled Love Quadrangle  —  We've confirmed a report today that Android VP Hugo Barra is leaving Google for “Apple of China” Xiaomi.  —  The report was timed to coincide with another story about the dissolution of Google co-founder Sergey Brin's marriage to 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki.
More: Android Beat and Mercury NewsTweets: @fromedome
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Why Twitter's new Conversations view is a big deal and why it matters for its IPO  —  No one in Silicon Valley has any doubt that San Francisco-based Twitter is on a road to a public offering.  Given its current valuation — estimated at around or over $10 billion — and the amount of money it has raised …
Josh Ong / The Next Web:
Leo Kelion / BBC:
Skype confirms 3D video calls are under development  —  Skype said that limitations with current 3D technologies had stopped it launching the feature  —  Skype has confirmed it has developed 3D video calls.  —  The news was revealed by a senior executive in an exclusive interview with the BBC to mark Skype's tenth anniversary.
Mike Isaac / AllThingsD:
Twitter Acquires Social TV Tracker Trendrr  —  Twitter has acquired Trendrr, a social tracking TV service that until today competed with Twitter's own in-house analytics products.  —  After Wednesday's acquisition, the three dominant, stand-alone players in the social TV chatter space are gone.
David Beren / TmoNews:
T-Mobile Scheduling Employee Blackout Dates For September 20th-22nd?  —  I do love a good rumor and this one should make all you iPhone fans happy as I'm hearing whispers T-Mobile is planning blackout dates between September 20th and 22nd.  Like all good rumors, we should take this with the standard …
Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:
Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin and 23andMe Co-Founder Anne Wojcicki Have Split  —  Brin and Wojcicki on Gavin Newsom's interview show in 2012.  —  Google co-founder Sergey Brin and 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki, one of Silicon Valley's most high-profile couples, are living apart.
App Annie Blog:
App Annie Index: Apps - Messenger Apps Go To Battle For The World's Messages  —  The Competition for The Top Messenger App is Heating Up  —  The App Annie Apps Index brings you the top-performing publishers and apps outside of games across both the iOS App Store and Google Play.
More: VentureBeat, Forbes and BGR
Ben Woods / The Next Web:
Three finally unveils 4G rollout plans: The stage is now set for UK's 4G future  —  Mobile operator Three has finally unveiled its rollout schedule and pricing details for its impending 4G launch, setting the stage for the real 4G battle in the UK to begin.  —  The operator announced …
Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
EU telecoms chief drops plan to slash wholesale roaming prices  —  (Reuters) - EU telecoms chief Neelie Kroes has scrapped a draft proposal to cut wholesale roaming fees by as much as 90 percent, a European Commission document seen by Reuters showed, following criticism from major telecom companies.
Wall Street Journal:
Sales of BlackBerry's Q10 Keyboard Phone Fall Flat  —  Carrier Executives and Retailers Report Dismal Sales and Returns  —  When BlackBerry Ltd. Chief Executive Thorsten Heins was asked why he decided to start selling the company's new keyboard-equipped smartphone months after a new touch-screen device …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Yahoo Sharpens Its Flickr iOS App With Enhanced Filters, More Camera Tools; Makes Pro Tools Free  —  Yahoo has just released a significant new update for its Flickr photo app for iOS, a further sign of how it wants to be not just where you go to store and view pictures, but where you create them as well.
Philip Dorling / Sydney Morning Herald:
Australian spies in global deal to tap undersea cables  —  Underwater paths of the world's information.  —  The nation's electronic espionage agency, the Australian Signals Directorate, is in a partnership with British, American and Singaporean intelligence agencies to tap undersea fibre …
More: DelimiterTweets: @honxqp, @glynmoody and @idealaw
Charles Arthur / Guardian:
Facebook spam: a $200m business in links alone  —  Italian researchers uncover price lists for posting third-party links to Facebook fan pages - and calculate that they earn substantial amounts for most popular ones  —  Spammers posting links on Facebook fan pages to send people …
Joe Mullin / Ars Technica:
In historic vote, New Zealand bans software patents  —  A major new patent bill, passed in a 117-4 vote by New Zealand's Parliament after five years of debate, has banned software patents.  —  The relevant clause of the patent bill actually states that a computer program is “not an invention.”
Greg Kumparak / TechCrunch:
Unity Game Engine To Get Official 2D Game Support And A Built-In Ad Solution  —  Unity, the increasingly popular “build once, run anywhere” 3D game engine, is going 2D.  —  At the company's UNITE conference in Vancouver this morning, CEO David Helgason announced three things …

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